What part of the body do you draw first?

[FourTonMantis]

I find that when I'm doing studies, I start with a rough skeleton, starting with the torso, but when I'm just sketching concepts, most of the drawings that come out like I want them are started with the head.

[rpace]

I start with a bastardized mix of Bridgman, Buscema, Loomis and Rielly's mannikins, so I don't know if I actually start with a part.

There's a bit of a lie in that, though. If I'm drawing a panel that has talking heads in it I'll draw the head-shape then hang the body down from that. I guess I'd call special circumstances on less than full-figure drawings.

~R

[Ryuartyi]

I normally start with getting the torso correct first so I have a good anchor and idea on how to place the head and other features properly.

[~Faust~]

I start with whatever seems to be the focus and needs the most detailing. Usually boobs.

[J Wilson]

Torso should be the answer, but the truth is I sometimes still fall into the habit of starting with the head. If something else takes up proportionally more of the image it may come first and then I work backward, but for most neutral types of images the torso is the best solution.

Then again, sometimes working with abstract shapes and then figuring out how the body fits within that shape works too.

[waranghira]

if I'm doing a brush work straight on the paper, the head.

[Brushcommander]

I usually start out with the torso because in my opinion it's like the center of all movement but I catch myself drawing the head first often enough.

[Black Spot]

The shoulder line, because all lines of movement come from it.

[Farvus]

It depends.
If I draw full figure, I usually start form torso but sometimes it's head. Very often when I start from head, the body proportions and the pose turn out much worse so I try to avoid this method. It's that tiny portrait doodle habit that I always had :P.

[Naomi Ningishzidda]

the flowline/spine

when i begin the final render I usually start with the eyes

[Mirana]

I'm not afraid to say it: I start with the head. Everybody will say that's wrong, but I find the head is important to the focus and the rest of the body flows from that. ;) I do such quick gestures anyway that I'm sure the starting point doesn't really matter to the end point.

[Pixeltron]

After the line of action and hip shoulder lines it's a mix of head and torso. Most often it's the head I do first.

[Blue]

Always start with the head (usually just an oval then i move on) into the spin/shoulders to define posture/gesture. Ten just a fill in.

[Elwell]

The pancreas.

[Asatira]

It depends on what I'm doing. I think with the life drawing class I'm taking, I tend to be attracted to the overall form and tend to start with the torso. Drawing from my imagination, tends to do head.

Either case I prefer to do the action line or a gesture.

[FlameDragon]

The pancreas.

You know, Elwell always manages to bring a smile to my face :)

[Tony0930]

It depends.
I like to start with the focus of the body.

[Jie Kageshinzo]

Wow. I thought most people start with the head.

I start with the head.

[AsaB]

Head for me as well, although I've been finding myself lately to have started with either the torso or the action line. Still feel the end results don't differ that much, but it's fun to experiment!

[DavoX]

You know what's the problem with starting with the head? You can't make the character look somewhere else afterwards...if you make the body first you can make the character look anywhere you want after that.

[CCThrom]

I start between the Guggle and the Zatch...





Seriously though, it depends on the focus of the figure. If the focus is on emotion and expression I start with the head. If the focus is on movement or action I start with the torso.

[Whitevillage]

In the beginning I always started with the head, but mostly these days I start with the torso/chest. Sometimes I start with the head or in rare occasions at the pelvis, this all depends on the pose and work flow.

[Slaskia]

I usually start with the head first, as most of the time if I start anywhere else first the head ends up being out of proportion with the rest of the body (though of course sometimes that doesn't help anyway....).

[Mirana]

You know what's the problem with starting with the head? You can't make the character look somewhere else afterwards...

Unless you have those "eraser" things. :P

[Noah Bradley]

When I'm doing a long pose (or even a short one sometimes) I'll start with the left shoulder (my left, regardless of the model's left). Not sure why... Feels natural, most of the time. This is, of course, after throwing down some light lines for proportions and such.

[Meister Jazz]

I start off with the head, it makes the most sense to me. I have draw from other points, usually doodling, but then my proportions end of being terribly off and then there are bodies without heads.

Most things are from top to bottom, if I'm drawing a torso only, top of the torso. legs, from the hips down. Boots, top of the boot to the sole.

depending on my driving inspiration I may just leave the head as it's rough starting shape and draw the more complicated parts to the image, the body and such before I go back and finish off the head.

If a person is upside down I frame and start from the foot sometimes, or i flip it over and still work head to foot for rough shapes before i finish it off foot to head

[Alex Chow]

It's a tie between the shoulder axis and the torso sweep, maybe the pelvis axis depending on what I want to do on that moment of time. The limb sweeps come after, followed by the head.

[bhanu]

Head and eyes...

[wheezy]

I start with a bastardized mix of Bridgman, Buscema, Loomis and Rielly's mannikins,...
~R

LOL, I think that is my process too. :P