Now that we have the head and face looking more like a human, let's do a quick touch up on the torso. As of now, our rough draft has the torso divided in to two roughly drawn rectangles and the neck is detached from the torso. As we draw the line art for the torso, let's combine these in to one, more shapely, object.

We will draw the neck and body as one continuous path, using the rough draft as a guide. Imagine the torso as a one-piece bathing suit. We will draw one side of the torso. Then we will duplicate, flip the duplicate and join the two together to make one object.

We will need the rough sketch to be visible but we don't need to see the proportions group. Also, we will draw this new path just above the step 1 - rough sketch group layer.

1. Uncheck the is visible checkbox for the proportions group layer . If you wish, set the Stroke color to red, which will make it easier to see the path that we are drawing. Select the step 1 - rough sketch group layer.


2. Starting at the bottom center of the chin and using the Pen tool, draw a small curve following the curve of the chin and stopping at the point where the chin joins the neck (see screenshot).


3. Continuing with the same path, draw the right side of the manikin's neck. Draw a small curve from the chin to the top of the torso.


4. Still continuing with the same path, start drawing the right side of the manikin. Following the rough sketch, draw the horizontal path that will curve at the shoulder of the torso. Moving down the side, add a slight outward curve to the path of the torso to indicate the breast area. Also curve the path inward at the waist (see screenshot).


5. Now, continue the path outward around the hip and stopping at the top of the leg.

We will now draw a curve at the top of the leg, taking the shape of a bathing suit. This curve at the beginning of the leg will create a more natural joint of the torso to the leg when we rotate the leg.


6. Still continuing the same path, draw a curve in the path starting at the point where the leg and torso join and moving downward and inward to the bottom and center of the torso (see screenshot).

Now you should have an open path that is one half of the neck and torso. Let's duplicate this open path and add them together, as we did when we drew the head.


7. Select the torso path layer, right-click and choose Duplicate.


8. Select the duplicate path and click the Flip Horizontal icon on the Context toolbar.


9. Move the duplicate path until the open Nodes overlap (see screenshot).


10. Select the two bottom overlapping nodes. Click the Join Curves icon in the Action section of the Context toolbar (see screenshot). Repeat this for the two top overlapping nodes (see screenshot).


11. Now you should have the torso as one closed path (see screenshot).


12. We also have only one layer instead of two. Name this new layer torso. Change the Stroke color to black.

We need to keep all of the manikin's line art together as one group.


13. Select the head group layer and the torso layer. Right-click and choose Group. Name this group manikin line art (see screenshot).

In the next tutorial, we will begin to work on the moveable parts of our manikin.

INDEX - Artist Manikin in Affinity Designer

Screenshots used by permission of Serif (Europe) Ltd. This article is not endorsed by Serif Ltd.