How to Draw Arms & Arm Muscles: 3 Different Poses

Download Article

Including expert advice to improve your general drawing skills

Co-authored by Ken Goshen and Marcus Pruitt, BS

Last Updated: August 27, 2026 Fact Checked

Download Article

Drawing Simple Arms

|

Bent Arms

|

Crossed Arms

|

Improving at Drawing Arms

|

Drawing Other Body Parts

|

Video

Arms can often feel like one of the hardest body parts to draw, but when you break it down, the process gets much easier. Using shapes and lines, you can draw straight arms, bent arms, and arms from practically any angle. You just have to know where to put them, and with this tutorial, we explain exactly what you need to draw and where to pull off the perfect arms. Read on to learn how to draw simple arms, crossed arms, and bent arms. We also provide expert-backed tips on how to improve at drawing arms!

Drawing Arms (Visual Steps)

Download Image

A step-by-step illustration explaining how to draw an arm at an angle.

Draw a shoulder-sized ball in pencil.
Attach two overlapping ovals to the ball in the direction you’d like the arm to go.
Trace the outside of the circle and ovals with a pen.
Curve the overlapping sections inward.
Bring the curve back out as you move to the next shape.
Trace over the second oval and make it smaller and straighter toward the wrist.
Erase your guidelines and add a hand and/or details.

Section 1 of 5:

How to Draw Simple Arms

Download Article

1
Start by drawing a shoulder-sized ball with two attached ovals. Draw this in pencil, as you’ll erase it before the drawing’s complete. The ball will serve as the shoulder, so make sure it’s proportionate to the rest of your drawing if you plan on doing a full character. Attach two ovals that are about double the size of the ball to where you’d like the arm to go.^{[1]
X
Research source}
- For example, if the arm is going to be stretched to the left, draw two ovals coming from the left of the circle.
- The same goes for if you were drawing the arm in a different direction. If it’s straight down, draw the ovals going straight down. If it’s to the right, draw the ovals going to the right.
- Make sure the spherical shapes overlap a little bit.
2
Trace over the edges of the shapes you just made. Start at the ball and outline the left side. Make your way down toward the oval, but don’t outline the overlapping part. Instead, trace the intersecting parts on the side and make a slight curve inward before moving back out to the oval completely. Trace the inside of the ball, then draw a curved line coming from just above where that trace ended.^{[2]
X
Research source}
- If you want your arm to be more muscular, exaggerate the curve of the arms and make more overlapping lines near where the shoulder, bicep, and forearms curve inward.
- If you want to make your arms skinnier, soften the curves near the overlapping shapes.
Advertisement
3
Finish the trace near the wrist and draw the wrist thinner than the rest of the arm. As you continue to make your way down the arm, make sure your lines curve inward before going back out when you trace over the overlapping shapes. Once you get to the wrist, taper the curve into a straight line that’s thinner than the rest of the arm.^{[3]
X
Research source}
- If you’d like to also draw hands, draw a smaller circle with lines coming out where you’d like the fingers to be. Then, outline those shapes with small curves that resemble the fingers and palms.
  - To ensure that the fingers are accurate, draw small circles on the lines where the joints would be, then connect their edges as you trace over the guiding shapes.
Once you’ve traced the edges of the shapes and connected them with curves, erase them so you’re only left with the arm. After erasing them, add details you’d like your arm (or character) to have, like tattoos, scars, veins, or jewelry.

Section 2 of 5:

How to Draw Bent Arms

Download Article

1
Draw 3 circles in a triangle shape and connect them with lines. Draw these circles in the angle of where you’d like the arm to go. For example, if you want to angle the arm upward, draw two circles about 1 in (2.5 cm) away from each other, then place the third one above the second. Once you’ve drawn the circles, connect their center edges with straight lines.^{[4]
X
Research source}
- Draw these elements in pencil, as you’ll erase them later.
- The first circle will be the shoulder, the second will be the elbow, and the third will be the wrist, so draw them the size and place you’d like those elements to be.
- Since the third circle will serve as the wrist, draw it a bit smaller than the rest.
- The lines will help you understand the length of the arm so you can better plan the proportions.
2
Draw curved cylinders connecting the circles. This is where you’re gonna start building the arms, so make sure the cylinders’ curves correlate with how big or small you want the arms to be. Draw a curved cylinder going from the sides of the shoulder circle to the inside and outside of the outside of your elbow circle. Then, draw another curved cylinder toward the wrist circle.^{[5]
X
Research source}
- When drawing the inside of the arm here, stop the curve at the edge of the elbow circle, then draw a new curve in the opposite direction toward the wrist circle.
- As you approach the wrist, slim down the size of your cylinder so it correlates with the size of an actual wrist.
- When drawing the outside of the arm, follow the direction of the elbow circle and head toward the wrist as you did with the inside. Give the elbow curve a nice point to emphasize the bone.
- To make the arm more muscular, give the shoulder outline a more circular curve, making sure it overlaps with the lines leading toward the elbow. Sharpen the elbow and enlarge the curves of the cylinders to create definition.
After you’ve gotten the shape of your arm down, grab an eraser and get rid of the circles and lines you originally drew. Once you erase them, add the details you’d like your arm to have, like tattoos, or jewelry. Just remember to leave some room for muscles and veins.
Head to the shoulder and draw a curved line in the same direction as the outside of the arm. Then, draw a curved line going in the same direction as the outside of the bicep. Add a small curved line on the forearm that ends above the wrist with small, squiggly parallel lines along its edges for veins. Make sure all of the curved lines are about 0.25 in (0.64 cm) away from the edge of the arm.

Section 3 of 5:

How to Draw Crossed Arms

Download Article

Draw these shapes at an 80 degree angle and make sure they’re about 2.5 in (6.4 cm) away from each other. Draw the bottom lines so they’re angled upward and the side lines so they’re straight. Then, connect the bottom lines so that the left line rises above the right.
2
Draw lines parallel to the boomerang shapes, then connect them. Start by drawing a line that’s parallel to the left line you made in the previous step. Connect the two lines to make the shirt sleeve, then draw two 0.25 in (0.64 cm) parallel lines slightly closer together to make the arm. Stop these lines about 0.5 in (1.3 cm) away from the right boomerang you made in the previous step, then draw another line parallel to that shape to block them off.
- Draw the second boomerang line going underneath the first one you made to create the right arm.
- Give these parallel lines a bit of a curve to them if you’d like to show off your character’s muscle.
- Make sure the lines aren’t too far apart from each other, or else the arms will look disproportionate.
Bring the two parallel lines of the right boomerang shape together with a horizontal line. Then, draw two parallel lines that curve down and toward the left. As these lines curve down, draw four tube shapes at the ends that resemble fingers. Draw them over the left arm to give the illusion that your fingers are resting on it.
4
Add the shoulders and torso. Once you’ve drawn the arms, you need a body to connect them to. Head to the top of the boomerang shapes and curve them inward and upward to create the shoulders. Then, head down to the gap between the two vertical lines and below the curve that makes the elbow. About 0.5 in (1.3 cm) inward, draw two more vertical lines to make the torso.
- After this, you’re free to add whatever details you’d like to the drawing! Color the shirt, add a chain, do whatever to make this drawing unique to you.

Section 4 of 5:

How to Improve at Drawing Arms

Download Article

1
Use spheres and cylinders to better understand the arm’s structure. Placing spheres where the shoulder, elbow, and wrist joints are and connecting them with curving cylinders that have muscle on the upper arm and taper into a bonier wrist will ensure that you get a more accurate-looking arm. This is because you’re recreating the structure of the arm as it’d be in real life, not just the general shape.
- Remember, arms aren’t tubes. They’re packed with muscle, skin, and bone that give them a curvier, more defined shape.
- When drawing the forearm, angle the lines inward as you approach the hand, as wrists aren’t the same size as the rest of the arm.
2
Try the coil method to improve at drawing arms with perspective. The coil method uses a spiral that changes in shape to make drawing the arms easier, particularly when they’re shown from a certain perspective. Draw a spiral shape coming down from the shoulder. Make it larger as you move away from the shoulder if you want to push the arm toward the audience. Make it smaller as you move away if you want to push the arm away.
- After drawing the spiral, trace the edges and use a circle and lines to serve as outlines for the hands.
3
Do a few rough practice sketches to get the proportions down.“Don’t be afraid to make mistakes,” says artist Mark Weiser. Weiser suggests doing a pencil sketch first to get your proportions correct, then building from that rough sketch to get a better grasp on those proportions.^{[6]
X
Expert Source

Mark Weiser
Artist

Expert Interview} For example:
- You can roughly sketch an arm as you imagine it to get an idea of where your strong and weak points are.
- Then, you can use a reference, do another rough sketch based on that, and refine that sketch to iron out those original mistakes.
4
Study anatomy to understand the arm. Digital manga artists and manga experts Arklight Blues and Sea Cucumber say that references are important, but so is studying anatomy.^{[7]
X
Expert Source

Arklight Blues and Sea Cucumber
Digital Manga Artist and Manga Expert

Expert Interview} Studying anatomy will give you a better understanding of how the arms work, where the joints are, and how they move, which can lay the groundwork for your skills.
- You can study anatomy by reading anatomy books, reviewing anatomy videos online, and regularly drawing the anatomy of the arm.
- Once you get an idea of how arms work, you can do a few practice sketches to test how well you can translate that understanding to drawing.
- Artist and art educator Ken Goshen says that practicing and drawing from life and direct observation drastically improves your drawing skills.^{[8]
  X
  Expert Source
  
  Ken Goshen
  Artist and Art Educator
  
  Expert Interview}
5
Regularly practice to improve your skills. Award-winning artist Claire Wentzel says that “the best way to improve your drawing is to do it. Drawing from life is the best training.” Wentzel suggests asking a friend to pose their arms so you can practice drawing them with quick marks from different angles and distances.^{[9]
X
Expert Source

Claire Wentzel
Award-Winning Artist and Strategic Creative Consultant

Expert Interview}
- If you can’t find a friend to model, Wentzel says you can also head to a cafe or park and draw the people you see there.^{[10]
  X
  Expert Source
  
  Claire Wentzel
  Award-Winning Artist and Strategic Creative Consultant
  
  Expert Interview}