Thought Process for Drawing Butts
Take this lightly. This is not “Me big pro artist! You do dis! You no do dat! RRRRGG Pretension! Arrogance!” Purely opinion and preference of me, XoPachi. This isn’t a standard tutorial or me forcing anything. It’s just how I do things, why I do them, and what I prefer not to draw. So let’s start with the latter.
These are some styles I’m not really a fan of. There’s something missing to them. Sure the first and last ones are big, but I don’t feel a sense of weight and girth. And obviously I’m not a fan of flat bottoms which is the third one “The Anime Ass”. I don’t care how shallow that makes me seem. It’s not a preference of mine. Ever. I’ve never looked at any flat butt, real or drawn, and got a reaction. So when I draw a backside with the intent of sexualization, that is completely out of the question.
Here is the very rustic method I use for forming most butts that I sketched up. There are variants, but it’s almost like model sliders when customizing a character in a game. Same base model, but just altered in some areas. My personal rules almost never change.
1) The rock. A basic oval with a flatter bottom and almost perfectly rounded at the top. I mind my perspective and angle. Here we can vaguely see from the tilt of the shape that I chose a slight worm’s eye view at a quarter angle.
2) The divide. This is a simple curved line to separate each buttock. You can now get a better idea as to what I’m after in terms of perspective. The line is off center with the right buttock being close to a third larger than the left since that is facing more towards us.
3) Cross counter. I define the ever important lower body line, I always thought of it as a cat’s mouth or Hamtaro smile. I typically prefer to flatten out these lines for a more subtle but definite heft. But they can arch to many depths for a variety of shapes and still look excellent. Keep in mind, the longer across the bottom cheek lines, the larger the cheeks appear. Vice versa, the shorter the lines, the smaller the cheeks will be. That’s crucial when deciding my shape. The thighs come in here as well. I go for very thick thighs meaning they poke out just slightly on the sides and smoothly curve inward softly.
4) Waist. Self explanatory. Waist and thighs compliment the butt and hips. Just as important as the cheeks themselves.
5) Refine. At this stage, the sketch lines of 1-4 are cleared and the main lines are thinned. Curves are further smoothed out and I add more features. I often use short broken lines to indicate which cheek ends where at the top of the thigh and the base of the waist. I also love adding Dimples of Venus.
6) Shade. If I come this far, my basic teachings of shading over the years come into play. This is not perfectly shaded, but it gives the general idea. Quick brush in with my marker tool. Crude blotches of color for my shadows than hit it with the low opacity soft eraser to smooth shadows. No hard shadows on the cheeks except for right in the cleavage. Add a few highlights then lighten up my brush and gently dash in reflected light. Deep hard shadow between the thighs. Gradually soften.
Now let’s look at some nuances, I typically toss keep in mind.
The before image was a WIP of the recent Peach image I drew. Here’s it’s perfectly rounded. But I wanted a more natural feel. Imperfections are always nice here and there to add some girth and give the butt a nice grip to it. I intentionally indented the lower body line of the cheeks to give the impression of some light cellulite which I do appreciate. It’s a bit more advanced for me to continue that throughout the entirety of the butt, but this is a start, I find. Some of the shading around the thighs are also disturbed in an attempt to give the same impression.
Here’s a beautiful real life example.
You can also see where the left and right sides of the entire leg and hip slope inward. I avoid making butts wider than the very tops of the thighs to give a more comprehensive definition and that hourglass, pinup appeal. Basically I avoid the first, second, and fourth example of the top image.
As for tight clothing. The panties squeeze just slightly into the hips making a very brief protrusion from the skin being under pressure. I add sharp wrinkles that show tension and stress for a robust sense of bigness.
When I have a bent over position things are tightened. The crotch is slightly or completely visible and lower body lines are shortened inward showing the skin is being pulled taut. I’ll use broken soft lines to show the skindentation of where they curve when the woman would be standing fully upright. Thighs are also be foreshortened to varying degrees depending on the depth and complexity of the angle. They are also not perfectly smooth to show where the muscles are tensing for additional girth.
To wind up, some words on different shapes.
They can have this sort of “flatness” to them yet still be thick and massive like Mallory here (my go to model for female forms). The lower body lines are typically much more level and are characterized by their wideness versus protrusion.
Or they can simply be extremely round and jut out forming a very robust sort of “tabletop” like Ms. Hydro’s here. There is no subtlety as the definitions are highly pronounced in any clothing.
There are far more shapes and structures than just those two. Stronger, more fit butts for athletic types and a nice middle-ground of the above that have a nice stockiness that I find are perfect for my women of a shorter build. All of which and more have thousands of variants to them.
Form and Nuances. Both of these things are the main factors I focus on when constructing a butt that is sure to satisfy. If you don’t look/feel like the man below when viewing my women’s rears, I have failed.
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