Draw a Na'vi Alien from Avatar
Not to long ago, the 'teaser trailer' for Avatar - James Cameron's (directed Titanic) highly anticipated new movie was released. And after seeing it - I was simply blown away.
Truly, movies are a huge inspiration for drawing. Here, I created a lesson around this particular movie, so you can learn how to draw a female Na'vi - the alien race in the film.
Before you do the drawing lesson - check out the trailer below...
First Step - Draw a Framework Your Avatar Alien
To begin, I thought it would be a good idea to sketch out a simple framework. Below, we've got the alien standing with her bow at her side, similar to the one depicted in the movie.
Here's the framework...
Looking at the alien in the trailer, I was able to pick out some of her key features. Above, I've emphasized them in orange - that along with her long bow and tail, marked off in green. In your case - always keep these lines nice and light as you'll be erasing them later on.
Continuing...
Second Step - Draw the Head of Your Alien
The Na'vi - the race of aliens in Avatar - sort of look like cats with their very 'feline-like' noses, and their big yellow eyes. Deviating from any 'exact likeness' as is portrayed in the trailer - remember that this is cartooning!
Make yours similar - yet different. Simplify key parts to give your alien a more 'cartoony' look.
Like this...
For sure - the above cartoon version of the alien does have a likeness to the one in the trailer. But look again... notice the subtle changes to simplify shapes such as her ears, nose, necklace components... etc.
Alright... let's move on to her body now.
Third Step - The Body
Moving on to the body now, have a look at the sequence followed as we move through each step. Certain parts are drawn at different times - of course, if you have an eraser handy... you can always touch things up as you go.
Here's how to draw the body of your Avatar alien...
So? how's your alien looking up to this point? Lots of little detailed steps I know... just keep in mind - this is my own preference with this particular drawing. Simplify and change as you see fit.
One final stage now... let's take a look at the finished drawing - colored and all.
Final Step - Your Na'vi is Complete!
At this stage of the lesson, now's the time to get rid of your lightly sketched underlying lines - and then... give your drawing a little color! These aliens are really cool-looking with their blue striped patterns...should make the job tons of fun!
Here's how mine looks - colored and all...
Well, that's that.
Having completed this lesson - your Avatar alien complete... surely you'll that much more excited about the movie coming out in December!
Till next time! :-)
Recommended Drawing Resources
To further your learning and improvement, check out the following resources...
- Learn how to draw caricatures with Graeme Biddle.
- Discover how to use photoshop in a day. Makes everything so much simpler.
- Check out Chad Baldwin's digital painting techniques.
- Draw cars just like the pros, the pro being Tim Rugendyke.
- Want to learn painting? Look no further than Bob Davies' free watercolor secrets ebook.
