Start out with a basic skeleton shape using balls and lines. I usually like to start with the chest and work outward from there. The lines for the arms and legs represent the outer curve of those limbs, rather than a bone form. By raising his left shoulder, we get a nice twist on the torso. This pose would work for either jumping or squatting. Today he's doing the latter.

STEP 2.

There's a lot to draw, so let's really dive into it. First pick a point near the center of the chest. That's going to be the connection point for the collar bones, pectoral and neck muscles. That V-shape is important for indicating a downward view of the ribcage. Next, draw in the opposing lines of the arms and legs, and the muscles of the torso. Most of these can be simplified, as they'll be covered with fabric later on. You do need a basic shape as a guide, though, so general anatomy is still important. Use some round shapes to block in the nose, eyebrows and mouth of the Lizard. The classic character design was a simplified reptile-man, so picture it as if this is a guy wearing a costume and a mask. Lastly for this step, start to indicate the outer curve of the fingers and toes. You want to draw claw-like appendages, here. Don't draw all of the fingers and toes straight, or going exactly in the same direction. Notice how the fingers of his hand all curve toward the center finger. The effect is exaggerated somewhat here.

STEP 3.

Finishing up the fingers on his left hand, I want to take a quick look at how to lay those lines down. Begin with the knuckle, where it attached to the hand. From there, draw a curved line outward, stopping at the next knuckle. Make your next line a bit shorter than the first, but still curving outward. The third line should be shorter still, but curved inward like a claw. It's a simple 1-2-3 motion with the pen or stylus. The outward curves make for a more menacing, gnarled hand. You would want softer curves on a regular human hand (normally), but this method works nicely for this mutated character. For the clothing, the first thing to draw is the collar of his coat, and the cuffs on his coat sleeves.The main thing here is to show the cuffs wrapping around the shape of the arms, and the bend where the coat hangs low and comes back over the thighs. You could think of these as opposing J-shapes.

STEP 4.

Wow, this looks weird. This step is all about the wrinkles on the Lizard's tattered clothing. The mild-mannered Curt Connors was originally wearing a lab coat and purple slacks (what?), but after his transformation into the Lizard, his outfit's a bit worse for wear. For these wrinkles, figure out where the tension is and how the fabric is being pulled. On the lower arm, use loose S-shaped lines starting from the cuff and moving upward. Start each line from a point on the previous line, and try to envision the cloth wrapping around the character's arm. It's too easy to make a coat arm look flat, and while these wrinkles are extreme, they help to flesh out this guy who's apparently been hanging around in the sewers. Same method for the upper arm. Use S-shaped lines starting from the cuff, and move leftward. The wrinkles on the lower part of that arm oppose the top wrinkles, so use a backward S-shape. As you get closer to the shoulder, vary the line shapes a bit and use some simply curves. Some of these wrinkles extend down into the chest area of the coat. On the leg, the wrinkles begin at the back of the knee. Use S-shaped lines and other squiggles radiating out from that point. Once again, try to picture the fabric wrapping around the leg. For the upper leg, curve right, then up. For the lower leg, curve right, then down. This is what gives the shape its dimensionality. If you reversed any of these curves, the image would start to fall apart. As a final step, draw some squiggly lines out from the back of the neck, and hanging down from the elbow and knees. This clothing has really been torn up.

STEP 5.

All these lines are starting to get confusing, so now you want to lay in some black shadows to make it easier on your eyes. The character's being lit from above, so the shadows will be on the lower side of his body. The lower arm is moving forward and is being hit by a lot of light, so we won't see too many shadows on there (for now). Start with the lower legs and work your way upward. The shadows on the arms and legs are basically just wavy triangles attached to the curves you drew earlier. Carry that pattern onto his shirt. Since he's hunched over, the shirt is loose across his stomach. The opposing triangle shapes create some nice clothing wrinkles in that area. Draw in the tongue and black out the rest of the mouth. Again, since this is the classic character design, we're not going to go too crazy with the lizard details. He had a toothless maw back then (if I recall correctly), so he'll have one now. Fill in the areas around the neck muscles with shadow, and draw the neck of the t-shirt. You'll want to revisit that coat collar from earlier, making it look more tattered and torn. Then, use some more S-shaped lines to finish up the wrinkles on the outer part of the arms and legs.

STEP 6.

Time to draw that tail. The tail is basically just two large, S-shaped lines that meet up toward the end. On the classic Lizard, the tail is pretty lumpy, so indicate that with some simple curved lines. Here I chose the tip of the tail to be closest to us. The overlaying curves give an illusion of depth, as if the tail is moving backward in space as it grows thicker. By reversing these curves, the thicker portion of the tail would seem closer, and the tip would appear to recede into the background. Draw in some diamond-like shapes for the claws and toenails. Diamonds work. Almonds work. Whatever you want to call them, remember that these claws don't just rest on top of the fingers and toes, but actually grow from underneath the skin. On the larger toe claws, try to indicate that with curves representing a fold of skin over the base of the claw. Toss in a barrel-type shape for this guy to squat on, because he looks ridiculous hovering in midair like that.

STEP 7.

Time to bust out the anatomy books again, or just look at your own hands and feet for basic reference. Detail the knuckles on the lower hand. Don't just draw circles, but draw the shadows on the outside of the knuckles, and the bones of the hand that move upward, toward the wrist. Use overlapping curves on the lower hand's fingers to show depth. Drop in some shadow on his left shin and foot. That areas covered with part of the coat, so not much light will hit there. Leave a little room for the scale pattern later, though. Speaking of which, it's time to detail the head. Again, this classic design is less accurate to an actual lizard, and looks more like a lumpy monster. We forgive him. Lots of small curves in the face and head. The most important thing to keep in mind is that all the detail lines curve outward from the center of the head. This is what shows depth and shape, and keeps the guy's face from looking flat. Keep it round and lumpy. Draw some small S-curves on the neck muscles to indicate a scale pattern, and fill in some more shadows on the coat and pants.

STEP 8.

Detail time. The Lizard has big, lumpy, square-ish scales all over his body. Use curved lines to draw these, and keep in mind they're wrapping around his limbs. It's almost like netting, pulled tightly against the skin. When drawing all these scales, it starts to feel like you're drawing Spider-man's web pattern. To make it look more organic, break up the lines. Don't connect them all. Indicate the area where four scales meet, and leave some of the other areas blank. Not every line must be perfectly defined from every single angle. The tail doesn't get the same scale treatment as the body, but what do we do with it? Let's keep it simple like the way it was drawn back in the 1960's. Use some larger brush strokes to indicate shadow on those lumpy forms. As the light is coming straight down, the shadow will first appear on the right side of the tail, and then the left. Try to picture it like a bunch of basketballs on a rope (or something like that). Add some scratches and splotches to indicate some organic detail on the skin. Add a few wrinkles around his eyes and eyebrows. Slap some detail on that barrel-thing, and...

STEP 9.

Oh my goodness, he's done! Go in and make sure all your shadows are filled in. Clean up anything that looks really off. I went in and reworked the noes and lips a bit, and added soem more detail around the tongue. At this stage you can also go in with white and add some details that way, as I did in the shadow on the neck. From here you can go on to color this reptilian rascal and call it a day. Hope you enjoyed!