Honestly, if you're trying to figure out how to draw Simone Biles, you aren't just drawing a person. You're trying to capture explosive power, gravity-defying physics, and a very specific kind of joy all in one go. It’s a challenge. She stands at just 4 feet 8 inches, but her presence on a page needs to feel ten feet tall.
Most people mess this up by making her look like a typical "willowy" gymnast. Simone isn’t that. She’s built like a powerhouse. If you don't get the muscle definition and the specific "boxiness" of a world-class power tumbler right, it just won't look like her.
The Physics of Drawing a G.O.A.T.
Before you even touch a pencil to paper, look at her silhouette. Because she is 142 cm tall (that’s 4'8" for the non-metric folks), her proportions are incredibly compact. In art terms, we usually talk about "heads high." A standard fashion illustration might be 8 or 9 heads tall. Simone? You want to stick closer to a realistic 6 or 6.5 heads.
If you make her limbs too long, you lose the essence of her "power-to-weight" ratio. This ratio is basically her superpower. It’s what allows her to pull off the Yurchenko double pike—a move so hard that for a long time, other women didn't even try it.
When sketching the initial frame, focus on the shoulders. They are broad and stable. Her core is thick—not out of lack of fitness, obviously, but because of the sheer amount of muscle required to keep a spine safe during a triple-double. Draw the torso as a sturdy, slightly tapered rectangle rather than a delicate hourglass.
Getting the Muscles Right (Without Making It Weird)
Here is where it gets tricky. Gymnasts have very specific muscle groups that pop.
- The Quads: These are the engines. When she’s prepping for a vault, her thighs are under immense tension. Draw them with clear, rounded volume.
- The Deltoids: Her shoulders are incredibly defined. Think of them as three distinct "caps" of muscle.
- The Calves: Because she spends so much time on her toes (relevé), her calves are high and tight.
Don't just draw lines for muscles. Use shading. If you draw too many hard lines on a female athlete, she can start to look like a comic book character instead of a human. Use soft graphite or a blending stump to show the transition between the muscles. It’s about the form, not just the anatomy.
Facing the GOAT: The Portrait
Simone has a very expressive face, often caught in a mix of intense focus and a huge, genuine smile.
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Her eyes are slightly almond-shaped and sit relatively wide apart. If you're drawing her in competition mode, the eyebrows are usually slightly raised in concentration.
Don't forget the hair. This is a huge part of the gymnast "look." Usually, it's a very tight, slicked-back bun or a ponytail. In recent years, she’s worn beautiful braids or added gold flakes for the big meets. Getting the "slickness" of the hair right helps the face stand out. Use a very dark 4B or 6B pencil for the hair to create that contrast against the skin.
The Leotard: Texture and Sparkle
You can't draw Simone Biles without the crystals.
The leotards she wears, often designed with GK Elite, are basically armor made of Swarovski crystals. Some of them have over 5,000 stones. Do not try to draw every single crystal. You will lose your mind.
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Instead, use a "stippling" technique. Once you've colored the base of the leotard—maybe a deep navy or a patriotic red—take a white gel pen or a very sharp colored pencil and tap in "clusters" of light. Focus the highlights where the fabric stretches over the shoulders and hips. That’s where the light hits the most.
Action Poses: The "Air Awareness" Factor
If you want to draw her in the air, you have to understand the "twisties." We saw this in Tokyo. It's a mental block where the brain and body lose track of where they are in space.
When drawing a successful flip, the chin is usually tucked slightly toward the chest, or the head is "spotting" the floor. The toes must be pointed. Always. If the toes aren't pointed, it's a 0.1 deduction in the gymnastics world and a "deduction" in your art's realism.
A great pose to try is her "Biles" on floor—the double layout with a half twist. Her body should be slightly arched, arms tucked in tight or beginning to reach for the landing.
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Practical Steps to Finish Your Drawing
- Block the height: Mark the top of the head and the bottom of the feet first. Divide that space into 6 equal parts to keep the "compact" powerhouse look.
- Sketch the "Power Box": Focus on the torso and shoulders before adding the limbs.
- Refine the limbs: Add the muscle volume to the thighs and upper arms.
- The Leotard Glow: Add the base color of the fabric, then use a white pen for the "shimmer" effect of the crystals.
- Final Polish: Sharpen the edges of the hair and the "point" of the toes.
Drawing Simone Biles is really about celebrating what the human body can do when it's pushed to the absolute limit. It’s not about "pretty" lines; it’s about strong lines. Keep your strokes confident. Use a reference photo from the 2024 Paris games for the most up-to-date look at her technique and style.
Once you've finished the sketch, take a step back. If she looks like she's about to spring off the page and do a backflip, you've done it.
Next Steps for Your Art
- Study the "C-Shape": Look at photos of Simone mid-air. Her body often forms a subtle "C" or "S" curve during rotations. Try sketching just that curve five times to get the flow right.
- Practice Texture: Take a scrap piece of paper and practice making "sparkles" with a white gel pen over a dark background. It’s harder than it looks to make it look random and natural.
- Focus on the Feet: Spend ten minutes drawing nothing but gymnast feet in "relevé" (on the balls of the feet). This is the foundation of every gymnastics pose.