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Weekly anatomy tip!

This week I tackle feet. I know how many of you asked for it.

It is hard topic indeed. It’s hard to draw nice looking character with feet that doesn’t look believable. 

A lot practice is needed. I just presented few ideas and now you have to put it to practice.

Hope this helps !

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At the moment how I feel

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Sea Meets Earth

"I keep turning out to be something more than what I was before."

From left to right, Grail Griffin, Rose-Anja Solmor, and Anders Solmor, all characters of mine from my game with my brother.

I don't know if I've ever enjoyed the process of making a sketch more. Ordinarily I put on a book or video to listen to while I'm drawing. I barely did with this one, because I was enjoying revelling in it too much. I didn't want to split my mind by listening to some other story. Lots of drawing in silence or listening to the characters' playlist. The sheer welling up of love for these Saltmarshers was there pretty much the whole time. And even if these aren't perfect depictions, and I've got a long way to go skill-building, this picture feels so right to me. Like my imagination properly made it to the page this time.

They are so, so dear to me. Probably that's the main thing I like about the sketch. Every pencil scratch was about loving the characters.

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"Eagerly, Graham grabbed at the wooden bow. It was rough, and ugly, and he missed Achaka’s bow all the more. This bow wasn’t worth six coins. It might not even be worth one. He tested the string with his thumb, tied it tighter, pulled the draw back, thought. He didn’t care for how it felt under his hands, and there was only one arrow, but with patience and a whole moat-full of luck, he might manage to make a single shot. Maybe."

Inspired by a scene from @gerbiloftriumph's wonderful King's Quest fic, "Lost and Found."

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And a couple more studies from the same book.

Doing some studies today, based on photos from an old coffee table book, “This England” from National Geographic, 1966.

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Doing some studies today, based on photos from an old coffee table book, “This England” from National Geographic, 1966.

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Studies from “The Big Book of Cartooning” by Vic Lockman.

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October Prompt #10: Market

"Her booth was right in front of her forge. It gave off a metallic tang of oil, almost spicy, and sharp things glinted in the sunlight. At least for half of it. With geometrical precision, her table was divided in half, not one thing allowed to cross into the other half. One side was full of weaponry, and the other side…petunias."

Inspired by a passage from @gerbiloftriumph's delightful slice of life ficlet, "Shiny Gold Coins."

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October Prompt #11 - "Sweets"

I know, I know - her dad hasn't properly met Cedric yet, so this doesn't make sense. But still.

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October Sketch #12 - "Companion"

You'll learn a lot from Peter Spear, Graham.

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October Sketch #13: "Pirate"

"Captain's Log, Guybrush Threepwood. Well, I'm in jail. Again. It would be a regular Tuesday if it was just me. But it's not. Link and Graham are here too. Link seems fine. Graham, however, is... coping."

Inspired by the latest chapter from @captmickey's fantastic webcomic, "The Three Adventurers!"

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October Sketch #14: "Castle"

"And the fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood."

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YEAHH THAT , all my faces look the same

Ohhh, yeah dude I can try to help!

I think a good exercise would be to take a combo of features first, throw it on a specific face shape, and assemble your person! Start off really really simple with a flat sketch of your rough idea, then flesh them out:

Keep in mind how your individual features will look from every angle.

Adding visible signs of aging can help distinguish people a lot.

This is secondary, but think about how each character you draw would express the same emotions through their acting! It’ll go a long way to make them feel like their own people.

Doing studies from real life always helps. Find photos of completely different looking people and see if you can capture their likeness!

Hope this helps!

-Alka

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October Prompt #9: "Secret Room"

When you go to check out the supposedly haunted house, and discover it's not haunted at all. It's a hideout for a gang of smugglers who play up the spooky reputation to keep nosy parkers away. And then all's said and done, and you've killed the bandit captain and got all his stooges properly arrested, and you decide to revisit the house to pick up your share of the treasure, and decide to have look inside the hidden room you discovered the first time around but didn't go into... and find you might have a sneaking suspicion of the tiniest sort that the house might be haunted after all.

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October Sketch #7 - "Disguise"

“You’re not a monster, Shallan,” Wit whispered. “Oh, child. The world is monstrous at times, and there are those who would have you believe that you are terrible by association.”

“I am.”

“No. For you see, it flows the other direction. You are not worse for your association with the world, but it is better for its association with you.”

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October Sketch #6: "Ruins"

"What I don't quite understand," said Jill, "is how we didn't see the lettering? Or could it have come there since last night?[...]"

"Why, you chump!" said Scrubb. "We did see it. We got into the lettering. Don't you see? We got into the letter E in ME. That was your sunk lane!"

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October Sketch #5: "Legend"

"Shall I not be on a pedestal, worshipped and competed for?

Not be carried off, or better still, cause a little war?"