#pose practice mostly using references

[theartsanityshoppe]

[gildedoak]

More Overlord!Husk AU

@celestialalpacaron - I'm not sure if you fully understand the scope of the ART MONSTER you have unleashed with this idea.

But just got some practice with quick sketches using reference photos - mostly of Frank Sinatra. (Included those too for comparison.) I think my favorite is the waltz one, because I am a SUCKER for ballroom dance. ❤️ And ballet. And jazz. And dance in general. You get such WILD and beautiful poses.

Description below the cut!

[IMAGE DESCRIPTION: a collection of ink sketches of Husk and Angel in the Overlord!Husk AU. One sketch is an overhead view of Husk and Angel waltzing, as they rest their heads on each others' shoulder. One is of Husk kissing Angel on the temple. One is of Husk scowling while holding Fat Nuggets, who's wearing a tiny top hat. The last is of Angel and Husk sitting together, wearing more casual clothes, with Husk comforting Angel as he leans into him, and has one wing curled over him.

The next four are close-ups of each sketch. The next four are the reference photos used.

END DESCRIPTION]

[king-wyrmwood-art]

Kitsuneisi Art Study!

This is an art study of @kitsuneisi, using mostly references from their tumblr. I wanted to do an art study and was super excited for the new DDVAU update so woo!

I've written some notes in the margins of each drawing and would love to go more in-depth about both our styles and the general process, but this post would be so incredibly long so I'll refrain for now. (I might break it up into separate parts and turn this into a master list one day).

This first three are the base of any art study: leaning the proportions and sketching style of the artist! The first image is from @xmaruu11's first Twitch stream, which I discovered a few days in my study and watched to get a sense of Kitsuneisi's sketching style.

The main difference between our styles is that Kitsuneisi's poses are more fluid and they draw the face first, whereas my poses are stiffer and I drawn the head first.

Kitsuneisi and I use different drawing programs, so I couldn't quite make a brush that matched theirs; from looking at their Valentine's comic (which I chose so that colours wouldn't distract me), I noticed the line variation lent a lot to the fluidity.

Colour theory my beloathed! While I was laying out the colours for the Scar drawing, I noticed that the blue Kitsuneisi used was very warm-toned. In almost all of the light-hearted scenes, they use warm colours or warm-tinted colours, while the more serious scenes use darker or cooler tones.

The lighter, warmer backgrounds in the office scenes/G being a simp give a more wholesome feel, while the darker backgrounds in serious moments give a more intense atmosphere.

Now, all that's great, but it's time to put it into practice!

For my sketch, I tried to use a more dynamic pose and focus on making the face a focal point.

In my lineart, I tried to vary my line thickness.

For the flat colours, I used mostly warm tones and tried to match the colours used in the comics, but my love of cool tones took over the Mother Spore wings. I think it makes a nice contrast, at least.

And the final image! (I'll be posting it separately). The background adds a better contrast and helps Grian stand out despite how dark some of the colours are. I'm honestly very proud of this piece and hope both Kitsuneisi and Maru like it too. :)

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Some Art Vocabulary

Abstract - Simplified, intended to capture an aspect or essence of an object or idea rather than to represent reality.

Amber - Tree resin that has become a fossil. It is semi-transparent and gem-like. Amber is used in jewelry today as it has been for thousands of years.

Amulet - Object, organic or inorganic, believed to provide protection and turn away bad luck. Amulets were often worn as jewelry in antiquity.

Anneal - To heat metal to make it soft and pliable.

Black-figure - Technique of vase painting developed in Greece in the 7th and 6th centuries BCE and adopted by the Etruscans. Figures are painted on a reddish clay vase in black silhouette and details are then cut away with a sharp point down to the red below. Sometimes artists added additional colors, especially purple-red and white.

Bronze Disease - Corrosion of a bronze object that cannot be permanently stabilized. Without special care, an object with bronze disease will continue to corrode.

Bust - Portrait of a person including the head and neck, and sometimes the shoulders and part of the chest.

Cameo Glass - Glass produced by layering two or more colors of glass. Generally, an upper layer of white stood out against a contrasting lower background, usually blue.

Cameo Stone - Hard stone, such as agate, naturally layered with bands of color. Artists took advantage of the layers to carve figures or decoration from an upper layer (or more than one), leaving a background layer of a different color.

Cast - To make in a mold from liquid metal. A cast object can be hollow or solid.

Chasing - Technique of adding definition and details to an image or design on metal from the front using blunt and sharp tools.

Conservator (of antiquities) - Professional responsible for preserving ancient objects and materials. Conservators usually have a general knowledge of chemistry and of ancient art-making practices and are often specialists in one material. Among many other responsibilities, they conduct technical and historical research and oversee preventive care such as climate control.

Contrapposto - (”opposite” in Italian) Pose of a standing figure with most of the weight on one leg and the other bent. This causes hips, shoulders, and head to shift in order to balance the body. One arm is often higher and one lower.

Emery - Hard, dense rock rich in corundum, found easily on the Cycladic Islands. A powerful abrasive for grinding and smoothing other stones.

Encaustic - Technique of painting using colored pigments mixed with wax. The waxy mixture was worked with a tiny spatula.

Gild - To apply a thin layer of gold foil or liquid gold (gilt) to create the look of solid gold.

Iconography - Study of and use in art of repeated images with symbolic meaning.

Incise - To press or cut into a surface (stone, metal, clay, wood) with a sharp tool to write text or create fine curving and linear details.

Inlay - To decorate an object by inserting a piece of another material into it so that it is even with the original surface.

Low Relief - Method of carving figures or designs into a surface so that they are raised slightly above a flat background.

Mosaic - Technique and type of artwork. The technique is to arrange cubes of stone, glass, and ceramic to form patterns and pictures in cement, usually on a floor. The artwork is the final story or decoration made of cubes.

Mummification - Process of preserving a body by drying it. The Egyptians removed internal organs and put natron, a natural mineral mixture, on and inside the body. This absorbed moisture and prevented decay.

Palmette - Stylized palm leaf used as decoration in ancient Greek and Roman art and architecture.

Pentelic - From Mount Pentelicus, near Athens. An adjective that mostly refers to the beautiful white Greek marble marble in its quarries.

Portrait - Image of a person, usually the head and face. Some portraits include part of the chest or show the whole body. The image may closely resemble a person or emphasize, idealize, or invent characteristics.

Repoussé - Technique of raising the outline of a design on metal by repeatedly heating and softening the metal and pushing the desired shapes into it from the back with a blunt tool.

Sarcophagus/Sarcophagi (pl) - Stone coffin, often decorated on the sides with mythological scenes carved in relief, sometimes with the image of the deceased person or couple on the lid. Used in Imperial Roman times from the early 100s into the 400s CE.

Stele/Stelai (pl) - Upright stone or wooden slab or pillar used to honor a person or mark a place. Often an inscribed grave marker or a boundary stone. (Also called stela/stelae.)

Syncretism - Blending of elements of different cultures, often resulting in new imagery or new interpretations.

Tessera/tesserae (pl) - Pieces of stone or other hard materials cut into squares or cubes to make mosaic art.

More: Word Lists ⚜ pt. 2

[lamprophonia]

》 [ yandere!Jock. ] 《

masterlist.

yan!jock x gn!reader: introduction. 1273 words. reader referred to as 'you'. cw for general yandere behavior.

DO NOT USE OR REPOST MY WRITING ANYWHERE.

elijah steele is the best goddamn actor in your school.

the theatre kids could learn from him, honestly, because there is no way in hell anyone else could have convincingly pulled off what he did: pose as the nicest, most helpful and kind student in the entirety of the sorry shithole that is eastview high for four years straight.

to literally everyone, elijah is so sweet it's almost vomit inducing. the school's golden boy — smart, nice, strong. best player on the football team, co-captain of the swim team, and part of the basketball team for good measure, helpful, always cheery, and he got good grades.

even amongst his peers, he was always considered the most straight-edge one; still, he was pretty much universally liked. he was genuinely friends with everyone, never judging or turning anyone away.

what's not to love?

well, probably the fact that all of that is a lie, an ever on-going act. a carefully crafted persona, custom made to hide the fact elijah steele is a colossal prick.

it's honestly almost too easy for him. help teachers out here and there, talk to the right people, go to the right parties, and play on some teams, and boom, the entirety of eastview wrapped around your finger. he's made high school a game for himself, and he has been winning for four years straight.

elijah's obsession with you didn't kick in right away. he saw you and was... eh, rather neutral. he decided you were pretty enough, and homecoming or some other stupid dance he didn't actually care about was coming up, so he needed a date to look good. you were just a pawn, after all, no different from anyone else. an accessory — good-looking and non-threatening enough.

no, the obsession started when you rejected him.

worse than reject him: you saw through the finely crafted veil he's always putting on — through the smile that's as fake as it is charming, the tone of voice that's almost a bit too nice — you saw through it all, and didn't hesitate to let him know.

and oh.

it hurt.

with a few words and an unimpressed look, without even realizing it, you broke elijah's game. you weren't playing along. and hey, he might be a prick, but he's a prick with feelings. a lot of very conflicting feelings, as it turns out; he's dealt with rejection before, but never when it came to relationships.

he probably should have seen the hurt he felt when you rejected him as a sign of what was coming, that being the growing obsession he can practically feel developing. you made him feel something other than smug superiority and mild annoyance. it wasn't anything pleasant, sure, but it was new. the week after that little encounter of yours, you were literally the only thing he could think about.

at first, it was a mixed bag. elijah was confused, weirdly hurt — he discovered he didn't like feeling either of those much — and angry. mostly angry. that was the only emotion he was really familiar with of those three, so he thought he would be able to use it pretty easily. he does football after all, he'd just tackle whatever poor sods that were unfortunate enough to be going up against him in practice and get it all out of his system. easy, right?

it wasn't easy.

he nearly dislocated a guy's shoulder before realizing that his usual method for dealing with his feelings — channeling them into brute force — wasn't working, which only made him more confused, which in turn only made him angrier. so used to being in control, elijah didn't know what to do with himself for the first few days.

fortunately for him and the rest of the eastview football players, his anger, hurt, and confusion subsided after maybe a week and a half, giving way to another unfamiliar, but much more welcome emotion: fascination.

you still occupied his thoughts constantly, but he finally got a break from the all-consuming contempt he felt. instead, he regarded you with intrigue, a curiosity. it was then he decided he had to learn more; you were an obstacle, a challenge. another part of the game.

he just had to figure out how to beat you.

in some strange way, elijah was excited. this was going to be hard, sure, but his mind was already hard at work, and he was sure it would eventually be rewarding.

and hey, most importantly, this was new! his rage turned to pure goddamn delight at the idea of someone who finally isn't drooling all over him. it's so fun! like a specimen for him to study, aren't you, darling? finally, he has to work for someone's favour.

once elijah comes to this... decision? realization? he gets started pretty much immediately. he knows now that the overly sugarcoated golden boy persona isn't going to work for you. he's going to need a new strategy, and he's giddy to get to work on it.

with negative hesitation, he starts stalking you. honestly, he probably starts stalking you before he actually buckles down and starts trying to win you over; at some point in the bafflement that comes with you not immediately falling for him, he just starts to follow you around from a distance, almost absent-mindedly making notes on your schedule, your friends, class mates, teachers... he decides to double down after that, though, deciding that if he's serious about beating you, he's going to have to up his game.

that's when he starts actually following you home, taking note of your family and your behavior outside of school.

the second thing he starts doing is shadowing you outside of stalking. that meaning, he starts sitting with you at lunch, making friends with your friends, switches classes to have them with you, and joins your extracurriculars; and he does so with the most smug, shit-eating grin on his face.

he starts talking to you as if you were one of his friends, and even though you knew that elijah was probably less nice than he seemed at first glance, you didn't realize just how starkly different his real personality is from the persona he puts on.

elijah starts to treat you more genuinely, in a way. he talks shit about his friends to you, bitches freely about all his classes and coaches. it's a distinction that would feel sweet, if not for the cognitive dissonance that comes with watching him be all smiles with someone right after he told you he hates them.

because here's the thing — now that elijah knows you're not fooled by the overly sweet and helpful guy he pretends to be, that his polite golden boy act won't work on you like it does with everyone else; now, he can stop pretending.

it's freeing. hell, it's almost more fun that way.

he wants to win with all of his cards out on the table. every nice, kind he does to make you like him will be colored by that tension, that dissonance, that confusion.

of course, elijah would never admit it, but slowly, as he makes friends with you, his obsession with you turns romantic. his intrigue turns to sincere care and affection. he doesn't realize it until he sees someone flirting with you — or worse, you flirting with someone — and jealousy hits him like a fucking brick.

he's left to collect himself, once again feeling hurt, angry, and confused at his own thoughts. he didn't even like you. you were supposed to be just a game, a challenge, an obstacle.

what the fuck was happening?

[frostblightsunbite]

Loose sketch of Cass, that isn't really a loose sketch anymore.

Rant under cut :)

Fun fact, in the middle of this drawing I found out I had the nightlight filter over my screen, so oops.

honestly not much to say about this, I wanted to practice my leg anatomy and some forshortening, but I did that pretty quickly. I suck at colouring, mostly because this month is the first time I have ever tried to colour in flats instead of painting, which is why everything I'm making is so messy. I like making excuses for my mistakes

I still think her legs are wayyy too long- which is a problem I always have, the pose under Steph's drawing I had to shrink by like a third, sooooo

Also here's a lightened version, just with a filter over the top

No one look at it too closely. thats rude.

(Quick edit to say that I actually used half of an anatomy reference for this, so proud of myself. you can probably tell by the upgrade in quality, or that might also be because I increased the canvas size by A Lot.)

The shadows are also pretty wrong, if anyone has any tips on that, please let me know! much thanks for the response on my stuff so far, actually wild to reach 100 notes on one thing, so thank you!

[cripplecharacters]

This might be a bit of a weird question as I know this isn't a drawing blog, but do you happen to have any pointers for finding good reference photos for drawing cane users? I'm having trouble finding interesting/dynamic poses, and the vast majority of pose generator sites I've found don't even show people with mobility aids. Stock photo sites and google are also limited in their usefulness, mostly giving me very stiff poses. If you have any tips that would be great.

hello dearest asker!

I tried to be an artists once upon a time so let me direct you to some things that might help! Here is an excellent post written up by @deoidesign shows how motion and functionality with a cane works. Here is a post by @sparrowsocks on the cane design itself and the practicality of it. Here is another "How To" guide that is a bit more simple but covers how the hand changes with different handles.

Here is a reference of hands gripping cylindrical objects that I think might be a little helpful. Grabbing a cane or just moving it are all things that go into it too.

If you're going for more a historical setting, Here is a library of sources of historical walking sticks and canes. That source is more novelty canes and not for practicality for a mobility aid, but Here is another source for History and it has more practical canes.

Also things like old photo rolls when film was just becoming what we know today could be something helpful too.

[Image Description: A black and white picture roll of two sets with twelve frames in each. The first roll is a side angle of a man holding a can and walking then taking a right turn and walking back. The second roll is a backside angle of the man walking with the cane and then taking a right turn and walking back.]

We can see for example in the first two frames how the opposite leg moves with the cane.

And of course we have more photos from the Victorian era of men with canes. Granted canes were used largely for fashion but a lot of people did use them for balance and such too. Also they're good references for poses while holding a cane.

Another thing I can recommend is just watching videos of someone using a cane. Look up disabled YouTubers or people who do physical therapy videos and they show largely how movement with a cane should look and more.

If you're looking for dynamic poses I would recommend looking up cosplayers or models who are disabled and use canes. But also looking up disabled actors that use canes or similar mobility aids and go through their filmography is another good way to see references. A lot of disabled people who are artists also post their own photos and videos for art references specifically too.

One last thing is how the character holds their body and what type of cane they need is gonna depend on how they are disabled. Working that out and doing more research is gonna change some things. But also even though there is a proper way to use a cane, some people use canes in different ways to suit their needs and comfort. The biggest example in media is House from House MD and while Hugh Laurie isn't disabled, he does a pretty accurate portrayal of someone using a cane in an alternative way. I personally (when I was getting fitted for one) would use my cane very much as House does, and other people have said much the same.

Hopefully this helps in some way and your fellow artists may be able to throw more help in the notes. Happy drawing!

~Mod Virus 🌸

[oxygen537art]

So you're telling me that you draw some of these scrumptious NSFW traditionally??? HOW do you do them so well, do you look up poses/references, or just have that much practice? I'd be grateful for any tips 🙏

Yes, traditionally. In my case, both options work. I use references and have a lot of practice (I've been drawing every day since the end of 2022).

Knowing proportions and anatomy helps me, so I can suggest working on that first. Break the bodies from the reference into simple shapes, e.g. arms and legs are cylinders, joints are spheres, etc. If you can visualize objects in three dimensions, it will be easier. Otherwise, you can use 3D models or articulated artist mannequin.

Learn the location of muscles, how they attach to bones, what bones they attach to, study what they look like from different angles. Not necessarily if your style doesn't involve depicting realistic human anatomy.

I can recommend the books:

Uldis Zarins and Sandis Kondrats Anatomy for Sculptors

Hampton, M. Figure Drawing: Design and Invention

Barcsay, J. Művészeti anatómia (Anatomy for The Artist)

My references for these drawings are mostly all NSFW, some I find on adult sites or Twitter. You can see the muscles very well in these pictures, it's like drawing from nudes in an art studio. But you don't have to use them if you're uncomfortable, the regular ones from Pinterest are just as good!

Using pose references, I usually turn the bodies to a different angle so I don't copy it.

I also draw slower on paper than in digital, one drawing can take hours while I check everything, find mistakes and redraw it, so time plays a role too. I also use a mirror, turn the drawing over and look at it while holding it up to the light, or take a photo and turn it horizontally to see the mistakes. In short, flipping the canvas.

I highly recommend taking breaks. And most importantly, don't be too hard on yourself, drawing should be a joy! If you like challenges, go ahead, if not, don't force yourself to do everything perfectly.

I hope it helps!

[necromancer-mango]

[start image description: Digital drawings of various poses on multiple pages. There is some text on the pages. In the first page the text reads: "Spend a lot of time looking at how people stand. Observe yourself to avoid stiffness, curve the body the body/shift hips and posture of the spine. Arms can break up lines." The second page's text reads: "More focused. More open/relaxed. Very relaxed/sleepy. Foot skids in, tilt for speed. Changes to spacing of leg without changing anything else alters feeling. Consider what you want to convey through posture."  The third page’s text reads: "Firm pose, weight on this leg. Same pose but body is angled. Less firm, looks cocky. Weight on this leg. Not very bendy (body straight), but angle gives attitude. Angle body plus adjust perspective can make it pop. Focus is on the upper body (especially arms and face)." The fourth page’s text reads: "Big curves, big movement, big emotion. If something is mostly straight, pop something out so it doesn't look stiff. Arm pops out, spine and leg. Looks down, can be calm or uncertain. Body droops, pops out. Weight." The fifth page has no text, rather there are multiple sitting poses on a page. The sixth page’s text reads: "Dramatic poses can be derived from dance, sports, fashion poses, et cetera. Leg pops up, push down on this leg. Extend! pops out. Weight still here." The seventh page’s text reads: "Position draws attention to certain body parts. You want to guide the eye. Foreshortening can be a curve. Interesting bits: head and hands position (torso is the rigid part due to position)." The eighth page’s text reads: "Extra examples." /end image description]

Body poses! Trying to make this was actually kind of difficult. I struggled trying to articulate how I placed people in spaces considering quite a bit of it is intuitive at this point. This guide’s focus is less about anatomy and more about flow and bodies in various positions and amount of motion. Sometimes the most difficult ones are the relaxed ones, mostly because it is subtle and can quickly become stiff. Hopefully this can be of some use. I think another thing that might help with positioning the body is to work on conveying physicality of the person in the image (how the flesh squishes and rests in contact with other things). I also spend time looking at other art as well as other bodies. Looking at bodies (including yourself as a reference) can really be done anywhere in any circumstance. For example, I did 6 yrs of musical theater with 2 of those 6 years doing tap. Staring at other people plus yourself when learning and practicing how to dance increases your awareness of your body position with others. This awareness can be utilized in other things outside of dance, as can be seen with how I place bodies.

[ladyphoenix404]

Crossover (part 2)

As I promised, I can finally post the second season of this crossover (which has been ready for a long time). For those who don't know, I'm making a crossover of the "Transformers: Prime" and "Wings of Fire" book series.

This season includes :

1 Cliffjumper — Rainwing/skywing hybrid. From Skywings Cliff inherited only the color of his scales and his name . He`s not able to exhale fire, but he can spit poison and become completely invisible.

2. Airachnid — Silkwing/Hivewing hybrid. She hit the jackpot: she can both release sticky silk from her wrists and has poisonous glands on her body. Because of the mixed blood, her eyes turned purple without a pupil, which helps her see well in the dark. Rumor has it that she has contacted the Breath of Evil plant, thanks to which she can subdue all Insecticons.

3. Starscream — Icewing/Nightwing hybrid. For the most part, Starscream inherited the genes from Icewings. The pattern under the wings looks more like the aurora borealis than the night sky. His blood is blue. He`s able to exhale fire and tolerate low temperatures. Once he tried to use the Breath of Evil, like Megatron, to subdue other dragons, but he almost became his toy. As a result of the mixed blood, red eyes appeared. Although he was born under the light of the moons, because of the mixed blood, he didn`t receive the gift of Nightwings.

4. Shockwave — Nightwing. Shockwave was once a senator, but after Empurata he lost his eye, the ability to exhale fire and his front paws. He replaced one of them with a sword (which is also a hidden crossbow). Alas, after such a procedure, Shockwave left fighting and politics and decided to pursue science. He is a mind reader and can penetrate other dragon's minds and dreams.

Bonus (OC) My OC Darklight — Rainwing/Nightwing hybrid. For the most part, Darcy inherited the Rainwigs genes, but despite this, she is able to exhale fire, but the color of the scales can practically not change (not at will, usually changes due to emotions or instincts). The pattern on the wings and hood resembles a twilight sky. Due to mixed blood, she received a weak gift of foreseeing the future (mostly in dreams).

Violet — Nightwing. Vio has silver scales in the corners of his eyes, which indicates his ability to read minds. Thanks to this, he can not only hear it, but also communicate using telepathy and penetrate into other draon's dreams (But he doesn`t like to talk about his ability. in vain, unlike you, Darklight!)

Vio belongs to : Violet Star Poses for Starscream and Shockwave were taken from references from the artist Laweema

[bara-izu]

Do you have any advice on how to get over lack of skill? I want to do the Astarion Lestate trend but I don't think my skills are ready for it. I have references pictures of Astarion pulled up when I'm working, and even have the game launched so I can turn him if I need to (mostly for the attempts I did at his hair) but everytime I tweaked something or started over nothing looked right. I keep getting frustrated 😭

Hi anon- Sorry this took me a while to get to, i hope you and others can still find this useful! While the basic advise to get over 'lack of skill' is PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE! i hope this will help you knowig where to get started with that!

I'm going to put my teacher pants back on, this might be a bit long so buckle up- I'll go over a few areas:

Primitive Shapes

How to Use References

Delete your work (hear me out)

--------------------------------------

Primitive Shapes:

This is your foundation. Everything starts with this, and while you may find it boring to think of your art in terms of cubes and spheres- i kid you not it will help elevate your work.

If/when you are stuggling to draw a complicated pose, or a specific perspective, refering back to the form in these basic shapes can really help to simplify your process and help you problem solve.

A chill/silly watch for a more in depth discussion on what i mean / how this can help - Give Pikat's 'Draw boxes (correctly) to improve your art' a watch. They also mention this in the video but @/Uncomfortable on youtube also has some great fundermental videos.

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How to use references.

Okay so references are great 10/10 very useful. But, unless you know WHAT to study from a reference, they can sometimes fall flat of their usefullness.

Anatomy studies are something a lot of us will be recommended as artists, but actually knowing what to pay attention to can boost your confidence in your work. Start with a goal, what do you want to get out of this sketch session? Do you want to get better at understanding the 3D form of a specific part of anatomy? Better at poses? Try to narrow down your learning each session to make it less overwhelming.

In this i'll focus on understanding the form so, lets start with a reference. Linking back to Primitives again, start off by braking down your anatomy into forms. Sketching over the top of your references is totally fine. But make sure you are doing so critically, otherwise it may look like a flat/unnatural trace and you're not really learning from it. Via the first sketch you can see where the primitive shapes fall on the body - think of it like a ball-jointed-doll, hips, knees, shoulders ect are ball socketed whereas arms, legs ect can be made up of tubes. (See the first image, when sketching your tubes, sketch your contour lines too- this can help determind how clothing / hair will fall over the body, and can help you understand the 3D Form.)

A BIG IMPORTANT SIDE NOTE - When using photo references, do be very aware that they may be distorted due to the height of the camera, or camera focal length - (you can see in my sketch i had to edit the torso and head because the reference was a little top heavy)

A few artists/books for some extra reading / reference : - Andrew Loomis (OG for body proportions, books are a little outdated but fundermentals are still useful), - Tenten云画画 (his stylised anatomy breakdowns are very interesting to me) - Anatomy Essentials (I've had this book for years, it covers lots of areas, is a bit complex though, i myself should reread it again 😅

Also, if you can't find a reference for a specific pose, don't be afraid to use 3D programs! Anatomy 360, DesignDoll, Clip Studio, Magic Poser - all nifty options~

SO taking when we've learnt from the primitive forms, you can now try applying that to the Lestrat Picture. (which, granted is a complicated pose, as it also has forshortening and an odd top down perspetive of the bottom character- so don't panic if you don't get it the first time!)

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Final points- Delete your art (hear me out)

What i mean by this is, sometimes reworking the same face over and over again can bog your down. It can make it very difficult to actually see whats wrong. So, get rid of it and start again. (hide the layer/use a different piece of paper, please don't actually bin it (yet))

Next, redraw it. Use what you've learned the first time, and redraw it from scratch. (in this case, that might be just specifically the head, or the hair, or the eyes ect - you don't have to bin the whole thing, but sometimes it can really help give you a new perspective)

Once you've done this, unhide your original, compare, this may help you understand what you were doing wrong the first time. Or if there are areas of one that you like- its an opportunity to combine them as you see fit! :)

On a side note for Astarion's Hair, the lovely @mistercrowbar actually posted a breakdown yesterday! (i use p much the same method so-)

I HOPE this was of some use- do feel free to ask any questions if you've got them! i'll try to answer in a more timely manner next time 😅

[lemon-lime-behavior]

Do you have any references for your older zoro? I’ve been looking for the more plump muscular references and can’t find any ;-;

I apologize in advance I got a bit rambly.

So usually when I'm drawing bodies I'm not necessarily looking at a single reference. I sketch the pose I want first and then start digging up things to help me get certain body parts right, other body parts I'll just bullshit based on memory. I've spent a decent amount of time practicing, studying anatomy, and doing figure studies, so I can usually pull off something that looks mostly correct just off the cuff, but references are very helpful for bodies or poses I'm not used to and also to keep me from getting too much in a rut with my own knowledge and developing bad habits.

Here's the general process:

Now how I found those reference images was googling things like "shirtless man leaning forward" and "arm grabbing other arm" and "man squatting" and then just being persistent in my digging. Sometimes it takes a while!

All this to say, I don't have just one reference photo for what I used when drawing Zoro, it was a combination of a few of them and just what I already knew offhand. I can share some of the images I used in that drawing, though it's not all of them (I deleted them from my files as soon as I was done with them and I couldn't find all of them again)

I definitely hear you though, on how it's stupidly difficult to find good reference photos for body types that aren't underwear models. They're there if you dig around though, and if you want thick muscular guys in particular I would recommend looking up wrestlers and dudes who compete in strongman competitions.

As for the second part of your question, I mean like, sure, I can't stop you, but I would caution against it. Like I said earlier I tend to bullshit parts of my anatomy and... well did you ever play the game Telephone as a kid? If you use my art as a reference you'll be copying any mistakes I made, and the farther away from the source material it gets the more distorted it becomes. Using someone else's art as a reference is okay if you're deliberately trying to study that person's style, but in most cases when creating original work finding photographic reference material, or better yet in person reference material when possible, is best.

My number one piece of advice is to just draw as many bodies as you can, of as many sizes and shapes as you can. If you want more varied but still muscular body types try looking up different sports players, that's always a pretty good bet.

Some good websites for finding varied body types I can recommend are: https://www.fatphotoref.com/ (you have to apply to gain access but it's free) https://www.adorkastock.com/ (A very large catalogue, an old dear friend of mine) https://line-of-action.com/practice-tools/figure-drawing (Leads you through your own timed figure drawing sessions)

And of course you can't go wrong with doing some studies of bones and muscles!

Good luck!

[ssalballoon]

i wanna get better at art but dont know how to start ^^' whats a good way to get into studying anatomy and improving as an artist? tysm 💗 love your art soso much

more art converts 😼 yay!!

i think these asks were sent by different people but they're pretty related + a lot of my advice is the same! so i'll answer these together under the cut (it's so long oh gosh)

ok first of all i'm very flattered that people are asking me for art advice but i'm really not the most equipped person to ask TTOTT I've never been deliberately studious with my art so I feel bad offering advice when I've mostly gotten by with just drawing fanart and ocs a lot... my rate of improvement has therefore been slow, but I've still had an enjoyable learning experience so perhaps from that angle my input may help! i'll mainly refer you to external resources that have helped me

For anatomy + drawing humans:

1) I know I'm not diligent enough to sit down and study muscles, so instead I make it more enjoyable by drawing my favorite characters in a pose that targets the muscles I want to practice! (i default to drawing ppl naked because of this lol) This isn't the most efficient, but it serves as good motivation to get practice in. (honestly a lot of my general art advice has the undercurrent of becoming so obsessed with characters to drive your motivation to draw even when artblocked/ struggling with doubts!)

2) I want to refer you to Sinix's Anatomy playlist! Although Sinix focuses more on digital painting, he gives simplified anatomy breakdowns that include how muscles change shape under different movements/poses, which is crucial for natural human posing. the static anatomy diagrams from Google don't really help for that

3) What's just as important as anatomy is gestures! (especially important if you're used to drawing non-human objects I think!) Making figures look like they have flow to them will sell the "naturalness"(?) to your anatomy. If you have in person life drawing sessions accessible near you I'd recommend trying those out, or if you prefer trying it digitally there's this website!

This helps you not only get a sense of human proportions, but also natural posing! I'd limit the time taken to draw the poses from like 10 seconds to 1 minute(?) for quick gestures, and maybe 1 minute to 5mins(for now!! typically they go much longer) to study human proportions. I'd say don't spend a lot of time on them, repetition is more important!

4) I've also picked up on useful anatomy tidbits from artists online! Looking at how practiced/ professional artists stylize a body helps me focus on what the essential details are to convey a particular form (looking up "human muscles" and being hit with anatomy diagrams full of all the smallest details can be overwhelming! what do you even focus on?! so these educated simplifications really help me) Like Emilio Dekure's work! Look how simplified these figures are, and yet contain all the essential information to convey the sense of accurate form (even though it's highly exaggerated!)

(shamefully admits I've never studied from actual anatomy books so I can't recommend anything in that sense TTOTT)

For general improvement:

1) I highly recommend Sinix's Design Theory playlist and Paintover Pals! (+ his channel in general) You don't have to put them immediately into practice, but I think these are good fundamental lessons to just listen to and have them in the back of your mind to revisit another day. Plus these videos are just fun and very approachable! Design theory fundamentals are essential to creating appeal and directing a viewer's attention, and critiquing others' work/ seeing his suggestions are a good way to practice noticing areas of improvement+ solutions yourself!

2) If you prefer a more formal teaching resource, the Drawabox YouTube course covers all the basic fundamentals of drawing in short lessons. But honestly if I were starting out, this would be a little intimidating for me (and even now it still is! I haven't done all of them) But even if you don't watch them, the titles should give you an idea of the basic concepts that are valuable to pick up. I think it would be nice to keep in mind and revisit once in a while as you learn!

(One lesson I do encourage you to watch is the line control one! A confident continuous line conveys motion and flow much better compared to discontinuous frayed lines which I think is good to practice early by drawing from the wrist and shoulder)

3) As a universal piece of advice: Please please please use references! Use a reference for literally everything, observing is how we learn! You'll find that a lot of things you thought you knew what they looked like are inaccurate by memory alone. Also, trace! This is solely for your practice, tracing then freehanding has helped me grasp proportions when I was struggling! (of course don't post these online if you traced from art)

I've found that being able to compile references into easy to access boards has been very helpful in encouraging me to use references more. For PC, I think they use PureRef (free/pay what you want), and for iPad I use VizRef. VizRef is a one time purchase (which was definitely worth the $3.99 USD price imo)

4) On that note, try building up the habit to observe from media + real life and make purposeful comments about what you see! Like hey, when I bend my knee, the muscles/fat in my thighs and calves bulge outwards, I should draw that next time. Purposeful observation carries over to your overall visual library, and it's a little thing that adds up over time

5) For motivation, get into media you really enjoy, or make your own characters! The way I started art more seriously was by drawing fanart + OCs from anime that I liked ^^ For OCs it really encourages you to draw more because you're the primary creator of their art! Also you gotta see a lot of good art to make good art! Watching visually appealing media (like animation with appealing stylization/simplification) can passively help you learn just by observation.

ok wow I could go on but this is already a lot of information TTOTT my main aim for this reply is basically: don't let anything discourage you from learning to draw!! drawing is so fun and brings me a lot of joy ^^ practicing often will of course help you improve, and the way to incentivize that is by having fun with it! i hope this could help!💞

[syaolaurant]

Hello hello, I love your work and was wondering if you'd be open to making a little breakdown of your art style?

It's really interesting to me and I love taking bits of different artists art style elements and incorporating them into my doodles to get better

Totally okay if you don't want to! 💜💜💜

Take care and have an amazing life 🤗💜☺️

Hello!! Thanks for asking 🤗 I'm not making a little breakdown of my art style I already WROTE A WHOLE ESSAY ABOUT IT!!

Sorry I exaggerated it a bit🥲🥲...

I was very happy to receive this ask, but at the same time I felt worried. Honestly, I didn’t know how to give you a relevant answer because  I don’t even think I have a consistent art style 🥲. Except for my usual chibi style which I feel most comfortable with, I feel my style constantly changes. So after going back to review my old paintings, I think my style is a combination of children's book illustrations and Japanese anime style. Many times I have received comments about my paintings looking like they are from children's books, and I agree haha, maybe because I mostly draw small characters in big settings and I usually use bright colors. 

My favorite artists:

My drawing style is mostly influenced by my all time favorite artists Heikala and Koyamori, I stumbled across their Insta accounts during my 1st year in college (that was 10 years ago) and from then my drawing style gradually took shape. I also admire Paulina Cassidy, mostly because I like her whimsical nature sprites theme. Recently I’ve been investing in Stephanie Law’s artwork, her coloring technique is so god-like that I hope one day I can reach that level…

Ideas and Inspirations:

Japanese anime/manga culture has had a great impact on my childhood. It was a dream come true for me to be able to pursue my college study in Japan. I think this journey greatly affected my current style. I draw lots of things from small doodles to funny comics. I'd describe my drawings as “silly and cute” since I love to make people laugh and I also live for the fluffs (Sometimes I drew angst too but it still turned out cute haha..). Aside from that,  I prefer making “storytelling” illustrations with colorful backgrounds. My favorite things to draw are tiny characters in big scenery, I like to create peaceful static moments that when looking at them help warm my heart and calm my mind. 

When making game fanarts, I usually take screenshots as references for background and imagine how the character will act in that setting. I just do what I feel comfortable and use my own judgment for composition … which… sometimes results in weird perspectives (and you know what I’ve just discovered the rule of third recently 😅…). 

Characters:

When it comes to drawing characters, I honestly don't know how to explain my style. I think chibi is my most recognizable style, apart from that I usually draw characters in semi-chibi (is it the right way to call it??) or simple anime style. I don’t usually draw characters with dynamic poses or movements ( that’s why I still suck at anatomy and expression 😩😩). I think I’m shifting from anime to a more cartoon style since I kinda have same face problem and  I’m trying to practice face shapes.

I think my character drawing style is most influenced by Akihiko Yoshida (who is behind many FF/Nier/ bravely default concepts), as I always draw my characters with chubby round faces and dreamy eyes. I made an example of how I usually draw my characters below.

Technique: 

Watercolor technique is quite complex so I’ll explain how I always do my paintings in another sharing post. I’ve posted part 1 of my sharing here. Generally, I love using bright, saturated tones and black ink brush pen or color brush to paint line work. 

. I hope I could answer your question. I’m definitely no expert, all the things about art I've learn was self-taught but I'm happy to help anyway I can. 💕💕

And you 🫵🫵 yes you dear sweet anon! I wish you a happy life too!!!! 💕💕

[swollenbabyfat]

hi! sorry this is a weird ask— but i love the way you draw sighthounds and i was wondering if you have any pointers, because mine have been looking very wonky.

Hey there, no worries at all. I haven't spent a ton of like...in depth studying of them, mostly just using photo references. I will say they are INCREDBILY beautiful and elegant or INCREDIBLY goofy silly looking depending on angle, so collecting a good set of references is helpful.

I think it's good to luck the breeds skeleton/bone structure to reference for figuring out posing and anatomy

Besides that, I would practice the method in this tutorial. I truly think it's incredibly helpful for breaking down something you're new to drawing.

[mlarty]

Hi! I love yalls art. I'm getting back into the groove of things and wanted to ask if there's any resources you guys would recommend to get better at anatomy and color? Thank you so much

Thank you!! 🖤 Well, tbh we're kinda like explorers. We have an array of resources, but nothing too specific. So our learning process is fairly chaotic and unprofessional: we don't have much special literature or anything like that behind us; in most cases, we're just like eager sponges soaking everything we can from the world and socials

But speaking of things we find useful, anatomical 3D models and photo references (from artstation, sketchfab, pinterest, etc) are definitely at the top of our list. We also often take our own photos to get a better understanding of poses/angle/muscles… it doesn't always work well, we're damn skinny creatures lmao, but you know you're your own biggest anatomical resource that's always with you

As for color, we have enough color theory and just practice, practice, practice… We believe in learning by doing and make mistakes to grow - reinvent the wheel??? - than to use useful information from others… Sometimes (!) a personal journey can give you more than anything else

But yeah, it's mostly just some random content like text, picture, video. Let everything around you become a source of inspiration and knowledge