#i cANt draw dynamic poses help

[radiotorn]

if my perfectionism wasnt at an all time high i would be unstoppable. good lort. i NEED to get rid of this stupid perfectionism it is STOPPING ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

#its especially bad w my art bc id be drawing so much more but my brain wontlet me do anything unless its extremely complex and interesting a #all the poses are dynamic and the ccolors look good #and im holding myself to these horribly high standards. but i dont WANT to #but i cant help but yell at myself and be super mean when i dont make somethjing 'interesting' enough :((((( #ok guards u can put me down now #ow.err

[naturecalls111]

I wrote this on twitter but I thought I'd put it here too, since I occasionally get asks on how I draw/any tips I might have. On twitter I also made the caveat that I don't feel I'm qualified to give anyone tips, LOL, but I was drawing today for an assignment and felt like this is worth noting to any beginner artists who have a tendency of clinging onto sketches that they feel like they finally got right! (A.K.A, a habit I still have years later HA!) This isn't so much of a tutorial as expressing my thought process in this discovery of how to draw more dynamic pieces. I found it to be satisfying on my end, seeing it unravel, so hopefully it can help someone who may be struggling with the same thing I am.

MAKING MORE DYNAMIC PIECES, A PERSONAL STUDY!:

I wasn't upset by this drawing, but I could tell there was something stagnant about it so I ended up pushing it and redrawing it a million times to see if I could somehow make it look more dynamic.

Here's one part of the timelapse - I'm clearly adamant on trying to make this pose/composition work but while the sketch itself may look better, the stagnation hasn't changed. Perhaps this works for some people, but anyone seeking a dynamic visual will be able to spot that this simply isn't working as anything more than a semi-decent anatomy study attempting to be applied.

I changed the position of both arms, I tried to play around with the angle of the head, I tried to just the hips forward more so that the spine had increased curvature, but the main issue, really, was that the initial composition lacked the dynamism in general. It prioritised dramaticism over dynamism. Both can exist in the same piece - it did not, in this one.

This was the new sketch I started with. Less rigid base to go off of. Just getting down the general shape I wanted to score - make the spine and tail take a sort of mid-whip path, shoulders hunched, hips cant forwards, as if he's curling in on himself. I think for a dynamic piece, it's more helpful that your initial sketch uses the body as a general marker as opposed to something to do lineart over (granted, I don't really do lineart anyway, my sketch is usually the extent of my "lineart", but since this is just looking at creating a more dynamic composition, I think it still applies!)

Here it's the same principle. For the left image (the legs) I've established where the knee of the right leg goes, and where the hip that precedes the left leg will sit. These are just base anatomical structures that help me figure out 1. Whether or not the mere idea of this composition will work, and 2. where I have to stop once I start drawing. For me, having some sort of limitation for the body helps me stay within range of proportionate anatomy (not that I particularly care for the anatomy to be realistic, just proportionate to the style I'm drawing in)

On the right image is also the same principle. Establishing the movement of the arm, the elbow/arm bend, and the hand. (If you see the full sketch before the two above, I established the hand in that one too - it really is helpful figuring out the placement of the hand ahead of time.) If it looks atrocious afterwards I always have the lasso tool/eraser to save me.

The new attempt brings me to this. While preference in art is subjective, I do think I'd be staying in SOME realm of objectivity when I say this is more dynamic than my initial sketch, LOL. Of course, lighting/rendering choices help push the composition a little more, but this achieves what I couldn't do with that first sketch. I had a general idea, but it's important to know when to let go of something that clearly isn't working.

Would love for anyone to add their own tips or ideas to this post - I'm not particularly known for dynamic pieces so I'm always looking to learn. This was a really valuable study for me so I wanted to share it, but everyone has their own method and what works for me may not work for the next person!

There's a few other asks that asked me for tips on general anatomy, and more specifically legs (oh dear god, I'M going to need to study for that before writing out any sort of resource guide for that, lol) that I hope to get around to doing in the near future. Thank you for your guys' vote of confidence, haha! ❤️

#nc111 tutorials and studies #sketch #art tips #art help #study #I had a lot of fun with this piece so while part of this was definitely to passively respond to my inbox requests #a big part was also just me wanting to talk about my brain expanding as I realised how to Push A Composition #I can't wait to try more things in the future to try and get more dynamic compositions #let me know if this was helpful let me know if it was utterly useless #I'm not a great teacher but I used to tutor my neighbours 7 year old daughter and she found my methods boring but hey she got better

[umbrvx]

i like ur art. its great and interesting!! i really like your artstyle and i really like the way u draw hsy, yjh, and kdj. you captured them so well in terms of vibes/character. also i was wondering do u have any advice to improve on drawing anatomy/poses/faces?

wahh thank you so much...!! i feel like im still trying to figure them out in a lot of ways but i do really like ironing out my visual interpretations of them so im really happy to hear if people like what im coming up with

also anon you super activated the part of my brain that cant help but yap about art theory... i spent some time writing as many tips as i could think of. unfortunately i dont think i have the time currently to do a fully illustrated guide, but ill still try to include some visual examples:

[incoming wall of text lol]

ANATOMY:

to preface i think that like 100% of the time you should reference a real life photo for anatomy rather than other artwork or drawn references. the best way to learn the body is by… well, actually looking at the body! but also artwork is informed by a person's own artistic ability/stylization choices/sense of idealism, so while looking at art can help give you an idea on how to break down forms, i think you would be best served observing real life references. i labor on this point because i do think that having over relied on drawn reference material and avoiding photographic references on the basis of not being interested on realism hindered me as a largely self-taught artist as a kid, so i want to encourage live or photographic reference since anatomy is one of the foundations from which everything else is built on. that being the case, all of my doodles i'm doing for this are going to be for the sake of example rather than to strictly say how you should or should not be drawing something

-> when you are doing a study of a photo, just try copying it as best as you can. pay close attention to the natural lines and shapes of the body -- the S-curve shape of the leg, the triangular shape of the forearm, the trapezoid shape of hips/thighs when they sit, and so on. note where the body folds or squishes or pulls; how mass will shift to accommodate a certain position. if a form is hard to visualize, focus on the negative space and carve that out, rather than strictly drawing the positive space.

don't expect to get it perfect the first time. in fact, iterate on it multiple times to build understanding. try doing it to a timer of 15, then 10, then 5 minutes. doing this will force you to have to prioritize the most important shapes. you can help reinforce this by using a thicker brush or a brush with no pen pressure (no joke ms paint works great for this) to force you to be loose and not become preoccupied with details.

-> pinterest is a great resource for finding and compiling photo reference material

-> organic shapes are curved, so embracing/emphasizing that (particularly for the extremities) can help make your drawings look more natural or fluid

POSES: -> it all begins & ends with contrapposto… you've probably heard of the line of action, which is related. if you're offsetting the shoulders & hips, it: makes poses more natural, more dynamic, and helps the pose sort of "draw itself" -- the legs will follow the direction of the hips, and you can use the arms to reinforce the angles

-> context is key. don't ask: what pose should i draw? instead ask: what do i want this character to convey? what does happiness, anger, sadness, and so forth look on this particular character? how do they express that? consider these drawings: these are both ostensibly the same pose, but look at how changing just the shape of the spine recontextualizes it.

for more on pose design i recommend watching Tracer & Pose Design 101 - The Animation of Overwatch by New Frame Plus (i promise this is a genuinely super informative video).

to expand on this, in general, all of the components of a piece (background, composition, pose, etc.) are best considered in conjunction rather than separately. it is difficult to choose a pose and then choose a background because they are missing the context that would make a piece cohesive. when you are planning a drawing, try to begin with your general concept/idea/prompt and then do several thumbnails -- small and quick doodles that should take no longer than 5 minutes each -- developing it: you may find that the pose and bg will naturally fall into place.

-> silhouette: the degree to which you need to push this varies by style but generally speaking the pose needs to be readable; i.e. instantly recognizable. try to keep important elements of the gesture outside of the silhouette. for example, if the character is pointing, keep that arm out of the interior of the body. the same pose can be more or less readable or dynamic depending on where the character is pointed in relation to the viewer

-> exaggeration!! goes along with the previous point. push the pose as much as you can (and what makes sense for your style) to communicate your pose as clearly and as intensely as possible.

FACES: -> i highly recommend the app Handy Art Reference Tool by Belief Engine for all things related to drawing hands/heads/feet. its on both android and ios. it isn't free -- it costs around $3 -- but that is seriously such a small price to pay for the amount of utility you get out of it: the hands models are fully poseable (there's also pose presets), you can rotate the head models however you want, and there is 3-point customizable lighting. it is really helpful for getting those super tricky and hyperspecific head angles that you just can't find a real life reference for. that being said given that there's only a few different head model variants, bear in mind how differences in features can affect what exactly a face will look like in those angles.

-> i still recommend doing studies of real people. as with anything else, learning generalized proportions is important, even if you are going to later on bend or break this depending on style

-> as for my own approach... it kind of depends on the style i'm doing at that particular time. for my paintings (what id consider my main style) i approach a character with a few real-world features in mind and then apply them to the best of my ability. it usually will take a few iterations to land on an interpretation i really like as i try out different things. a lot of the face also gets developed during rendering rather than through my initial sketch too, as i adjust for lighting and correct proportions on the fly

(look how much this image changes between sketch and render lol)

if i were to recommend anything, i think it would be to nail down your most distinct features first -- the ones that will make your character's face recognizable, and could apply regardless of art style. in my case with kim dokja, i knew when i first started drawing him that i wanted to give him a longer face and down-turned eyes. when i decided to do the disco elysium inspired set, in which i was breaking out of my comfort zone by letting go of any idealizations focusing on conveying characterization/making them feel "real", i landed on some more specific traits (defined lower lids/perpetually tired eyes/eyebags(?) the crease there idk how to describe it) which i continue to try to evoke even if im drawing something much more cartoony

(pictured are my first kdj -> disco elysium style -> my post de-style kdj)

as a side note, this very same process changed yjh much more dramatically

(^ that first guy is mad someone else)

those handful of key features will be the thing that you can then take into a simpler style and simplify or exaggerate to whatever degree suits you. you can also play with shape theory (square = sturdy/solid, circle = natural/smooth/welcoming, triangle = energetic/dangerous). shape theory doesn't necessarily need to be so rigid -- you can combine shapes as you please to convey whatever vibe you're going for -- so please think of it as a tool that may help rather than a rigid law you must abide by.

-> expressions: exaggerate them. thats kind of it!! make it big!!! you wanna be able to really feel those emotions. the principles of squash & stretch help here: think of how the muscles move when you, say, open the eyes or mouth really big. as one side of the face stretches open, the other side squashes to accommodate it

even without changing the position of the jaw here, moving the nose and scrunching the eyes will sell the expression

you can also play with squash/stretch to break proportions to sell a feeling more

since expressions are just, well, poses for the face, everything else for poses applies here (and facial expressions & pose should also be considered in tandem). while the term contrapposto itself just refers to the offset of the shoulders & hips, the similar principle of asymmetry also carries here as that will help make the expression a bit more dynamic.

and i think... that's it!! all i can think of at least. i hope it helps anon!!!

#umbrvx.ask #sorry the reply took a minute i have been writing this post since i got the ask im so serious #i tried to determine what advice i could give that would be the most immediately actionable #also sorry its a huge wall of text im a little crazy about learning and discussing art theory . oops (the yapper)

[ssseriema]

hi!!i super love your art and how u draw poses its so dynamic and so full of life!!! so i was wonderin if u could show us ur art process or something like that regarding how u draw poses/anatomy /nf

aahhh T_T this is one of those questions ive always had trouble answering but ill do my best, thank you for your kind comments!!!

so. the reason why i have trouble explaining my process is that i just kind of wing most things and if they look wrong to me ill correct them. however thats not very helpful. so these are the things i keep in mind while doing that

a) line of action

the reason why sometimes my drawings of a character just standing there look stilted is that theres no defined or fluid line of action. you can pull it as tight or as slight as you want, but as long as you can see some sort of flow in the character's pose it helps a little with giving them personality and dynamic. theres lots of ways to give a line of action meaning, so if youre having trouble with a sketch, try drawing a line over it and see if theres any way you can make its movement more natural

b) anatomy time

heres where i struggled for a long time T_T anatomy's hard bro, sometimes its still tough to grasp T_T but what helped me out a ton was gesture drawing exercises! during the pandemic this studio called croquis cafe made its library of gesture drawing exercises public (heres an example, warning for blurred out nudity ig?). unfortunately its not out there anymore, but the idea was looking at a nude model and trying to draw them in 30 second, 1 minute, or 5 minute lapses per pose. this essentially helped me get a grasp of anatomy, proportions, and gesture all at once. theres a lot of cool tutorials on it, and a lot of stock reference photos you could use with a timer, but also pls remember this is a method that worked for me and it may not be the best way for everyone else!

what ill use as guides in my initial sketches are more like rectangles and blobs rather than a skeleton just cuz i find those more helpful for the fluidity of the drawing overall, but feel free to sketch out and use whatever. no worries if you have to change the pose and start over if you dont like what youre seeing, and looking at art and cartoons can help you figuring it out too

keep in mind proportions cuz those can be tricky. like ill generally try to keep the joint of the arm at the level of the waist, and also if you ever have doubts, look at a reference image, trace over it if necessary, hell you can make yourself the reference image if you cant find what youre looking for. its so helpful and its saved me so many times ;w;w;w;

sorry for the long rant, i know this advice isnt super unique but its how ive managed so far. if you have any more questions feel free to leave them in my inbox or message me :)

#seri's art process #long post #asks!

[eggdrawsthings]

Hi! Same anon here. I was asking about how to draw such expressive figures like your drawings. I noticed even when you were drawing a character standing still, it still looks so alive and dynamic. My drawings always ended up looking so stiff and out of balance. It's weird. Sorry for the trouble and thank you for your time 🥺🙏

Hey! Sorry about all of that. Again, I don't consider myself as someone worthy to ask advice from lol, but I'll try to mention whatever i can think of from the top of my head, so sorry if it's too random. Also, I actually answer sth similar here regarding my process of drawing poses.

You see, when standing still, we tend to shift to one side and put our weight either on the left or right foot, leaning more forward or backward. You want to have the weight shift happening in your drawing too. It makes the figure looks interesting, just by shifting weight to one side, tilting the shoulder a bit, or even twisting the body a little. I learn this from studying Brian Matyas's drawings. He always shifts the character to one side when he's drawing a relaxed standing pose. Also, notice how the shoulder and the hip are always tilted to the opposite side. That creates rhythm. It makes your body less symmetrical, gives it a sense of flow. thus making it more alive. (a trick when observing real-life people is to look to which side the belt is tilting down)

When your start drawing a pose, draw the action line first. Block out the pose by using boxes or the stick figure technique, whichever you prefer. By simplifying the figure down into line, shape, and form, you can easily see if the proportion of the figure is working or not, without being distracted by details like clothes and hair and stuff. The most common problem I saw is ppl focusing too much on the top half of the body or going into the details too quick, and when they start drawing the lower half, it looks off. Either the legs are too short, the action line is not strong enough, the character looks off balance, etc. So you always want to start by blocking out the pose and checking your proportion. The pose might look stiff at first, but you want to get comfortable with drawing the figure w the correct proportion before trying anything else. This applies to facial structures as well.

Also utilize the curve against straight, complex against simple. This again gives a sense of flow and contrast to the figure.

Draw from life. Bring a sketchbook with you. Draw when you are in the library, on the train, in the park, etc. Use references too. Keep a reference board, either on your phone, computer, or places like Pinterest. If you can't go out, drawing from videos is good too. Here are some studies I did from some pencak silat videos. It's much harder than drawing from life cos you cant really see the form and such, so I'd still recc going outside and draw when u can.

When u r drawing from life or videos, observe how people move, stand, sit, etc. Where is the weight distribution. What is the line of action here. How can you exaggerate it. Break it down into shapes. Draw what you see, not what you think you are seeing. Observation is key.

Flip your canvas, compare it to other masters' art, ask for critics, then fix it. Have fun, but also be critical of your art. If you want to, you can find books about figure drawing by masters like Andrew Loomis or George Bridgman. I love their books. Rmb you don't have to go to school to be good at art.

Again, my advice is very biased cos it's based on my own experience and observation. I don't see your art, so Idk what exactly you are having trouble with. But my ask box is always open so feel free to ask again or send me your stuff if you like. I'll try my best to help ^^

#thoughts in space #Anonymous #long post #very long post #art stuff

[the5n00k]

Tips on drawing scratch? Sounds like a weird ask but I cant figure out how his body bends. Is he a pillow sorta shape or how? I love ur art btw!!!

Anon you are completely valid it took me like six months to get his look just right (and even then he's still wildly off model lol) but I'll tell you how I do it! (Pillow/flour sack shape is a good way to describe him, especially when bending or laying flat) Just a disclaimer, I highly recommend you search up his model sheets and rules because I tend to gloss over and bend a few of them but if you're planning on drawing him more stylized, here's the rules I follow:

1: As with all characters I draw I start with a circle sketch, it's not necessary but it helps when drawing multiple characters to keep them around the same size in comparison with each other.

2: colored line art sucks, especially with this character because you have to make sure that if he has any overlapping parts with another character (say Molly has her arm around him or something), they're on separate layers which makes coloring a NIGHTMARE. I have no advice for that other than play around with it until it looks right to you

3: coloring can either be really fun and satisfying or a pain in the ass, again it's trial and error for what looks right to you

4: some more dynamic poses and fluid actions are super fun and what I get complimented on the most! Breaking the model sheet to push your expressions more is super fun once you get the hang of it, just try drawing a bunch of random squiggles and shapes and try to draw Scratch over them, it's a super fun exercise!

Like I said before I'm not the judge or end-all when it comes to drawing scratch so just have fun with it! Experiment! Maybe study how some other artists draw him! I know I greatly admire some of the ways some artists I know and even some crew members and storyboard artists draw him so definitely start looking at fanart for inspiration. Hope this helps, I'm not a very good teacher!

#the ghost and molly mcgee #tgamm #ask me things #scratch mcgee #art tutorial #i guess #if you have any other questions my dms are open #i could probably go more in detail there but this post is already mucho texto

[candycatstuffs]

You art is everything. Absolutely gorgeous. So incredibly dynamic. I could stare at it all day. When I get stuck with what I want to draw, I check out your work to try and better understand poses and positioning. Here with a question today. Do you have any refs for a character who is facing forward and kneeling? I cant seem to figure out how the get the length of the legs right. TY

AAAAAAA HOLY SHIT THANK U :'']]]

Uhh i cant get to my computer rn, so i sketched this out real fast. Didnt bother with the arms cuz u asked about the legs sjdkke

Hope it helps!!

#crying in the club over this ask #bless u anon #asks

[studioboner]

Hi! I actually am wondering about trying watercolors for the first time but feel a little anxious haha.. how you go about drawing on the paper with confidence? Like, watercolor paper isn’t exactly cheap. I think I got the cheapest one avaible from Canson but still the anxiety is real… do you pick very light pencils like 2B so you can sketch veryyy lightly, or before sketching on the paper itself you do a planning sketch in another paper?

Im asking this cos I really love your art and it’s so cool that it’s mostly traditional! And the way you draw Tails is too adorable and consistent while being in your style, it always feels like you have confidence when you draw him.

oh i think this is gonna be a long one

all in all?i have the same anxiety as you. but i've confidense that i can make something good sometimes, but not that i will get it right every time. So i keep trying, but heres some stuff that helped

a warning though, i keep going on and on in this reply and can get pretty negative at times

my watercolor paper i use costs 2 dollars and has 20 sheets so that's 10 cents per sheet. which i feel helps with my anxiety... it's the canson multimedia block too, 140 msg .....

watercolor sketchbooks i'd find online were around 80 or more BRL, and then 20 BRL shipping.... that's 20 USD in total...

but a block of this plus getting it binded costs me 4 USD.....so i think that one [price] helps alot lol.....

as for the confidence.....

i've had enough time to do quite a bit of trad art, specifically ink and watercolors so im USED to the material and now quite as scared to "mess up" as when i first started it.... [hint, i still am] this is one example of a sketch page, they vary in size, and how "done" they are... i dont really worry too much about maintaining a rule of "everything in this sketchbook must be fully rendered " bc it ended up stunting my creativity

i did try the "sketch it onto a sketchbook and then pass it to watercolor paper" approach and tbh...? not really my thing... i've found that to me the first sketch always end up being looser than when i pass it on... i'm always more focused on getting the flow, composition and pose there than i am getting the right details or right lines or colors etc....

like this one, im more happy with the sketch, it's mroe dynamic, mroe fun

i DO sketch stuff on cheaper paper first when it's for trad art commissions though, just bc there i HAVE to make sure the client is getting what they asked

and i do use 2b pencils AND a "soft lead" mechanical pencil, btu tbh it's mroe bc of the feeling of it on paper than for the look of it...

here for example you can see the circle i used to have a basis on where tails would be.. i didnt erase it as i continued painting bc tbh it was just the sketch. i ended up liking it tho

i actually got quite MAD and angry at myself recently bc i noticed how much my sketches were looser in the sketchbooks when i did try the passing onto watercolors thing and i had a full on discussion with a fellow artist about daring myself to be bolder in the future, it has been working well

I sadly have to say though, that figuring out how to build confidense is more of a personal journey, and i cant claim that what worked for me [trusting my first sketch] would work for you.....

It's time, practice, trial and error....

OH, one thing though that DID help me. is:

-There's no art wasted, even if it doesnt turn out how you wanted it, you still learned something.

-Makins these personal art/fanarts isn't some school paper you have to hand it to be graded and then not get it back. You can re-do a piece as many times as you want until you get it right! I have quite a queue of pieces i plan on re-doing in the future bc i didnt like the first ones i did. im not perfect on confidence and i get scared of fully committing to drawings alot, many of them are pale not for choice bc bc i got scared of making my art too saturated and overworking it

i am about to get negative now so stop reading if you dont want to see that.

HERE NOW i's a alot of pieces i made that im unsatisfied with and plan on re-doing one day: too dull, simply way too watered

which led me to make THIS piece and do better colors

i hATE the way i did the lineart here. it's boring, the anatomies are wonky. it's a good concept but i didnt excecuted it as well as i wanted. but this piece has made me just go and try inking MORE so i could make up for it

which lead to this piece here eventually

This one here.... the colors look so muddy it just makes me SAD, bc i had been so scared to use high saturation that i went with the muddier colors by choice, if i had allowed myself to experiment i wonder how happier i'd be about it

which led me to make THIS piece with softer in value and more saturated colors

The colors and blending of this one are too soft and not bold enough for what i had envisioned it, i made it as fanart of a friends fic and it made me feel like i failed my friend and insulted her fic when i finished this. I dont think the piece looks bAD, mind you. i know it looks cute. and good even. But i had such high hopes for it.

which led me to make this one

THIS ONE OH MY GOD HOW I HATE IT. sonics expression is SO creepy hes like a horror movie weirdo , honestly not my best work when it comes to anatomy

so i've been doodlin sonic now and then as practice so that i could make this one eventually

The perspective on knuckles could be better and the characters look out of place on this scene, the background is ok

but in this piece here i was able to get a better harmony between colors, background and whatever sparse linework i threw in

Theres so many more haha but i'll stop for now....

Dont get me wrong i dont ACTUALLY think those pieces are HORRIBLE horrible,,,, i see the flaws in them yes, but theres always something i like too, and i know people like them, and that people wont throw away a whole piece over one small detail that in the end doesnt even affect the overall thing....

i've just been getting into the headspace of "ok. at least this one is done, onto the next"

plus the whole thing i told you of realising my first sketches are looser....

sorry im not too good at talking about this and my points arent very clear, i dont think this is going to be quite the help you expected it to be because the truth is that the struggle with your art is soemthign that doesnt go away no matter what skill you have...

at times to me it feels more like a mentality practice than skill, reasurring myself that it's ok to get it wrong and try again, etc etc....

i used to go to therapy and one of the things we talked about was my perfectionism, how i used to be so scared to mess up a piece. that i wouldnt even start, and wouldnt draw for months. this has been going for years now and hey i've gotten better.

but..... yeah im in the same boat as you.... except mine is no longer just about the paper quality!

Sorry this got so personal now, i hope that this hasnt killed your hopes on getting better at the anxiety. it does get way better haha... trying to force your brain to not judge yourself so harshly is half the battle in my opinion, the practice of drawing is the other half....

good luck i hope you have fun painting, i know i do, i love the process even when i dont like the result, good night and thank you for the question

[wiihtigo]

you might have answered this already but how often do you use pose references while youre drawing? your art is always so dynamic and full of motion/tactility (cant think of better phrasing)

Thank you so much! TRUTHFULLY… NOT SUPER OFTEN…. I usually just wing it when I do posing 😭 I def think I should though I’d probably make less mistakes that way. I’ve considered learning how to use those 3d models in clip studio but ahhhhgh… I get stressed out at the smallest things…

I def do use refs though, usually I’ll just find what I can on google images but a lot of the times what I need is weirdly specific or hard to find by googling so I use the 97 year old old fashioned way of propping up my phone against something and taking a photo of myself doing it

I have a lot of weird pictures of myself because of that (i take a lot of hand reference pics but sometimes I need to do some balancing act bs and stick my phone at weird angles to get what I want)

Also I don’t just use references of real people! Sometimes I’m watching some animated show and I think the way they drew the character standing or jumping or whatever looks awesome so I hold that image in my mind and try to copy it. It’s fun! (I intentionally try to go off memory and not pausing and taking a screenshot to look at because I feel it forces me to draw it based on the bare essentials of what I saw.. or maybe……. I’m just crazy) (it can also be helpful to go back and look at the moment you drew and be like “fuuuck I missed THAT part” .. idk how to describe it. It feels like I’m exercising something. Like a memory game)

I’m super flattered you think my posings are so dynamic… usually I’m listening to music which fills my head with amvs and visions.. thank you again!

#asks #if you remember that pathetic little drawing I drew of Casey with her head in her knees crying sobbing that’s something I took a pic of #myself for

[sorrelpaws]

hey sorrel u cool person, i know this probably has only one answer, but howd you learn to draw anatomy? i love the way you draw people, theyre always so friend shaped :)

and like do you have any tips for someone trying to improve on their art APART from just practicing, bc practice alone wont help, its HOW you practice so i was wondering if you had any sources which could help, e.g those posing websites where you can draw the pose

thank u for always being so slay pop sorrel

teehee well to be honest erm. i think the professional and objectively good advice to give you would be to learn proper anatomy but ummmm i never did that . and i think if you really look at my art it's kind of obvious that i'm just winging it haha. one big thing i'd say is to boil your art down to distinct shapes. for example if you make your torso into a rectangle its way easier to figure out the perspective for it. i don't have any websites i use or anything, i've tried stuff like lineofaction but for me personally it doesn't like... do much? i dunno. i still recommend checking it out since there's some good poses and you might have a few anatomical epiphanies. mostly i tend to look at art by friends/ppl i look up to/cartoons, because they can also help you understand how you can take those anatomy shortcuts. AND ALSO!!! just draw stuff you like. even if it looks "bad". just draw as much as you feel like. my art has improved over the time i've been drawing rick and morty. you sort of start noticing your own mistakes as well along the way. of course you should still step out of your comfort zone every now and again, maybe by trying a more dynamic pose or shading etc. especially if it looks bad. like i cant draw backgrounds at all, and they kinda suck anytime i try them, but i guess since i can tell there's room for improvement i kind of uhh Want to Keep Trying??!?? idk hope this enlightened you even a little bit anon

#asks

[lunarifie]

Rewatching Ninjago

(With no context other than the episode)

Possession 3-4

The fact that Kais afraid of water while his sister is the elemental master of water is hilarious to me

Stiix is actually such a fascinating place in itself

Ninjago is legitimately good at world building Ill give it that

Why are they talking to this ronin guy as if he's an old enemy I have never seen him before

Ronin (talking about money): two hundred

Cole: what if we told you all of ninjago depended on the scroll of spinjitzu

Ronin: Well that changes everything!

Ronin: Four hundred.

Hes so funny but wiki says he sold Zane to chen so im a bit on the edge. He’s gonna have to do something redeeming for me to like him

Nyas training!!!!

I kinda like Wus depiction of water

Omg i remember finding it so cool and majestic when Wu summoned his dragon

Nya: you never told us you could do that

Wu: A sensei never tells.

Me (looks back at all the episodes I just watched): Obviously.

Wonder if Nya ever wanted to be the water ninja

If Wu KNEW that the ghosts were defeated by water why didnt he tell the ninja.

Cole, Jay, and Kai working as Zanes their cheerleader is so funny to me

Jay: his voice is on the fritz, i can fix it but it’ll take some time.

I miss techy Jay

Why is everyone except Cole being leader. Wasnt Cole originally the leader-like person in the team?

Jay: I say we dont need the scroll… because we’re gonna steal it. 😈

Ik i said this in my last post but

Jay, have. You. Been. To. Jail.

Nickname 1: mush mouth (zane)

Ik Lloyds fighting Morros possession but i wonder HOW

is it like a mental battle or is he pulling at the chains that restrain him in his mind

Either way thats traumatic

Nyas character has such depth that I wanna write a paragraph on her.

Her weakness being ‘feeling weak’

I just love her character sm

Her angers not misplaced though, if I was told I had to stop doing what im good at, and start doing something that im having difficulty with from scratch. To save my friends nonetheless.

I would go insane

They go so in-depth with Nyas character and symbolism in this episode that I cant help but appreciate it

Jay, (looking intently at the vase where the scroll is hidden in): ….

Jay (picks up the vase and looks under it): leave no stone unturned.

Hes such an idiot

Its so funny that morro waited, assuming the ninja would find the scroll for him and then just jumped out and fought them bc he didnt bet on their incompetence 💀

Okay but WHY is ronin introduced as such a ‘familiar’ character. Like his ship for example. Why are we acting like weve seen it before whats going on.

Why did Jay fall through the same womans roof twice 😭

Omgggg the same thing that happened to Lloyd where ‘everyone stays behind due to some circumstances leaving one character to fight by himself’ is happening to Kai!

Ronins such a dick

He was gonna leave Kai to DIE unless he paid up thats so shitty

Oh riiiight. Ronin starts working at steep wisdom. Forgot about that.

...

Ik yangs temple and ik exactly what's gonna happen

Coles in charge :D

Why didn't they just enter Yangs temple in the daytime? I mean thatd be a long time until sunrise, so no one turns into a ghost!

Jay and Cole (trying to break open the wooden boards on the window)

Zane and Kai (opens the front door.)

Jay and Cole: 😮

Fhjebtjdbrjsbf

Cole: didnt you hear! We have to leave before sunrise unless we turn into ghosts! God i hate ghosts. They’re terrifying.

Why did it have to be Cole 😭 it couldnt have been any other ninja

Jay loving ghost stories/true crime and getting excited over it while Coles hates it is a dynamic i need in my life

okay yeah the ninja are being mean by pranking Cole like that, but theyre right his scream was really funny 💀

Gonna do that drawing trend and draw the ninja in the haunted house poses

You know what im talking about.

Why does yangs flying swords look exactly like Kais golden weapon

(Swords and knives flying in all directions)

Jay: does this mean he wont teach us airjitzu 😀

Cole: ow my ear!

What ear.

God i wish the best for teenagers who broke into the haunted temple at night and had to experience THAT

Ronin: I dont knooow, wus my partner, i cant go behind his back.

Nya: (whips out a bag of coins)

Ronin: I can get you out of here tomorrow at noon.

Zane: EVERYONE. GET A HOLD OF YOURSELVES. EVEN IF MY VOICE WASNT STUCK. ID STILL BE YELLING AT THIS VOICE DECIBEL.

HFNSJFNSJR

(The temple starts flooding)

Cole: Why. Did you touch the scary painting JAY.

Jay: I didnt know it would do that COLE.

KAI LET GO OF THE DOOR YOURE GONNA DROWN

Ohhh so theyre facing their fears

Ok but how did Morro know about Nyas samurai cave can he see into Lloyds memories?

You really didnt think this through huh Nya, including the fact that Wu quite literally told you only water can stop the ghosts

Morro: BOO

he did the, he did the thing!!!!!!

At least she understands now :)

(The ninja tying each other by a rope so they cant lose each other)

Ah yes, this is brilliant, i do not foresee any consequences coming from these action.

Damn.

They really went straight to ‘the Morro fear/illusion’

I wanted to see Zane and Jays fears :(((

I need a fanfic asap where the ninja face their individual fears in yangs temple but its their fears on a deeper level. And they help each other out and stuff.

I dont wanna do a whole character analysis rn, but if someone else wants to write it tag meeee plsss

Yangs probably cackling as these fools stumble over each other

Zane: WHY DID WE TYE OURSELVES TOGETHER

YOU TELL ME.

This is it.

COLE SACRIFICED HIMSELF FOR THE SCROLL.

And it begins, his ghost arc.

#ninjago #lego ninjago #Rewatching Ninjago

[cephalodon]

Omg hi Donnie it's been a while ... For the 🔥 ask game how abt diss-pair or hte unpopular opinions (poses

hi June!!! 🎉

uhg. help. um. these are extremely personal and since Im kinda delusionally attached to them these sound really stupid but yeah

disspair: I know their dynamic in canon is complicated and heated - at least during splatoon 2 - but Im tired of seeing it so much in fanart. I prefer calm and wholesome stuff. people should explore other scenarios than just fighting or conflict. (I mean I dont seek out art of them anymore so Im just saying this from what Ive seen before)

Ikkan: I cant rly stand skinny Ikkan. I just cant see him that way. splatoon is already full of skinny characters and we dont have a single octo/inkling character that is fat so it honestly upsets me how little people use different bodytypes for the characters. also I dont like how uh. not metal people make him? idk Im so used to drawing him look like a finnish metalhead that its boring or kinda obnoxious to see him with some other aesthetic lol. I wish people would recognize the fact that hes a metalhead. people already recognize that Warabi is a DJ so. yah. Im a sucker for diversity

Warabi: we are on dangerous waters here so Im not going to say anything else than. uuuhh. Ichiya and Warabi are brothers. and hes short. very short.

nothing to say abt hte except I dont rly care for Kuze and Nishida and their dynamic with Taka but thats just bc I barely care for anyone else outside of takabikkan and thats bc Im Warabi and Im in love with Ikkan and Ta

#sorry if I sound angry or something its impossible for me to be normal abt them 😭 #but thank u for the ask really <:-] #my stuff

[trinrose3]

The one universal tip(s) that goes for every artist that I NEVER see get mentioned when people ask for advice:

Do life drawing. Go sit down somewhere outside(if you can) and draw people, animals, trees, rocks, landscapes whatever. Just...dont be weird about it like those tiktokers that sit on the subway AND THEN GIVE THAT PERSON THEIR ART OH MY GOD THATS CREEPY DONT DO THAT!!!!!

Draw what you observe. If you cant afford to go to any actual life drawing sessions or none are provided; draw yourself study yourself and what you can with your eyes cause mirrors can flatten but use them when necessary!

There are many sites out there dedicated to help artists do life drawing but camera ALWAYS warp no matter how good they are so its always best to study from life first but its never a bad idea to go to them if you cant.

Study the way the old masters did it, anything from like 1920s- to the present isnt gonna give you a good idea of how artists SHOULD draw structure in the body. DO NOT look at the “minimalistic” and stylized versions of a figure drawing. Those are good if you know what theyre doing and why but they wont help you understand anything.

Learn the difference between a study, and a gesture drawing. A gesture is capturing the flow and dynamic position and movement of the body, usually with a shorter time span on it. Studies are meant to help understand more of the anatomical features presented in the figure and how they appear in that specific posing.

Draw the surface area. Dont focus on the “outline” or the “shading”. Its best to pay attention to the surface to help give an idea of how the volume on the body is presented, with that will naturally come “shadow” (shadow should not actually be drawn unless doing a value study, but can be presented/seem present if passages* are created). It helps give a sense of bone, muscle, and fat structure in the body. IF you focus too much on outline or silhouette of the body it might end up looking flat.

DRAW DIFFERENT BODY TYPES!! It never hurts to study different body type! Everyone carries muscle and fat on their body differently and just having general knowledge of their placements might not be helpful enough, when drawing diverse body types.

Dont be afraid to draw nude art! You dont have to draw the genitals or whatever but if you draw people in bodysuits/underwear/unitards youre not gonna see the more detailed and subtle areas of places on the body. Theres also nothing inherently sexual about it and the embarrassment wears of quickly lmao.

*passages are a series of lines in a parallel direction created in a figure drawing to denote volume and surface area as well as flow, structure, anatomy, of specific parts of the body. Passages CAN over lap but should always follow the form and not be used as shading or crosshatching.

Thats all I got for now I think lol

#art tips #figure drawing #life drawing

[minotaurbf]

theres this guy on tiktok that gives people tips on their art (they submit a piece and say what they struggle with and he draws over it and explains what he does any why etc.). in one video someone asked him to help with the pose and it was of two people, one sittinf on the others lap. the drawing was cut off at their legs so their feet werent visible. guy redraws it with a more dynamic pose which has one of the characters crossing their legs which then showed a foot and he made them be barefoot. all the comments were about the foot and how it was unnecessary? there are even still comments about it on newer videos. it was a beautiful drawing and the foot was just there. like i just believe you guys cant see feet as the thing they are and instead only see them as the subject of a fetish.

#the comments on his video are generally fucking stupid #cause people will send in fanart and he doesnt know that so he changes things that mightve been important to the character #or makes them look different #and all the people are just complaining in the comments #like hes giving tips on how to draw things. hes not making the fanart himself you idiots

[chisatowo]

Gahhh why am I suddenly so unhappy with my art hhhhh

#rat vents #I had been feeling so good about my art before what happened #sorry for venting here this blog is where Im active </3 #Im not going to make a habit out of it but this is semi related to my content so #I feel like Im not very good at drawing expressions #and I should really try drawing mote dynamic poses and stuff from different angles #maybe its just that my art hasnt been getting a lot of notes lately though idk #I feel bad about complaining but I cant help but feel a bit upset when I make something Im really proud of and it gets like 15 notes #especially when I make a dumb text post or a quick doodle that gets like 40+ notes #I do appreciate the attention!!! I really do!!! #but I wish the rest of my stuff got it too #ok sorry for venting so much I just needed to get it out of my system

[with-the-same-tattoos]

what brush do you use for your lineart? it looks so good ;;

AAHDSHD;;;; TYSM FOR ASKING IK THIS IS A SIMPLE QUESTION BUT I WILL USE ANY CHANCE I GET 2 RAMBLE ABT ART TECHNIQUE & WHATEVER BC ITS MY FAVE FUCKING THING IN THIS WHOLE WIDE WORLD

My brushes r actually quite simple !!!!!!! I built them to compliment my very freehand/sketch style. If someone is interested, feel free to ask, I can check how to make them downloadable/whatever, but really I have just a couple things that I focus on when it comes to them!!!

Square tip. I use one in CSP called quadrado, I think its in the original set, I'll have to check that out later? But yeah I feel a square tip allows for some fun angular spots to really come through !!! This is also super popular in painting I think, angles & sharp edges r super important there

Shape dynamics. The super basic stuff. I have two main brushes; my basic square, which is for draw flow stuff, and a rough square, which i mostly use to fill in bigger areas / do some extra shading with. My basic square has more flexibility (a bigger range, a lower minimun value) and the rougher one is less flexable and most of the time chunky.

Density. I find density options more appealing to me compared to opacity, but I cant tell why? exactly???? yk???? But yeah. Again, basic square has more flexibility, and rougher less. I find the flexibility & range in my basic brush SUPER important, since i like sketching within my linework and erasing it away/cleaning it up. (difficult to explain- if someone wants a video feel free to ask)

Basically:

oSoOther settings go a bit more into semantics. I also use a blender tool to sometimes soften areas, and often my eraser is set to erasing on all layers so I can kinda build my linework ON my sketch layer and use it in the back as some extra flow.

My current style of drawing is inspired by som rly specific artists that I can talk abt if someone wants 2 hear. I do intend to experiment w stronger lines, im just a wuss and like all... squishy stuff ; v ;

U DIDNT ASK, but again bc i just loooove rambling abt this shit, some additional things that have personally helped me w linework!!!

Those super basic linework practices !!! Just drawing straight lines endlessly, drawing a squicle and trying to replicate it now w a slower stroke

Forcing urself to sketch fast; croquis !!!! I recommend croquis cafe for anyone looking to do this kinda stuff online, its GREAT. Just focus on the time, not how good the sketch is. Croquis is FANTASTIC. it helps u develop muscle memory for unique strokes, develop understanding of what u need to pay attention to (are you paying attention to shadow, light, where the weight of the body is, the squished parts, the stretched out parts, the skin, the muscle, the hair, etc) (ive personally done sessions just focusing on darkest shadow, midtone shadow etc, or light, or the stretched out parts, or just like, a few lines to give the idea of the pose ((eg 5 sec croquis)) ((tho i havent seen those in any web stuff, i had a class where we had those and they were fantastic))) anyways DO CROQUIS AND ALLOW URSELF 2 SUCK AT IT DO IT UNTIL UR HAND HURTS AND UR HEAD HURTS (dont actually do that please) (drink water, take breaks, stretch ur hand)

Warmups !!! before i take on a serious linework, I ALWAYS DO WARMUPS. Some lighter line stuff, flowier line stuff. I often do croquis for this. If i dont do this i get more severe hand cramps, because.... yeah

Traditional sketches w different pens. Preferably ones that u cant erase. Kinda similiarly to croquis, this is super good to just develop more confidence w ur lines. U cant go back and erase them so... U just have to learn to get them right. Im bolding this bcs this is probably the one tip i heard that has helped me the most. All my traditional sketches w pens r ugly as hell but they seriously have helped me so much to get some more freedom and have more fun when drawing & not worry all the time, and its made the process way more enjoyable !!!!

Also please take breaks and stretch ur hand !!! THeres a lot of good guides for artists to stretch their hands :> Seriously. Take care of urself.

#ask #anonymous #u thot u could just ask me for my brushes u wrong !!! #*infodumps* #i fucking #love art process #I k u didnt ask but this stuff is so exiting to me