Fledgling Artist Needs Guidance!

by Digital Veil, January 29th 2020 © 2020 Digital Veil
Done as part of a 30 minute class. So, I'm currently in an animation and game design program, but I've never drawn in any meaningful capacity before this point! I've been using quick poses the past 2 weeks as much as I can to improve and am adding this site as well to get as much practice as possible. With that being said, my work is terrible but I'm working hard so I greatly appreciate any tips. Thanks for reading!
Skidoosh
First, great job drawing something and uploading it.


So my main critique would be the proportions of the figure are way off. I would recommend searching the 7 heads or 8 heads human proportions. Using that as a reference I think will help you understand how far apart the various landmarks of the human body should be.
Boyygrunge (unregistered visitor)
Hi again DigitalVeil,

Skidoosh already mentioned the proportions so I won't beat a dead horse.

I think you're jumping the gun with this one a little bit. It's very detail-oriented, but the details should always come last when doing studies. Before you focus on hair/eyes/breasts/tummies you'll absolutely want to make sure you understand what's going on underneath the figure.

This means bones, muscle, fat, etc. You don't have to know every little muscle and what they're called, same goes for bones, but there are some key landmark pieces of anatomy I would recommend studying. (Looking at, drawing, etc)

Bones:
Skull, scapula, clavical, spine, ribcage pelvis, tibia, femur, humerus, radius, hands and feet

Muscles:
Trapezius, deltoids, biceps, triceps, pectoralis, abdominal, quadriceps, calves, gluteus maximus

I may be missing some, but these are the very important ones that I can remember. Aside from proportion, understanding the anatomy underneath the figure is the most important aspect of art. It's incredibly daunting, but if you're serious about art, it's essential. You don't want to wait until you're much older and wishing you would have practiced all of this earlier AND have to unlearn bad habits (speaking from experience).

When I was younger I didn't think I had to learn anatomy because I was primarily interested in stylized drawing, but you still need to be able to render proportional, accurate figures to bring a successful style to life. Once you understand the rules you can start breaking them.

I love your ambition though, it looks like you're really dedicated and eager to progress! Good luck. :)

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