Candy asked me to critique some of her Inktober drawings, #15 and #23 I believe! Here's some images and some notes to go with them, I hope they help a bit! 1. I decided to redraw your #15 figures with the poses as starting points, and by looking up references! I sort of know how to play the violin, so I was able to guess at a few of the positions as well (but if you search enough, you usually can find exactly what you need to complete your basic structure!). The top drawing is mostly the same, notice that the perspective on the head is a bit different than the original, with the nose angled up so you can see the bottom, which matches the original drawing of the jawline which was almost flat (indicating that the head was tilted upwards). I also altered the neck to be a bit thinner, the shoulders to be wider, and I angled his body slightly so it wasn't all verticals. I'm continuing to read Walt Stanchfield's Drawn to Life book, and he says that artists often have the habit of "straightening up" a pose when drawing it, which makes it less dynamic. Fight the habit! For the bottom drawing, I altered the pose so it wasn't the same as the first one -- I tried to bring the elements of focus very close together: the violin, the character's face and the hand holding the bow. some of the lines in the drawing lead into the center where they connect (with some more editing, I think I could have made more of them do so as well)! I also tried to exaggerate the perspective on the violin so it looks like it's coming forwards in the direction of the viewer. In general, note some of the uses of line weight and areas of high contrast. The thickest lines are used in the deepest shadows. you can also block in shapes of shadows in your darkest color, and it can add interest to your piece! 2. I decided that #23 didn't really need another drawing, so I just wanted to point out a couple of things that you can look out for the next time you're figure drawing, especially from imagination! In this one, I roughly sketched an eye line (line across which both eyes are drawn) and a center line for the face. Notice that they intersect at a strange angle, which makes it look like the eyes are askew compared to the jawline especially. I recommend you look up tutorials online for methods on how to draw faces from different angles, they can be really helpful! 3. This is a note on some of the proportions concerning the neck especially -- the neck is almost as wide as the waist here! When it comes to oversizing heads, it can be tough to make a decision on which other parts need to be distorted in order for it to still look natural/believable. For the most part though, the rest of the body should still be anatomically proportional to itself, including the neck. The main exceptions are hands and feet, which are the last thing I'll mention... 4. Usually, in order to preserve the gestural capabilities of the face and hands interacting, the hands will correspond to the size of the head/face. Most people have hands large enough to cover from their chin to about their eyebrows, with hands aligned vertically (there's a decent amount of variation in this, though). Feet also depend on this, mostly just so they have correct proportions to the hands, but this can change depending on preference as well! (the exception is chibi / super chibi style, because the body is so small at that point that it doesn't make sense to enlarge the hands and feet). 5. Anatomy isn't everything, but it can be a helpful structure! This isn't proportional to a real human skeleton, but it's nice to know how everything connects as well as the most basic forms underneath all the muscle and skin. I simplified and excluded some details, especially in the hands/wrist and ribs, and I didn't draw in the whole nose cavity, but you get the idea. And with some work it turns into 6. a drawing! (of Dhabian lol of course) Not 100% matched up to the skeleton actually, I had to change it a bit more, but you can see where it lines up. Your initial sketch doesn't have to be actual bones of course, it can also be basic forms like rectangular prisms (boxes) or cylinders, combined with spheres, etc. The other part of it, of course, is the gesture or the action being represented in the drawing -- that's the artistic piece! Anatomy is a good foundation, though.
@smartcutecandy for original Inktober drawings - there's a lot more where that came from so check them out! Re-draw and additional art by me! Character in image 6 is Dhabian from Emara: Emirates Hero Google for reference images of violinists lol
