I repeat, the angel has risen

AAAAALLRIGHT ASPIRING CONCEPT ARTISTS, ILLUSTRATORS, ANIMATORS, AND OR JUST ARTISTS IN GENERAL.

THIS IS A BEAUTIFUL EXERCISE I REALLY RECOMMEND YOU ALL DO.

In the red, we have a skeletal study—finding out where the bones or structure of the character would be. In blue we have the peices of the characters split into different shapes to make them easier to draw and remember. Green is mass shapes and masses. Purple is the line of action.

Guys, I have like. A bazillion times more understanding of the characters above than I had before. I completely recommend doing this: study their skeleton and then dominant shapes and masses. It will give you a better understanding of how your character moves and is held together.

The line of motion helps you make your character move in a more interesting fashion. It helps you see their movement and motion in a better light, and where there weight is being distributed.

And there you go.

Awesome exercise. 

I’m gonna type this up while it’s fresh on my mind because some of y’all don’t know how to use Google

SO YOU WANT TO DRAW A woman sitting in the grass.

IF YOU SEARCH: female sitting

Very vogue. Very male gaze. Good for fashion or model pictures, not very good if you’re wanting to draw a natural looking pose on a woman who isn’t a model and whose camera certainly didn’t fucking turn on by itself.

IF YOU SEARCH: female sitting pose

Arguably worse, depending on the use. My experience with “female + pose” searches is that you get a lot of IMVU and The Sims pose sets, and artists making sketch compiliations that… don’t always have great anatomy and are frequently just more stiff model poses. I do use similar searches for pinup sketches, ie, “female sassy pinup pose,” though “posing for pinup photography” and “how to pose for” will give different results if you aren’t finding what you need.

IF YOU SEARCH: woman student relaxing sitting on grass crossed legs

Closer. Still kind of staged looking. Maybe we don’t want her studying. Maybe we just want her relaxing. Still, you start to see how specific keyword searches will really get you results.

IF YOU SEARCH: woman sitting under tree grass relaxing nature summer

Nice. This is only a small handful of the results, but most of them more or less fit my mental image. Mostly stock images, but good for gesture sketches or figuring out a pose. Still… we could go further, and I think I will.

IF YOU SEARCH: woman sitting under tree grass relaxing nature summer senior photography

Jackpot. Senior pictures aren’t always awkward kids in braces. Look at how much more natural a few of these look? Compare that to the “Female sitting” search. Google Search tip #1 is basically “use more and specific keywords.” But just… one more thing I just… can’t get off my mind… what if I… just…

IF YOU SEARCH: black  woman sitting under tree grass relaxing nature summer senior photography

Uh oh. So let me level with you, if you just google “dreadlocks,” expect a lot of white people. I spent over 30 minutes adding keywords to this search, and every page was still white people. Breaking it back down to “black woman sitting on grass” helped but gave me all the boring pose issues of the female sitting search. So basically, Google Search tip #2 is: Google image search is as White as the rest of the damn world. How do we find what we’re looking for now, then?

IF YOU SEARCH: black woman sitting in grass nature tumblr blackout

Beautiful, natural poses. Adding “photography” whitewashed it. Adding “summer” gave me bikini pinups. Searching for POC models using Google image search is infinitely more frustrating than finding a million thin white women, and you’re usually going to be better off supporting POC modeling blogs themselves than fighting with Google all day. Using “tumblr” and “instagram” as keywords may also get you a lot more natural, less Vogue Was Here hits. Pinterest too, on occasion. 

But keep in mind that these are real people–especially using tags like “tumblr” or “blackout.” There’s a difference between referencing a pose or drawing different face shapes, and outright copying someone’s exact likeness without their permission. Maybe also consider liking/reblogging/following them if they’re a model or photographer. Use some common sense. You don’t own images found on google yadda yadda don’t be a dick.

AKA 1000 words of angst. That little book from today’s stream just ripped my heart out of my chest and filled me with creative rage. Read this post for context if you’re confused. 

He remembers Phil. Well, not exactly, not a face, not yet. Just a name and a feeling. A lot of his memories are like that now. All fuzzy around the edges. A lot of blank spaces, flashes of vividness in the cool greyness of his current existence. He clutches the quill, tries to remember. 

Phil. Phil holds him tightly, and Wilbur, who is very small, clings to him. He’s frightened (why is he frightened?) but sitting in his father’s arms, he can’t help but feel safe. 

“You’re okay,” Phil tells him. “I’ve got you, son.”

Wilbur buries his face in his father’s shoulder and breathes a sigh of relief.