hey do you have any tips for bodies for those who are struggling with it at the moment?
that’s a pretty broad topic, so i suppose it depends on what you mean! i won’t go into detail about anatomy specifically - many many artists who are far more knowledgeable than i have already covered this topic in GREAT lengths. there are resources available everywhere, and i’d highly encourage you to seek them out if it’s anatomy you’re having a hard time with!
for this post, i’m going to dive into tips to try when you’re struggling with just drawing bodies.
my #1 tip for improving in any way is to bring yourself back to basics and LET YOURSELF GET MESSY. i mean stick figures, blobby shapes, guidelines, everything. don’t pressure yourself to be neat. don’t do too much erasing. draw loosely, make mistakes, and make an effort to learn by drawing mindfully. don’t just scribble without thinking. as you draw, ask yourself why there are curves there. why the arm is positioned the way it is.
to build on that, use that mindful thought to think in 3d. apply some depth to your basic shapes!
if you struggle with that, or struggle with even getting started (hey, it happens!), get warmed up by taking some reference pictures of real people and lightly trace over them. as you go, think about where their knee is, why their shoulders tilt, how their elbows bend.
lastly, to get some really good mental exercise in, try drawing small. loosen up and doodle a ton of tiny bodies, without spending a ton of time on any of them. fill a page, explore dynamic poses, perspectives, and forgive yourself and move on when it doesn’t look perfect. this will help your brain to memorize how bodies in general look and move!
(and here’s a pro-tip: you don’t have to draw JUST humans!)
my final tip is to diversify the bodies you draw. break out of your comfort zone. draw fat, draw stocky, draw lanky. the world is not made up of 7 billion people with the same body-type, and neither should your characters or subject matter.
(P.S. this style of learning can be applied to anything you’re struggling to draw! hands, feet, hats - stop avoiding the things that look difficult and start learning how to conquer them. before you know it, they’ll become second nature!)
stormborns
titsay
romaincrisis
blakekathryn
turnnoffyourmind
gummygunk
