Building a drawing summary website

POSEMANIACS is a free 3D pose reference website for artists.

It allows you to view realistic 3D models showing the muscles and skeletal structure of the human body from any angle in 360 degrees.

When I tried to use this website to draw a character, I ran into three problems.

I would like to explain each of them.

1. I Struggle With Head-to-Body Proportions

Anime characters often have heads and faces that are almost as wide as their shoulders.

In comparison, the heads of the 3D models look smaller because their proportions are closer to those of real people.

I usually start my drawings by using a circle as a guide for the head, so the overall head-to-body ratio often becomes inconsistent when I use a realistic 3D model as a reference.

2. Changing the Body Into More Exaggerated Proportions

When I draw female characters, I want to make their breasts and hips larger and give them more exaggerated proportions.

I have always admired the idea of creating fantasy characters and entire fantasy worlds from scratch.

However, it is difficult to use a realistically proportioned 3D model as a reference while naturally changing the body into the kind of character design I want to draw.

3. Something About the Pose Feels Wrong

I also have difficulty accurately turning the image in my head into an actual drawing.

I can often tell that something looks wrong, but I cannot identify exactly which part is causing the problem.

Possible Ways to Solve These Problems

Adjusting the Head-to-Body Ratio

One method I am considering is taking only the head from Easy Poser and placing it over the POSEMANIACS layer while drawing.

Another option is to use the drawing mannequin in Clip Studio Paint and compare it with the pose I created in POSEMANIACS.

Creating More Exaggerated Proportions

I think an articulated figure can be very useful when drawing sexy female characters.

Because I can create and adjust the pose with my own hands, it helps me understand the body from different angles.

Reducing Awkwardness in the Pose

I think creating a natural pose is very difficult because it can easily look strange when you do not fully understand the structure of the human body.

I decided to look at advice from other artists who had faced the same problems as me.

One suggestion was to study a pose and then change one or two things every time you draw it. I thought this was a very good idea.

Another suggestion was to practise figure drawing with a time limit. I would like to include this method in my own practice as well.

I sometimes look through Reddit when I am struggling with something, and the advice I find there can be very helpful.

Conclusion

I believe that 3D models are mainly tools for checking rough sketches and testing compositions.

They are simply one of the many useful tools available to artists.

There was a time when I gave up on using 3D models because I thought they were not suitable for me.

Recently, however, I have started to think that the real problem may have been my lack of knowledge and skill rather than the tool itself.

Perhaps the most important thing is to keep thinking about how I can improve at drawing characters and then actually take action.

I am the administrator of the drawing summary site "Okakimin" (お絵描き民). At Okakimin, I plan to run a site that introduces illustrations I've drawn, articles about drawing, and so on.

This time, I would like to talk about the mini-character that I plan to use on the site.

① Turned on the box display in Easy Poser

② Drew the atari (rough guidelines) referencing the boxes

③ Rough draft

④ Underdrawing (sketch)

⑤ Improved based on advice from Chagpt

⑥ Finished illustration

Challenges

When making poses, the upper body and lower body end up looking disconnected. In the past, I received advice that the human anatomy was broken because it exceeded the range of motion. As a result of thinking on my own, I decided to check poses using a poseable figure. It is enough to grasp how far it can bend naturally.

Easy Poser has a box display feature. I use it to accurately grasp the 3D space and perspective by replacing the complex human body with simple cuboids. Although plenty of models with 4 or more heads tall are available, I wanted to draw a 3-head-tall mini-character, so I drew it myself referencing the boxes.

I have practiced repeatedly, but since drawing basic hair is difficult, I try to block out the overall shape with thick lines first before adding details. I think it's easier to understand if I divide the hair into blocks, so I want to pay close attention to this when copying (doing studies) as well.

Drawing a lying-down character was my first experience. Up until now, I have mostly drawn standing characters, and at those times, it was easy to measure the proportions using circle guidelines. However, that method did not work well for a lying-down pose, and I got very confused. As a solution, I am thinking of measuring from the feet first. This is because I thought doing so would keep the head-to-body proportion ratio constant and prevent the balance of the entire body from breaking down.

I struggle the most with drawing skirts, and the appearance changes greatly every time. I realized that researching "how to draw a skirt" and truly understanding the structure of the fabric is important. Right now, I am gathering visual references to study how folds and wrinkles actually function.

By trying to use a 3D model, I felt the difficulty of creating poses. There is still a mountain of challenges ahead, but I want to grow at my own pace, one step at a time. I will do my best on the next illustration as well.