hii i hope this is ok to ask but i love how fucking HUGE you make curly look, do you have any advice on how to draw muscular frames? :o
thankies!! i love drawing him Robust-Looking <3
as far as advice goes, when it comes to anatomy i always recommend the channel proko on youtube, they have all kinds of videos about how to draw anatomy with each area of the body broken down. basically, if you're trying for anatomical accuracy with muscles and stuff, their vids are a great way to grasp how muscles work!
as far as general shapes and vibes though, i have a couple quick tips of my own <3
the biggest part, if you can imagine, is proportions. typically tutorials will tell you the average shoulder width for a person is about 2-3 heads wide, so if you're making someone Bigger and Beefier, you'll wanna go past that a bit. (and making a character's head smaller is gonna make their body look bigger by comparison, so if you wanna go crazy, shrank that thang)
For example, Daisuke (who i draw as lean, but still with some muscle, especially in his arms) is 4 heads wide at his shoulders, while beefcake curly over here is 5 (sometimes more depending on the drawing lol). something as simple as broadening the shoulders already gives a character a beefier-looking silhouette.
[ID: Simple rough sketches of Daisuke and Curly from Mouthwashing with colored circles showing how many heads wide their shoulder width is. Daisuke is four, Curly is five. end ID]
"but what if i don't know how to draw the muscles and am not going for realism/don't feel confident enough in that yet? how do i give a muscular vibe without as much detail?" FEAR NOT it's super easy. here we use the power of SHAPES!!
i draw jimmy and curly with the same "skeleton" or base frame, so i think they're a good example of this next bit. despite having the same bones, i broaden the fleshy parts on curly's limbs (focusing on his shoulders cuz he has big ass shoulders) and keep his upper arms wide before tapering down into his hands (muscles tend to be largest at the base of the limb and get smaller up to the hands/feet but there's plenty of design exceptions). i carry that shape language down into his legs (which i emphasize with his fitted calf-height boots). meanwhile jimmy stays fairly squared, especially when fully clothed
[ID: Simple sketches of Jimmy and Curly from Mouthwashing with notes describing their shapes. Jimmy has a rectangle over his body and is noted as being "relatively rectangular" and the shapes of his limbs are mostly straight. Curly has a trapezoid over his body and has a "top heavy shape" with limb shapes that taper down and in. end ID]
and honestly, a good hack to make a character read as more muscular or robust is to give them a buddy that contrasts that. once again, jimmy will assist.
even in a simple drawing like this, giving jimmy the opposite tapering to his limbs just emphasizes curly's hugelargeness by comparison. it also shows that you don't need a lot of detail or realism to convey Beefiness
[ID: Another, more simplified doodle of Jimmy and Curly, pointing out that Jim's limbs taper outwards while Curly's taper in. end ID]
another final quick tip i have is: the neck makes a difference!
people with more muscle tend to have thicker necks (it's because of the muscles there, if you can believe it) and it's kinda become one of my fav bits of drawing curly lol. idk why <3 necks fun to draw <3 for him, i draw his neck starting at the very edges of his face and widening out at the bottom to match the shape of his head and to flow a bit more into his trap muscles, but you could go Even Further Beyond if you so Choose. i've found this is a surprisingly good way to convey Beefy Person Beefy even if you don't have as much anatomical knowledge.
[ID: Four bust sketches of Daisuke and Curly comparing their necks. The first two show them both facing forwards. Daisuke's neck is slimmer and straight, while Curly's neck meets the edges of his jaw and has a wider base with higher trap muscles. The second two shows them in profile, with the back of Daisuke's cranium sticking out past his neck, while Curly's is even with his neck, showing how thick is is from the side. end ID]
widen shoulders relative to the head to convey a Broad silhouette
taper limbs inwards from base to extremities to emphasize the shape/size of the muscles
give em a less muscular buddy for contrast
thick necks help a lot in conveying a muscular build
and of course, i know i only used men in these examples, but these tips will work just fine regardless of a character's gender. please draw more beefy women ily <3
i hope this made sense and helps you and whoever else might see this uwu
if anyone has any questions about it i will. Try. to answer them. making these posts is oddly difficult lol
