FULL FATHOM FIVE

i blog from a howling directionless void

hi! i'm so glad you're getting back into art, even if it's been a struggle! i can tell you some things that have worked for me (also anatomy stuff)

(disclaimer- i'm focusing on observational drawing here, both because having a feel for how things work in real life will make it easier to draw from imagination & also because it's the mode of drawing i can actually give tips on)

general things that everyone says but really are true:

practice is really the only way to get anywhere. draw every day you can. might feel like you're getting nowhere but you are both moving forward and learning how to move

drawing from life helps a ton. drawing from photos is good too but drawing something right in front of you will get you thinking about space in ways that a photo won't

draw stuff you think will be fun to draw (especially stuff that makes you think "that would be fun but i'm not skilled enough")

find what works for you and do that. listen to yourself over anyone who's giving you advice (hello)

some things that personally help me:

focusing on the negative space around an object in order to describe the object's shape. our brains get very caught up in our conceptions of how things "should look" and even when you're looking at something from a very abstract or analytical angle, that's still hard to shake. drawing "around" something is a way to get past this, by no longer focusing on the thing itself but the shape the space around it takes

paying attention to junctions. almost everything is made of multiple parts joining together into a bigger whole--- it's easy to overlook the places where those things join, but if you slow down and pay attention to them you'll probably find you understand an object better. look at where the floor meets a wall, where a seam cuts through fabric, where a limb connects to a torso, and observe it closely. those places are rarely as clean or simple as we assume they are at a glance

jumping around a drawing, working on multiple parts at once. makes everything more coherent, and helps you work out problems earlier on. sort of related: measure things against each other. work out rough ratios---the handle of that door is a little less than halfway up it, and there's about 1 handle-width between it and the doorframe. etc

anatomy-wise:

i really recommend the morpho books, which are in pdf format in this google drive. really great & comprehensive guides. also obligatory "figure drawing is great & will help you." if you can't do live figure drawing lineofaction.com is good.

along another vein though: i had a prof last year that had us all go very strictly by the method of building up the figure that i'm about to show you, and while it might not work for everyone i think it's a good starting point for conceptualizing the way people are put together. so here's one way to do things.

let's start with this person (image from lineofaction)... i'm going to trace over the image just to give you a better idea of what i'm talking about

first thing to do: find the spine. not as a gestural line of action type thing; try to picture where your model's actual spine might be and sketch it out, neck to tailbone.

the spine is what everything else in the body is built around. we're going from the inside out.

next we're going to look for the parts of the body that interact most directly with the spine. i like starting with the ribcage. again: try to draw what your model's actual ribcage seems to be shaped like. is it short? long? narrow? wide?

third thing that can't really move independently of the spine: the pelvis. sort of a boxy shape works, or you can go into a little more detail, whatever helps you best. what angle are your model's hips at? are they wide? narrow?

next: the shoulders are a central part of the body, but actually aren't so directly attached to the spine, and can move without the spine moving. that whole sort of musculoskeletal area can simplify to sort of a fat triangle. what is the shape of your model's shoulders? what angle are they at? (their angle won't always be the same as the spine's or the ribcage's.)

now that you have a basic approximation of the core of the body, you can start thinking about limbs. i like to figure out the joints first, especially places like shoulders, hips, etc. where the limbs attach to the body. again: junctions!

from there you can sort of get a stickman situation going, or if drawing limb segments more like tubes works better for you, do that. whatever you understand best.

now that you've got the structure you can start looking at what's on top of it, skin & muscle & fat etc, which is where i start being less able to explain what to do. morpho is great for this.

here's my pretty simple end product. the detail you go into, like any step of the process, is ofc up to you

thank you!

it’s been a while since i read CoAiK, but i remember liking it! it’s nice in that story to see into the lives of some of karhide’s regular people… in Left Hand proper we so rarely meet characters that aren’t like. politicians or monks. rer is just so awesome as well. i’m a sucker for a weird little city.