pspspspspsps,,,hi. i really love ur art. u draw various markipliers so well. do u mayhaps have any tips on how to draw good like u do? i really like how u have relatively realistic proportions but ur art still feels somewhat cartoonish? almost like a comic book from marvel or dc, if that makes sense. how do you manage that? and more importantly how do u draw normal ass people without thinking it looks horrible and unnatural, cause that happens to me EVERY time i try to draw like that ๐ญ
i hope you know that this ask makes me SO HAPPY.. like, idk, i feel like i've spent a lot of time trying to get a real life persons likeness in my style without it being weird or overly realistic. it's NOT EASY TO DO.. and it takes a lot of practice!!
like here is the progress image i posted on twitter.. of the way i've drawn mark over the years. i never really applied any of this advice myself until probably 2022 when i started drawing stranger things fanart.
besides that, i'm not entirely sure how to put it into words, but i think that keeping in mind like.. specific facial structure details in mind while drawing someone's likeness can help a LOT. With Mark in particular, and i mean these observations in the most loving way possible.. LOL he has a very long face, a strong jaw, a long chin and a long nose. his mouth seems very narrow and his eyes almost 'too close' together, because of the shape of his head. He also has monolids! this can really make or break his likeness.
I quickly sketched some eyesโ a generic set in my regular style, Marks eyes, and then i threw Joe Keery in there as a good buffer since I've drawn him a lot too and his likeness is very particular too!
I like to exaggerate eyelashes sometimes too!! it can help stylize eyes.
Here's an old ask I answered very similar to this one, and you can see some of the same adviceโ but also how much i've improved!
And of course, I said it in that ask but also one from earlier, I 100% recommend figure studies for getting body language, gestures, movement, and proportions down! And like, keeping in mind generic proportion rules. Shoulders and hips are usually close in width, with arms at rest the elbows line up with the waist, and the hands usually somewhere from upper to mid thigh. NONE OF THESE ARE HARD RULES!! BODIES ARE ALL DIFFERENT!!!
idk if this answers waht u meant, but if you have any specific questions with my process or style i'm happy to answer more questions!!! a lot of it is also just automatic to me, so it's a lil hard to put into words.. ive never been to school for art (besides high school) but ive been doing it long enough that i forget i have to explain out fundamentals sometimes ๐ญ๐ญ
all in all it's rly just ifnding a balance between a personal style and realism. bc i dont want to lean TOO MUCH into realism, but i also want to keep a persons likeness visible. REFERENCES ARE UR FRIEND!! STUDYING IS UR FRIEND!!!! KEEP PRACTICING!!!!