Hi there! I recently did this pen and watercolor piece and was really happy with it at first, but looking at it now I’m realizing something about the pose just feels really off and stiff. Is there anything that any of you have for a suggestion to make it seem more fluid and eerie? Thank you very much for taking the time to look over this when you get the time.
Hello! Oh gosh I love the hair and eyes and the touch of red in this character! The fact that you added a shadow is a nice detail and makes the character feel grounded :) to help with that though it’s good to have at least one foot being the balancing foot to stabilize the character’s weight
If you have a set mood in mind already (eerie) I suggest sketching silhouettes for the illustration you want to do, it can help you portray the mood a lot easier and more quickly. With a glance our minds can fill in the gaps and read what’s going on with each pose. With the first image the pose is tucked, hands to the chest, knees bent in, it often suggests fear or timidity. Here’s a super helpful link on body language and posing from our very own mod wackart! 💕 The more you study body language the more you can pick up on using poses that match the type of feeling you want to convey, you can also take this time to research inspiration for your poses. In this case monsters, mutants, even zombies are great!
with the silhouettes we made we can pick one and very quickly map out our figure, loose with our strokes, straights and curves, it’s okay if proportions are inconsistent and thanks to our silhouettes we aren’t as nervous as we would be if we were just trying to attempt a fluid sketch straight from the imagination without any planning
From that we can fix the anatomy and add mass. Making the pose more open and forward will suggest the character is approaching us, adding a level of eeriness from the interaction we get! Having the hands out would let the nails that you had in your design be more on display which I thought was a great fun detail to your character :)
Thank you for your submission! I hope you found these tips and suggestions useful! I love your creativity and character design and remember with every drawing you do you’re growing! 💖
-mod doe
original art by: @electricfoxx413
