#mods only

Hey fellas!

So recently I’ve been trying to take on a more cartoon style when drawing. I’ve been doing my best to do more unique shillouettes and exaggerated body proportions (love drawing me some lanky string bean men)

I was hoping to get some help with the hands (aren’t we all) and ideas on how to push the limits of the whole cartoon style and break free from the sort of anime style rut I’ve been stuck in for the past few years.

Thank you all so much!!!

(Original by @ dandelionblade )

What an excellent piece of art! I really love how clean and dynamic this is! 

With regards to what you mentioned - hands and pushing the cartoon style instead of the anime one, here’s what I’ve got for you:

I also made a couple of close-up illustrations to make some things a bit more clear, such as the arm lengths and what I changed:

As for the hand - because I didn’t include it in the redline - I recommend taking a photo of your OWN hand and then tracing that drawing so that you have a base to work off of!

Looking at the realistic hand and comparing it to the cartoony one, you can see a few things, specifically how much the fingers are all bending in altering directions, and how the pinky is a bit overextended. 

It’s always a good idea, even in cartoons, to set a baseline of realism so that you know you’re bending and stretching it in a balanced manner. :)

Hi redliners!

I’d like some help on the anatomy of the three sillhouetted figures in the foreground of the peice, I’m not very good with sillhouetted poses yet (and if it’s not over the limit, some help with the anatomy of the wings on the winged figure)

This is based on the judgement tarot card and I was basing the poses of the three figures on the ones from the raider white illustration but I can’t seem to get them quite right, the card is themed after a sun god from a d&d campaign I’m in so I went with a sillhouetted style to emphasize the brightness of the winged figure

Thank you so much!

This is quite an elaborate piece, well done so far! : ) 

The most distinct thing im picking up about your anatomy is a certain underdevelopment of structure. This could be because you’ve drawn them out as sihlouettes, but i would have loved to have seen how your drafts/sketches would have looked underneath. 

Usually i would point to construction and sketching taking up half the time of the actual drawing, since  - if you take the time to do the footwork on your sketches and drafts, all there will be left to do is repeat it on another layer. Which leaves all the experimentation, and the hard work to the sketch layers. 

I’ve based these wings on some of our tutorials that we have laying around for wings. I’ll be linking them underneath. I think what stood out the most was the lengths of the outer “joints” of the wings so to speak. the first half of them seemed adequate in length, whereas the second half ( the half away from the “body” ) quickly became elongated. Furthermore i pushed the arch of the “uppermost” wings closer as to give it more of an arch. This doesn’t have that much to do with the overall anatomy of the creature, but moreso in lieu with compositioning the wing to a more circular form, to make it look a bit more balanced. 

You can find more tutorials on wings here: 

( the first half of this tutorial may be interesting to you )  https://theredlinestation.tumblr.com/post/185506043050/do-you-have-any-advice-on-dragon-wings-my-best

( This is a post on posing multiple limbs, you could potentially use it as a guideline for composing multiple wings )  https://theredlinestation.tumblr.com/post/183796591118/any-advice-for-what-to-do-when-posing-a-character#notes

Hello! This is a commission piece I did and there’s just some parts that I couldn’t get right.

I was focused mainly on the anatomy and that’s what I would like corrected :) I feel like the hands and legs just don’t look right and the overall anatomy on the character in white just bugs me

If I could get tips on the anatomy and maybe even the perspective on the cake that would be great!! Thank you so much!!

Any mod is okay!

submitted by @professor-sneaky​

Redlined by Mod Future

This looks like a real welcoming picture! In this redline I will be focusing on the anatomy and the perspective of the cake. 

First for a quick pose pass: I always search up reference pictures, or take some myself if I can’t find them. Google, Bing, and other search engines should be utilized. I just searched up “two people holding a cake”, and these are the closest ones I found. 

So for this redline, I referenced the middle picture the most, and the other two are just for variation in posing. The biggest change I made was moving the pelvis/hips much higher. Because the cake blocked the way, I assume it messed with you a little, resulting in elongated torsos. To combat this, draw through your bodies all the way if they’re blocked by any props. 

In the new pose, I made sure the thumbs are visible, just like in my reference picture. This really helps add the sense of weight from the cake plate(?) they are holding. 

For the cake itself, I also referenced the picture! The original perspective was much too intense. We usually only get super tapered perspective when looking at large buildings or using a super wide camera lens. Just the slightest bit of tapering is enough to give us a 3D look. 

Thank you for submitting your work! I hope this was helpful :D

Hi there, mods! I’ve been practicing perspective lately and would like a redline on these two characters - it’s one of my better attempts so far, but I’m sure I’ve got more to work on! The point of view is supposed to be below them, and I’d especially appreciate comments on the faces and arms/hands, since those were the trickiest bits. If that’s not too much, I’d also really appreciate any advice you have about the lighting - I tried to give it a sort of “lightning” feel, coming from behind them. Thank you so much!!

submitted by  ambidexedition

Redlined by Mod Future

Alright, these two look like fun characters! I will be focusing on the perspective and the lighting for this redline. 

I would recommend using boxes and cylinders to construct the figure in order to place them in perspective. As we’re looking up at these two, we can see the bottom of the box I used to construct their rib cages. For the hands, it depends on if the hand is closer or farther from the camera. If it is up near the character’s head, like I did on the left, it will not be as foreshortened and closer to actual size. If the hand is being extended down towards us, like I did on the right, then it will be a bit larger because it’s closer. Perspective! 

This is a perspective exercise you can think about doing. Constructing the figure using boxes and cylinders, imagine the figure standing in a box, and then rotate that box around. Now draw the figure within that rotated box. This helps build your perspective skills and ability to see the simple mannequin figure from all angles. 

Now onto the lighting. 

Reference, reference, reference! 

I searched up some backlit portraits as well as a reference for the stormy sky.

You can see that only the edges of the form are exposed to that super bright light, meanwhile the majority of the body is in shadow. So, that’s what I did. Use any layer mode you want, but for this I used a Hard Light layer on top of my base colors and a dark grey color to make the shadows. Then, an overlay layer for the rim of light around the figures. 

The added contrast of the clouds behind them enhances the contrast of the overall picture :3 

Thank you for submitting your work! I hope this was helpful.

I tried to make a dynamic pose at an angle, but the more I look at it, the more it looked wrong. It was hard to find references for this so I (unfortunately) just didn’t use one. How do I make it look right?

This looks SO cool! And to your credit, I too had to go through this multiple times before i was satisfied with the redline. It’s a very particular pose in a very particular perspective that takes a lot of work to get right in the construction phase. Though, by the virtue of your style, your original piece actually gets away with it pretty nicely without looking that off. 

The most “erroneous” thing i found about your drawing was that the character’s physique itself looked a little flat here and there, due to a lack of curvature of; for an example, the top of the thigh. Which is what gives us the impression that something has volume in perspective. Same with the fingers, who were posed in such a way that it looked like they weren’t really in perspective. I suggested a new pose that takes advantage of the exciting angle you’ve got going. 

In overall, not that much to “correct”, you already have a pretty good piece, that just needs a few tweaks here and there to read even clearer. 

They looks super cute! And what an elegant design for the dress.  Let’s look into some shading first. 

When shading ( or at least cel-shading ) folds in clothes, we will most frequently make use of a triangular shape in our shadows. This is often due to how folds come to be in textile. Basically, one end of the fabric is pinched off, and the other flows freely, which gives this naturally triangular fanning in the fabric. 

https://www.thefashiontamer.com/get-a-pink-skirt-for-your-wardrobe/

This is especially true for skirts and dresses, that typically taper around the waist, but then fan out at the feet/legs. 

As for the hands, a common way to see people hold the fabric of their dresses is this “pinch”-grip. It looks elegant but can be a bit tricky to figure out how to draw.  Basically, the fabric is held almost exclusively between the tip of the thumb and index finger, though sometimes the rim of a fabric can rest against the tips of the remaining fingers as well, like lying on a little shelf.

https://www.freepik.com/free-vector/elegant-female-hand-raising-red-silk-round-draped-silk-cloth-holding-it-center-realistic-image_7285781.htm

This is especially important if you’re dealing with fine fabrics that have a risk of crinkling if pressed together or bunched up too tightly. This delicate hold prevents the fabric from getting wrinkly when held. 

With this hold of course, the dress itself will adhere to this kind of pinch-grip. It will only lift around the very point it is being held by, while the rest of the dress will be pulled down in a soft arc by gravity, going back to the nearest seam, which in this particular case- would be the waist. 

As for the pose, there’s a few alterations that could make it look a little more dynamic. First of all, like i’ve adviced before, seeing characters head on from a straight frontal angle can sometime make them feel a little stiff, so turning them to face a slightly off-centered angle can bring a bit of visual interest into the composition. 

Additionally, i would ensure that the difference in the position of her arms were a little more pronounced, let one hang a little lower while one lifts a little higher. This also gives more flow to the dress’s skirt, which will behave accordingly, by draping lower near the low-hanging hand, and hang higher by the hovering hand. 

Submission by peachy-beeps

Hello Redline Crew! I just finished this piece and I’m having a bit of problem with the anatomy. The arm feels wrong but I can’t tell what needs to be fixed, and I think the perspective of the shoulder/collarbone needs some work, but again I don’t know what to do with it. Also I’m not positive if the hand I drew clutching the bottle is the best.

Of course, if you wanted to add any other criticisms you’re definitely free to, and I wanted to thank you guys for the amazing service that you give! ♡♡♡

Redlined By: Mod Todd (With commentary by Mod Future!) 

This is a great piece! I love the Colours and use of foreground elements!

Mod Future chiming in here on Mod Todd’s great redlining: It looks like what Mod Todd is saying is that the use of a simple perspective tool like the horizon line and vanishing point can help you lay out your environment, such as the buildings in the background, to make a more believable 3D space. Perspective grids can also help you place a figure in the space they’re in, as well as set the guide for the perspective in the rest of the figure. 

So, by first establishing the angle at which we’re looking at the character (from below, from above, at eye level) we can determine how the features will be placed. Take this page from “Successful Drawing” by Andrew Loomis (You can find all Loomis books for free at http://www.alexhays.com/loomis/ ): 

You’ll see in Mod Todd’s redline that this is now a more straight-on ¾ view. The line of the collarbone is lifted. The arm has been shortened to be more proportional to the body. For the hand, she sought out reference, and also grouped the two middle fingers for a more appealing shape language. In your initial picture, the fingers were too short overall. 

Mod Future: If this was more of a sliiiight top-down shot like in Mod Todd’s perspective drawing, the collarbone follows the line of the shoulders. This is why it’s important to know a few guidelines to be able to check your work. If the shoulders were more defined, this also reduces the chance of the arm looking too long. Notice in my redline and in your picture, the elbow is pretty much at the same point, but it’s the angle and position of the shoulder that makes the difference.

Hope this helps! Perspective is a doozy, so give that Loomis book a read if you can! Stuff like that can help build your knowledge exponentially, even if it’s just by reading it. 

-Mod Future (ko-fi)