It’s really not all that hard to find reference pictures of folks who have had top surgery so you can draw trans bodies with accuracy. All reputable surgeons who perform top surgery have a portfolio of their work online. There’s countless photos out there of different types of contouring and scarring and they don’t look at all like a ripped cis guy with little lines under each pec.
Here’s a couple patients from Dr Scott Mosser’s website
There’s tons of ppl who decided to not get nipple grafts. They need love too! Plenty of folks decide not to keep their nipples because the healing process is for some ppl more annoying to heal than the actual incisions. The person on the left here has two incisions, and the one on the right has one incision going all the way across the chest. It’s very common for folks with big chests pre-op to end up getting the type of incision that goes all the way around the front! Keep this in mind if you’re drawing fat characters!
Sometimes folks with dark skin will have nipple grafts that appear pink. Keep in mind when drawing characters with dark skin! This coloration is ofc not always the case, as pictured on the rightside pic
Here’s an example of a common occurrence after top surgery called “dog-ears.” This is when excess skin sometimes gathers near the very end of the incisions on either side of the rib. Dog-ears are also super common with patients who had a large chest pre-op (notice this person also has an incision all the way across the front! I chose this pic bc of that combination of features).
Also keep in mind scars don’t heal symmetrically! Sometimes keloids (the risen, “puffy” parts of the scars) will form.
In summation: top surgery looks incredibly different on every person, and your art should reflect that! If you’re going to draw trans bodies, make sure you actually look at them
(Please keep in mind I am not a surgeon or a doctor, these are just my own observations. Also please correct me if there’s anything here that’s inaccurate)
