Gemmles

So mech isn't really my forte, but I liked him enough to try anyways ehehe

Before getting into the literal nuts and bolts, my approach is sketching the components as cubes and shapes. It really helps with visualizing the proportions and how the pieces interact with each other and his body. This method also helps me with perspective because one or two strangely angled lines can really make the overall drawing look flat and unnatural. To be honest, this approach makes it a lot less intimidating for me, and it frees me to focus on the finer details.

It also really helps to know that the bulky parts of his arms correspond with the actual arm muscles--with the long rods as the bones. Watching his selection animation shows off a pretty good range of motion too.

Here are some study sketches I've made. I'm probably still getting some parts wrong, but this is what I have so far.

1. Breaking down the face into simpler shapes. Slap a new layer on top of that ref photo and break down the facial planes! It’s a great way to study your subject’s facial proportions and features. Having that extra knowledge should help with your future drawings and it'll free you to focus on the finer details. I had to do this with Chamber because I struggled with his face at the beginning. 🥹

2. Looking at other artists' works. Often times, other artists will catch details that you may have missed and you'll see it in their work. It feels like a point to the right direction when I can't figure out why my drawings are off.

3. Repetition and Practice. I'm so sorry! It's so cliché but keep drawing! Make practice sheets :) Just like how we study anatomy and proportions, the repetition will build your muscle memory and improve your overall intuition.

I've been drawing the same mfs for the last 5 months lol

If you're doing practice drawings, what you can also do is revisit old photos you've drawn and do a redraw to see how far you've gotten. Personally, it takes me several tries to get my hand used to drawing new characters, but it’s really neat when I do a redraw and see the progress. 

Going into the haunted house the older members--particularly Brim and Viper didn't expect to be jump scared by actors posing as mannequins. First (unexpected) thing Brim did was panic and grab the person next to him. Everyone in the middle walks into each other because of this. My favorite detail here is Astra and Viper grabbing onto Omen on both sides in panic. They were not in control of the situation at all lol 

 Duelists reacting like duelists would. Yoru almost picked a fight with the staff. Then there are Reyna and Phoenix trying to be casual about getting jumpscared. 

 Sentinels, who are usually used to watching the backlines are caught off guard lol I just had a great time drawing cool and collected characters being anything but ehehe my favorite here is Sage eheh