Pose painting

[Roroth]

Started on a new painting, but I was wondering what you think about this pose..
Dynamic enough? If not, any suggestions on what to change are welcome!!

[nathan]

I am by far no expert, but maybe you could move the character's left arm away from the body a little, to enhance the silhouette. I'd also draw through that right hand wrist to see where it falls underneath the hand (like an x-ray), it will help a lot getting the shape outline right.

This guy looks cool, too by the way!

[Roroth]

Oh yeah good ideas! Gonna curve his right hand a bit too, so you can see the silhouette more :)
Thanks!

[Amit Dutta]

The pose is quite stiff and unnatural mostly due to that right arm/hand and his left leg; but I think rather than telling you what the issues with this particular pose are and how to fix it, there are a couple of things you should do that would be the most effective in helping you improve.

The first is to learn the fundamentals and go back to basics. I'm not sure but it seems that you didn't construct this figure using broad gestures to start with to get the pose but I think you drew each "piece" one after the other?

The "proper" way to go about drawing the figure well is to first do a simple and quick gesture drawing that nails the proportions, balance and pose of the body within the first couple of minutes. These are gesture drawings: https://www.google.co.nz/search?q=gestur...24&bih=609

You can use sites like http://artists.pixelovely.com/practice-t...e-drawing/ which automatically switch models every so many minutes to practice. Or you can do it in a sketchbook with real people out and about. You don't need a lot of time to practice gestures, a couple of minutes for each one can be enough. This is something you need to constantly practice and then apply to every piece.

You then need to start learning about constructing the figure in terms of volume and not outlines. Buy / borrow / steal all the Loomis books you can and read them all. They used to be available at saveloomis.org for free but they are back in print now so the free versions have been taken down. "Figure drawing for all it's worth" is the one for figure, but you should get them all. They really cover the fundamentals well.

Bridgman is still available for free online.
http://www.drawingbooks.org/bridgman1/index.html


Once you've got a few (hundred) of those studies under your belt and you've had a look at Loomis' and Bridgman's construction techniques, then come again at this piece and construct the figure properly from the ground up and see how much better it will be. I know that's perhaps not what you wanted to hear, but it really is the best way to get better at this. Hope that helps

Oh also you never mentioned what this illustration was aimed at..card art, concept art, just doodling etc. This can be useful for anyone who want to help you with a crit. :D

[Roroth]

It's exactly what I wanted to hear! I like critiques like this, they help a lot and i'll definitely try out those books and practice the gestures! Thanks a lot!

[Myriam]

but the loomis stuff is still online on saveloomis.org

[Amit Dutta]

but the loomis stuff is still online on saveloomis.org

Er, I don't think so unless I'm missing something really obvious?

[Myriam]

Well, I've been able to download everything today, so I don't know if it's mine or your internet that is acting weird ;)

[Amit Dutta]

I thought you might be interested to see a slow breakdown of one way of doing a gesture drawing. It's a good idea to have a process, eventually you'll be able to just eyeball the measurements. I use a slightly different method, but I can see some useful things I can adapt from this into my own process

Well, I've been able to download everything today, so I don't know if it's mine or your internet that is acting weird ;)

Oh wow that's odd they took them down about a year ago and I checked yesterday before I posted and couldn't see them.
*EDIT : nevermind, I think you probably went to the other "Save Loomis" site which isn't actually saveloomis.org. I don't want to say which here because it isn't exactly legal anymore. Covering both my back and the CD forum :)