Mensajes en el foro por Kh319

(Sorry if this is not very useful because I don't struggle with that and you have far more experience than me but a few things that I either use or have seen other use in passing, that will hopefully be of use to you.)

1. Having a collection of reference images, most useful if it is sorted with labels (e.g. fighting, lounging/relaxed, sitting) or tags (e.g. energetic+fighting, sad+lounging+multiple_figures) and either using them as seen, replacing details with your own, or using them as starting points (e.g arm positions are different but with same body, added tension with the same overall position,etc). (Also works if you draw your own poses and just reuse them.)

I use this, and I also have a few "default" poses remembered (mostly from classical paintings I've seen and studied since they tend to show dramatic but realistic poses) ehich embody general concepts (e.g. jealous, disgusted, listening). It works incredibly well for me.

2. Having a "chart" like one of those angle ones except instead of slightly different angles it's slightly different poses (especially if it is a sequence of movements/events – e.g. different stages of a conversation). It helps with putting the pose in perspective to the rest of the drawing/comic/whatever.

You can refer back to it, and predict poses from mixing them. Perhaps a mix-and-match kind of thing?? But that seems damaging to the overall pose

3. Having a model – physical or digital. Physical is often not as easy to position, and angles can be difficult to draw, but as you have a lot of experience, you'll likely find it easy to exaggerate/shift the pose until it feels genuine. The more able you are to do that the less realistic the model needs to be, and more realistic ones are often a lot more expensive and difficult to find. As for digital, CSP had a 3D modelling feature which is free. Not sure how good it is since I don't know anything about 3D modelling, or what other programs are like in comparison.

4. Breaking it down in a logical way instead of trying to image the overall image. For example, the line thing people do to show flow in the body. I often connect the torso, legs and head together as one main chunk and worry about overall structure first, then shift until it feels natural, and then the arms separate, all details after.

This relies on starting with very, very basic principles, then doing everything step-by-step (it's kind of like mapping your thought process on the paper so it's definitely helpful for some people, and it can help to see which way you want to go and which you don't). Definitely not always helpful to everyone, but as long as you're doing it in a way that makes sense to you it'll probably help, at least slightly even if it's not enough. I'm trying to use this method to draw better without a reference (I would be much more efficient if I could do that, personally) and for branching out into more animals (I mostly draw humans, sometimes other mammals like dogs, horses, etc.).