Please critique this sketch of mine

Here: http://cyanishblue.deviantart.com/art/WIP-I-thought-you-hated-us-388503111
and here (I just tried to "fix" the abdominal muscles, because I thought they looked off): http://cyanishblue.deviantart.com/art/WIP-I-thought-you-hated-us-2-388775130?ga_submit_new=10%253A1374969010

References here:
http://briannelaflair.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/jesse-la-flair-move-to-comfort-fruit-of-the-loom-backflip-cliff-dive1.jpg
http://cyanishblue.deviantart.com/art/Backflip-176075394


Hallo there, I've just stumbled on this website just about over a month ago, and have been practicing gesture since then, and studying a bit of anatomy, etc. with looking at S. Prokopenko's videos here: http://www.proko.com/ and other guides/tutorials on deviantart.com . I've also done previous self studies in the past fifteen years (as in I've been drawing ever since I can remember, though I've never taken a proper art class). I don't think my experience really matters...? But if any of you can give me some pointers with this info, then great :D lol.

Thankyou in advance~!
C.L.

Hey Caynishblueintheblue,

Nice work on the linkwork firstly ;D.and for improvement I would suggest working heavily into anatomy. Mainly proportions and size ratios. because the artwork "I thought you hated us" character has a stretched torso, it seem to stretch farther than it would normally.

I hope this helps :).
keep it up.

lol, thank you XD and ok, I will definitely look into anatomy more, thank you very much for your "critique"!!!

You're welcome, And good luck :)

I agree with Chris!

I know it sounds super boring, but you'll do yourself a favor if you start with practicing anatomy thoroughly before you go in-depth into explosive and dynamic poses. Understand how the body works when it moves is vital for it.

I made the mistake of trying to focus on dynamics first when I started out, and didn't practice anatomy as well as I should have. It more or less led to an ever growing inability to draw certain poses and it halted my progress for a bit.

It's definitely a good idea to understand why the torso is too stretched out. And, as tempting as it is, don't use Anime or Manga as your reference for practice. Anime is already heavily stylized by artists who practiced the 'boring' anatomy studies, and not a proper reference to learn from.

Thanks Sanne,

I forgot to include that bit on Manga/Anime. ;D

thank you for the advice, Sanne! hahah, I'm actually quite interested in anatomy, so it's ok c;
I used to be sucked into drawing in the anime style, but I've grown out of that now. However, thank you for telling me not to get sucked into that again!!! I really appreciate it. :D

My strongest suggestion is to progress from simple shapes to complex shapes. You have a good circle for the chest cavity and hips, but if you use a sideways cube for the chest it allows you to conceive it in more of a real dimension versus a two dimensional setting.

Hi there Cyan,
I like your drawing, especially your attention to the face. The lighting and expression are very nice.
In addition to the others' comments on the stretched torso, it also looks like the rotation of his lower body is off. The abs and belly button look like they're rotated toward the viewer, but once you get down to the hips and legs, they don't seem to be lined up. You should be able to see more of the top/inner area of his thigh.
Keep up the good work!