Forum posts by Bishoprunout

Hi! Lovely work first of all, big fan of the 2nd drawing (the one from the back) - great sense of movement in the spine and the limbs.

I'll address each of your points in turn - this ended up long, please bear with me.

- If you're struggling with the size of a body part, you have to measure it more closely! This doesn't mean pull out a ruler, but you should study the bones/muscles in that section of the body, and then find something consistent on the rest of the body to measure them against.

Using the head as a measurement for the height of the figure is a pretty common refrain for beginners (you probably know that people are around 7/8 heads tall, depending on how stylised you want to be). But this trick actually applies to a lot of body part measurements.

These are sometimes called 'figure landmarks', and are what you can use to measure proportions quickly. Small things like how the crook of the elbow is close to the navel, or how your feet are about the same length as your forearm. These sorts of checks can take a long time at first, but you'll speed up.

If you're struggling with the pelvis, maybe see how the height/width of the pelvis compares to the height of the head?

- In terms of twisting forms, consider thinking of the torso and pelvis as 3d boxes rather than outlines or ovals. If you draw a long box facing one way, and a smaller cube facing a different way, and then put a single line of action through the middle of both boxes; you can use that as a ribcage, pelvis, and spine.

- RE 'mistakes', I note that on your shaded drawing, the head is remarkably small? This ties back to the above measurement and proportions, but: on longer drawings, since you're less focused on capturing the gesture and more on the detail, you could use the additional time to measure more accurately instead of shading.

(Although, I while I think you should de-emphasise shading for now, I don't think it's good to ignore it entirely... make sure to return to it once in a while. Since your anatomy studies won't be timed warmups, you can have fun doing shading there!)

- So yes - anatomy will absolutely help your gesture drawings! There's no real 'point' in which you should 'move on' to anatomy, as the two work in tandem.

Most anatomy books specifically designed for artists will be where you need to stop in terms of depth. I like the book 'Anatomy for Sculptors' as it uses photographs instead of drawings, which show which muscles and bones are actually visible from the outside of the body.

- And also, regarding overall visual clarity: I find that clarity in quick gesture/figure drawings can often be boiled down to 'using less lines, but with more careful intent'. You've already got good, confident lines down, especially on your limbs and torsos, and I think you'll benefit from further focus on that.

Try to reduce the amount of lines you use. I think the circles/half-circles you're using to mark joints and indicate cylindrical shapes are confusing the overall shape a bit? Maybe try to draw those construction lines smaller or lighter - or don't draw them at all!

Hopefully this helps! Let me know if you need anything clarified! :)