Welcome to Gaia! ::

heart thank you! I've always had issues with folds in the clothing. Thank you for spotting that about the eye - I always seem to fudge those up in the end product.

Sorry for the page stretch if it's happeneing.

Anyways, you're not considering the parts of the body we don't see. I make it a habit to draw the things we don't see (very lightly) then remove them later. That way, you keep the flow of the body consistant.



Try walking around the figure in your head. If you look from the side, what do you see. Draw that FIRST. (Just a rough doodle is fine.) Then you place another sheet beside it and draw the angle you want, keeping the parts lined up.

Is he reaching for something? Reaching out to someone? We can't really tell. In your profile doodled, show what he's doing clearly. Then when you turn it around, your viewer can still see what he's doing clearly.

In the blue suggestion, he's placing his hand on the shoulder of the guy in front of him in comfort. (You would also make the rest of the body show this, but I didn't cause I'm just trying to show how the hand level would be different as well as the shoulder depending on what you're going for.

He could just be reaching straight out with his arm completely extended. His hand would be a lot higher. Or he's side chopping the dude in front of him in the side of the head. That's more interesting, I'll go with that. xd

Well, I can only tell you what works for me. My original training was in 3d animation, so I think of things as sculptures and turn them around in my mind. It's not an easy thing to do, to move from a 2d frame of mind to one in 3 or 4d.

I like to think of the page as the viewfinder of a camera. You're filming an illustration and you're showing people a still. Walk around your subject with the camera and find the best shot. 3nodding It helps to do the doodles from different angles simple because what you see in your head may not work the best and you may find a better way to stage the drawing that says what you want to say more effectively.

As for the guides, it's best to use guilds that use the major parts of the skeleton. I do tend to use a box around the entire object/figure for perspective as well though.

Lalilah... headshot!

*dies*

thanks! i'll remember that!

Here's a wip:

I'm really no anatomy expert, but here goes:

There's something funny with your legs, and here be why:

arrow Your feet are on the same plane, suggesting that they are in fact side by side. They look as if they're both in contact with the ground the same way (ie. neither are completely off ground) due to the shadows and placement.

arrow Your knees however, are not on the same plane. One is higher than the other, which usually means that there is weight shifted on one leg.

arrow Your character's weight does not appear to be supported on one leg.

ARROW 1 is not possible because of ARROWS 2 and 3.

It's just your combination of the 'arrows' is making this really difficult because I don't think you can have all 3 points in a stance at one time. It just makes her really... Detached from the picture I guess. The shadows are a little confusing if that's the case.

Aside from that, the shading's lovely as usual~