insomniacqueer

[insomniacqueer]

IG: thepaige_turner

[insomniacqueer]

Hello! :D Do you have any advice on drawing creatures at different angles? I struggle a lot with coming up with a pose and trying to draw it at another angle, and in your work your anatomy, shading/lighting, proportions and foreshortening are always just so perfect ;w; In particular Tau’s reference sheet, those greyscale headshots of him are so incredible that they look like 3D models :’) Thank you for your time!

*starts sweating*

make a 3D model

When i know that i’m looking at a figure or an environment that i will draw a lot more and very regularly in the future, i make a 3D model. 

But most of the time i don’t use the model. It’s best to use it in specific situations, like when you are trying to get the hang of the design (the end goal of that is being able to draw it from memory alone with ease). Or when you make a reference sheet, because the accuracy should be top notch there. Just sculpting a model of it alone helps, because the knowledge you gain from sculpting the design will carry over to 2D, whether you like it or not, you really have no say in it, fortunately. :p

draw, fail, delete, draw, fail, delete, draw, fail, delete, until success 

In contrast with that, i don’t have a model for most of my designs, including these two. Most of the time what i like to do i’d call “brute-forcing” accuracy. That is… drawing it and deleting it over and over and over again, without help, until it looks right. I like to think of it as making my brain’s 3D software stronger.

observe & learn & memorize & draw relevant real life things 

Drawing from life/photo is to train your brain software too. You basically suggest to it, for example “this shading is correct in these lighting conditions on this material, code it into System32”. By this, while drawing from memory/imagination, you relegated the task of accurate shading to your subconscious and you can spend your active concentration on better things. 

(this example image is more like a joke, but if i ever draw Pegasus in a catbread pose again, i will have a better idea of what to do and what not to do - and i will certainly not be drawing him like this next time i use this pose)

construct and transform the figure using basic shapes

You can also use that tecnique everyone keeps recommending for everything that is basically “break the figure down into simple shapes like cylinders, orbs, cones, squares, etc and transform those shapes”. E.g.: don’t think of it as a bird’s wing, think of it as a sheet of paper. If the base shape looks ok after you draw it from a different angle, it will also look ok after you put the details back on it. Probably. Art is an art, not a science. The reason everybody keeps recommending this technique is because it’s really effective, when done right.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perspective_(graphical) - and train your brain to make use of this thing too. 

(like this but with more effort)

get intimately familiar with your design

Practice/repetition/familiarity can’t (or maybe shouldn’t) be skipped, needless to say. If you already drew pigeon wings 4999 different ways, the 5000th will not be as hard to draw as if you have only drawn pigeon wings 50 times before. 

Also pays off to get familiar with your creature’s range of motions, behaviors, relative sizes of bodyparts, etc. Every new pose and angle for every different design you draw is more or less like uncharted land.

if it looks wrong, it isn’t necessarily wrong

Maybe this is a very niche scenario, i don’t know, but sometimes when one design looks terrible/wrong from another angle it’s because that is how it looks from another angle. It tends to happen when i couldn’t predict that the design will not look good from any other angle, or when my brain gets stuck on a belief (e.g. when i was like 8, i thought that bones can’t have a bent shape because they are rigid so if they bent they would break. I drew very… very straight limbs for a while). This is another reason for me to make a 3D model. It’s good for troubleshooting. 

embrace the struggle

“I struggle a lot with coming up with a pose and trying to draw it at another angle” is how i feel too. More often than not. If you want to be varied and draw many kinds of Things, new things all the time, struggle will be riding shotgun in your car forever. Name your struggle. I’ll name mine Bob. Bob might be a douche canoe, but he is my douche canoe. Life is never dull when Bob’s around. I hope these tips will make your Bob more fun too.

[insomniacqueer]

June 7th, 1942: Edward Hopper completes his best known painting, the seminal Nighthawks. When asked by a Chicago Tribute reporter about the philosophical meaning behind the diner having no clearly visible exits Hopper responded, “Shit. Fuck. I did it again. Goddamnit. Fuck. Not again. I did it again. Shit.” and slammed his hat on his leg.

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[insomniacqueer]

What food group is honey what the fuck is this stuff

[insomniacqueer]

Real

[insomniacqueer]

spring/summer 2020 moodboard

[insomniacqueer]

i am smart and pretty and have no morals. im basically raccoon with bangs

[insomniacqueer]

anyone: [ reblogs my original content ]

me: [ scrabbling over to the tags to see if they left a comment like a cat runs to a food bowl shaking ]

[insomniacqueer]

[insomniacqueer]

every day i open a square of the internet and share pictures of things taken from other, different squares. some of these pictures elicit emotional or physical responses. when i am bored of feeling these things, i close the square and open a different one. this repeats until i am unconscious

[insomniacqueer]

me, continuing to look at a screen despite having a headache: OUCH my brain… OUCH my brain… OUCH my brain… OUCH my brain… OUCH my brain… OUCH my brain… OUCH my brain… OUCH my brain…

[insomniacqueer]

reblog if i can message you and awkwardly make conversation with you so we can become best friends

My inbox is always open! :-)

[insomniacqueer]

when u got some opinions on things but ur deciding if its worth starting an argument over

[insomniacqueer]

i got really desperate about linking two unrelated drawings together and ended up with this hot mess please just take it

[insomniacqueer]

you ever put on a song whose vibes seize you so suddenly and violently that when it’s over you feel like you were briefly possessed

[insomniacqueer]

they’re friends :)