#I used an art base for this so the poses and the composition aren't mine

[aecholapis]

Cringetober Day 7: Pinterest Art Base

[esmiara]

How do you come up with your poses? They all seem so cool and I struggle with coming up with anything/finding references.

Posing huh? This is quite an interesting topic so let's have a real talk about it. Though it won't obviously cover every single details there could be and explanations may be sloppy, I am no real art teacher after all. By the way I apologize in advance if there is any messy spelling or grammar mistake as english is not my first language.

To begin with, let's say the key words here are force lines, simplicity and body langage. Anatomy is a whole another topic so I won't talk too much about muscles and bones, as we are mainly here for posing.

Firstly, what are force lines? To put it simply, a force line is the core line guiding the figure's movement but also the whole composition, thus also guiding the eye itself toward (or away) the most important parts. With shipping, Soukoku in particular (since they have different temperaments), I like to have two lines that complement each other, via either inner or outer curves.

But those are whole compositions and we're not in a composition class either. However, when it comes to a single pose, the same principle can be applied. This force line can guide your whole body and even become your literal spine. As the spine is the most essential part of the human body (and non-human living body), it will act as the central part which the rest will follow naturally. Don't be shy and use a stickman for your overall structure! If you have a hard time simplifying the overall movement of your figure, try drawing it in a smaller size first. It doesn't matter if it looks ugly, you'll clean it up later.

If you're still struggling with your understanding of structures, try to decompose a reference picture (go check Pinterest, it's a true gold mine) with simple lines to determine where and how are positioned the spine, ribcages and main bones then transpose it to your own drawing as a guide.

"But how do I get those dynamic lines and cool curves??", you may ask. Well, have you tried figure drawing and more specifically gesture drawing? You can of course take a class with a nude model (they don't bite don't worry and you will focus more on the art part than the nude one), but you can also do so with tons of videos, pictures and even websites such as Line of Action, which allows you to have a custom built-in timer when drawing. To have only a mere 30 seconds to draw may sound terrifying but trust me, it's not that difficult. The point of drawing a whole figure in 30 seconds (or more) is to force yourself to simplify and avoid to focus on unimportant parts that aren't essential to the overall understanding of the pose. This will put you in a focused state of mind as well as training your hand muscles (this is a great warmup exercise). Feeling a bit uncomfortable on your wrist or feeling like you can only do tiny strokes one at a time instead of big elegant lines? Well firstly... stretch your wrist regularly, drink water and stop drawing every once in a while, this is very important, may you be a beginner or a professionnal artist. Secondly, try drawing on a bigger format! It will train you to use your elbow and shoulders to draw big lines more easily, like getting a bigger compass to draw a circle. I for example draw mostly with my elbow and shoulders, even unconsciously, as this is way more comfortable for me.

That's great we are talking about a lot of technical stuff. But what about the actual drawing you want to do? Well first, you need to decide which feeling you want to convey. Is it a scary scene? A gentle one? What do you want to depict? Is there something in particular you want to focus on? Something is needed to act as the solid base and this applies to everything, not only posing. Let's take a look at some examples with what we have seen with force lines and see more of the thought process behind my own poses.

And that's about it of what I'll tackle in this single ask ahah. This is basically a lot of brainstorming and thinking as well as taking inspiration from how real life people move, especially when it comes to body language. I took it a bit too seriously but I do hope it was of some help!