#I wanna get better at!!!! anatomy and posing!!!!

[kiwiwi-art-aaa]

trying to learn how to do different poses hehe

[bougiebutchbitch]

hahahaa what if I was making a $1 per month Patreon for all my nsfw stuff hahahahahahaaaaaa what if I was gonna take requests over there hahahaa what if I was planning on doing a couple of simple comics hahahahahaha what if

[cyberfunsupporter]

i literally only draw girls kissing so to fix that i’m trying to do pose studies to improve at anatomy/art.. so that i can draw girls kissing more efficiently ofc 😁

[axel-tiredstudent]

Doing art has been kinda difficult lately even though I have so much free time and that's why I'm really really happy that I love my last drawing so much ^^

[yuriyuruandyuraart]

that's it i'm officially DEAD and in tears omg zu.. oh my GOD zu omg i'm i can't even TYPE i'm shaking so hard it's so!!!! i'm so!!! ahjgzdyhagahgfd ZUUUUUU<33333

Happy birthday @yuriyuruandyuraart! ◟(๑•͈ᴗ•͈)◞

Ribbon (pink!Cross) & Buns (pink!Killer) by yuriyuruandyuraart respectively ;3

Cross from xtaleunderverse by jakei95

Killer by rahafwabas / rahaf-wabas / rahofy-sketch

+ the transparent one ehehe <3

[clowns0up-felix]

Hey! I just wanted to say that I absolutely love your drawings ! It has so much life in it, and I don’t know how you come up with those amazing designs for Link but they’re incredible! I never have enough imagination, lol 🥲😅. Seriously, what you do is so great that I’m at a loss for words… Anyway, I support you wholeheartedly, so keep up the amazing work!

Also, if you don’t mind, I’d love to know how you manage to create such dynamic poses and expressions in your drawings; I always struggle with that, haha.

Aaaaaa,I know I’m talking a lot, but are you still working on “Reversal of Fate”? If so, I’d love a little drawing of Link, if that’s not too much trouble 🥺☺️. But if you’re too busy, that’s totally okay too! 😊

WAAAAHHHHHH!!! Thank you sooo much this really means a lot like actually 🧡🧡🧡🧡 I love your art it’s so nice to look at and I get super excited when it pops up on my feed!!! (I especially LOVE ur sksw Zelda and Link designs ^^)

I also value the reversal of fate link fanart you did so much,,, 😢😢😢 Your support means sooo much

I feel as tho ur art already is so fluid and fun so idk if this is actually gonna help u much :( but if it does in any way then yipeeeee !!

Something I wanna add for improving posing (or anatomy, it really helped me with it) is doing figure drawing! There’s great online websites with models that u can sketch and just get better at doing good posing quick :D Or using reference in general,,,, my art is so messy tho, there’s so many better artists you should look for help to haha IM SO SO SORRY IF THIS DIDNT HELP AT ALLLL

About reversal of fate, yes I am still working on it!!!! I haven’t been posting about it because there are some lore asks I’ve gotten that have been kinda intimidating me so I’ve been quiet about it ehehe

Here’s some rof Link (right one is a sneak peek at a piece I’m working on which I’ll probably post in like so long from now bc there’s so much I have to work on urghhhhhh) ;)

Thanks for the lovely ask 🧡

[cdlum]

I just wanted to say I think your art style is awesome! I was wondering if you had any tutorials on how you draw anatomy in your style (hips and legs especially)? Sorry if there's already one posted and I just didn't see it 🥲. Happy New Year :>

thanks for the kind words. i tend to draw people pretty stylized and then some so a good bit of artistic licence gets used. these tips are just what i use so feel free to take them with a grain of salt. with anatomy in particular you can kind of talk in circles because human/animal bodies are that complex so ill just zone in on the points you specified. here's a little image with a bunch of pointers:

the above image condenses a lot of the points I'd make, but basically the key parts are to start with the bare essentials and build up that complexity. using a line of action is a good way to get a quick, rough start. you draw a line out in the general direction of the pose and do your best to adhere to it to give the pose a sense of flow.

you can also draw smaller, thumbnail versions that throw a lot of caution to the wind but capture the basic energy of what you're going for. even having a tiny little stick figure version of your idea can make for a good guideline of where to take it forward.

when it comes to actual limbs, you wanna consider how they integrate and work together, kind of like how chains do. you can see on some of the parts of pear i've drawn out these wireframes to kind of portray how the mass of her legs works in a three dimensional space. for aspects like the waist/hips, i use that X technique i highlight above a lot, particularly for the lower torso. a lot of the times, even when drawing a character totally naked, imagining them wearing things like skintight underwear can help a lot to guide you in the right direction.

its also a good idea to consider things like gravity and weight to a degree. humans are essentially big meat sacks and gravity is always pulling down on that, but theres all kinds of aspects that effect that, such as character build or clothing. pear technically isn't naked in this, but i've tried to imagine her as such and take that into account.

if you are drawing digitally, don't be afraid to take advantage of the convenience you get with that workflow. you can retry and iterate on things a lot faster that pen and paper, and do things that aren't really feasible at all when it comes to editing and modifying your existing work. things like resizing certain bodyparts, instantly flipping the canvas, or using selection tools to completely adjust the positions of parts of your drawing. to give you an example heres a timelapse with all the little edits i made just to this demo drawing:

you don't have to use these techniques linearly, either. sometimes ill have a really solid idea for a piece in my head, and go back to basics with certain elements if they’re not coming out right or i just want to brush them up a bit more. some of the tutorial-y parts i added in i didn't actually use during the drawing but often do use so they're there just for demonstration. not every drawing i do starts as building blocks or a really basic version, often ill just start with a face and build it out from there.

i always encourage liberally using references (this can include yourself) and trying out stuff like life drawing or looking at things like existing photographs of real people/places/things if you can, the more you use learning material the better you'll draw up a mental inventory in your head that you can rely on more and more. some of these tips are things i've learned from other artists over the years (the chin one especially i remember seeing a tutorial about lol), so this is a lot of knowledge i've amassed from other sources over time myself. there are plenty of times ill use all sorts of reference material and its all in service of arriving at the final destination as smoothly as possible. learn by doing, as they say. hope this helps!

[ohno-the-sun]

Oh uh forgot to ask in the previous ask (the one with the digital piece of candy and scurrying and stuff)

How do you draw art so good

Like

Is there a method you use or is that just the style you've gotten over time?

you've activated my trap card

I'm just gonna preface that this tutorial is from someone who was not professionally trained and didn't have a lot of free time for art, so a lot of the tips I have is short cuts I use to get the best results quickly

If you genuinely want to get better at art then please look at references and practice that is always the best

However if you are like me and only really do art for fun but want to go faster then these are for you pfppt

Overall I'd say my style is influenced by speedpaints I would watch when I was younger, I like analyzing how people do things and what makes something look "good" to me

I always recommend watching them because they will often have techniques you've never seen before or do things a certain way that you can try out yourself

I consume good art, it feeds me

but seriously it can be super helpful when developing your own methodology, or just generally trying something new

Usually it starts with me pulling some references from artists I really admire and sort of sketching out how they do the things I like

For example 8um8le has like super good anatomy and poses so I focused on trying to replicate how they do that

venemous-qwille is super good at color and pulling focus so that's what I focused on in my study of them

In general I'd say my process is sketch -> silhouette -> color -> shading -> render

I really don't like doing lineart lol

I'd say for the sketch the most important part is using references and just kind of fudging it until it looks correct anatomically/physically

General rule of thumb is spend time on areas of interest, and keep non important areas light (like the stitching on his pants)

I don't do lineart because I think its unnecessary for most paintings I do

I naturally tend to put more time and focus on areas of interest (like hands and feet) and if you use a brush with opacity for the sketch, those areas are naturally going to be darker in the final sketch

Of course this is gonna be different for everyone but it's what works for me

Sometimes I do a really really sketchy layer underneath my sketch/lineart, just so I know where everything is going

Use thumbnails! They are great to help figure out the general layout of things and what pose I wanna do

Next is what I call the "silhouette" layer

This is super important for me cause it helps me refine the figure and make sure the pose/anatomy looks correct, also depending on what color I choose for the silhouette helps guide what colors I'm going to use on top

This piece is a good example of how it works. The silhouette shows me how the figure interacts with the background, how the pose looks and if its any good

The silhouette layer doesn't have to be super clean, as long as it follows the sketch decently well and shows where the figure is then its fine

I also sometimes make the silhouette layer multiple colors to help guide shading and vibe

Next is the coloring layer. I usually make this a clipping layer on top of the silhouette layer, or I change the silhouette layer to alpha lock, either way it saves me time on coloring everything in

Sometimes I am super rough with the coloring too, using like an airbrush or my fav watercolor brush just to generically block in color where I want it

Works out cause most objects have like a bounce light to them from surrounding objects, so this is sort of a cheat I use to get that effect without all the work lol

Also don't be afraid to have the lower silhouette layer shining through, having multiple colors sort of subtly shining through the piece helps lots

Next is the shading layer, this is usually another clipping layer, usually set to "multiply"

The colors I pick here is usually within this range, any color works, just depends on the piece and vibes.

Since this piece is set in a sunset forest I choose a more desaturated orange for the shading layer

I know there's a whole thing about multiply layer being a crutch (and it kind of it) but it is a useful tool when you just want some darker values across the piece but don't want to go through the process of color picking every single darker shade

Also in my opinion it looks better than picking a darker color and setting it to a lower opacity, idk I just think the color has more "depth"

Next is the hardest to explain, sort of the vibes layer

Usually its just a layer of more concentrated color on top of the normal color and I fudge with the settings and values until I get a result I like

Next is the longest step, is the "extra" or the render stage.

Usually I add a background before this step so that if I need to merge the figure better with the background I can

If I render with a white background but he's supposed to be in a dark forest, its going to mess with the lighting severely

Also this is when I add more "vibe" layers on top to get the figure to match the background better

Backgrounds in general I recommend checking out @/derekdomnicdsouza on instagram he's got lots of great tutorials for breaking down backgrounds simply

I'd say general rule for the rendering layer is to focus on the areas of interest and spend less time on areas you don't care about

I even blur stuff out on the edges I don't want people to see, partially to save time on fixing mistakes in areas I dont care about (oop), but mainly to help draw the eye to the areas I do want people to focus on

Theoretically parts of the background should like mesh with the characters, parrallel lines are a no no unless they are directing a viewer to look somewhere, things that are perpendicular help bring things together

tbh I'm still not the best at layout and probably need more practice, but overall this is what I like doing

Overall this is what my layer set up ends up being

Sort of a sandwich with the lineart/sketch as the "meat" lol

Color and basic shading below the sketch, clean-up and rendering on top

I like this method cause it's super flexible if I ever want to try something different or try to replicate someone's style

I can make each step less or more messy depending on the end result and can add a lineart layer if need be. Also if there's a part that is straight up not working or needs to be removed its super easy to do cause I can just paint over it on the "extras" layer, color picking from the surrounding area to get the same vibe

Generally rule of thumb for my style is: get the initial layout of colors, form and shading to look good, then the rendering should be smooth sailing

Really the best advice I can give to get better at art is to enjoy what you're doing and become very very obsessed with drawing a silly little guy

You'll eventually get very good at drawing them pfptpf

[entiqua]

I love your artstyle!! Do you have any tips for drawing?

thank you so much! i'm really happy you like it!!💗 as for tips, what i would say would change drastically depending on what kind you're looking for, but some very general ones:

draw what you love and want to see most, regardless of whether anyone else wants to see it. if you don't enjoy what you're drawing it'll never come out as good or genuine as something your whole heart and soul is in. i mean you'd think this would be a no-brainer but sometimes i've had to sit back and ask myself 'if no one was ever going to see this except me, would i actually spend time drawing this?' and i was surprised by the answer

that said, it is also completely valid if your motivation for drawing is to draw for other people! there have been plenty of times where i was too artblocked to draw my own ideas but was still able to draw commissions or gifts and enjoyed it simply because making other people happy with my art makes me happy.

don't get too caught up in having a consistent art style. in my experience this 1000% hinders you

having your sense of anatomy degrade over time without you noticing because you keep drawing the same types of characters is a very real thing! if this is a concern to you be sure to draw a variety

follow a billion artists that you like the art of and you will have endless inspiration injected directly into your brain every time you open social media

my favourite practical tip for those who draw at a desk: keep a small mirror next to you at all times. absolute game changer for quickly referencing hands

if you're drawing digitally, make the canvas huge! in my experience this lets you draw messier/faster and you can't tell at all when you zoom out. if you tend to get stuck spending unnecessary amounts of time micromanaging pixels (me💀) keep it zoomed out while drawing

related to the above point, messy drawings can have far more expressiveness in them than neat and polished drawings. nowadays i never do lineart and go straight from 'barebones stickman pose' to 'varying-levels-of-coherent sketch' and use that as my lineart. sweet freedom from the sketch-looks-better-than-the-lineart phenomenon

if your goal is to improve, then you really do have to scrutinize your art, figure out what you're not satisfied with, and commit the time to focusing on it. 'practice makes perfect' kinda rubs me the wrong way because of how much i've seen it interpreted as 'just draw everyday and you'll magically improve' but genuinely it won't get you very far if you don't actively think hard about what you're trying to improve and take the steps to do it. is this a hot take idk. also hand in hand with this, not every artist is trying to improve and you shouldn't feel bad for this! maybe you just wanna make a little headshot doodle of your fave blorbo and that's your only drawing goal ever. awesome. maybe you know your art has flaws but it's passable enough to convey what you want and you're perfectly satisfied with that. (this is the stage i'm usually at). also awesome!

don't hesitate to draw something because you think it's out of your skill level. the worst that can happen if you draw it is that it comes out terribly but you learned something and can always redraw it better in the future. the worst that WILL happen if you don't draw it is that you'll never draw it. and then it will sit in the back of your brain haunting you for years. it's not like i'm speaking from experience or anything aha

look up 'hand stretches for artists' and do them if you draw a lot unless you wish to summon the wrath of the carpal tunnel demons

of course, these may not necessarily work for you, and most importantly(!) these are coming from the perspective of someone who is primarily a hobbyist. some of this won't be practical for people who need to build an audience, maintain a consistent style for work, etc. these are just things that have personally helped me over many years of drawing :)

[wewerebornsextuplets]

idk how but you draw in the Oso-san style so good i need to know your secret please

HAHA thank you very much!! im glad you think so :D unfortunately im not very good at explaining how i work, but ill try my best to show what i mean!!

once again this is long as hell. you know the drill at this point

to be honest, half the battle i fight with drawing in the osmt style is just. Looking at it. the ososan art style actually fluctuates pretty wildly depending on what you're looking for, whether that be the mobile games (for instance, tabimatsu and hesowars look nothing alike in terms of style despite both being the same source material), official art and merch, or even the seasons of the show itself!

using ichi as my example here since i draw him the most, but its pretty easy to play spot the difference with the varying styles. even within a specific season you can do this across episodes, especially with season 1!

when i draw, i tend to be a bit sacrilege and use references across different media; usually ill use the show [especially season 2, if only because its a bit more "uniform"] as reference for the actual features and colors/poses/etc, but i like to use hesowars to reference proportions, since they seem to be most consistent there.

SOMETHING IMPORTANT TO NOTE: theres a WEALTH of fanartists that have styles that are INCREDIBLY similar to the show, so be careful to check your sources! these artists deserve credit for their hard work, which they often don't get since their work is reposted under the guise of being official art.

once you've pinned down the exact style you'd like to emulate, and the character you're looking to draw, its really just a matter of finding references, which is pretty easy! you can scrub through different episodes for good angles/shots, or if you're going for one of the game styles the AU wiki has most of the games catalogued to my knowledge. if you're looking to draw an oc, use characters you think they would look similar to in the show. if you really wanna waste your time, though, you can always scrub through crowd scenes in the show to see if any background characters might look like what you're going for; the season 3 episode Mt. Takao comes to mind, there were a lot of cute mob characters there.

using keiko as my example here, you can see that i pulled her features from multiple different characters to get her to look right in the style. with ocs, its important to reference a number of different characters, since the likelihood of a background character being a 1:1 for your little guy is unfortunately pretty low. there WILL, however, be a lot of characters that look KIND of like them. the key is to figure out what parts go where!

to this point, most prominent ososan women have very similar stock anime girl faces with very minor differences, so if youre looking to make a cute girl oc, most of the womens' faces can be used somewhat interchangeably. if you want your cute girl oc to have a more unique face, though, the movie gave us some women with more unique faces in the form of the NEETs' old classmates! theres also no harm in referencing male characters faces in this regard. #butchswag #kiruminikuya

BUT. going back to the assumption that you're drawing a canon character, today I'll be drawing oso for my example

when you're first getting a feel for the style, tracing some of your references can actually be a really great way to acclimate yourself to the characters proportions and features. think of like when you were a kid, and would trace over pictures of pokemon or cartoon characters so you could draw them better. its basically the same principle! this was especially helpful for me when it came to eyes; they vary the most wildly of any other trait that characters have in ososan, so going over the different shapes to get a feel for each of them was very important.

when you trace, though, I recommend doing so a bit more loosely, sort of like if you're doing a photo study for anatomy; block out the basic shapes and do small markers for different features (i.e small lines to denote where the eyes start and and, distance from nose to mouth, things like that), and from there draw the rest on your own.

after long enough you'll get a feel for the basic placement of where everything should go! the eyes and nose are undoubtedly the hardest when it comes to the sextuplets, since they shift around a LOT between games/seasons/etc. so don't feel bad if you have a hard time with that, since there isnt really a "right" answer with how frequently it changes. i still fuck it up all the time myself!

as for some basic tips, heres some stuff i try to keep in mind when drawing them that just helps the finished product look a bit nicer!

when drawing the hair + fringe line, its important to swoop it downwards a little bit; the flat across look Can work, but if you're not careful you risk showing the tops of their eyes, which is um. ew! ick! nast!

when a matsu is facing forward, their hair will usually tend towards one direction to keep the silhouette. in most screenshots i saw, the bowl cut points left! that said, dont be afraid to point rightwards if its better for your specific drawing!

and lastly: USE THE LIQUIFY TOOL. LIBERALLY. i am not joking when i say this has saved my ass so many times, its hard to get the placement right on the facial features and even harder to get everything to LOOK good, so if its available to you i HIGHLY suggest just squishing everything around with a liquify tool until it looks right. you can always go back and correct the blurry lines. its really a life saver

BUT YEAH! i dont know if this was very helpful but i hope you're at least able to gain something from it :-))

[dizzyisdizzy]

Hello i need tips for getting better at art and well your art is great...soo uhm...please :'>

i hope you understand that this is a really broad question, but I'll write a few general concepts that I think about. If you have something more specific you wanna know I can give more helpful answers.

Words are pretty important in learning. One part is knowing color theory/proportions/whatnot. The other is actively applying that in the art you create and see. If can describe the particulars of your enjoyment ("I like the sharp and simple shapes", "I like the bold lines and how often the line weight shifts to show off the contours") it's sooo much easier to give yourself some direction and make meaningful progress.

Don't get attached to your process . Too often I'd never touch the mannequin or lineart once I got to the next 'step'. I isolated those parts from each other so I can be organized and clean. But to make something 'fun' and 'spontaneous' you gotta let those parts weave in and out of each other and avoid linearity. Nowadays I'm still adjusting proportions and shapes in the later stages. My layers are a mess, but the vibes are much better. It's also very much why I love thick lineart.....

If you want something to prioritize, gesture drawings are always a good bet. You learn a lot on how to capture the energy of a pose or character (using line of action, shapes, etc) which is very appealing and can overcome faults in proportions, anatomy, etc.

And have your own blorbo you want only the best for ofc ofc.

[foralternateuniverses]

I would recommend drawing nsfw stuff from time to time cuz it's fun and challenging

People ain't lying when they say "draw porn if u wanna get better at anatomy" they just gotta add posing and body language and whatever else

[frodo-with-glasses]

COMMISSIONS OPEN!!

Heya! Wanna throw money at me to make me draw something?? Well, for just $20 an hour, now you can!

Read below for price estimates and FAQs, and if you’re interested, please email me at FigTreeIllustrationsLLC@gmail.com to get started!

PRICING INFO

Because I’m too lazy to come up with complicated price structures, I’ll just be charging a flat rate of $20/hour for any work I do on the art piece. The clock starts when I pick up the pencil or digital stylus and ends when I put it down.

This does mean that prices will vary, depending on how time-consuming each art piece is, but I can give you some rough estimates.

Upper Body Sketch: Approx. 30 min = $10 for one

It takes me about half an hour to draw a bust or upper body sketch. This time can be shortened if I’m already familiar with the character design, or lengthened if I’m drawing an unfamiliar character or doing some weird perspective stuff.

Every additional figure would probably take another half an hour, adding about $10 each.

Full-Body Sketch: Approx. 1 hour = $20 for one

Drawing an entire figure is a little harder than just drawing the upper body, so this one might take longer. Again, this time can be shortened or lengthened depending on my familiarity with the character, how complex the design is, and whether I’m doing any complicated posing or perspective.

Adding additional figures can take anywhere from 30 minutes to 1 hour, adding $10-$20 each.

Animals: Approx. 1.5 hrs = $30 for one

Animals are not my strong suit, though I have gotten better at drawing them over time! However, the extra time studying reference photos and trying to get the anatomy correct can stack up quickly, so you’ll want to be aware of that if you’re commissioning something with an animal involved.

Posters: Minumum 3 hrs = approx. $60

Posters take a little extra time—and usually some trial and error—to plan the layout in a dynamic way. They also take up an entire sketchbook page and tend to include multiple people and some extreme perspective to add visual appeal. You can expect a poster to take about three hours minimum to complete.

Multi-Panel Comics: Minimum 4 hrs a page = $80

Drawing a comic big enough to cover an entire sketchbook page can take me anywhere from 4 to 6 hours of work. If drawing a long-form comic, I will probably divide the work over several days. Brainstorming will happen on the first day, when I’ll plan out how many panels I’ll need for the comic, and then I’ll get in contact with you to tell you an estimated price before I proceed.

Digital Coloring: Minimum 1.5 hrs = add approx. $30

Coloring things digitally takes about double the time it would to sketch; I’ve noticed it takes around two hours to color a simple image, with another hour added for each figure involved. This first image took me about an hour and a half to outline and color, while the second took about five hours.

Add to Redbubble Shop: Subject to Redbubble Pricing

If your commissioned artwork is Lord of the Rings-related, I can put it into my Redbubble shop, where you can have it printed on stickers, t-shirts, journals, mugs, and lots of other products! I won’t charge any extra fee, but you will have to pay whatever price Redbubble asks. Full disclosure: I receive only 10% of the profit from Redbubble sales; the rest goes to the website to cover manufacturing and shipping costs.

FAQ

No NSFW

No nudity or sexual content

Canon ships only

Will draw gore/injuries

Will draw OCs (please provide references)

Will draw for other fandoms (please provide references)

The artist reserves the right to reject any commission without disclosing the reason

The artist will give price and progress updates over the course of the process

You, the commissioner, have the right to terminate the project at any time and for any reason

If the project is terminated halfway, you will be charged for the artist’s time, but the artist might give a discount for incomplete work

Payment will be calculated at the end of the project and rendered using PayPal

Once again, if you’re interested, please email me at FigTreeIllustrationsLLC@gmail.com!

[sangoundercover]

Asking for a friend, but do you and Llama have a specific place you look for spicy art references? Or is it just lots of questionable googling, or yall are just that damn good drawing bodies? For research purposes...

Ps thank you for all your art 🙏🏽

i wish there was a magical place but yeah, don't underestimate the power of simply googling something! This really goes for all art doesn't matter if sfw or nsfw. I think i mentioned before how nsfw art doesn't always mean you have/use nsfw reference. Figure drawing sites can help you out a lot, making you better at inventing your own poses! And they often have nude models for anatomy practice.

Looking at my last 3-4 posts there's really nothing in there that I used a lot of reference for. Sure sometimes you see a picture and go oh yeah i'm gonna draw my blorbo JUST like that, but hoping for 1:1 reference of what you have in mind will make you stuck searching for the 'perfect' ref forever. I know tumblr used to have a lot of blogs that post nice tasteful images that are probably lost forever now, twitter isn't the same.

Just google the thing! try it! it can be as simple as...'person sitting in office chair' if i feel like i'm stuck with a pose. Google a tiddy, google chair sex if you want to, no one will stop you. It can be as simple as that.

Here's one example of a picture inspiring a pose, but i didn't rely on it for anatomy reference. I don't think I looked at this pictures even once while drawing. I probably scrolled past it on twitter and it simply gave me ideas.

I hope this isn't too demotivating, i wish i could say here's the magic pot of all your reference dreams. I feel like some people get a little too stuck in that thought that you need/or will find a 1:1 reference for what you wanna draw, but you wont. Stop looking for a magic place, sometimes it can really be as simple as googling! I think improving your figure drawing skill will really help you a lot more! ( Yeah that's where the getting good part unfortunately comes in)

[artsybug0]

How do you draw eyes and mouth expression and hands I'm a young well not artist yet but I really could use some guidance

[sorry is this is to much I really don't wanna be a nuisance but thank you for your time]

I’m not too great at explaining but I’ll try

I’ve been told that my art style is like western cartoon and anime mixed together. Not everyone’s art style is the same. Mine has more exaggerated features and body proportions.

It depends on the expression. Sometimes I stretch the face, other times I squish it a bit. I usually stretch the face to make a bigger surprised expression. And squish to make them appear cuter or when they’re angry.

Also don’t be afraid to REALLY exaggerate the expression. Break their features a little. Be more cartoon and anime logic.

It also helps to know the human body just enough to know where wrinkles are on the face. Like when you furrow your brows and scrunch up your face wrinkles appear. Adding a little bit of wrinkle to your characters face can add more to their expressions. Along with making the eyes wider and the iris smaller.

I also like to use Millie’s eyes to make her more expressive. I make her pupils hearts when she’s adoring something. Stars when she’s super excited. I make her pupils small black dots when she’s startled, scared, mad, annoyed, and irritated. And when she’s crying I like to make her eyes a bit wobbly looking.

Also looking up references really helps too. I recommend using the app Pinterest. It’s super useful and is what I use for references and designs.

As for hands I don’t really know how to explain it- but getting references is really helpful and don’t be scared to sometimes trace the lines of the hand. It helps you learn the anatomy. I personally make a rough sketch, another sketch, and keep going until I feel like the hand looks good enough. It took me awhile to draw hands like this so don’t worry :) also looking at your own hand also helps sometimes!

Also exaggerating poses a bit or a lot can help make your drawing more expressive too-

As for mouth I kinda just…draw a cat mouth and go from there lol

I think that’s all I can explain right now. I hope it helps at least a little bit! Make sure not to push yourself too much on improving your art and style. Everyone’s art journey is different. Some did art for a short time yet is better than some who has done art for a long time. It also depends on if you actually do some art studies. But drawing just for fun also helps so much. Drawing every day improves your style. Try pushing yourself out of your comfort zone sometimes too. We’re all still learning so don’t be afraid to make a few mistake. Keep up the good work! :)

[sunnylolli]

when you have an idea in your head of something you want to draw, how do you get your compositions, movements, colors and poses so perfect?? I struggle so much with visualising my thoughts how I see them in my head (often have to look up references, sometimes even "trace" lightly over an existing pose)😔

First of all, tracing was how I learned anatomy, because I taught myself the motion in my hand and it helped me visualise the appoximate lengths of limbs and such! So as long as you're not copying other people's artwork, I'm gonna tell you TO TRACE TO YOUR HEART'S CONTENT, BABES! No shame in tracing!

Second of all, hmmm

When I have an idea for something to draw, I usually zero in on what it is about the drawing that makes me feel like biting my hand and kicking my feet, and that's usually the facial expression of the character I wanna draw.

And generally, every single piece of art I've ever done, both big pieces and small pieces, always start with the face and develope outwards? So I always draw what I'm most excited to draw first, and then expand it, as I visualise the story behind the scene I'm drawing.

Which is to say:

1) I always start by drawing the face/head of a character whose facial expression is e.g. intense, sad, happy, excited, horrified, etc.

2) I begin to imagine scenarios and contexts where that expression would be appropriate or would fit in.

3) I begin to draw the character's body according to the scenario I have rolling in my head.

4) The background added depends, then, entirely on what the story in my head has become.

As for references: I rarely use them, and when I do, it's to make sure I've gotten a proportion right or if I'm struggling with an angle, how to make it look more authentic!

I feel like looking at references too much makes it harder for me to imagine poses on my own and makes drawing too rigid? It makes it feel less like I'm having fun with trying new things and makes it more like I'm doing homework?

I usually look at moodboards on pinterest to inspire an idea for designs, if I have a vague concept of a background in mind but can't hash out the details, so I use references for that, too!

I've never drawn a background first and then later put a character in it, though. The background happens after I've already drawn my characters, because those are what makes me crawl on my walls and rip my hair out in the first place.

And when I've drawn my characters in the pose and angle I want them in, it's easier for me to imagine what the "camera angle" would see in the environment surrounding the character?

As for coloring and such: The reason I could never do speedpaints is because I draw exceptionally slowly. I sit with a single detail for hours, because I'm vibe checking if it feels right. And even in speedpaint, I can assure you, you'd begin to get frustrated with how long I'm tinkering with filters, color theory, etc.

"Is this color right for the shadows, if the light source is blue?" "Euh, no, fuck color theory, the shadow looks much better when it's gray."

So I suppose, when I sit down to draw something, I usually don't have a finished product in mind at all? I usually visualise an emotion and then take it from there with my numerous playlists to boot?

And then tinker with it forever until I'm done with it or until I get bored and start drawing something else and then I never finish anything and that's also why I never post, because all the art I have drawn and not posted is...

It's all half-told stories, hahah