#body shape

[wolfwithblueeye]

Elizabeth Kovalenko

[wolfwithblueeye]

[burrowingdweller]

1) Width. Add it.

2) Width. Just. Yeah. If you want to draw a really big guy - do it. The third guy is ok, but it's just a small guy with belly!

3) Gravity! More fat - more soft - gravity goes brr.

4) Basic shapes and clothes would definitely help you to draw a big comfy soft guy!

Miaou

[captainhawky88-blog]

Samui from Naruto Shippuden

[thageetzzpundai]

[thatcaring-girl]

👅💥

[wolfwithblueeye]

Emily Feld

[captainhawky88-blog]

Tsunade x Office 2

[incognitopolls]

We ask your questions anonymously so you don’t have to! Submissions are open on the 1st and 15th of the month.

[thageetzzpundai]

2 bitches in 1 frame 🥵

[beaut-godess]

[wolfwithblueeye]

Elizabeth Kovalenko

[fantasy-anatomy-analyst]

How do you feel about the design trend of elves in fantasy media always being super skinny? That theirs just super lean no matter what, with no fat/ muscular/ or otherwise none-thin elves being completely none-existent. Personally I find it super annoying and cowardly that people are afraid to portray none-skinny elves. Like their arn’t gonna be atleast some elves who have alternate dietary or lifestyle habits? Who have thyroid or metabolic conditions? Are the victims of a magical curse or gained weight due to medication? Or elves who are just naturally plumper with no real explanation behind it? Or elves who willfully choose to get fat or buff for their own personal reasons?

And most of the in-universe explanations for this enforced lack of body diversity often being lackluster. Often boiling down to “just cause”. Theirs only been afew explinations I’ve that actually make sense and are engaging, like that elves are humanoid agility based carnivores like big cats/ have a strong culture of vanity and shame that makes them scared to stand out. One of my favorites (mostly because it’s portrayed as a problem) being that elves are really efficient at processing sugar and inefficient at processing magic, expending massive quantities of calories when casting spells. To the point they can burn through all their bodies sugar and fat reserves and start burning muscle and organ tissue, something that can cause serious and often permanent damage.

For my own elves I do follow the conventional design in that they are leaner by default, however that does not stop fat/ buff/ or otherwise thick elves from existing. Their are fat and buff elves for the same reasons as any other species, as their will always be people who fall outside their species/cultural norms be it by choice/ chance/ or consequence. And having multiple plumper elven characters with varying relationships with their bodies and peoples reactions to them.

I believe it comes from the idea that elves must be Beautiful and as a result people try to make them follow modern human beauty standards, even though our standards vary over time and in different cultures. There are biological reasons that some animals gain and retain fat differently from others. Humans are very good at retaining fat because of the way our endurance metabolism works, and it's good for us to have a layer of fat for insulation. But then like, a snake with a lot of fat in it's body is genuinely unhealthy.

I don't mind people finding interesting biological reasons to make any fantasy people more naturally skinny, and I think they can be fascinating! My goblins aren't good at retaining fat because they're amphibians. My drow tend to be less fat, except the minstrel drow who have a different metabolism wired to put on lots of fat real fast so they can travel long distances.

I also think if people are intentionally looking for excuses to make their fantasy folks skinny all the time, maybe they've got some fatphobia to unpack lol.

It's important to study fat bodies just as much as skinny ones! People have all sorts of body shapes and it's not really fair to ignore that diversity when creating fantasy people. Especially if they're designed to look mostly humanoid with just some pointy ears.

[captainhawky88-blog]

Tsunade x Gym

[whatdoweknowaboutreality]

Keira Grant

[jeanambrojo]