#drawing tips

[saszor]

Overview of some topics when it comes to drawing characters who are burn survivors.

DISCLAIMER. Please keep in mind that this is an introductory overview for drawing some burn scars and has a lot of generalizations in it, so not every “X is Z” statement will be true for Actual People. I'm calling this introductory because I hope to get people to actually do their own research before drawing disabled & visibly different characters rather than just making stuff up. Think of it as a starting point and take it with a grain of salt (especially if you have a very different art style from mine).

Talking about research and learning... don't make your burn survivor characters evil. Burn survivors are normal people and don't deserve to be constantly portrayed in such a way.

Consider supporting me on ko-fi if you find this to be helpful.

edit: apparently tum "queerest place on the internet" blr hates disabled people so much that this post got automatically filtered. cool!

second way more important edit: How are people seeing this post where I specifically talk about burn survivors being normal, real people, and still tag this as "TW body horror"? Not a single one of these drawings or pictures is a fresh injury. All of them are healed. How the hell would you feel if someone tagged a photo of you as "trigger warning: gore"?

Disabled people are not your fucking body horror. Grow up.

[laboratoryrats]

“Notes on skirts and pants”

Source: miyuli on twitter

[gammagoop]

ive been wanting to make smth like this for a little while now and i finally finished it up ^_^ hopefully my tricks are helpful

EDITS: since this post is gaining a lot of traction, i want to highlight some of the suggestions and addendums that other people have made. i'm imperfect, which is why i recommend that you use references of real people along with my simple tips!

as many have pointed out, the yellow in the last diagram should cover the entire body, especially around the stomach area. the only parts of the body that are consistently bare are the palms of the hands and the bottoms of the feet

check out this reblog from @proxykiwi for a diagram of the distribution of hair on the back of the body

the texture of the hair can differ between the head and the body-- much of the time body and beard hair is curlier than the hair on the head

like when drawing head hair, its helpful to break up facial hair into descriptive shapes, and add lines for texture as needed. i tried to communicate that in the images, but i think its also useful to write it out

check out this reblog from @jodjuya for a detailed explanation of how beards tend to grow throughout teen-adult years

thank you to everyone who's suggested and added things! i encourage people to look through the replies and reblogs of this post for more information

[barnlarn]

Revising some of my horse drawing tips pages, starting with necks!

Corrected some muscle names and added more explanation/ method.

[bugofmanynames]

DEAR ARTISTS, PLEASE READ THIS POST I STUMBLED ACROSS

IF YOU ARE NOT DOING THIS ALREADY, YOU SHOULD TRY IT

I even tested it out myself, it works great

[deoidesign]

A general cane guide for writers and artists (from a cane user, writer, and artist!)

Disclaimer: Though I have been using a cane for 6 years, I am not a doctor, nor am I by any means an expert. This guide is true to my experience, but there are as many ways to use a cane as there are cane users!

This guide will not include: White canes for blindness, crutches, walkers, or wheelchairs as I have no personal experience with these.

This is meant to be a general guide to get you started and avoid some common mishaps/misconceptions in your writing, but you absolutely should continue to do your own research outside of this guide!

This is NOT a medical resource!!! And never tell a real person you think they're using a cane wrong!

The biggest recurring problem I've seen is using the cane on the wrong side. The cane goes on the opposite side of the pain! If your character has even-sided pain or needs it for balance/weakness, then use the cane in the non-dominant hand to keep the dominant hand free. Some cane users also switch sides to give their arm a rest!

A cane takes about 20% of your weight off the opposite leg. It should fit within your natural gait and become something of an extension of your body. If you need more weight off than 20%, then crutches, a walker, or a wheelchair is needed.

Putting more pressure on the cane, using it on the wrong side, or having it at the wrong height can make it less effective, and can cause long term damage to your body from improper pressure and posture. (Hugh Laurie genuinely hurt his body from years of using a cane wrong on House!)

(some people elect to use a cane wrong for their personal situation despite this, everyone is different!)

(an animated GIF of a cane matching the natural walking gait. It turns red when pressure is placed on it.)

When going up and down stairs, there is an ideal standard: You want to use the handrail and the cane at the same time, or prioritize the handrail if it's only on one side. When going up stairs you lead with your good leg and follow with the cane and hurt leg together. When going down stairs you lead with the cane and the bad leg and follow with the good leg!

Realistically though, many people don't move out of the way for cane users to access the railing, many stairs don't have railings, and many are wet, rusty, or generally not ideal to grip.

In these cases, if you have a friend nearby, holding on to them is a good idea. Or, take it one step at a time carefully if you're alone.

Now we come to a very common mistake I see... Using fashion canes for medical use!

(These are 4 broad shapes, but there is INCREDIBLE variation in cane handles. Research heavily what will be best for your character's specific needs!)

The handle is the contact point for all the weight you're putting on your cane, and that pressure is being put onto your hand, wrist, and shoulder. So the shape is very important for long term use!

Knob handles (and very decorative handles) are not used for medical use for this reason. It adds extra stress to the body and can damage your hand to put constant pressure onto these painful shapes.

The weight of a cane is also incredibly important, as a heavier cane will cause wear on your body much faster. When you're using it all day, it gets heavy fast! If your character struggles with weakness, then they won't want a heavy cane if they can help it!

This is also part of why sword canes aren't usually very viable for medical use (along with them usually being knob handles) is that swords are extra weight!

However, a small knife or perhaps a retractable blade hidden within the base might be viable even for weak characters.

Bases have a lot of variability as well, and the modern standard is generally adjustable bases. Adjustable canes are very handy if your character regularly changes shoe height, for instance (gotta keep the height at your hip!)

Canes help on most terrain with their standard base and structure. But for some terrain, you might want a different base, or to forego the cane entirely! This article covers it pretty well.

Many cane users decorate their canes! Stickers are incredibly common, and painting canes is relatively common as well! You'll also see people replacing the standard wrist strap with a personalized one, or even adding a small charm to the ring the strap connects to. (nothing too large, or it gets annoying as the cane is swinging around everywhere)

(my canes, for reference)

If your character uses a cane full time, then they might also have multiple canes that look different aesthetically to match their outfits!

When it comes to practical things outside of the cane, you reasonably only have one hand available while it's being used. Many people will hook their cane onto their arm or let it dangle on the strap (if they have one) while using their cane arm, but it's often significantly less convenient than 2 hands. But, if you need 2 hands, then it's either setting the cane down or letting it hang!

For this reason, optimizing one handed use is ideal! Keeping bags/items on the side of your free hand helps keep your items accessible.

When sitting, the cane either leans against a wall or table, goes under the chair, or hooks onto the back of the chair. (It often falls when hanging off of a chair, in my experience)

When getting up, the user will either use their cane to help them balance/support as they stand, or get up and then grab their cane. This depends on what it's being used for (balance vs pain when walking, for instance!)

That's everything I can think of for now. Thank you for reading my long-but-absolutely-not-comprehensive list of things to keep in mind when writing or drawing a cane user!

Happy disability pride month! Go forth and make more characters use canes!!!

[heikala]

Here’s a video on why I only use a pen to sketch ✅ Hope you try it out, it has helped me tremendously to streamline my process and improve faster ☺️💕

[judacris]

Skin against skin, butt and bone You're drawing by yourself so you must atone Boys or girls, when you draw their rears There's one rule that you must adhere

LET THE BUTTCHEEKS KISS THE FLOOR. LET THE BUTTCHEEKS KISS THE FLOOR.

LET THE BUTTCHEEKS KISS THE FLOOR.

[scurviesdisneyblog]

More art tutorials by Disney artists Griz and Norm Lemay

[kyri45]

Join me next week on a FREE online workshop on STYLIZES FACES! (For beginners!)

What we’ll do:

construction of the face + different faces shapes

stylized eyes, noses, mouth

What you’ll need:

a drawing tablet + PC or a tablet +stylus (you can also print the PDF and follow with paper and pencils!)

1 hour of your time

a drawing program (Procreate, Photoshop, Ibis Paint, Clip Studio Paint,etc…)

pdf files you’ll receive a couple of days before the workshop

[onlyancunin]

Closeups of this portrait

Some people asked me about the hair - my advice would be to shade it like waves of water. Try shading it with lines at 45-90 deg angle to the direction the hair is going & add a few loose strokes here and there (with both pencil and rubber). Don't shade it with lines too close too each other, as hair tend to be highly reflective and look different at any given spot, they don't come in careful, consistent shading. Shading it with loose, parallel lines keep the "wavy" feeling while simulating the texture in a feasible manner (as trying to recreate every strand of hair is just impossible, we have to go for recreating the "feeling" of hair).

The results might surprise you 🌊

[saszor]

Tutorial for drawing characters with Down syndrome!

DISCLAIMER... Please keep in mind that this is an introductory drawing tutorial and has some generalizations in it, so not every “X is Z” statement will be true for Actual People. It's more of an overview of features that are common in people with Down syndrome, not meaning to imply that every person with DS has all of them 👍 thanks.

If you draw any characters using this feel free to tag me!

Consider supporting me on ko-fi if you find this to be helpful.

[laboratoryrats]

“small thread on drawing plus sized characters!”

Source: Ullaiin on Twitter

[girl-mercury]

I use a trick in my art that I don’t see people talk about often: erasable pens!

Most people seem to use pencil to make their guide lines, and then go over what they want to keep in ink or paint. I’m a watercolor painter, though, and if you go over pencil with watercolor paint, it seals it in.

If your pencil drawing is good, that works out fine, but my drawings are not. I don’t draw freehand, so I’m usually tracing a reference image. In addition to my lines, I mark out where my shading and highlights are going to be, which is all very helpful when painting, but I don't intend on keeping it in the final image.

This is where my Pilot FriXion pens come in.

They're "erasable" pens. They've got a rubbery bit on the end of them, you rub that on your pen lines, and they erase. But how it actually works is using the heat from the friction to somehow turn the ink invisible... which means you can skip rubbing the eraser on it, and just use heat directly, such as from a heat gun that a lot of crafters have (or just a hair dryer will do the trick too.)

As you can see in the video, I drew out some shapes, and then painted them with watercolor paint, using the lines to put my paint where I wanted it. Then I point the heat gun at my paper, and you can watch the lines vanish, leaving just the paint behind.

What this looks like in my process is this. As you can see, I've outlined all the lines of my subject's face, but I've also got areas that I filled in to indicate where I would need to shade more heavily, like along her jaw, on her neck, and in the inner corner of her eye; I also created directional lines for a crisscrossing pattern on her bonnet.

In the final version, once I was satisfied with all my painting, and I had gone over the lines I specifically wanted to keep in a permanent pen, I pointed the heat gun at it and watched the lines disappear. Now only the shade remains, and the pattern on the bonnet isn't as harsh; I've also used the pen to let me paint a plaid pattern on her cape.

If you look closely, you will see the shadow of lines within the shaded parts. Sometimes, the indentation of the pen tip on the paper will cause a slight relief drawing situation even after the ink disappears. You just have to remember to draw lightly.

I found the pens at Target for not too much money in the 0.5 size, and I just got some 0.38 finer line pens since I need to do more detailed work on my current piece.

Anyway these are SO easy to use, and I really enjoy being able to do art at the skill level I'm at, and doing it like this allows me to. Have fun with art!

[barnlarn]

Working on another poster! Here's part 1: facial structure and eyes. Nose and ears up next.

Simplifying Horses for Drawing Part 1