Attempting to improve my poses

LoliGent

The Lolicon Gentleman
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I was drawing the MC of my upcoming age gap romance and drew this pose.

illst_johan_2.png
But there was something amiss with the legs. I used a reference but could not get him to look like he was walking properly. It looked too wonky, too stiff, like he wasn't even walking, just forcefully posing as if he never learned how to properly walk or something. After going through the creation sub-forum and seeing some reference pictures from other artist, I saw a suggestion on how to improve poses, and realized that may be the problem.

I went to YouTube to look up videos on the subject and got some ideas to improve my poses. I took some time and drew a few test poses.

pose_ref.png

When I got a feeling for it down, I then redrew the pose. This is the result.

improve_johan_1.png improve_johan_2.png

Did I do good? What else could I possibly do to improve my poses?
 

Mysticant

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Nice improvements. In my opinion, the legs are too short.

TL;DR: Walking is very troublesome to draw nice and is never that rewarding.

Even though I don't draw males, my general rule of thumb for any guy in teen or above needs at least 1 head, torso+pelvis=minimum 2 heads, ideally 2.5 to 3. The legs from the hip joint= 3 heads and can even go to 3.5 or even 4 if the guy is really tall.

This varies from the artists and art styles that I have seen. This is just my take on it.
Another thing though, I am not sure if you noticed but most artists do not like to draw the full body. I still do it for practice, but it is like a photographer. Usually, they go up to 3/4 (hip/knees) at most but many would just do half (torso/bust). That in itself adds more detail and gives some character than a full body which usually gives a profile-like view if you lack any dynamic poses. (Plus knees and feet are hard to draw, thighs are the best)

The full bodies you usually see are face-on profiles for a character page or really dynamic poses/very funky camera angles- like a Japanese schoolgirl sitting on a desk facing you with knees crossed, smirking. Even in this scenario, a 3/4 without the feet would probably still look nicer if you get what I mean.

I am not trying to be mean, but walking is not a real dynamic pose. This is just my opinion though, if you think I am mistaken you can just ignore everything that I have said. I just do not want you to put so much effort into something you may not be satisfied with as a result.

There are other things, like the shoulder width that probably could be wider depending on how 'thick' your guy is. And that clothes have weight, so just draw the guy bigger. He is wearing like 2 or 3 layers of clothing but his body structure still seems the same. This makes him look thinner.

Another thing is that your legs are crossing, people do not normally catwalk.

I mean it could just be your art style and such. This is how I would hand draw an ' average skinny guy'. Blue is the fixture to your pose, red is the pose I would ideally like to do in a walking pose (god drawing in OneWord is so hard). It is probably the easiest yet one of the better dynamic poses. The left arm of mine should also be starting to swing, well I was just copying your upper body so yeah.

As I mention, I do not ever draw guys, so don't take my face structure or anything. The only girls I draw are usually pubescent to teens whose cups usually not exceed D (imagine their poor backs if greater), thus the only guys I draw are....shotas. :sweating_profusely:

I am not sure if forum posting rules agree with me can use google images as an example, well I do not own anything on the left and your under-sketch, so if in violation just delete this post. :blob_no: I should just go back to my writing.

1624356669599.png
 
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LoliGent

The Lolicon Gentleman
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As I mention, I do not ever draw guys, so don't take my face structure or anything. The only girls I draw are usually pubescent to teens whose cups usually not exceed D (imagine their poor backs if greater), thus the only guys I draw are....shotas.

Aw, I see one of my fellow kin is in this forum too. :s_wink:

Aside from that, I must inform you first of all that I'm not an artist, I just know how to draw. I actually want to hire an actual artist to help me out, but that will take some time, so I'm just trying to learn whatever is necessary to add illustrations in my story that will attract an audience. Not to say that learning how to draw isn't a priority, but I'm not as dedicated as an actual artist. I'd rather spend my energy improving my writing and just sketch images for the REAL artist to work with.

Now onto your post, you gave me some amazing information. Though some go over my head such as the head proportion thing, but I'm sure if I read it again and again, I'll eventually understand. Still, this is awesome information! :blobthumbsup:👍

I like that suggestion of not drawing the entire body. I think I'll do that instead since I now realize how much work there is drawing a full body rather than just sketching it. I do need reference material, but for the real thing, I might as well take as many shortcuts as I can. You are also right about his body width. I'll definitely have to redraw him to make him much bulkier.

Thanks for the tips. They're very useful. I'll definitely use this as reference.
 

LinXueLian

Always Handsome
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I think the pose is fine (I see you inverted the legs later, that looks good!), you might be facing problems because of the length of the legs.

If you're drawing a person wearing trench coats, it would hide the motion of your legs, causing it to look "wonky" to you... it's kind of why when you see a mannequin wearing a trench coat it looks good, but when we shorter people try it out, we look... ehehehe... :blob_facepalm::blob_happy:

Perhaps you can try 9 heads figure drawing? They make longer garments like your trench look more exclusive-looking. With a long sling bag and a long trench coat for your design, it might just work!



9 heads figures have very long limbs! Very beautiful if you are drawing motion! :blob_aww:

I don't draw male or female figures differently, so I'm not sure how to advise other than.... 9 heads haha :sweating_profusely: Hope it helps....

EDIT: Also, when a character is walking or moving, try adding more motion to the clothes. I find a lot of artists have problems with how the whole image looks because the garment doesn't follow the motion of the limbs. If the garment is static in a picture, it'll weigh the whole composition down. In short, make the clothes and hair move too!


EDIT 2:
I'm just trying to learn whatever is necessary to add illustrations in my story that will attract an audience.

Actually, you're not wrong.... it does help when you have a "base image" of your own illustration to attract artists. As a writer you may not know this, but having a reference, even if it doesn't look so good to you, can be very attractive to artists, particularly hobbyists looking for something to read. I'm always keeping my eye out to randomly illustrate characters while reading novels. I feel that those are plus-points.
 
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LoliGent

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EDIT: Also, when a character is walking or moving, try adding more motion to the clothes. I find a lot of artists have problems with how the whole image looks because the garment doesn't follow the motion of the limbs. If the garment is static in a picture, it'll weigh the whole composition down. In short, make the clothes and hair move too!

Gotcha. I'll remember to... NOT draw them in motion next time because I have no idea how to draw all that. :blob_pat_sad:

But thanks for the tip. I'll see what I can do with 9 heads, even though I'm not sure how the whole "head measurement" thing works.

As I say, I'm not an artist, I just know how to draw.
 

LinXueLian

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Gotcha. I'll remember to... NOT draw them in motion next time because I have no idea how to draw all that. :blob_pat_sad:

But thanks for the tip. I'll see what I can do with 9 heads, even though I'm not sure how the whole "head measurement" thing works.

As I say, I'm not an artist, I just know how to draw.

Aha you silly! Don't be afraid! Draw them in motion - it's not bad to learn. Walking is the most basic thing thing all humans do. People can look fabulous while walking! It's why models walk down a catwalk. Everybody walks!

You can try drawing motion in fabrics by using arrows as a guide if you like, to show where the wind is. Maybe your character is walking on a breezy autumn day.

Ah... measurements huh.... I don't know those either, don't worry. :sweating_profusely: I just... make stickmen with lollipop heads and looooooong arms and legs, then boom, that's it... 9 heads...

You ain't alone! I don't know how to draw, but I call myself an artist! :blob_happy::blob_happy::blob_happy: Let's be opposites~
 
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