[RoadMaster]

I spent about 2 hours last night on this picture, using a wooden model and muscle tones from the cover art of a Terry Pratchett book (Discworld series if you really need to know). The biggest problem I noticed after I finished is that the body is at one angle, while the legs are at another. This was due to the fact that my wooden model's waist has some screwed up spring and always goes to the side, which I should have taken into consideration before I started, but forgot. I hope everything else looks good, so feel free to mangle everything up, and tell me what's good/bad or if it's okay for the time I spent on it. Just trying to contribute my part to the forum, and improve on my work. (yey I sound newbieish, wait... I am newbieish, damnit)

The original idea I had was more surrealist, but I changed my decision after I started positioning the model.



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The Elves, EVIL sinister elves...

[Mozeman]

The first thing I would recommend is abandoning that wooden model for now. Before you bite off more than you can chew with a complicated pose like this one, you need to learn the basics of anatomy.

There is almost no "real" muscle tone or structure in your drawing. At the basic level, none of the angles for any of the body parts work as a cohesive whole. That's the beginning. Once the pose is right, you can fill in the muscle mass. Those are all wrong. His back has no relation to anything in a real human body, his hair isn't falling at the right angle, and his legs and arms seem as if they are carved out of a potato. By knowing anatomy, you could more accurately fill in those volumes and then the details that define the muscles. As for the shadow, by defining the volumes correctly and a specific light source, you would at least be able to work in a close to believable shadow on whatever surface your figure is supposed to be on.

The bottom line is to start with the basics.

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Mozeman
Moser Brothers Animation Forum

[RoadMaster]

Thanks moze, I'm starting to see all the things I screwed up on other than the waist now, maybe I should get some more practice in before I post another image eh? oh well, I'm glad I learnt something about my style

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The Elves, EVIL sinister elves...

[EviLToYLeT]

Yah. What mozeman said. The thing that bothers me most is that all your muscles are defined by hard edges. Try to soften up into them with a bit of shading. This work has potential, but I think it be better if you try the basics first. First, just try doing regular standing poses and then when your down with that go to 3/4 view, profiles view, and so forth. When you learn a basic understanding of the body, then your able to post it in different positions such as squatting kneeling .. defeated man... so forth. Also, one thing that may help is to just draw a simple stick figure in the pose you want. Sure it may seem a bit odd at first, but it gives you a basic skeleton and allows you to get your porportions and structure right. Then, continue to flesh in the body. Like I said before, it seems that you put in a lot of time and effort and as long as you have that will, there's potential.

[Pigeon]

Geesh, never use those wooden mannequins. They're crap. I don't know why they're so popular.

A couple substitutes:
1) put yourself in that position. You can't see yourself, but you can feel the position, feel and somewhat see how some body parts lie in relation to others.
2) put a friend in that position, and sketch them to get the basic layout