Anatomy and gesture drawing

Proportion -

When drawing characters of different heights you can check the proportion by measuring in heads, the average height people are 6-7 heads tall though changing this amount will help you draw characters who are taller or smaller. For example shorter people may only be 5-6 heads meanwhile very tall people will be 7-8 heads tall. Something else to remember is that Hips are in the middle, legs are half of the figure, elbow goes to the bottom of the ribs/top of pelvis usually, and that hands go to mid thigh. By altering these proportions you can make characters seem non human, You can also take inspiration from animal proportions to make quite monstrous designs.

Contrapposto -

Contrapposto is the Italian word for Counter opposed, this is the opposite placement of elements on the character to create more dynamic poses. For example the orientation of the hips to the shoulders to create rhythm and flow through the figure. It is important to understand the placement of the hips, torso and head before adding any additional details to a sketch.

How tracing and referencing can be used effectively -

References are important to use to build your visual reference library and your overall understanding of anatomy. You can gather references either digitally or from life, both of which come with benefits and drawbacks. Drawing from life gives you a 3D point of reference in which you can better understand depth and lighting, however your subject is more likely to not remain completely static especially for long times. This also means some poses are completely unable to be made. Digital references however allow you to draw a wider range of poses that are more dynamic, but do not offer that sense of depth. It is good to be able to draw both from photographs and from life to build your visual library.

Referencing can be done both traditionally and digitally, though for this exercise we used digital art in conjunction with Tracing and referencing. There are many benefits of working digitally as opposed to traditionally such as less material costs,  transform tools which can adjust small details if something isn't right, and ease of undoing mistakes. However it is important to keep working traditionally so that you do not rely too heavily on transformative tools and know how to manually fix any mistakes that you make.

To effectively trace an image, you should not be drawing over any details, only using the image to locate the 3 main points of reference. The head, torso and pelvis. The less details you block out, the better you can add your own artistic elements and understand the reference better. In this example I selected this image of black panther, blocking out the three main elements and keeping that contrapposto in mind.

I then separated my blocked out sketch from the original image, pulled it over to the side and minimised it, this will be my new reference. I then followed these shapes and developed them more using my knowledge of anatomy to place muscle groups and better define the pose. This then gave me the final base sketch of which I can use to draw my character. It is important to do this before doing any details as the most important part of the drawing to make sure it looks right is the very base anatomy that makes up your figure, even with exaggerated proportions you can make a sketch look believable with good placement of muscles.

This is my final sketch using this method, I drew one of my characters and considered how the fabric would fall over the figure. As my reference was in skin tight clothing this was something I had to put a lot of thought into to make sure it looked correct. Something I had trouble with was the trouser leg on the leg that is bent, I didn't know how the fabric would fall and so had to ask for some help. I learnt that I should first find the kneecap and make that my stretch point, from there I should create swooping lines down to the trouser cuff to imply the twist that would be present in the fabric. I must also keep in mind if the gravity and how this will effect the fabric. To better improve my knowledge on folds I will make sure to do some studies, especially focusing on material falling over joints. I think this method of using tracing to create references is incredible useful, it allows your art to be more accurate whilst still allowing artistic freedom. This is something I will definitely use in the future especially when it comes to drawing characters in action.

Reference image