Other sketches:
Idle ( find the hidden face )


Swordsmanship stance


Idle


Edited by Daruda - 24 December 2014 at 9:07pm

(If you've been working on anatomy for months already, you probably know everything I'm about to say, but I'll post it anyway, 'cause you know, why not? If all of this is old news to you, feel free to ignore :) )

Well, unfortunately there is no other way to get good other than to practice lots and lots, like Hapiel said. Personally I am of the opinion that pixel art is sub-optimal for learning anatomy, though I am loath to make any bombastic claims. It is much easier to stylize and abstract when you know the original form, and I'm afraid pixels lock you into an abstract process. Classically, pencil and paper is the basis for all naturalistic (as in imitating nature) 2d art, and is generally considered the best starting point for learning anatomy. Studies, like you are doing, are good. Myself, I never had any patience for studies and simply messed around instead. As a result it has taken me much longer to get to an "acceptable" level than it could have.

Considering this, there are two specific methods of working I think is helpful.
First, construction: Have an anatomy chart handy, and construct everything. Measure, use helping lines to mark and measure, literally don't draw any part of the body without checking the measurements. The result will be stiff, but it will help you memorize the proportions, and in time you will be able to eyeball more and more. You'll also start learning little tricks (like the elbow ending slightly above the navel) that will help your eyeballing.

Second, gesture drawing, which I suppose is what you're doing here in pixels. Draw from photos and images if you must, but drawing from life is even better. 5-minute, 1-minute, 30-second, 15-second sketches from photos or life are common exercises in art study. This should help with learning about the gestures in poses, i.e. where the weight lies, how and why the pose appears dynamic or not, etc. Posemaniacs has a nice free tool for this: http://www.posemaniacs.com/thirtysecond

In the end, you will always improve given sufficient quantity of practice. However, If you want to improve faster, theres something to be said for quality too. And again, while I don't really want to criticize other's methods, especially given my own willfully ignorant artistic journey, I'll just reiterate that perhaps pixel art isn't what will give you the fastest gains in learning anatomy. In the end however, it is all up to you of course.

I'm having problems with this pose.
link: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--iQsGhNVlPg/UGNlQVbVXUI/AAAAAAAABIs/lZ9IF_I8dcE/s1600/art-003.jpg
I don't want to copy the character, I just liked the pose so I tried to recreate it with the help of charts.
I wonder what is not working... I feel like the upper part of the body is too long or maybe the legs too short? The Head looks strange...the piece seems overall stiff.

So...I didn't have a lot of time this week, but I tried to edit it this weekend at least.
I colored it too.


Any suggestion?

You're right Kamirose, I wonder why I didn't notice it.

This should be a little better, I have a lot of difficulties with legs.

Thanks Limes.
I tried to edit it a bit, I have no idea about how to change the head, but it's true that it look a bit small. While I was looking at how to change things, I changed the palette too...It's probably too contrasted, I'm still working on that too.






Edited by Daruda - 12 January 2015 at 12:11pm

the shorts cover those wonderful knees :(.

His right leg isn't working for me, maybe it's because of how swoopy it is compared to the straight line just above. srsly that line is straight, needs indication of elbow and tricep improvement.

His hips still need to start a pixel or 2 above where they start now. That or just cut two pixels from the tummy. His tummy is waaayyyy too long. Other than that this looks pretty solid.

Here's my edit. I didn't change any of your shading so it might still need to be adjusted but his proportions are a bit more believable. I took the "cut two pixels" route.




Edited by link2dpast - 21 January 2015 at 11:04am

Have you tried overlaying your drawings on reference? Either after sketching, to compare the result with the goal, or beforehand, to give yourself a guideline to follow.

Rules like 8 heads high are fine and dandy, but they're also kind of bullsh*t. What's important is that you eventually 'feel' how proportions should relate to eachother. And even then it's kind of bullsh*t still. For example, this woman is a mere 6.5 heads tall:


Have you tried overlaying your drawing over reference? Either beforehand, and tracing the pic to have a strong guideline and you learn proportions by doing, or afterwards to see how things compare?

Edited by PixelSnader - 21 January 2015 at 1:02pm

Yes but also no. You can fall into the trap of learning bad habits, and unlearning a bad habit is more difficult than learning one.

What kind of background do you have, have you taken art classes or books, and what age are you?

I get the feeling you're skipping past the proportional stage and into the detail stage. Which is natural, because it makes things more representative; look children's drawings of humans. Proportions are FUBAR, but at least they have 5 stick fingers. (also, note how they get progressively worse as the attention span wanes) Humans are made to look for recognizable constructs like faces and such. Even when they're not there, such as with apophenia and pareidolia.

But, this means that when we art, we also focus on those constructs. And we draw what we think should be there, not what we actually see. Which is why we draw stuff like this when we're unguided. We focus on the 'face', that is the eyes and the mouth, and thus we draw it much larger in the head than it should be. (sidenote, this is why manga eyes are big, to draw focus because they show much emotion).

You should read my introductory art book. I don't have a book. I should have a book.

*goes away to write book*

I'd really suggest starting with hand drawings. If you try an initial sketch via pixels for a humanoid that should have anatomically correct proportions and lines you're handicapping yourself. It's like if you tried to draw a perfect curved line but all you can use is small boxes. :)

I messed with this... I had a big problem with all your shadows making it difficult to edit. If you're still fixing form so many different shadow colors makes editing and revision much more of a challenge than it needs to be.

Your Lats, Serratus, and Pecs were huge for someone with such thin arms. I tried to fix arm connections to torso and give you leg muscles and bend.

yeah i know the edit isn't perfect, can't get that left of image upper leg perfect without more editing, but I'm at my limit on this paintover.



Edited by Iscalio - 22 January 2015 at 10:06am

Ok, I cleared them a little, so I'd say that it's done.
There isn't anything too strange, hopefully.


I'd start a female sprite now.

Thanks Hapiel :D
The problem is that he's a bit in perspective, he's right side should be nearer the viewer, but is really hard to imply...since if I just shade more the left side it looks strange. I'm still having problems with the biceps and upper arms, that's why I said "too strange" :)
And the knee, I really wonder if I should move it a bit...
Well, I'll try to look at it after some time and be more critic, because now I don't seem to be able to fix it like I want.

I think it is already impliedgood enough. You can see that the left foot is further away from the camera than the right, and also the left arm is notably shorter. The rest of the body just has to follow.

I am not an anatomy expert, but I made a quick edit: