Chibi Request #2

[Capta1n_Henry]

HEY-O! I'm back at it again with a another chibi request! I've learned a bit from the last one so I'm gonna shoot for less than 40 replies this time.

Someone asked me to make a chibi of their oc here:

They requested that her bangs be flipped around, make her right handed, and put her in some sort of ninja pose.

I made this body so far:

There's a lot wrong with the arms and the left leg (I haven't gotten the chance to hardcore study anatomy and drawing yet, so sorry about that) but I was wondering if everything was more-or-less in right place. I plan to make the anatomy good before I start on clothing and stuff because it was such a pain last time.

[MysteryMeat]

good so far i think, hips are big but you can roll with that.
 I'd say have the right leg bend double so it looks more like a classic ninja jump poseways though !
right niw it just looks like kind of a helpless fall.

[SmashAdams]

I would suggest googling for some ninja poses.
Your current pose looks like the character is either falling or lounging in a pool floaty or beanbag chair.

[Capta1n_Henry]

Ugh, I'm sorry I haven't replied to this in a while. It's just that I've been busy with school and cross country. I won't be able to work on this for another week but after that I'll try to make up for that time lost. Your replies haven't gone to waste guys. Thank you.

[Capta1n_Henry]

Um...hi. Sorry I haven't been here in weeks. I've been really busy and too tired to do anything when I had free time. Anyway, I made a new pose because the last one was really "meh" for me. The sword is a placeholder right now, as I plan to put something much more interesting there later. As with the last pose, I plan to fix the anatomy first before adding clothes and details.

[MysteryMeat]

The arms are very short and very thin. Same for the legs.
The character also doesnt seem to have hips, progressing straight from belly into thighs. Don't forget to draw the pelvis, it's an important dividing area between the legs.

[Capta1n_Henry]

How's this?

[BatElite]

If you want to get the anatomy right you'll have to start constructing stuff, especially the skeleton.
Probably the most important frame in my rather sloppy .gif is the one that says ''skeletons!'', which is where I do so. My anatomy is far from perfect though, so try to find some references. The .gif above only does the thorax right I think. I unfortunately drew the pelvis straight rather than at an angle, so the legs are more suited for a frontal pose.

[Capta1n_Henry]

How's this?

[MysteryMeat]

How's this?

Looking better! Tighten the right leg in a bit more and I think you got yourself a winner!

[Capta1n_Henry]

What do you mean by tighten?

[MysteryMeat]

Shorten it slightly, from this perspective it would be slightly smaller due to perspective.
Just raise it a pixel, and line the crotch area over the leg so it looks "behind"

[Capta1n_Henry]

Like this?

[Capta1n_Henry]

So uh, should I start on clothes and stuff or should I work on the anatomy more?

[MysteryMeat]

So uh, should I start on clothes and stuff or should I work on the anatomy more?

For this piece I'd say just move on to the rest of it.
You really need to buckle down and study skeleton structure and basics after this though, you've got the work ethic to tweak what you have but that foundation needs to be rebuilt so you can get things better that first go.

[Capta1n_Henry]

Ok, I'm starting on the clothes now. I'm going to keep the outlines and flat colors for now just for easy readability. I also moved the legs closer together because it looked a bit weird to me. Am I doing alright so far?

[Capta1n_Henry]

Started working on the eyes and facial features. I'm really hesitant to work on the cloth because that's gonna take a long while. I'm sorry that these are coming out slow. I pretty much only have free time on Sundays.

[MysteryMeat]

Too close again! Remember, there's a space of one eyeball's width between the eyes.

[Capta1n_Henry]

Like this? Also I don't recall anyone telling me about eyeball spacing, but thanks for that little rule.

[MysteryMeat]

Yes, much better! And nobody did I think, I put remember in front of sentences like that sometimes and it's a bit of a bad habit. Whoops!
The only other thing to work on is making the eyes focus, right now they're kind of staring off into space, the right eye looks like it's looking off to the right and the left eye dead center. Move the pupil on the leftmost eye right to fix this, ideally eyes should face the same way.

[Capta1n_Henry]

Like this?

[MysteryMeat]

Yes, much better!

[Capta1n_Henry]

Welp, here's a bad attempt at the hood. This is obviously rough draft but I was wondering if the general position was correct. I know I have to give a point in the back and make the top part more rounded. I wanted to get something out because it's been a while since I started this and I really need to finish it. Cloth is really annoying to work with, along with the amount of red that's there.

[MysteryMeat]

With the angle of the face the hood would be covering the left part of it more. Hoods also tend to not suction to the face, opting rather to hang over them. Here's a photograph and someone else's sketch I found off google, hopefully illustrating what I mean!

[Capta1n_Henry]

Ugh, are hoods supposed to be hard to do?

[0xDB]

Ugh, are hoods supposed to be hard to do?

If you are struggling with them it is not because hoods are inherently harder to draw than anything else but rather a lack of fundamental observation and draftsmanship skills. The reference is there. If you find you can't make use of refs, you need to practice drawing from life more (Betty Edwards wrote a very good book on the subject) and train your ability to construct from simplified volumes like boxes, spheres, cylinders, pyramids (get Andrew Loomis books... it can't be said often enough) in perspective.

In one of your earlier steps, you drew cross contours over the ball for the head, so you must have at least some understanding of construction already. Utilize that understanding to simplify and construct the hood over the ball, start with a simple box shape into which the hood would fit.

[Capta1n_Henry]

Is this a step in the right direction in terms of shading and position of the hood?

[Capta1n_Henry]

Trying to make more progress with the face and the hood details

[Capta1n_Henry]

Hey all, sorry I'm not making that much progress with this. Am I moving in the right direction at least?

[yaomon17]

Quick 20 mins sketchy stuff, sry not very much time.
Hood has a point and distinct shape
From what I've seen smaller feet for chibi, no real ankle distinction (probably a preference thing)
more dynamic pose, easier to add depth
smaller body and other stuff, head a bit bigger, chin a bit wider (preference on chibi style again)
you have a good reference, use it well
good luck 

ed: ignore the dagger on mine it is not right in any sense of the word

[Capta1n_Henry]

So, something like this?

[Capta1n_Henry]

Uh, hey. I'm back. I don't really want to give any excuses as to why I haven't been up and about so let me just ask for help. I remade the body and included the clothes as part of it. I haven't colored it at all and it's pretty rough. I kind of need help on the hands and legs because I haven't drawn anything in a good while. The legs are big because of the baggy ninja clothes.