Pixelation

Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: Indigo on November 25, 2005, 04:55:26 pm

Title: Another Tut by me : Anatomy
Post by: Indigo on November 25, 2005, 04:55:26 pm
this was made for another newbie pixel art forum.  Its purpose was to fix some missconceptions in a tutorial one of them wrote.

Mainly i just wanted to post my little head i did in about 15-20 min for the pixelopolis public, but i thought i might as well post the whole tut while i'm at it.  feel free to C+C the head sprite and/or any of the tutorial you feel like.

EDIT:  HAHA! i just noticed that my head tut has the exact same expression as my avy! lol

Quote
alrighty - before you guys go on, I feel the need to correct some problems here.  Please note that i'm not saying "you suck and you shouldn't have posted this tutorial" because most of it is pretty good.  But since i have studied anatomy for quite some time now, I need to correct a few things...

first thing first, the head:
this is the second place where i have seen a head tutorial that taught the wrong porportions here at these forums.  I'll post the following image at both places and explain.

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/calypson/head_tut.png)

first step: forming the head
for the most part the head is like the shape of an egg.  one end of the egg is very sphere like while the other end is pointy-like or ovalish.  given this information, lets start to make our head with a perfect circle.  then add an oval over top of it with the same width as the circle.  make sure the top of the oval it alligned to the top of the circle.  earase the lines inside and you should have a pretty good head shape.  its important that the top of the head is circle like, or else the head will feel squished and flat-topped.

step 2:  Line art
there are some nifty tricks you can use for the face to draw them fast and accurately.  first draw 2 lines; one dividing the face in have vertically, and the other horrizontally.  make sure both lines are in the center of the head.  these lines will help us place the facial features.  It is important to remember that the eyes are in the MIDDLE of a persons head - NOT close to the top as most think.  about halfway from the eye-line and the chin is where the nose line should go, and about half way down from that is where the mouth goes.  add some eyebrow guidlines a little above the eye-lines and then your set.  Next step is to generically draw in the facial features at the measured locations and erase the guidelines shortly after.  after that, you spice it up a bit by adding some expression to his face.  finally add some hair and we are on to step 3

step 3:
step 3 has 3 basic steps involved.  the first step is to generically floodfill the face with some desired base colors (i wont get into color theory - i'll save that for another time).  after you have done that, apply a lighter shade for each color in the desired locations where the lightsource would be hitting the face.  so now i have 2 hair shades, 2 skin shades, and B&W.  the last step is tricky since i've done quite a bit to it.  I have done 3 things - added highlights (to the pertruding areas of the face and hair), anti-aliased (to give a smoother look), and applied selout - elliminating the black outline.  If you dont understand these pixeling terms, go the the pixel wiki and search for that word here: http://www.wayofthepixel.net/pixelation/pixipedia/index....title=Main_Page (http://www.wayofthepixel.net/pixelation/pixipedia/index.php?title=Main_Page)


Finally, the Anatomy:
You have a general idea of how and where muscle groups go - but when you say things such as "now add some lines to show muscles" or "now add some arm-pit muscles... just a few unless you are maximizing his muscles" - thats where i come in.  Making things look buff is more than just "adding lines".  its about how you add those lines...

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/calypson/muscelfixer1.png)

here we see your dude - and next to him we see my dude.  they seem to be enjoying eachothers company  :P .  first off, I added some names of some general muscle groups you should know and remember to get rid of phrases such as "armpit muscles".  alright time to point out specific problems...

1) the deltoids:
in yours, the deltoids are like little balls that rest on the shoulder.  a few things you should remember about deltoids; the top of the deltoid should be on the same horrizontal as the collar bone, the deltoid muscle is connected to the pectorial in such a way that it almost is the same muscle, the deltoid muscle forms a teardrop like shape and wedges between the bicept and tricept in the arms.  study the drawing and you'll understand.

2) abdomine area
the first thing i noticed wrong here was the huge gap seperating the two columns of abs.  no such gap exists - squish them together to fix this problem. Same goes for the pectorial muscles as well.  the 'arm-pit' muscles as you call them are the obliques.  they in fact dont do much for the arm pits, but instead help torso movement and are somewhat connected to the abs.  dont add more just to make something look buff.  when a person is buff, it doesn't mean they grow a whole other muscle group - it just means that their existing muscle group is more defined.  keep it simple is what i say.  the muscle that actually gives the upper torso some width is not the obliques, but instead it is a muscle located on the back.  it is the latissimus dorsi.  alright - i think i'm done gabbing




Put 'em Together and What do ya got?:
bipitty-boppitty-boo!   :P
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/calypson/muscelfixer3.gif)



later, one of them wanted to know how the anatomy would be affected when an arm is raised... i replied with this:
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DaviDJ:
you did pretty good for not knowing how muscles work and just working off of the first pic.  I'm proud of you for wanting to try different poses and see how the muscles are affected accordingly. two thumbs up.  just a few things wrong really - 1) the deltoid needs to be rolled to the top of the arm since it is now lifted up.  2) the bicept needs to be facing the viewer and covering the tricept. Since the deltoid is a divider between the bicept and tricept, and we can only see one side of the deltoid - that means that only the muscle on that side of the deltoid should be showing (which just so happens to be the bicept).  3) plainly put; the arm is too long  4) its interesting that you chose this pose because it was hard for me to explain what the latissimus dorsi muscle was when it was hard to see it.  when the arm is raised up like that, the dorsi muscle pops out a bit more as well as becomes more visible.  in your edit, you forgot to include the muscle.  5)  the last thing that you need to remember is to keep the pectorial connected to the deltoid.  (see image below)

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/calypson/muscelfixer4.png)
Title: Re: Another Tut by me : Anatomy
Post by: MadToaster on November 25, 2005, 05:04:11 pm
Cool stuff. I've been studying one of Loomis's books and what you've shown is close the 8 heads approach I'm drilling into my head. What books or pages have you been learning from?
Title: Re: Another Tut by me : Anatomy
Post by: Indigo on November 25, 2005, 05:12:36 pm
hmm... i can't really say i've learned from books or pages.  Just kinda picked up pieces here and there....and my middle school art teacher taught me most of the proportion stuff dealing with the head.  he was a cool guy - he'd teach me college level stuff while all the other students waisted their time away shading 'value worksheets' and whatnot

EDIT:
Remember to vote!
Title: Re: Another Tut by me : Anatomy
Post by: ter-o on November 25, 2005, 06:10:24 pm
It's a muscle, not muscel :) But nice tut, not 100% correct, especially with proportions (lower body is way more off than upper) but newbies can get a nice start toward better realism with it :)
Title: Re: Another Tut by me : Anatomy
Post by: Indigo on November 25, 2005, 06:46:38 pm
two things - i sketched in the lower body uber fast and it was not supposed to be included with the tutorial... secondly the proportions of the upper body is off due to exaggerations mostly.  the arms could be better though.

I guess i shouldn't defend myself so much.  I can't pretend i know everything.  thanks for the tips and the typo correction.
Title: Re: Another Tut by me : Anatomy
Post by: Negative Gravity on November 25, 2005, 07:22:38 pm
This is great Indigo. Thanks a lot for a great tut. :)
Title: Re: Another Tut by me : Anatomy
Post by: God Slayer on November 25, 2005, 11:40:49 pm
Solid. This is why I voted for you 4 times. ;D
Title: Re: Another Tut by me : Anatomy
Post by: Andy Tran on November 28, 2005, 08:37:06 am
 The tutorial really helped me in anatomy basics. Thanks for writing it, it was a great guide to anatomy.
Title: Re: Another Tut by me : Anatomy
Post by: Indigo on November 28, 2005, 11:58:29 pm
thanks guys.  I'm glad i helped a bit.... any comments on that little head doo-hicky?

ter-o:
do you think you can point out what things are wrong with it so i can then determine if it was truely me doing something wrong or me exagerating purposefully.  There is a very good chance that I did do something wrong and i'd like to correct it.
Title: Re: Another Tut by me : Anatomy
Post by: xanthier on November 29, 2005, 12:14:16 am
nice, that helped me...everything but the head-sized feet ;)
Title: Re: Another Tut by me : Anatomy
Post by: Locrian on November 29, 2005, 12:22:32 am
Well the most obvious things are the lower arm is wider than the upper arm, the lower leg is wider than upper leg, and the feet are ginormous.  Obviously a stylistic exaggeration (I hope).  But not my cup of tea, and maybe not the best thing to do if you're trying to teach proper anatomy.  Hips and crotch look strange too. 

I'm sure most people here will benefit from this though.   Its a pretty common mistake on pixel boards to make the muscles on outer side of legs and arms sit at same level as inner side.  You've clearly shown that the outer sits higher.  Your exaggeration might actually be good for this.  And its nice to have a quick ref on the board for them.  A nice springboard.   For seriously learning anatomy though, I'd suggest they just pick up a pencil and read some books.
Title: Re: Another Tut by me : Anatomy
Post by: Andy Tran on November 29, 2005, 02:15:16 am
 The tutorial made really easy, I would recommend to not change it.
Title: Re: Another Tut by me : Anatomy
Post by: Kazuya Mochu on November 29, 2005, 03:10:35 am
I dont see this as a "this is the correct way". I do find some anatomy errors, but I take this more as a "keep in mind that" tutorial. like "when this happens, dont forget that this and this and this changes".

I find it very clear and simple. keep it up! thumbs up for you.

of course I will not advise this tutorial as a guide line for correct human proportions. I meen, look at thoes feet :D . but its a really simple way of displaying what happens with the body in certain situations.

Kaz
Title: Re: Another Tut by me : Anatomy
Post by: Helm on November 29, 2005, 06:40:32 am
of course I will not advise this tutorial as a guide line for correct human proportions. I meen, look at thoes feet :D . but its a really simple way of displaying what happens with the body in certain situations.

just as long as the original artist knows and makes it plain that this is in no way realistic proportion or anatomy study, but more of the superhero type, and even then, with wildly exaggerated parts