Silhouette Practice (With some Shading)

[Pheno]

Nothing reads as "holding a gun" to me quite like those right-angle arms they did in Star Wars. Another tip to help with really clear silhouettes - ideally nothing should be overlapping! This can be very difficult to accomplish, but to be really clear on a two-dimensional plane, less intersection means more clarity. This silhouette is obviously exaggerated in its proportions, but I think the idea is clear. If your character is less stealthy you may need to consider a different pose, though.

[Rosier]

Nothing reads as "holding a gun" to me quite like those right-angle arms they did in Star Wars. Another tip to help with really clear silhouettes - ideally nothing should be overlapping! This can be very difficult to accomplish, but to be really clear on a two-dimensional plane, less intersection means more clarity. This silhouette is obviously exaggerated in its proportions, but I think the idea is clear. If your character is less stealthy you may need to consider a different pose, though.

That definitely improves the readability, but I was going for the more realistic stuff I remember seeing in CSI, ie closer and tighter.  It's probably a better idea to exaggerate, but I'm here to improve, and this ought to be a good indication as to how.





This is based on LoZ: Wind Waker's promo art, seen here: http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/zelda/images/a/a4/Link_Wind_Waker_1.png/revision/20081015205248

Albeit mine hopefully has minorly exaggerated human proportions.

[Rosier]

Legs were taken from one of those pose studies, but I completely made the waist up from scratch.

[Decroded]

I dunno if these are challenging enough or whatever but I think they look cool.
That last one is nice and floaty.

but yeah if u really wanna push urself do some a bit larger and from different perspectives and odd poses.
if ur not doing sketches then get onto daily sketch thread I'd say and smash out a shitload of gesture sketches like others are doing.
been meaning to get into that myself coz man am I out of touch with gestures :-/

[Rosier]

I dunno if these are challenging enough or whatever but I think they look cool.
That last one is nice and floaty.

but yeah if u really wanna push urself do some a bit larger and from different perspectives and odd poses.
if ur not doing sketches then get onto daily sketch thread I'd say and smash out a shitload of gesture sketches like others are doing.
been meaning to get into that myself coz man am I out of touch with gestures :-/

I'm going for the concept art thing for this one specifically again, so I'd hazard a guess I'm staying away from the more outlandish poses in favor of ones that can show off the body and details.  I guess once I finalize this one I can go for some weirder things.

Colored in with some rudimentary shading, but this is what I was going for.

[kullenberg]

Just an observation, make what you will of it: pretty much all your characters have a weak posture. They are hunched over like an old lady with a bad back and their heads are thrust forward. I get the impression that they are a bunch of introverted emo kids with low self-esteem, kinda. They also tend to be a bit floatey and tip-toey (are those real words? heh) and don't portray a good sense of weight. I don't know what you want to portray exactly but if you want some of your characters to convey a sense of power my points would be worth considering.

[Seiseki]

I think there's a lack of sharp angles in the anatomy, the limbs are very noodly and rounded..

[Rosier]

Just an observation, make what you will of it: pretty much all your characters have a weak posture. They are hunched over like an old lady with a bad back and their heads are thrust forward. I get the impression that they are a bunch of introverted emo kids with low self-esteem, kinda. They also tend to be a bit floatey and tip-toey (are those real words? heh) and don't portray a good sense of weight. I don't know what you want to portray exactly but if you want some of your characters to convey a sense of power my points would be worth considering.

By chance, this character is a bit introverted and has relatively low self esteem, but that definitely was not in my mind making it.  The floaty aspect definitely was, though.  Something something "light as a feather."

Is there a part that demonstrates that more than the others?  I mentioned the legs were all but traced, but do they give off that impression more than the torso does? 

I think there's a lack of sharp angles in the anatomy, the limbs are very noodly and rounded..

I'm getting that I should commit more to 75-90 degree angles from this.  I tend to think that makes it look a bit blockier and unnatural, but I might as well give it a shot if you believe I should.

[DracoDragon42]

I made an edit that you might  not completely agree with, but I tried to do what they were saying. I moved the chest forward, bent the legs more, changed the arms, and the mouth looked a little of so I moved it a little. But, here it is:

[Seiseki]

I'm getting that I should commit more to 75-90 degree angles from this.  I tend to think that makes it look a bit blockier and unnatural, but I might as well give it a shot if you believe I should.

Well, look at these for example.
It's just, a knee or elbow shouldn't be too smooth, you need some definition.
Also, your arms, legs, torso all have a very even size and proportions, which makes them look noodly and doesn't provide any direction or flow in the anatomy.