AuthorTopic: Anatomy Practice  (Read 15973 times)

Offline Zizka

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Anatomy Practice

on: December 30, 2016, 12:53:13 pm
Hello guys,

I'm trying to move away from cartoon and more towards realistic things.

Basically, I'd like to take this first draft and rework it continuously until I can improve no further.



I want to stick to the same size for the sprite but other than that I'd like it to look more realistic. I want this to be a learning experience in managing shape/form and anatomy.

I'd rather have cues on things to change than actual edits as I might end up relying too much on the actual edit and end up learning less. Thanks!

Offline MysteryMeat

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Re: Anatomy Practice

Reply #1 on: December 30, 2016, 01:07:28 pm
Well for starters, don't focus on tits yet. Instead, try to focus on the shapes for the ribcage, shoulders, and hips especially. Arms also, be prepared and MOST IMPORTANT, don't try to practice this stuff in pixelart. Don't make my mistake!
PSA: use imgur
http://pixelation.org/index.php?topic=19838.0 also go suggest on my quest, cmon
MAJOR BORK TALLY: |

Offline 32

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Re: Anatomy Practice

Reply #2 on: December 30, 2016, 01:22:39 pm
Find a reference!

General proportion stuff: head too big, shoulders too wide, hips too narrow, legs too long, arms too short, crotch too wide.

Definitely take mysterymeat's advice here and nix the boobs until you've got the ribcage figured out and especially the way the arms join to the chest as this plays heavily into the shape of the breasts. Your whole midsection is just a big cylinder, take a look at a reference there, it has a lot of dips and bulges. Same with the lower legs and the arms.

I'd recommend killing the outlines and the shading and breaking it down into basic shapes. Get a bunch of shades and then just block out each muscle group/major form. #1 tip for drawing the human body is there are ONLY convex lines.

EDIT: Legs too SHORT sorry, or more accurately legs out of proportion with torso.
« Last Edit: December 30, 2016, 01:57:43 pm by 32 »

Offline lachrymose

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Re: Anatomy Practice

Reply #3 on: December 30, 2016, 02:15:49 pm
Nix everything, skin, hair...etc. Anatomy starts with the skeleton. Build a proportional skeleton then come back.

Offline Achrileg

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Re: Anatomy Practice

Reply #4 on: December 30, 2016, 03:59:47 pm
Best advice would be learn to draw anatomy with a pencil first, study and read up on different aspects of the human body. All the knowledge will translate very well to pixel-art, but learning anatomy in pixel-art will just make your life miserable. Sure, pixel-art might be more fun or easy for you, but if you want to get better, start with the basics.

Offline MAVW

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Re: Anatomy Practice

Reply #5 on: December 30, 2016, 04:21:54 pm
the pixel art itself is ok, but it is clear that in order to improve you need to study more anatomy on paper first.
expanding a bit on what Achrileg said, start building a reference folder. Once you have your references start drawing them over and over, start with parts of the anatomy(eyes, legs, arms, chest...) because if you start your study drawing the whole body right off the bat you'll have a hard time learning all the nuances of each part.

Offline Zizka

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Re: Anatomy Practice

Reply #6 on: December 30, 2016, 06:18:11 pm
Thanks for the feedback.

I don't want to practice on paper at the moment. Sorry, I'd like to give this a shot first. Mostly because I want to practice my PA and anatomy at the same time. I hope you can still continue to give me feedback about this even if I continue to go the PA route.

I've drawn a skeleton using the same size at the original character as was suggested. If you think the skeleton is ok, I was thinking of building on top of it.



with background to make it easier to read:


The problem at this size will be defining the face which will certainly give me a run for my money.

Offline 32

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Re: Anatomy Practice

Reply #7 on: December 30, 2016, 10:29:52 pm
I don't think there's anything wrong with practicing this stuff in pixel art inherently but you need to take the right approach. Which would be slow it down and focus on the forms before you go into any detailing.

All of the proportional issues from your original drawing persist in the skeleton. You need to fix those. Rib cages aren't ovals, look up some reference. What are the diagonal bones over the rib cage at the shoulder? Scapula don't look like that. Clavicles are not straight. The forearm has two bones. Bones bulge out at the joints.

Doing an anatomy study of the face at this resolution is kind of pointless, and definitely not the first thing I'd be worrying about. Make sure you're looking at female skeletons for reference. They have a much wider pelvis and narrower shoulders, generally.

Offline lachrymose

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Re: Anatomy Practice

Reply #8 on: December 31, 2016, 12:42:30 am
Nice skeleton, unfortunately that was not what was asked for.

Your sprite is roughly 75 pixels long...Well I made it 75 pixels as it was close enough and for a reason you should get here soon.

The recognized realistic human male proportions state the human male is approximately 7.5 heads long and 2 heads wide. Of course we could get into idealistic and heroic proportions, but you stated realism so that is what I aimed for.
Which means for a 75 pixel long sprite we can divide that into 7 and one half sections. Note - I'm using the male proportions because the numbers match better and at this resolution it really doesn't matter.

That means you need to fit the whole skeleton within the bounds of the box I created for the given sprite lengths. Of course you can make it a bit wider/longer/shorter so long as you don't go to far with it.

So build your skeleton in the space provided.



Have fun  ;D
« Last Edit: December 31, 2016, 12:48:09 am by lachrymose »

Offline dpixel

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Re: Anatomy Practice

Reply #9 on: December 31, 2016, 02:14:29 am
I know this is anime, but the rules still apply for proportions:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6ZwuVq-0M4
This guy is pretty good and has helped me out.

Plus developing a system and an understanding will allow you to create more interesting and dynamic poses.

And as 32 mentioned, find a reference.  << very important

A quick redraw using roughly the same heads height proportions results in an almost child-like form.  I even shrunk the head.