[WIP] Lady Physique

[Fox]

Yesterday I finished my first piece of pixel art which I unforchantly lost due to my own stupidity and not saving as I went along. Today I decided to try again but am encountering several problems right away!

Basically I wont trouble you with the details f what im trying to achieve in the long run as there are just so many problems even at this early stage! My main aim right now is to get the sprite a decent outline - something Im finding difficult!

Here goes:



The red lines are the lines im particularly unhappy with and cannot seem to get even to what I would consider an acceptable standard but I added just so you can see roughly what kind of shape Im after. Help me please!!

Thanks, Fox.

[TrevoriuS]

you should definately tackle this with more anatomy. The but's too low, neck probably too short, head I consider not done.
The fingertips should reach halfwat the upper leg, also your lower legs in this piece (or the leg in general) should be much longer. So basically, if you shorten the torso, and with that longen the legs you'll get closer to correctness. But for the heck of it, search reference before doing so! 

I wish you lots of luck  ,
TS~

[Fox]

Thanks for the tips. I tried my best to copy over what you seemed to think were my main flaws. Still cant get the legs to look ANYTHING like actual legs but trying!

Searched the forums for something on anatomy but couldnt find anything too helpful (did check links in tools and resources thread).

Heres how im going so far:

[skw]

[Fox]

The picture is helpful but what doesnt help is that my lady isnt standing exactly straight forward which makes it hard to transfer the features across...here was my best attempt (not sure if Im going backwards)

[Willows]

Ain't no such thing as a backward step, even if you fail!

I find it easier to keep things simple as possible in constructing the pose or form of an object, so breaking the body down into its basic shapes and building from there would probably prove much easier than chucking flesh and bone into perspective.



Just a quickie, but something like that is what I'm talking about. Once you've got those basic blocks in place and in proportion, it's much easier to build the flesh around or inside it.

[AdamAtomic]

Indeed - the loomis ref was not posted to encourage you to render your woman in the corpse pose, but merely to illustrate proportions and basic female anatomy.  You've copied the pose, and ignored the anatomy altogether

what doesnt help is that my lady isnt standing exactly straight forward which makes it hard to transfer the features across

Yes.  This is called art.  It's not about transferring features on a 1:1 ratio!  It's about learning how to translate a three dimensional shape (like say a woman) into a 2 dimensional rendering on a flat surface.

[Fox]

Haha! Thanks for all the info, expecially Adam who made me realise what a doofus I am! Reading what you guys had to say about using the blocks made me think of a website I found earlier:

http://www.biomotionlab.ca/Demos/BMLwalker.html

I found I could use a net from this program, paste it over to photoshop and edit the web to suit the pose I want to achieve. From THIS I can form the building blocks to THEN add the flesh.

See what you think:



Just lost the other image due to tiredness and Im trying to rush. It was just a picture of the girl with a new web superimposed into her to help show where my mistakes in anatomy may lie! Its interested me to see exactly how little I know seems as though I spend most of my life around other people! You'd think everyone I knew walked round with little t-rex arms and half finished legs...or atleast the girls!

I'll get the second image up in the morning!

Thanks for all your help,

Fox

(EDIT: Whoops, forgot to mention Adam's quote, "ignored the anatomy altogether". Did you really think so? I did actually try to make them more proportioned in the 3rd image I posted. Guess it must not have shown )

[AdamAtomic]

Your proportions in pixel space are much more accurate, I didn't mean to say that exactly, I apologize.  What I meant is that your image looked almost like a cardboard cutout twisted on an angle, it didn't really account for the three dimensional aspects of human anatomy!

[skw]

what I think is that your current piece (webuj5.png) is ripped and not even qualifies as pixel art. sorry.

you'd been searching for something on anatomy and you were given the reference. now you can study it, try to improve, acquire some new knowledge during the process, master the skill and eventually succeed. . . or you can ignore it completely by using the existing model -- which will be nothing but merely copying. any of us would *try* to prepare an edit with everything stated as clearly as possible, but, man! don't expect someone to do all the job for you! I *urge* you to learn something out of this, and yes: it's going to be quite annoying at the beginning, but you'll feel much more satisfied from the outgoing result than after applying such a dirty cut&paste trick!

word out!

[AdamAtomic]

This is not a rip - this is him posting a pose he generated in another application, and describing it as exactly that.  This is not a good way to go about creating a pose, but I don't see any possible way this could qualify as "ripping."

[skw]

okay, that's right. I've just got carried away a little, it's like 3AM; sorry for that, Fox!

[Fox]

No problem! Sorry If I caused confusion. I worked on what willows was describing to me with help with that program I described earlier - this is what ive got so far:



Tried to keep to the kind of style that the web made - I kinda like the sharp edges on the feet but couldnt really copy it effectively over the entire person..maybe if I give it some more time. I think (hope!) that atleast the anatomy is better!



Then eliminated some of the more grating mistakes:



What now? 

[Helm]

Now you hit the books from the beginning to learn human anatomy! Sorry if this comment sounds harsh, but really, that's what you have to do I think.

[Fox]

You think? Just call it quits for now until I learn some more?

[Helm]

Well we can help you shape this particular piece, but would you be learning more from that or from proper studies?

[Fox]

Well fair enough. Anything that you particularly recommend tutorial wise?

[Willows]

What helm said!

As for tutorials, as far as I know there's no real outstanding tutorial, learning anatomy is a lot of work with no way around it.

[Helm]

I suggest books, not online stuff. I have yet to see a good /scan or otherwise/ tutorial on general anatomy onine, I'd love if someone could find a good one to give around in here. If you go to an art-store however, you'll see a wide selection of starting artist books. Some of them are good. As a rule, buy the one that looks more detailed and in-depth.

[skw]

sorry for me being such a monotonous bastard, but again, LOOMIS be the keyword!

I'm sending you the proper link right now but you must promise you'll get to work ASAP and show us you've understood the lecture. so, promise?

then let it be a pleasure to you:
http://acid.noobgrinder.com/Loomis/Andrew%20Loomis%20-%20Figure%20Drawing%20for%20all%20it's%20Worth.rar

good luck, Mr. Gorsky!

[Fox]

Just to let you know I have been studying that Loomis a lot. Its been a great help and I really feel like Im learning alot from it. My drawing in general has improved no end since ive been studying it! Slllowly but surely I'll start this project up once I can make some decent line-art. I still have a long way to go but enjoying it!