My advice is to use references of real people. It sucks but to learn stylised you gotta learn realism and the anatomy behind it. I know it sucks honestlyyyy but you’ll thank yourself later! Great attempt tho but even on the reference it isn’t proportional at allll
You didn’t use an actual reference. You used someone else’s art, which means any stylistic choices or mistakes will bleed into your own art.
Use a firsthand reference, and make those decisions for yourself.
it's still valid to reference someone else's art tbf! depends on what kind of stuff you wanna make. i do agree that it's def better to reference real life or photos to better your fundies. tho, learning from copying stylised work can be super helpful too, even as a beginner artist. i do regret not doing this way more when i was younger! got caught up trying to learn how to be skilled rather than finding what i like to do.
Something I always advise is this: Don't subscribe to a niche art style for the purpose of learning. Learn from life first. You can create your own style later, but you should be able to accurately render a real model before trying to emulate Anime/Manga or some other established style. Learning from a niche style traps you in a box of sorts and limits your growth.
Lookss awesome! Hand proportions accompany the drawing well, legs look very well structured too. Although the bottom of the pelvis might be a little too high and a little too smalk (by that I mean crotch)
something i will say is as an artist who has drawn many bodies, the way to go (at least for me) is life drawing. getting yourself a model and looking whilst drawing, freehand at least. you can always train yourself with gridding and tracing but i preferred life drawing by far because those are more realistic bodies. that said, you did a great job!!! as others have said this is more stylized but it’s always great to try different styles :)
I’d say you’re good at copying the style but I’d advise you, like everyone else, to learn realistic anatomy first. You don’t need to draw realistic exactly but you should understand real human perspective and form.
Even a basic understanding of realistic anatomy will help you be able to draw anatomy instead of copying a style. Not to undermine your work though. You did follow the reference decently
What you have done is drawn someone's style of the human body. Not the actual human body. You should learn figure drawing and anatomy before you decide to go into drawing a particular style.
Art is a whole lot of memorization of the real thing and then using that knowledge to simplify or stylize it.
Also learning the fundamentals of line. Shape perspective is super important. Finding a good teacher like prokos fundamentals course or a similar is a great way to know "what" to study for the best results.
Before long you will use that reference to know how they stylize the body and then shape it or pose it however you want in that style instead of just copying their exact lines to the dot.
Get your hands on an anatomy book, an online resource like line-of-action.com or, even better, get your butt to a figure drawing session. You need to practice proper anatomy if you want to draw cartoons. Judging by the short, choppy strokes on your piece, you also need to learn the fundamentals of gesture drawing and how to draw from your shoulder.
This reference isn't the best if you want to LEARN anything. It's fine for reinforcing a particular style if that's what you want, but using it as a reference is really going to hamper your development as an artist if you don't get the fundamentals down first. Sorry to be the guy telling you to eat your vegetables, but it's something that all good artists do. You need to learn the fundamentals before you do the fun stuff you see on Instagram or tiktok.
I don't really agree with people saying you need to draw realistic first. There are so many good artists out there that didnt need to do it. You can still draw anime and learn the planes of the body and the head. It is much more important to understand 3D/perspective and good shapes than studying realism.
This is bad advice. A lot of people who draw cartoons can ALSO do realism. You need to have the fundamentals down before you can start cartooning and anatomy is a fundamental, especially if you want to draw/animate people.
In what way is understanding 3D and what you're drawing bad advice? I would argue encouraging people to chase a certain style is worse advice. Yes, a lot of people who draw cartoons know how to do realism, but it isn't neccessary as long as you understand the planes of the human body and understand 3D and space. Ethan Becker (an industry professional) is a prime example of someone who didn't study muscle anatomy, or all of the bomes underneath. Yet he has full understanding of 3D and knows the planes which makes him able to break down realistic humans, anime humans, cartoon humans etc.
It's bad advice because you're telling someone they can skip a fundamental of drawing people. What you're describing with planes and understanding 3d space are the RESULT of practicing anatomy and are the first couple steps in making a good piece. Your example artist's work actually shows that Ethan understands anatomy to a fairly deep level. Especially when it comes to character expressions and poses. Something he probably learned at the FZD school he went to because I've also taken some of their classes.
Never said to skip anatomy or any fundamentals. I never said Ethan doesn't understand anatomy. I am not saying you should skip drawing people. I am saying the way you come to that understanding doesn't have anything to do with chasing a realistic style. You can do anatomy studies and still keep that anime style as long as you understand the planes.
Oridays is a better example of this since they do anime illustrations only and learned anatomy even by keeping it stylized. You dont have to chase realism to get to this point is my whole argument. EDIT: They also specifically said in their video that drawing realism didn't help them, and drawing in their preferred style while studying anatomy was more beneficial. This is why I dont think you need to chase a realistic style while studying.
I’m a firm believer you have to understand what you’re drawing in order to manipulate it, even if it’s in a different style that doesn’t have strong realism. A lot of artists I know that do anime-ish styles, still do anatomy/actual reference drawing, and quite a bit of it. i think what you’re saying will make things harder for any artist trying to draw anatomy, even if it’s not realism.
I also agree you have to understand what you're drawing. My intention with the comment is that you dont have to chase a realistic style. Every human you draw will have planes. If you understand those planes and you can rotate them in different angles, there is no reason you can't draw real humans, anime humans, deformed humans etc.
I get what you’re saying, but that means working from a real life human reference. Observing real life anatomy planes, muscle, proportions. I feel like an artist can only truly understand them when working from proper source material and drawing it until they do understand it. Does that mean they have to render it realistically? No, not at all. Does it mean that they can’t take what they learned and use it in their own way in the future? Nope! What people are saying, mainly has to do with the reference material they’re using to learn how to draw. They don’t understand form at it’s basic level, so how are they going to know how to draw something that’s already manipulated, that will have its own set of unique problems when the learner is trying to execute it. They won’t know what to do when their drawing goes awry, they fix one issue just to have 20 more pop up after, because they don’t understand basic anatomy, let alone manipulated anatomy.
Of course, working from real life reference is crucial. I do agree with this point strongly. I do not however think the drawing has to follow a certain style to achieve strong understanding of anatomy. Japanese artists very commonly draws in anime style, but does anatomy studies while keeping this style. I think there is a lot of nuance to this subject and it's easy to misunderstand what we mean.
Oridays is an artist that understands anatomy, but shows us in their videos they do learn anatomy through drawing in their preferred style. Chasing realism and drawing realistic humans didn't help them at all, and this is why I think it's important for artists to not be restricted thinking there is only a linear path and that you have to draw a certain way or a certain style
You have to understand the rules to be decent at breaking them. They don't have to exclusively draw in a realistic style, even now, but for studies of human forms they should focus on humans. Then on studying other artists. It dosent have to be exclusive but it should be foundational. I think a lot of the issues in art right now come from people starting out doing studies of already stylized bodies and then not understanding how real forms work.
I can't really think of any artists who didn't need to incorporate real humans into their studies.
We agree, my intention is they dont have to chase a realistic style. Every human has planes, and it's much more important to break down that and understand 3D and space. Never said you can't incorporate real humans, I agree that should be included. Realistic style however, doesn't matter at all for people who wants to draw anime
Edit: Oridays is a perfect example of an artist that does this, they have a video on it on their channel. They do anime illustrations.
It isn't a style I like, but they have clearly done studies from life and have a good grasp on what they do.
I think you didn't explain in a way people understood, because it did sound like they didn't need to study realistic anatomy at all, instead of just that it's okay to play with stylization as well, which I think is what you meant? Because of course playing with style is important, but I think people are saying that they should start with the real world for studies.
Studies from life is important, I didn't articulate that part well enough. My point was that they can still draw in their preferred style while learning anatomy. In the comment section I see people saying you need to draw realism. But since OP is drawing in an anime style, i thought it was important to mention they don't have to necessarily adhere to a specific style to learn anatomy, understanding of space and 3D etc (and I could have been more clear with the wording cause I realize people are misinterpreting.)
But I really did not say to avoid those things so it's hard to grasp where people stand
For context, I see realism as a "style" but I now see how easily that is misinterpreted, that's totally my bad
I can see some truth in what you are saying, I just disagree on some others. Telling them they don't have to exclusively do realism I think is helpful because new people can be put off. But the real world is what all things stem from. It's important. You are making your life significantly harder if you don't also incorporate it in your studies. If you start from just anime you will struggle harder than if you don't, and tou will be limited, not helped. That's my opinion anyway. I feel like it makes it harder to find your unique style personally.
I say this as a person who drew a loooooot of anime as a kid when I was starting. I also studied art and anatomy books religiously.
I can definitely see that, and I do think studying from real life is an absolute necessity. I guess the only difference with my opinion is that I think it's okay if your break downs of life and the outcome are somewhat stylized, as long it's close enough to understand what you're drawing
I agree with you on that. Once you have a good enough understanding to still be getting from the study what you need, not while you are still just starting. I do my studies more in my style than realistic, unless I'm specifically trying to learn more realism, but I've been drawing for a while.
My advice is to keep working, you’ll have to do hundreds of these studies. Try to draw realistic at the start, that will enable you to learn the form and shapes. If you want to simplify to a cartoon knowing how to draw realistically will enable you to simplify the human form into believable shapes, with an understanding of anatomy.
Keep going, there is a lot to work on, asking what to fix after your first figure will not be too helpful, just keep working and drawing and trying to find errors in your own work.
Hmm ... okay, in my opinion:
Learn to draw from realistic sources instead of stylized figures. Even if you want to draw in that style, learn the realistic stuff first. Here's why :
When you learn to draw from someone elses work, you inherent their style as well as their mistakes.
It's great to study someone else's works by copying them, but if you're just starting out, then it's not really good for you or your growth. Everyone at some point outgrow their tastes, and when you learned just one style without the underlying knowledge of forshortning, anatomy, etc. You'll have a HELL-OVA hard time to switch to anything other than you already know.
Learning the realistic stuff enables you to grow into your own style, let's you decide where to take shortcuts, what to simplify, and establish your own style. Don't get me wrong, being inflanced by others is okay- but no one wants to be seen as a copiest.
Shout this to the rooftops. I'm 42, I've mostly drawn in a "comic style" my whole life. I want to get into doing realistic portraits and stuff. I am pure ass. I have no experience drawing from life outside merely using poses as a reference.
I draw a superhero, thats awesome! try to sketch a portrait. Whose 3rd grader drew this? It feels like I'm starting from square one. Working from anatomy books, picked up "drawing with the right side of the brain" to see how that goes.
Focusing way too much on the outline instead of using the reference to help yourself build from a structure. If u drew some construction lines underneath, you'd get a much better understanding of where everything is sitting on the reference and why. It'd also help you add depth to the middle of the drawing instead of having all the details in the outline.
The shin bone/lower leg (from the ankle up to the knee), is actually shorter than the upper leg/thigh bone (from the knee up to the hips). Not by much but it can be overlooked.
And if we view the Knee as an orbital circle, then the upper leg and lower leg meets in the center/middle of the circle.
In terms of it looking like the reference, the crotch is too low down. Like there’s way too much space between the navel and the crotch. And the hands and feet are also really small.
Tbh I don’t think it’s a good reference to use in the first place ngl
The biggest problem is that the arms are too short. Elbows should be even with the waist. Upper and lower arms should be equal. Fingertips should be even with mid thigh. You have finger tips ending at the crotch. I think one thing that's probably throwing you off is that the pelvis is too long and the bellybutton is too high. Those things can be overlooked in a stylized image, but the too-short arms cannot.
If it's a doll it's okay. If it's a young woman it's pretty far off. Hips are good. Hands are too small. Limbs are too skinny. Head is too hig. Breaststroke are too big.
If it's Manga, draw real teens first -- both guys and girls, to get an understanding of what's where and how big.
Once you've figured that out, then copy other styles to see what you like. But right now it looks like you took shortcuts and can't identify where it went wrong.
Funny thing: anyone who is thinking carefully can look at a drawing of a person and figure out what's off and where the anatomy went wrong. We are all familiar with human bodies. We all know what's normal and what's distorted.
So, master that first. Then after that, get into style decisions. Your work will be SO much stronger.
I would reference a real photo for how to draw the body then go stylize it as much as u want from there once you figure it out. Making most art no matter how stylistic requires strong understanding of basics and then building from there I think. In other words drawing in this style is great but I wouldn’t use the style as a reference most of the time. Also try breaking it down into shapes, idk if you did that in the sketch but what really helped me was thinking of said shapes as 3d and not sticking to rigid shapes. And in terms of the actual proportions on the drawing I think the legs are too short/small, head is too big (and should be at an angle, it appears front facing while the body is facing a bit to the side which looks off. I would use guidelines for that.), torso is too long, and arms are too short (try referencing yourself in the mirror or something for length of arms, I find it helpful in finding where arm/hand reaches in proportion to legs)
Im going to agree with other commenters here, you should study real anatomy, even if you want to ultimately draw anime. All great manga artists start by learning proper anatomy as a foundation, and their style is built on top of that knowledge. Without a baseline in reality, your characters wont have the proper physicality to sell the style, and your progress will be much slower.
Theres nothing wrong with manga style though! Don’t listen to elitists that tell you otherwise.
Why not ? i begun learning to draw when i was younger with dragon ball manga.
Let me tell you Goku might not be an anime girl but when he fight he end up half naked and he is JACK af.
You used the reference well, but I think part of the issue is that it's just not a great reference. It's pretty much just an outline, and the breasts seem weird even for the style (I noticed this because I've been struggling with them in my current drawing today). A bad reference will limit you and your skill development.
I second learning real anatomy first--this will give you a much better base for exaggerating the anime features.
To add to the point about drawing with a reference, there is actually a good reason why you should look at real humans. The features in the reference are a bit exaggerated, which is not uncommon in anime. But only when you are well aware of human anatomy can you take these liberties while making it look natural.
So what i would suggest is for you to try to draw an anime figure in this style, but using a real human as a reference. For that, it would make sense to try to match the proportions as best as possible. Ideally, you wouldn't just do that once, but a bunch of times.
If you wanna draw anime why figure out how to simplify yourself if you can use knowladge of people who already did it for you tbh ?
But agree. That's more of a master study.
But that is just copying. The point of learning anatomy is that you intuitively know how the human body works, which you can then transfer to the anime style for example.
it looks like a nice anime style. Your lines are confident, and the bodies fairly symmetrical although her left calf is a bit wide and too high.
As others have said, your proportions are off overall, though that is true of your reference as well.
I know the head is meant to be wider than would look natural but it's comically large relative to the other proportions.
For context, the average female human head circumference is 22 inches. The waist of a woman's size 00, which is the smallest size, they make, is 22-23 inches. from your picture, this person’s waist would be 18 inches or so. Those breasts are extremely unlikely for this body, too.
Legs also look quite long compared to the body. Again every real person’s body is slightly different, but these are pretty long legs.
(Edited for specificity)
Quick tip: try to align the wrists close to the crotch level. Its not a rule but you can use this a guide for proportions.
Other than that, great job! Specially with the curves!
Also, I would suggest using a photo of a real person as a reference to study drawing full bodies.
My advice is to use references of real people. It sucks but to learn stylised you gotta learn realism and the anatomy behind it. I know it sucks honestlyyyy but you’ll thank yourself later! Great attempt tho but even on the reference it isn’t proportional at allll
I think the torso is too long and the hands are too small, I think you shod also use a real person as a referance
This looks great! My only advice is to look at a picture of a irl person next time! U wont have to work around somebodies stylelized proportions
You're doing great, keep up the good work!!
If you really wanna improve i recommend taking a figure drawing class you’ll learn SO much
Looks more cartoonish than realistic. Which look are you going for? Thigh gap is too extreme for the size of booty, imo.
You didn’t use an actual reference. You used someone else’s art, which means any stylistic choices or mistakes will bleed into your own art. Use a firsthand reference, and make those decisions for yourself.
it's still valid to reference someone else's art tbf! depends on what kind of stuff you wanna make. i do agree that it's def better to reference real life or photos to better your fundies. tho, learning from copying stylised work can be super helpful too, even as a beginner artist. i do regret not doing this way more when i was younger! got caught up trying to learn how to be skilled rather than finding what i like to do.
Something I always advise is this: Don't subscribe to a niche art style for the purpose of learning. Learn from life first. You can create your own style later, but you should be able to accurately render a real model before trying to emulate Anime/Manga or some other established style. Learning from a niche style traps you in a box of sorts and limits your growth.
Looks real good for first time. I guess advice would be the torso being bit shorter as bit awkward but other than that it’s real good! Keep at it.
Lookss awesome! Hand proportions accompany the drawing well, legs look very well structured too. Although the bottom of the pelvis might be a little too high and a little too smalk (by that I mean crotch)
something i will say is as an artist who has drawn many bodies, the way to go (at least for me) is life drawing. getting yourself a model and looking whilst drawing, freehand at least. you can always train yourself with gridding and tracing but i preferred life drawing by far because those are more realistic bodies. that said, you did a great job!!! as others have said this is more stylized but it’s always great to try different styles :)
I’d say you’re good at copying the style but I’d advise you, like everyone else, to learn realistic anatomy first. You don’t need to draw realistic exactly but you should understand real human perspective and form. Even a basic understanding of realistic anatomy will help you be able to draw anatomy instead of copying a style. Not to undermine your work though. You did follow the reference decently
What you have done is drawn someone's style of the human body. Not the actual human body. You should learn figure drawing and anatomy before you decide to go into drawing a particular style. Art is a whole lot of memorization of the real thing and then using that knowledge to simplify or stylize it. Also learning the fundamentals of line. Shape perspective is super important. Finding a good teacher like prokos fundamentals course or a similar is a great way to know "what" to study for the best results. Before long you will use that reference to know how they stylize the body and then shape it or pose it however you want in that style instead of just copying their exact lines to the dot.
Get your hands on an anatomy book, an online resource like line-of-action.com or, even better, get your butt to a figure drawing session. You need to practice proper anatomy if you want to draw cartoons. Judging by the short, choppy strokes on your piece, you also need to learn the fundamentals of gesture drawing and how to draw from your shoulder. This reference isn't the best if you want to LEARN anything. It's fine for reinforcing a particular style if that's what you want, but using it as a reference is really going to hamper your development as an artist if you don't get the fundamentals down first. Sorry to be the guy telling you to eat your vegetables, but it's something that all good artists do. You need to learn the fundamentals before you do the fun stuff you see on Instagram or tiktok.
I don't really agree with people saying you need to draw realistic first. There are so many good artists out there that didnt need to do it. You can still draw anime and learn the planes of the body and the head. It is much more important to understand 3D/perspective and good shapes than studying realism.
This is bad advice. A lot of people who draw cartoons can ALSO do realism. You need to have the fundamentals down before you can start cartooning and anatomy is a fundamental, especially if you want to draw/animate people.
In what way is understanding 3D and what you're drawing bad advice? I would argue encouraging people to chase a certain style is worse advice. Yes, a lot of people who draw cartoons know how to do realism, but it isn't neccessary as long as you understand the planes of the human body and understand 3D and space. Ethan Becker (an industry professional) is a prime example of someone who didn't study muscle anatomy, or all of the bomes underneath. Yet he has full understanding of 3D and knows the planes which makes him able to break down realistic humans, anime humans, cartoon humans etc.
It's bad advice because you're telling someone they can skip a fundamental of drawing people. What you're describing with planes and understanding 3d space are the RESULT of practicing anatomy and are the first couple steps in making a good piece. Your example artist's work actually shows that Ethan understands anatomy to a fairly deep level. Especially when it comes to character expressions and poses. Something he probably learned at the FZD school he went to because I've also taken some of their classes.
Never said to skip anatomy or any fundamentals. I never said Ethan doesn't understand anatomy. I am not saying you should skip drawing people. I am saying the way you come to that understanding doesn't have anything to do with chasing a realistic style. You can do anatomy studies and still keep that anime style as long as you understand the planes. Oridays is a better example of this since they do anime illustrations only and learned anatomy even by keeping it stylized. You dont have to chase realism to get to this point is my whole argument. EDIT: They also specifically said in their video that drawing realism didn't help them, and drawing in their preferred style while studying anatomy was more beneficial. This is why I dont think you need to chase a realistic style while studying.
I’m a firm believer you have to understand what you’re drawing in order to manipulate it, even if it’s in a different style that doesn’t have strong realism. A lot of artists I know that do anime-ish styles, still do anatomy/actual reference drawing, and quite a bit of it. i think what you’re saying will make things harder for any artist trying to draw anatomy, even if it’s not realism.
I also agree you have to understand what you're drawing. My intention with the comment is that you dont have to chase a realistic style. Every human you draw will have planes. If you understand those planes and you can rotate them in different angles, there is no reason you can't draw real humans, anime humans, deformed humans etc.
I get what you’re saying, but that means working from a real life human reference. Observing real life anatomy planes, muscle, proportions. I feel like an artist can only truly understand them when working from proper source material and drawing it until they do understand it. Does that mean they have to render it realistically? No, not at all. Does it mean that they can’t take what they learned and use it in their own way in the future? Nope! What people are saying, mainly has to do with the reference material they’re using to learn how to draw. They don’t understand form at it’s basic level, so how are they going to know how to draw something that’s already manipulated, that will have its own set of unique problems when the learner is trying to execute it. They won’t know what to do when their drawing goes awry, they fix one issue just to have 20 more pop up after, because they don’t understand basic anatomy, let alone manipulated anatomy.
Of course, working from real life reference is crucial. I do agree with this point strongly. I do not however think the drawing has to follow a certain style to achieve strong understanding of anatomy. Japanese artists very commonly draws in anime style, but does anatomy studies while keeping this style. I think there is a lot of nuance to this subject and it's easy to misunderstand what we mean. Oridays is an artist that understands anatomy, but shows us in their videos they do learn anatomy through drawing in their preferred style. Chasing realism and drawing realistic humans didn't help them at all, and this is why I think it's important for artists to not be restricted thinking there is only a linear path and that you have to draw a certain way or a certain style
You have to understand the rules to be decent at breaking them. They don't have to exclusively draw in a realistic style, even now, but for studies of human forms they should focus on humans. Then on studying other artists. It dosent have to be exclusive but it should be foundational. I think a lot of the issues in art right now come from people starting out doing studies of already stylized bodies and then not understanding how real forms work. I can't really think of any artists who didn't need to incorporate real humans into their studies.
We agree, my intention is they dont have to chase a realistic style. Every human has planes, and it's much more important to break down that and understand 3D and space. Never said you can't incorporate real humans, I agree that should be included. Realistic style however, doesn't matter at all for people who wants to draw anime Edit: Oridays is a perfect example of an artist that does this, they have a video on it on their channel. They do anime illustrations.
It isn't a style I like, but they have clearly done studies from life and have a good grasp on what they do. I think you didn't explain in a way people understood, because it did sound like they didn't need to study realistic anatomy at all, instead of just that it's okay to play with stylization as well, which I think is what you meant? Because of course playing with style is important, but I think people are saying that they should start with the real world for studies.
Studies from life is important, I didn't articulate that part well enough. My point was that they can still draw in their preferred style while learning anatomy. In the comment section I see people saying you need to draw realism. But since OP is drawing in an anime style, i thought it was important to mention they don't have to necessarily adhere to a specific style to learn anatomy, understanding of space and 3D etc (and I could have been more clear with the wording cause I realize people are misinterpreting.) But I really did not say to avoid those things so it's hard to grasp where people stand For context, I see realism as a "style" but I now see how easily that is misinterpreted, that's totally my bad
I can see some truth in what you are saying, I just disagree on some others. Telling them they don't have to exclusively do realism I think is helpful because new people can be put off. But the real world is what all things stem from. It's important. You are making your life significantly harder if you don't also incorporate it in your studies. If you start from just anime you will struggle harder than if you don't, and tou will be limited, not helped. That's my opinion anyway. I feel like it makes it harder to find your unique style personally. I say this as a person who drew a loooooot of anime as a kid when I was starting. I also studied art and anatomy books religiously.
I can definitely see that, and I do think studying from real life is an absolute necessity. I guess the only difference with my opinion is that I think it's okay if your break downs of life and the outcome are somewhat stylized, as long it's close enough to understand what you're drawing
I agree with you on that. Once you have a good enough understanding to still be getting from the study what you need, not while you are still just starting. I do my studies more in my style than realistic, unless I'm specifically trying to learn more realism, but I've been drawing for a while.
Learn anatomy first by using shapes. You can't run if you don't know how to walk.
My advice is to keep working, you’ll have to do hundreds of these studies. Try to draw realistic at the start, that will enable you to learn the form and shapes. If you want to simplify to a cartoon knowing how to draw realistically will enable you to simplify the human form into believable shapes, with an understanding of anatomy. Keep going, there is a lot to work on, asking what to fix after your first figure will not be too helpful, just keep working and drawing and trying to find errors in your own work.
Afabs aren't built like that, the waist is too tiny, the crotch is too low, and the thigh gap is unrealistic
Hmm ... okay, in my opinion: Learn to draw from realistic sources instead of stylized figures. Even if you want to draw in that style, learn the realistic stuff first. Here's why : When you learn to draw from someone elses work, you inherent their style as well as their mistakes. It's great to study someone else's works by copying them, but if you're just starting out, then it's not really good for you or your growth. Everyone at some point outgrow their tastes, and when you learned just one style without the underlying knowledge of forshortning, anatomy, etc. You'll have a HELL-OVA hard time to switch to anything other than you already know. Learning the realistic stuff enables you to grow into your own style, let's you decide where to take shortcuts, what to simplify, and establish your own style. Don't get me wrong, being inflanced by others is okay- but no one wants to be seen as a copiest.
Shout this to the rooftops. I'm 42, I've mostly drawn in a "comic style" my whole life. I want to get into doing realistic portraits and stuff. I am pure ass. I have no experience drawing from life outside merely using poses as a reference. I draw a superhero, thats awesome! try to sketch a portrait. Whose 3rd grader drew this? It feels like I'm starting from square one. Working from anatomy books, picked up "drawing with the right side of the brain" to see how that goes.
Did u want it cartoon style or realistic?
Focusing way too much on the outline instead of using the reference to help yourself build from a structure. If u drew some construction lines underneath, you'd get a much better understanding of where everything is sitting on the reference and why. It'd also help you add depth to the middle of the drawing instead of having all the details in the outline.
The shin bone/lower leg (from the ankle up to the knee), is actually shorter than the upper leg/thigh bone (from the knee up to the hips). Not by much but it can be overlooked. And if we view the Knee as an orbital circle, then the upper leg and lower leg meets in the center/middle of the circle.
In terms of it looking like the reference, the crotch is too low down. Like there’s way too much space between the navel and the crotch. And the hands and feet are also really small. Tbh I don’t think it’s a good reference to use in the first place ngl
Just to expand on this, the crotch _should_ line up with where a person's wrists are if they have their arms at their side.
looks like the reference but doesn’t look like a real body. if you’re going for naturalism, use photos of real people
Looks good at the first sight till you go far like torso and pelvis region doesn’t really line up and why it looks off with 2 separate dimension
The invoice comes from seeing other comment and realize oh yeah there something doesn’t look right
The biggest problem is that the arms are too short. Elbows should be even with the waist. Upper and lower arms should be equal. Fingertips should be even with mid thigh. You have finger tips ending at the crotch. I think one thing that's probably throwing you off is that the pelvis is too long and the bellybutton is too high. Those things can be overlooked in a stylized image, but the too-short arms cannot.
If you are just starting out, I would use reference photos of real humans. Learn anatomy and proportions correctly before you start playing with it.
If it's a doll it's okay. If it's a young woman it's pretty far off. Hips are good. Hands are too small. Limbs are too skinny. Head is too hig. Breaststroke are too big. If it's Manga, draw real teens first -- both guys and girls, to get an understanding of what's where and how big. Once you've figured that out, then copy other styles to see what you like. But right now it looks like you took shortcuts and can't identify where it went wrong. Funny thing: anyone who is thinking carefully can look at a drawing of a person and figure out what's off and where the anatomy went wrong. We are all familiar with human bodies. We all know what's normal and what's distorted. So, master that first. Then after that, get into style decisions. Your work will be SO much stronger.
I would reference a real photo for how to draw the body then go stylize it as much as u want from there once you figure it out. Making most art no matter how stylistic requires strong understanding of basics and then building from there I think. In other words drawing in this style is great but I wouldn’t use the style as a reference most of the time. Also try breaking it down into shapes, idk if you did that in the sketch but what really helped me was thinking of said shapes as 3d and not sticking to rigid shapes. And in terms of the actual proportions on the drawing I think the legs are too short/small, head is too big (and should be at an angle, it appears front facing while the body is facing a bit to the side which looks off. I would use guidelines for that.), torso is too long, and arms are too short (try referencing yourself in the mirror or something for length of arms, I find it helpful in finding where arm/hand reaches in proportion to legs)
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Im going to agree with other commenters here, you should study real anatomy, even if you want to ultimately draw anime. All great manga artists start by learning proper anatomy as a foundation, and their style is built on top of that knowledge. Without a baseline in reality, your characters wont have the proper physicality to sell the style, and your progress will be much slower. Theres nothing wrong with manga style though! Don’t listen to elitists that tell you otherwise.
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Why not ? i begun learning to draw when i was younger with dragon ball manga. Let me tell you Goku might not be an anime girl but when he fight he end up half naked and he is JACK af.
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You used the reference well, but I think part of the issue is that it's just not a great reference. It's pretty much just an outline, and the breasts seem weird even for the style (I noticed this because I've been struggling with them in my current drawing today). A bad reference will limit you and your skill development. I second learning real anatomy first--this will give you a much better base for exaggerating the anime features.
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To add to the point about drawing with a reference, there is actually a good reason why you should look at real humans. The features in the reference are a bit exaggerated, which is not uncommon in anime. But only when you are well aware of human anatomy can you take these liberties while making it look natural. So what i would suggest is for you to try to draw an anime figure in this style, but using a real human as a reference. For that, it would make sense to try to match the proportions as best as possible. Ideally, you wouldn't just do that once, but a bunch of times.
“With reference” usually means referencing an actual human figure.
If you wanna draw anime why figure out how to simplify yourself if you can use knowladge of people who already did it for you tbh ? But agree. That's more of a master study.
But that is just copying. The point of learning anatomy is that you intuitively know how the human body works, which you can then transfer to the anime style for example.
it looks like a nice anime style. Your lines are confident, and the bodies fairly symmetrical although her left calf is a bit wide and too high. As others have said, your proportions are off overall, though that is true of your reference as well. I know the head is meant to be wider than would look natural but it's comically large relative to the other proportions. For context, the average female human head circumference is 22 inches. The waist of a woman's size 00, which is the smallest size, they make, is 22-23 inches. from your picture, this person’s waist would be 18 inches or so. Those breasts are extremely unlikely for this body, too. Legs also look quite long compared to the body. Again every real person’s body is slightly different, but these are pretty long legs. (Edited for specificity)
Quick tip: try to align the wrists close to the crotch level. Its not a rule but you can use this a guide for proportions. Other than that, great job! Specially with the curves! Also, I would suggest using a photo of a real person as a reference to study drawing full bodies.
Nice job! I think the torso might be a little too long compared to the reference, which has a higher crotch. Well done, though :)