First off, I’d like to thank members Lady_K and nisaren for letting me use their artwork for this article. This article was inspired from the critique of Lady_K’s artwork so please stop by her thread in the forum if you get the chance.
Now on to the tutorial!
There are some quick and easy things you can do if you want to check your drawing. Take Lady_K’s artwork here:
What do you think? Is it fine as is or does it need improvement? Where do you think it needs improvement? How do you think it can be improved?
First off, you can do a quick check to the alignment of the clothes and anatomy using perspective. Take the following image by nisaren:
The red lines show anatomy-related perspective alignment while the blue line shows clothing-related perspective. The top image shows what the alignment was in the original image and the bottom example shows what can be fixed. As you can see, a few subtle things can be corrected right away using this technique.
If you’re having trouble with anatomy or placement of hands, feet and so on, I personally like to go back to the basics!
Here, I’ve gone back to the basics and drew out a simple stick figure on the right. The placement of her hands, in the original drawing bothered me a bit and at times like this, it’s always good to go back to the basics. Either that or you can also go try to find a reference photo to look at. Even posing yourself can work too!
Last but not least, if you still can’t find anything wrong with your drawing but feel there is still something not right, get someone else’s opinion! Drop by the Critique Corner in the forum and get critiques. You may or may not agree with the critique (member doghateburger drew a really nice example with more hip thrust, for instance) but you can at least consider the critique and mull it over.
So next time you’re having trouble with your own drawing, try these tips out and see if it helps you out!
