2/13/2023 0 Comments Drawing cloaks and capesIt helps a lot to think of exaggeration in size as just a tool you’re using to tell the viewer how close something is to the “camera.” (if you’ve ever struggled to draw a leg in forshortening because the ankle is thinner than the thigh and trying to honor “closer thing = bigger” while still keeping that in proportion – this is where using basic shapes in perspective helps!) i freehanded this one, but i can try to kind of retroactively break down what i try to keep in mind when drawing stuff like this a lot of it boils down to just trying to be consistent about how different body parts relate to each other + how that’s all framed from the viewer’s pov (stylized below as a camera angle): simplifying all these different parts of the body (which are frequently putting themselves into DIFFERENT perspective by moving independently from each other) as boxes or other simple shapes stacked on top of each other lets you organize things visually and figure stuff out one piece at a time, instead of the mental nightmare of “oh my god i have to draw all this wiggly organic stuff all at different points in space” this is also really helpful with more complex poses – in this case, the figure in the top right is standing pretty square, with all the different segments of her body facing forward, but hopefully you can imagine how breaking the body into boxes like this can help immensely in cases where, for example, the shoulders are twisting one way and the hips are twisting another, etc. You can do this in conjuction with using perspective rulers/setting up vanishing points/etc, but with enough practice you can just eyeball it and you’ll already find yourself way ahead in terms of simplifying stuff and giving yourself guidelines. What helped me a lot was to remember that you can put basically ANYTHING into perspective if you shove it into a box! then you can use those boxes – which are MUCH easier to accurately draw in perspective – as a guideline, and basically make sure everybody’s respective body parts “fit” into those cubes. when you think of them as just a bunch of complex bodies, that is really overwhelming. the camera is above the group, looking down at the central figure – that central figure laying on the floor is not foreshortened, because it’s laying flat and kind of directly facing the “camera,” but all the figures standing up around it have to be foreshortened bc their heads are much closer to the viewer than their feet. So here’s an example of a wip layout where i had to figure out a bunch of bodies in perspective. The thing w ref tho, and i think this comes out with exaggerated posing/foreshortening even more often than usual, is sometimes u can really faithfully follow ref and stuff STILL looks bad/wonky/just OFF – because sometimes in real life things just look dumb! that’s how it is! that’s when it becomes our job to just fudge it, and a reliable way to do that is by returning to basic construction. (i always feel kind of goofy when i’m taking my own ref but like, nobody ever has to see it. if you can’t find reference that suits what you’re drawing, try to take it yourself – this can be tricky w foreshortened poses but if u have a housemate etc who can help you it’s worth it. The first one is one i’m sure you already know about and that everyone is sick of hearing but i’m reiterating it anyway bc it’s just that important: REFERENCE!!! ref ref ref!!!! even though the intent is often to exaggerate or stylize well past what ref can offer, it’s still a great way to train yourself and to start to build up a kind of visual library in your head of how certain body parts tend to behave in perspective, what overlaps look like and how to stylize them, etc. Sure! it’s a complex thing that i’m sure other ppl have covered more thoroughly/coherently than i have, but i can try to throw together some quick notes on the stuff i tend to keep in mind.
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