Need some critique for this pose!!
4yr
Jedidiah Buagbe
The pose for this character in my illustration feels really off but I don't know how to fix it even after months of finishing it.
All kinds of help are greatly appreciated!
Hi Jedidiah. I actually don't really see an issue with the pose that isn't minor, to me the issue is that the mid-ground matches the foregound too closely in saturation and contrast and therefore isn't receding as it should, making the figure appear to be leaning forward too much. I've done a quick (terrible...) hash up of what I mean, though desaturating the background would probably work better.
Taking reference photos would go a long way if you haven't already done that. Doing it from imagination is gonna be really hard. Also, just a time saving tip- work out all the drawing stuff before you invest a bunch of time into painting it. Because instead of just focusing on the forms, now you simultaneously have to consider shape, values, edges, and color. It makes it way harder to get any one of them correct. Break it up into steps and you won't waste as much time (speaking from experience)
This is a great pose, I think one of the issues is with the legs. You can tell that one is on a higher piece of land, but there isn't any bend on the leg from what I can see, so it looks like it's shorter. I'm not an expert, but hopefully, this helps!
If I may throw my hat in the ring! To me, the main problems were the arm and the torso twist. The twist on the shoulder seems like it's in a weird middle position. Like it just started the twist. I think the pose would flow a lot more if you'd twisted the shoulders & hips a bit more (maybe not as much as in my draw over) I also felt that the part of the arm holding the Pokeball was a bit too close to the body. When I act out this pose that part of the arm moves away from the body instead of closer. Hope that all made sense I'm not the best at explaining ^^'
Jedidiah that sounds really frustrating to work on a drawing for months and still feel like it is off. I think this is a center of mass issue. The bulk of the body is over the right leg. The left hip looks like it is holding up the most weight. You could try changing the hip around. I hope this helps.
Hi jedidiah, this is a really nice work!
The scarf and the tree made the illustration pretty dynamic.
I think that the right leg might be rotated outwards a little bit, also you can show better the overlap of the right gluteus.
I Hope this can be helpful.
Hi Jedidiah,
I think the pose feels off because of the left hip. The rest of the body isn't responding to that tilt. The legs knee should be either clearly bent or clearly stepping forward. Right now it rests somewhere in between. Also the curves are not consistent with perspective through out such as on the body verses the shirt sleeve. The rendering is great and I love what your doing here. Just a few minor adjustments.
First I want to say I am a big fan of the colors and the composition!
I think it might be because her left shoulder and her left side of the hip are both raised. I don't remember the term for it, but a pose looks generally more dynamic when the lines of the shoulder and the hips are not parallel to each other, if that makes any sense.
Maybe raising the right shoulder and lowering the left one could make it more dynamic.
I hope this helps :)
Hey Zenith 😁 to me it looks like her right shoulder is sticking out too much, and her butt is poking out too far. I will do a little sketch to show what I mean.
Ok I’ve put three pics here - the first one shows what jumped out at me as slightly off. The second one shows my quick attempt to fix these things, and the third shows how to me the light looked a bit off, like your character is lit from both the front and the side rear.
as I was doing the paint over I actually moved her shoulder up and in a bit because it’s like she’s throwing her hand back, and I think the shape of the hand may be a little too twisted inward ? Also her hair is now moving in the direction of the wind.
im no anatomy expert this is just what jumped out at me but hope it helps :) it’s a beautiful painting, from Pokémon right ??
@Jedidiah Buagbe honestly it looks pretty natural and relaxed. Has that “ready to conquer what’s ahead, whatever it may be” feeling.
might just be the angle the feet are. I don’t think we naturally point our toes facing the same direction when we stand, at least I know I don’t lol. The other thing it might be is it looks like the character is standing on a small roll or bump on the land, and there’s not enough bend in the leg or tilt in the shoulders/ hips to compensate. Honestly not sure. Hopefully despite all my uncertainty this helps lol. Looks like a great illustration!
