Great gestures!

Cool!

Hi @lwel, very nicely done! I'm no expert, but it looks to me like you've got a handle on mannequinization. I also like that you're dropping the line down from the torso to check for balance--great idea! May I suggest for the lower section of the arm (is that called the forearm? I should know this but I'm not sure...), you could break it up into a cylinder for the part closer to the elbow and a box wedged into it for the wrist portion. That's just one idea, because I remember Marshall Vandruff suggesting in the critique video for the mannequinization lesson that it might be good to think of all the forms as boxes, like you've drawn in a lot of the forearms. One last thing: the hands in these look so good!!

I don't think they look stiff or fake at all! Very dynamic. Love the addition of the bananapeel. its hard to give feedback because its pretty good... Maybe with the very first one, she should lean slightly more forward for better balance. Also her hip should be more turned the other way and a bit forward, this way her right (our left) leg automatically is more in place (it looks a bit detached from the hip and to far from the side). Other than that very nice!

Hi @egusisoup, nice drawings! - I think you could improve the balance if you looked more carefully at the relationship between the head and the feet. You could for example start the drawing with a head, then find the pit of the neck, then drop a vertical line that represents the length of the figure. Then you place the feet with this vertical line as a guide. Then after that, you could get the angle and placement of the hips and shoulders. - If you use a vertical line as a balance guide (like you've done in your fourth drawing from the left, in the first image), then make sure it's truly vertical. You could compare it to the edges of the paper. I hope this helps :)

Hi @Jack Mills, nice drawings! - What are your art goals? Knowing this might help me guide you better. What type of work do you want to create? Feel free to mention any art by artists that you admire, that is the type of work that you want to create yourself. Cheers!

Hello, a reoccurring problem I see is that you shorten the distance between the ribs and the pelvis. See the attached picture. Other than that, I think you've nailed the legs and arms. - Dwight

Hi @egusisoup, nice drawings! - Having a clear idea of what is vertical in the space that the figure exists in, is really imporant for balance. Vertical represents the direction that gravity is pulling. Level ground will be perpendicular to it. In the top row of image one, all the figures look like they are falling over to the right, because this relationship wasn't established. This becomes extra clear in the box that the first figure is standing on; the vertical edges aren't perpendicular to the bottom plane, making it look as if they were leaning to the right. It's common to define vertical as a line parallel with the vertical edges of the paper and horizontal as a line parallel with the horizontal edges of the paper. Indicating this in your drawing could help; a vertical line for the direction of the pull of gravity, and a horizontal line for the direction of level ground. (You could for example start by drawing the head, find the pit of the neck, then drop a line to the ground plane from there. This also gives you a guide for the length of the figure) In a tilted composition, what's horizontal and vertical in the character's world might not line up with the edges of the paper. But the relationship between the verticals and level ground of that world remains the same: 90 degrees. Really it's about gravity. The "vertical" line represents the direction of the pull of gravity. If you drew a large character walking around a planet, the direction of that "vertical" line would change as the character walks around. But it would always point to the center of the spherical form of the planet, and the surface of the planet would always be perpendicular to it. I would suggest doing some more drawings were you clearly establish your horizontals and verticals, probably by referring to the edges of the paper, but you could also play with other directions of the gravity line, keeping in mind that level ground must be perpendicular to it. Also use your intuition and ask questions like; "Does the figure in my drawing look balanced?" "If I left it standing there, would it fall?". Imagine that you are a small child building a tower; make adjustments so that your tower won't fall over. I hope this helps :) Let me know if you have any questions!

Great workout and well done!