Well, I'm out of practice, I haven't done a sketch since well..This. Not easy trying to ween off the simple stuff you know. Remember, before TSR I've gotten used to drawing stuff with chibi-ish proportions.

Gonna have to brush up those skills again.

Gaia I hope you know it's not really enough to just practice...

if your skills are stagnant or not improving rapidly enough then that's a pretty good indication that you need to study or like copy diagrams or something. It's not much fun but it helps.

I've been busy with life as of late to study, so I'll take option 2 and hunt down good enough anatomical diagrams, unless someone points me to the right direction where one of you guys went to to practice anatomty.

Trying to avoid shit like this nowadays. If I was a newb here STILL drawing like that I would've been greeted by the floor.. I think. Same with sprites, as I could've posted MUCH WORSE than I usually do.

The thing is, chibbis' are actually complex but appear simple. That's the magic to them. They're meant purely to convey emotion in the most extreme measure, they're not meant to but the typical drawing style. The only reason most manga/anime beginning artists gravitate towards them is because they convey an that "japanese" art style they're all after but appear as if they don't take too much effort or skill. Which is really not the case, I can say this with a little bit of authority because I was there myself back in middle school.

I highly suggest, Gaia, that you use some online anatomy tutorials and copy the diagrams, or even copy old master works(nude models, no clothing, clothing is too complex to start with) I suggest; Durer, Da Vinci and Rubens (personal favorites of mine, but really go for any of the greats that you admire!). Also get some anatomy books to to teach you the basics of constructive anatomy I'll bring up what I always do and sound like a broken record but it's truly an invaluable resource (that I need to dust off and use again/find where I put) "Bridgman's Life drawing", it's really all you need. If you want to learn muscle groupings and their functions (which is also incredibly useful!) Grab a copy of "Richter's Artistic Anatomy"(I know this is redundant since I always say it, or well used to but these books are all anyone really needs.)

Figures' are actually pretty simple once you learn the general measurement rules and how to use schematic underlying groundwork. Yeah it's a lot of work and dedication but if you want to improve and actually learn how to draw well it's what you have to do.

I tend to gravitate towards andrew loomis's figure drawing for all it's worth because it's a pretty easy read...
I've been meaning to look into more bridgman stuff, but I'm a no good slacker

but anyway if you want to check any of these out, I'm pretty sure you can find some of them online rather than having to buy them. Having the books can be handy, but if you feel like you wanna draw ~right now~ or take a peek first then you can probably find them on scribd...

Yes, books are a good thing to have, but a pain to carry around with.

And since I'm litterally a click away with the magic of google, thousands of scans showed up for me so I'm gonna start sometime tomorrow with fullbody (10:18 PM here) since they aren't going anywhere, but since I have a small notepad I can work on them in bits as I saved a good chunk on my hard drive.

Yeah, a memo notebook (5x3 inch, 80 sheets). Maybe next time I'll shoot for bigger paper.

This will be the last time I bug yall with a WIP of this thing

FREAKIN ALMOST DONE AH YEAH

Star, that is looking fucking amazing. Keep up the great work, I can't wait to see it finished.

Sketch run using said refrences:


There are still some issues but at least it's kinda there.

This is progress.


SHARPEN

YOUR

DAMN

PENCIL

LINE QUALITY IS VERY IMPORTANT!!!

I use a mechanical pencil (plus side: refillable, downside: thickness), and this must be the scanner brightening the image.

then get a sharper one (or a pencil).

also more, more attention on bodies. Most of the times, the arms of your drawings are too short, try making the sketch lines weaker and the definitive lines stronger (they're all strong in your pics).

I love .3 mechanical pencils. Really thin lines. Try one of those, or maybe a .5 at least if you are using anything thicker.

I use normal pencils to drawn. I just shapen them according to what I'm going to use them for so I ussually end up using a multitude of different ones at the same time.

I often use a 7mm mechanical pencil, as they (I find) are the most common. I could try to find a 3mm at an Office Depot or something.