Now working on something "American"

[Gors]

exact

references work in every case, even if the style is totally incorrect, proportion-wise. Wacky proportioned stuff can benefit from real life references in things such as basic anatomy, balance and shapes.

I suggest scrapping this, and start over. Don't start with the outline directly, but start making a sitck figure with solid shapes first. They help placing the volumous parts in the right spot and you don't need to erase large areas of your work to fix it.

[DioShiba]

@ gors: Idk, I am very iffy on restarting the whole thing from scratch. Yeah I know what your saying about references and stuff, I have been adhering to that for the past few posts. However, if it can be easily fixed then why bother? Not to come off the wrong way, but I kind of have to be a little defensive on that part.

Plus I should add that an outline =/= the final product, Everything isn't going to be what they are when I get to the shading at least. I think I should have some chance with my work.

@Zapchu25: I'm trying to aim for somewhere between a realistic and a cartoony style, I don't want it to be realistic to the point it wouldn't have much style but I don't want it to look like a complete cartoon ether.

@Delicious: You know, I was actually worried about how the legs turned out far as being chubby goes, I'll work on that and some of the detail.

[DioShiba]

I can't let this die yet:

Not going to give up on this version yet since I feel like there could be more done with it before I feel I can't fix it. At this point, I'm going forward with it.

and I know his left leg lacks volume compared to his right, so I'll fix that. And possibly tweak his left arm.

[Chris2Balls [:B]]

dude look at these
look at the pose and where the arms are
look how thick the torso is, and where the crotch is in relation to the length of the arms. you're forgetting that back muscles can get pretty big!
look at the legs

the leg on the left of your sprite is really, really fucked up. and he has a huge crotch.
i think you could say a lot by changing his face, too.
look at the key features of arnoldand sylvester: heavy brow, defined jaw and cheekbones.

let this current version die and start over.

[DioShiba]

I still don't see how restarting it will make it better at this point but:

you might be on to something, so I did a rough sketch of the lineart. No hands yet.

I feel like I am making the same mistakes.

[Marth]

He gets to thin in the waiste, headmeasurement is off, legs are to thick(or maybe it's just because the waiste is too thin?), arms are just... I 'm not even sure.
Here are some major land marks you can use to help you;
- The pectorals are always one head's height down.
- You can make two triangles from the nipples, the nipples one to the endogastric depression, and the other leads to the belly button.
- The crotch is always the halway mark on the body, you can find it by running your diagnols from behind the nipples.

Really you're drawing each part of the party seperately and none of them match, and that's your biggest issue, the drawing must be done so that it is one harmonious piece. Not a mix and match bargain bin from your local thrift shop.

[Chris2Balls [:B]]

I still don't see how restarting it will make it better at this point but:
I feel like I am making the same mistakes.

you've said it yourself. if you make the same mistakes without acknowledging or understanding them, restarting won't make it better.
fortunately the pope of dope has made some good points:
notice how the torso is larger than the head. look carefully. both stallone and schwarzenegger are over three heads wide, shoulder to shoulder.
tip: the hand starts just after the crotch ends, about midway down the thigh.
another tip: the distance from the hip to the knee is about the same length as the torso.

[DioShiba]

I'm hoping this will solve some of the problems. If it doesn't I don't even know what to say. All I know that I did attempt to fix was the waist and head.

[Chris2Balls [:B]]

it's better but:

this is more like it.
make it transparent and place it over your version, you'll see what's happened.

[StarSock64]

Loooomis

There's nothing wrong with exaggerating your proportions but it's kind of hard to do properly when you don't know what the right proportions are...! If you look up Loomis you can get more in-depth information

I feel like I'll be stuffing these images all over the place in the future.

[DioShiba]

just some minor fixes.

[tykel]

His pecs are a bit low, his left arm is too long/deformed, his body looks like a pipe, his legs are a bit shapeless.
Try drawing him on paper before, and get it to look lifelike. In is current state it looks slightly melted or wrong.

I have seen much worse though

[StarSock64]

I think the problem is you're biting off more than you can chew. I'd say forget about the muscle definition and details right now and work on defining your joints and making sure your proportions are right through a simplistic diagram, then slowly give that diagram volume and -then- add the muscles. You kind of tried that earlier but it's still too early to jump into the muscles. Make sure your center lines are aligned properly. His pecs and shoulder kind of morph into each other in a way that doesn't make any sense

There's more than one way to do figure drawing.




But notice how the simple shapes have to line up and show volume and such. It's a super important step, so you can't just skimp out on it.

[DioShiba]

Updating this with clothing and a gun, there was also an adjustment to his Pecs.

I also decided to layer the line art in case something needs to be pointed out to me.


AOne more thing, I'll be sure to remember starshock's advice for future reference.

[Marth]

Those arms are impossibly thick, and it's still too thin. There's no way it should be like that, you must've crushed his rib cage and to get the torso to function that way.