[Wiked Ewok]

Whenever I start to sketch a figure, I'm imagining a cartoon in my head, and as a result, I draw a cartoonish figure on paper. Cartoonish as in Comic style, and I also do a lot of stiff edges, that's the style I grew up to do. Not that I'm not pleased with my artwork, but its for comics, I want to draw more realistic figueres, and the only way I've known how to is to draw from Real life. Even photos are hard to draw from, since you can't definately tell the exact 3d construct or shape of the image. I'm frustrated by this...Will only time wear off the cartoonish style I"ve developed? Btw, its also the Image I get when I imagine the figures I want to draw...they're all cartoonish inside my brain! Well I guess TV does rot your brain grrr... I need some help, please give me some advice.

here's an example:


the head is way cartoony..so are the rest of the figures IMHO

[Wiked Ewok]

hrmm sorry IMG didn't show up..here it is:

[Wiked Ewok]

Oh geez...I can't see it grrrr


if you don't see it..just imagine a plastic like head...hey its easy for me!:P

[Anthony]

I'm no Spooge/Fred/Francis/Micke/Feng/et cetera, but you have a long way to go. Draw from life. Learn anatomy first. Right now your anatomy is quite off. Learn the muscle groups, bone structure, study movements of people in a mall or park, or playing sports. FEEL your body moving the way their body is. Eventually you will be able to feel the shape of anything, which is important. I can feel how my right PC speaker feels. Of course, this is a very oblique way of doing stuff, and doesn't always work if you're just doing things quickly, but it does help you understand space and shape. But first you should draw figures from life, study anatomy, and soon your brain will start working to use the info it's gained from the life drawings in your made up work. If you're doing an important piece, you'll probably want to have someone pose for you anyway(I pose for myself often-just lucky my muscles are well defined). But above alll draw from life, and really think about the shapes you're drawing, don't just copy an outline. Get the feel of the shape, the movement, the ENERGY flow in the figure. Hope it helps, I'm sure one of our uber-artists will be along shortly to give you better advice.

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-Anthony
Carpe Carpem