i like him

Hello hello, I'm a big fan of your art. Um, I was wondering, if it's okay to ask, where do you look to for poses to use in your art? I struggle sometimes to come up with or find poses I like, and was wondering if there's any resources you use for that kind of thing? (Hopefully that all makes sense)

i feel like i differ from a lot of artists i know irl bc they all use pinterest to look for pose reference, i personally kinda just fiddle around until a pose looks nice and only seek out reference if im having trouble nailing down the pose im trying to draw

since getting back into art school, i do like 6 hours of life drawing every week and its done a lot to help me formulate poses in my head! cannot overstate how vital life drawing is if you wanna get better at depicting the human figure in various poses, you start to become so intimately familiar with how our bodies and bend and squash and fold in different positions

i feel like the only little tip i have here is, if you're drawing a pose and something about it feels off, consider "contrapposto", which is a term used to describe the balance of weight in a figure. usually one leg will be bearing a bit more weight than the other, and the hips and torso will never be completely parallel to each other. this image kinda showcases what im talking about.

one side of the body will stretch while other squashes, and having a stretch and squash between the torso and hips usually makes for a more interesting pose, and creating an interesting rhythm between the head angle and the torso and hips can help make a pose more appealing. this is not a hard rule of course, just things that automatically run through my mind out of habit now.

here are some midna sketches i made the other day while procrastinating on assignments lol. i drew these poses without referece, they arent like super elaborate or anything but i feel like theyre pretty charming at least

THIS ISNT A VERY GOOD EXPLANATION OF THIS CONCEPT IM SORRY but basically: draw from life, study the human figure an excessive amount and you will start to grasp things pretty well !!

I like your Ghost pictures~ Do you have any pointers for beginners? ;w;

first, thank you!

second, this is gonna be kind of a boring and very long winded answer so buckle up LOL

get a feel for things first before worrying about getting high end supplies. i mean it. if you do digital, you absolutely do not need a $3000 display tablet and a photoshop license to get good. i used to use a mouse or cheapy huion tablet and mspaint/online oekaki boards to do everything before eventually moving on to a display tablet and programs like photoshop. if you're going traditional, dont even worry about artist grade materials. i actually would recommend using something you can get for cheap and in bulk because you'll probably be going through a lot of it. when i was first learning, i used mechanical pencils or regular ol wooden or charcoal pencils and pads of recycled newsprint. it's fine! if people make fun of your cheap supplies, just beat em up! it's what i did!

like every other answer for questions like this, i'm gonna say learning the basics before focusing on style and content will help you the most. it'll make it wayyy easier later on. you dont have to be a pro at anatomy or realism and you dont have to know the names of all the bones and muscles but knowing at least the basic structures helps a ton.

USE REFERENCES!!! theres this line of thinking that never using refs makes you "better" or that it's cheating but that isnt true and i've found that most instructors will even yell at you if you refuse to use them LOL. a lot of really skilled artists who can get away with not referencing are able to do so because theyve already built up their mental library and understand anatomy/foreshortening/etc, which you can achieve through studying and referencing.

if you see a cool pose or something else that catches your eye or whatever, save it. comic/manga panels, pro photographs, stock images, anatomical diagrams, movie screenshots, save everything. i love references. i hoard them like a magpie:

Try figure drawing! You can do it online pretty easily but i find it hard to do from a screen. ask people around you if you can draw them. draw your mom. draw your cat. doesnt have to be anything special, learning how to draw relaxed and casual forms is just as important as dynamic ones. some places offer live model drawing sessions which i prefer but for online sessions i use posespace and sketchdaily (careful, there's naked people in there). another good resource is vishopper.

if you need help learning figure drawing and proper techniques, check youtube. searching "intro to figure drawing" yields some good results but i mostly really like this guy, Richard Smitheman. He has several lessons posted and he's really in depth and clear in the way he breaks down the figure.

actually I check youtube for EVERYTHING. watching speedpaints, draw streams, and tutorials takes up most of my youtube viewing time and i often have them on in the background no matter what im up to. if im trying to learn, i tend to go for people who are more professorial and am hesitant to recommend "art hacks" style videos.

looking at tons of different art is really helpful when it comes to figuring out how you want to render or construct figures. wikiart.org is my best friend and i push it on EVERYBODY.no matter how you draw or what style you're going for, it's always helpful to look at a variety of other artwork so you dont stagnate

developing a habit of drawing makes it much easier to strike gold as opposed to drawing solely when inspiration strikes, but still remember to take breaks, dont force yourself into burnout, and dont be afraid to delete your art if its just not working out