What I do is think of the image as if it exists in a movie. So I think of what part the character is in and the sequence that surrounds them. It gets me a to think deeper about how the character exists in space and time and helps to add a sense of movement to the piece. I often look up and use 10+ references for the whole piece and many more just to pin the idea. But as for working on your visual library what I do is find images online and draw them repeatedly in 30 seconds studies. That will get poses (and pretty much anything) ingrained in you fast. I hope this helps all!
Intended to be a mix of a discussion thread and an asking for help kinda thread.
I've been feeling stuck and pretty insecure on posing lately. I feel like a lot of what I produce is very same-y pose-wise and tbh it kinda is because the bulk of what I have up in my galleries was drawn with the intention of getting character ideas down. When I'm drawing new OC's or trying to nail existing designs I do tend to stick to very simply posed stuff that doesn't show a whole lot of character. When I was shifting styles I used to stick to simple throw-away art where it wouldn't matter if the drawing didn't work out over if I'd done something more involved and awkwardly posed. I'm starting to feel like I'm recycling the same poses and honestly it's getting kinda boring and I'm so ready to move past that.
Trouble is, I find coming up with natural poses as well as dynamic/awkward poses very hard, if I draw with the intention of something different to what I've already got in my gallery my brain kinda freezes and I end up defaulting back to the very simple character design-ish poses I've been drawing the past 4 years. It's pretty much ingrained in my mind at this point, I know my visual library is severely lacking as far as poses go but I'm honestly not sure how to build on that.
My question for you is:
How do you come up with poses? Particularly dynamic poses or poses where the characters are actually doing things? Do you have any tips for my situation?
I might not reply to everything but I always appreciate any help I get!
Heavy Edit: Made things less wordy and hopefully more concise!
I search pinterest for inspiration and while I do it I imagine my characters in those poses and hum and haw whether they work or not. I then take to Design Doll and play around with a pose in the 3D space. it really does help
i can't stress enough how much references help. Not only for that one pose or that one picture, but for training your mind to think from different angles and filing away pose ideas for future inspirations. Do not be afraid to use references and photographs. or pause action movies etc. to capture poses you like and draw those.
Laniidae That's actually a neat way of doing things! Tbh I do think of story scenes playing out as if it's a movie, much easier to use a familiar format to visualize how the characters move through the environment and interact but it's something I don't think to to do when thinking of things to draw. I'll start trying that! When you're doing those studies do you draw the same thing several times or a bunch of different things? Sorry that's bit of a weird question but I'm curious because that's def something I'm interested in giving a go.
aaawhyme I have to admit I am guilty of trying to keep reference use to hand selfies, period uniforms if I'm drawing my historical OC's or muscle charts so I do forget it's okay to use references generally. Doesn't help I come from a community where you were considered a lesser artist if you use refs to draw. Ofc I realize that's a not-true, dumb and potentially harmful mindset to have but it's hard not to slip into that way of thinking when I'm actively drawing, especially when I'm trying to work with tricky poses where I'll end up feeling guilty just for checking I'm going down the right lines. Gotta say I did use design doll for a little while but couldn't get the hang of it, I do kinda want to try messing with it again because it does look like a handy tool.
Thank you both for the suggestions I do appreciate it!
absolutely I know the feeling, there is such a stigma to using references as an artist. but you must realize that the only ones who look down on artists that use references, are either people that aren't artists themselves and don't know what it's like, or have not improved with art a day in their life. You'll notice that the high end pros of art, the ones that people look up to and inspire to be like, always use references in their art. As someone who works in the industry, it is a common practice to use references to help formulate a concept before turning it into a full fledged production. So try not to beat yourself up over using references, it's a key to learning and improving.
I used to feel so guilty for using references, and once I allowed myself to shed that skin, I noticed such an improvement with my art, and not only did it improve my mood and outlook on my artwork, it opened up more doors for me to learn and improve in different creative ways and new understandings to better myself. I highly recommend it :)
RU-HX I'm glad you found it helpful! And yes, the same image multiple times. The trick is to just do quick gestures of the image to get an idea of how to break it down and how it works! But also just doing multiple quick drawings as a warm up or even as a way to block out a piece can really help. So both are great options! Also one of the biggest steps to improving is being able to unabashedly use references. They are your friends I swear lol! My art was able to improve much faster after I started actively using them.
I have the exact same problem lmao. For me, the thing that gets me practicing poses is low-effort mini comics. In my head, I start playing out a scene of the character doing something - something from their daily routine, something they might find unusual, an interaction with another character, etc. (Writing prompts really help with this if nothing comes to mind!) Once I've got a scene in mind, I'll sketch it somewhere as a comic (really more just like a series of drawings), which really forces me to try out different poses. Even a mundane situation can lead to all sorts of weird poses - like, in a "going to the store while on the phone with their friend" comic, I might draw them opening a door, driving a car, running from the rain, picking things off a shelf, bending over to get something they dropped, etc. etc. I would never pick up my pencil and say "y'know I think I'll draw this dude driving a car," but once you're trying to convey a simple story, a lot of poses just sort of happen.
Then, if I'm struggling with a certain pose, I'll go and find reference images like it. And if I really like a panel or a scene, I can take that and make a more fully-fledged drawing from it so I can also practice things like lighting and scenery.
Hope that helps! I haven't done this exercise in a while, and just writing it all down is getting me inspired hot diggity :O
Some of these are late replies so I do apologize for that!
Laniidae It did help a lot, thank you again for going into detail!
aaawhyme Thank you for telling me that, I do appreciate it! I do have a few drawings planned that are gonna force me to use refs so hopefully that will help me feel more comfortable with refs. I'm also planning on giving Design Doll another go since I'm starting to suspect half of my mistake the first time was not looking tutorials for how to use it. I do believe having a basic 3D model to hand especially one that'd allow me to test different angles with ease could be a great asset.
Licorictus I do like the idea of doing mini comics, actually got a few sequences in mind I would like to do in that kind of format. I think they'd be great for those little ideas that just work better visually or logging ideas that I can't really work into a longer piece. That's a good idea and I will def try that so thank you! One thing I discovered on my own is sketch pages really help with forcing me to not repeat similar/same-y poses? Lately I've been in the habit of drawing a bunch of doodles and trying really hard to vary up the poses and it's actually been kinda fun way to break up the monotony!
htespagheti No worries that totally makes sense! Those draw the squad poses do look like they'll be a fun warmup sketches. I have a few saved I'd like to do. That one you linked to is totally up my alley so I'll work through a few of those at some point.