I See A Lot Of Beginner Artists Missing The Mark On Drawing Profile Views, Particularly On Eyebrows &

hi! umm pls pls PLS if you have the time, do a thingy on arms when you get the chance, they are so hard i could almost cry aslkdjaskjsas, i keep forgetting how many curves an arm should have/how long it should be (in diff positions/when it's not resting at the hips) etc etc etc ahhh omg please!! thank you sosososo much, i l♡ve all of your art and i hope you have a nice day!! ✧ ㅠㅠ ✧

I don’t want to go into detail in terms of muscles, but I’m sure you can find them if you google arm muscles! Hope this helps u out a little!

How to do “extra” facial expressions!

Drawing basic facial expressions is not the hardest. Most people can draw a sad face, a happy face, angry etc., but making more multidimensional expressions is more of a challenge. I have gotten a lot of compliments on how I draw facial expressions, (specifically “angsty ones”) telling me that they are very dramatic and well… expressive! And there are actually only a few things I think about when I draw faces that take them to the next level, so I thought i’d illustrate them all here!

SUPER IMPORTANT TIP BEFORE WE START: Look at your own face when you draw faces. Even making the face when you are drawing (you don’t even have to look at it), will give you some sense of how the face muscles pull and where things fold and stretch, because you can feel it. You are the best reference when it comes to facial expressions!

Angles 

Draw the head in an angle that matches the expressions you want to make. It is not a requirement, but is going to add to the effect.

Symmetry vs asymmetry 

A face is rarely symmetric. Unless the face the character is making is 100 % relaxed or even dissociating, the eyebrows, mouth and facial muscles will have different placements of their respective side. This image shows the dramatic impact asymmetry has on a face: 

That’s the difference between a smile and a smirk!

The first one’s like “oh yeah?” and the second is like “oH YEAH??”

The “balloon squishing principle”

This is something I did subconsciously, and I didn’t know about until I made this tutorial. And this principle goes hand in hand with an asymmetric face. Basically, if you squish one part of the face, you need to even out the empty space by “inflating” the other part of the face so that it doesn’t appear shrunken. The picture hopefully explains it:

Teeth 

Don’t forget to add the gum when the mouth is open to its full potential!

Squinting and folding

Adding folds around the eyes when a character is squinting makes a HUGE difference. It makes a smile more genuine and a growl more intimidating. Adding folds to the face in general makes your characters more lifelike and ‘visually relatable’. Like, they look human, and less plastic or fake.

and so on..

Pupils and irises 

The placement of the iris and pupil in relation to the eyelids is very important! The less of the white you see, the more relaxed the character is. 

And then of course eyebrows and eyes go hand in hand!

Gestures, spitting, sweating… 

Adding more elements than just a face is key to making the character actually look like they are feeling what you want them to feel. Just the tiniest sweat drop adds to their anxiety, spitting adds frustration to their rage, slouching shoulders, waving hands, a double chin, extreme angles, the list goes on! Add whatever and see what kind of impact it makes! Does it do the trick? Great! Add it! 

Over exaggeration!! 

Remember that you can almost always exaggerate more. Don’t be afraid to do draw “too much” because you’re just experimenting. See what works and what doesn’t. What do you like to exaggerate?

Now that you know some theory, it’s time to practice!

Practicing!! 

The 25 Essential Expressions (a classic! I’ve done it multiple times)

And the one I do when I’m bored:

Fill a page with circles and fill them in with different expressions. Try and exaggerate as much as you can! 

This is mostly for experimenting. They are quicker to draw than complete faces, but the same rules should apply!

And that’s about it!

I don’t know if I covered everything in this tutorial, since some things might be obvious for me, and this post perhaps only scratches the surface. So feel free to send me a message if you want an explanation about something more in depth! Thank you for reading! And now DRAW!!! ✨🎨

Hips Tutorial by bokuman

Support the artist on Patreon!

In ain’t one to draw a perspective grid and then place figures in it; it’s never worked for me. So here’s my method!

Do you find drawing environments overwhelming? I did too, for a really long time. I started out drawing characters, and making the switch to painting environments was really hard at first! In my latest patreon tutorial, I break down the process into the most basic and essential steps, so that you don’t get lost in the details and know exactly what to focus on. Find it here for just $5: patreon.com/loish

in response to an ask about how i do rooms! here you go! it’s super simple and fun~!

sorry i didn’t go into a huge amount of detail, i hope it’s not too “draw the rest of the owl” lmfao

This is still something I struggle with, so this is less a tutorial and more just a collection of tips and things I’ve noticed when drawing clothing folds! I hope this helps some of you!

Source: Uzlo (uzlolzu)

Some tips about dynamism:

-Your sketches will always be dirty as fuck at the beginning. It’s normal and it’s okay. What you’re looking for is the right movement, intensity and direction, not drawing the next Mona Lisa.

-Try a lot of different posings, the first one will rarely be the right one. Some posings will feel better than others. You can then focus on the ones you like best and push/exaggerate them.

-Use!!! references!!! Analyze the action you want to draw! Look at what moves and when it moves (the hand moves faster than the elbow maybe? the hip rotate to follow the bust maybe? analyyyyze!)