Reposting Because I Wasn't Feeling It The First Time (if Youre An Artist Youd Get It)

thank you to my wonderful mutual on here for giving me a shout-out!!

go read their post on drawing german steel helmets, they raise some good points (websites like sketchfab really are your best friend!!) and check out their beautiful work if you haven't already

hi! i really like your wwi art! i was wondering if there’s any tips for drawing helmets? specifically german helmets (im doing an art project about all quiet on the western front)? thank you for your time!

hiiii anon ty for enjoying my work!! your question makes me a little nervous bc i am really uh not good at drawing helmets. esp the stahlhelms…. but i will try to give u at least a little bit of insight to how i approach them!

um did u know? the stahlhelm is actually my worst enemy. it’s such a fucking stupid shape i hate hate hate. the side view is p iconic and recognizable but oof that front view just kills me. u have this HUGE semi rounded dome on top and then a bit of an angle once u get to the skirt/visor. no matter how u view it u can see the distinct way the skirt pokes outward, i think thats rly important to getting the shape right. i know i sound like a broken record but reference is reaaally ur best pal. google, pinterest, books, ppl are big fans of stahlhelms (some for…. iffy reasons) so u can find a lot of them online

one thing that has super helped me has been looking up 3d models! sketchfab or turbosquid r the ones i browse the most…. its rly useful to b able to rotate the whole thing and see its full shape, not just the one angle u get from a picture! that also helps ur brain visualize it as a full 3d object, which translates into a drawing (the more u study it/look at ref the better u will understand how it sits irl)

urgh okay. and then just examples of how ive drawn them. but again! peep that distinct angle! idk some of these r more successful and others r ummmmmmm. truly u can see how i use shading to just completely cover the areas im not confident with haha. rly examining these i can just see how wack the shape of these helmets are…..

oh also i would recommend checking out @/thespookedookie here on tumblr, they do some seriously incredible work centered around ww1 and aqotwf! they r a great source of inspo i love their art and style and everything

ok thats rly all i got! i’m sorry im not more helpful, u caught me in the middle of a series of bad days so i am not at my best or most coherent. but i hope this can help with your project in any sort of way! feel free to send any more questions u have, i will try to get to them in a timely manner :)

otto dix and some of my favourite pieces of his; definitely had a blast drawing him :)

pieces from top left to bottom right:

Totentanz anno 17 (Höhe Toter Mann)/ Dance of death 1917 (Dead man's hill), 1924

Templeux-la-Fosse, August 1916 (Gastote)/ Gas victims, 1924

Toter im Schlamm/Dead man in the mud, 1924

Zerfallender Kampfgraben/Collapsed trench, 1924

Toter Sappenposten/Dead sentry in the trench, 1924

Mutter mit Kind/Mother with child, 1921

Selbstbildnis/Self-portrait, 1913

textures

i love people in a way i can't really explain; it's kind of like the part of humanism that praises the human condition from a physical perspective, because every time i draw or paint faces i feel kind of grateful to be able to notice details that don't really matter in general

y'all seem to vibe with the majority of the trad art i've shared, here's a bit of what i was doing back in 2022

i didn't appreciate the last AQOTWF adaptation from a storytelling point of view, but that movie's visuals are the core inspiration for my project and the reason i started thinking about it altogether.

here's a gouache study i did approximately one month before starting to work on the comic book (so probably january or february of this year)

having creativity as a core psychological need really sucks because i haven't had the time to draw anything for a month and a half due to masses of work and i suddenly felt extremely hollow when the thought finally sank in. in that regard, i'm sorry to say i am not sure when my next post will be

anyway leaking some poilus i'm going to include in a big section (mainly comprising of character archetypes, gear and uniform turnarounds, weapon studies of the french army)

y'all know what to do

Martyrs of the Sky Chapter 3 — Part 3

may I get happy bday 🫡🧍(30.3.)

Your comic is looking so edible

thank you so much!! and happy birthday :))

revisiting an old one

Question

i am looking for resources on german and french trench systems (function, layout, diagrams, or ideally photographs containing different trench types, as well as individual components, e.g. dugouts). if anyone has anything of notability or knows where i could get detailed information, please let me know.

thanks!!