hi people!:3 can you help me i cant seem to draw godots hair!?!? XD

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Well, to draw anything on a human body, you need to start off with a naked human figure first- no hair, no clothes. You don't need to draw 'bits', just enough of the body that you can draw things sitting on it and know what underneath is doing.

In the case of the hair, you need to draw a bald head. at that point, you need to understand the natural direction that hair goes- up and then following gravity. Godot's hair is long and wild ( *purrs* ) so you'll need to make the separations in his hair more longer, and his hair goes down to his shoulders in length.




There's many ways of doing it- as long as the ends are long and wild. I hope that helps ^^

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thanks i think that will help alot! once ive finished doing his hair ill show you;) and ive already started to do prinsses so ill show you her when im done too. XD

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hi :3 sorry for posting twice but just wanted to show you prinsses!

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Oh- good ^^ Franziska's hair looks like it fits on her head alot better now :) Keep up the practise ^^

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Hi, i tought i might as well show one of my drawings.. made it on paper and scanned it.

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;) ty my friend romeo said she would never be so happy but i drew her like that becuase i couldnt draw her face in the pic i was copying...cant renember wear i put it though

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Sorry- were you wanting crit on it? If so, anything specific?

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Yes please,
And, not really something specific, but the face of the right one is also a bit odd to me

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Sorry if I'm butting in but I just wanted to say that it's kinda awesome that you can actually tell if something looks off. I want this power. Seriously. T___T;;

Also, I can't really see any problems with the older girl's face. Maybe just bring her forehead back a bit. But otherwise it's fine 8D~ And well done on the shading!

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I think I know what it is- the head is physically too large. The head should be 1/8th the size of the full body in a full scale, non chibi human. Even if she were chibi though, her head is about 1/5th of her body size in that. In a 1:8 scale body (normal human size approx), the head is about the height of the distance between the chin and the nipples. That's one of the judges I use when drawing. The measurements are different for super deformed, but looking at the other girl's proportions, you look like you wanted something more like this scale.

Besides that, it's looking good ^^

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Hello! I have been wondering if whether or not I can get a crit... So I've decided to post:

This is just a quick doodle in Paint Tool SAI (and also one of my dumb poems), which I just drew not too long ago...
Any suggestions?
Thanks in advance.

Well, since it's a doodle, could you tell me what kind of things you want pointers on?

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Hm... I think the most cruical flaws- I have problems with proportions. And whatever you think about the poem, since it's also a part of the picture. ^^

oooh I didn't know that. 8D *learns something new* And yay I conform to this ratio lol
I find these scales hard to use myself. Ugh I really ought to learn them so I don't draw so wonky all the time.

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It's actually easier than you'd think to use the measurements.I do most of it by sight now, but I use to hard core measure it. If you're a little out it's fine. having a solid grasp of facial structure is THE most important thing with drawing humans. If the face is wrong, the eyes continue to look for faults. If the face is right, then alot of sins are forgiven outright. No shit. That's why I focus on faces so much XD I'm lazy >.>



I'm not too great at poetry, so I'll picture it as an aesthetic for now ^^;

The picture itself is best described via visual crit-


Proportion wise, his body is on an odd angle, but ok. His head is FAR too big however. As I said before- chest and neck height and that's approx the head. Give or take. Obviously having smaller ratios screws around with that.

I've tilted his torso to match his legs- the legs looked odd with a squarely faced chest.

Gave him a bit of background. The background can fade out for the writing, but right now it looks a little vanilla.

His head tilt is a little too far to be natral. It's an angle that puts alot of strain on the neck.

Also readjusted his hands. It's more natral to rest arms on the body side of the knee cap when the leg is bent like that.

My suggestions- start drawing poses from photographs, or via posemaniacs so that you can learn how to draw the pose correctly. There's nothing wrong with using references. Also, where a reference isn't possible- try the pose yourself, or get someone to take a photo of it. I always get my friends to pose for me :) Deviant art has great referances too. Phoography- don't reference official art EVER unless you WANT to copy the art style. Their artist made mistakes. Don't make the same ones yourself.

Hope that helps! I'm off to bed now. My brain is DYing T.T

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I think you're spot on about that. It's kinda annoying how people focus on faces, but then I do too because I know that's what people look at the most. Aaaah whether we like to admit it or not, we're all shallow beings. >_<

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Your version of my pic is 1000 better than the original version of my pic, really
Thank you so much for your help! I'll do my best to improve my skills with that site! Thanks!

Another request for crit from me. We'll see how this goes


This is still work in progress, but there's alot of things I just can't seem to get my head around. Please note- I'm not going to redraw this pose completely. I'm mostly happy with the girl, but if the layout isn't interesting then I just wont use it for it's intended purpose- a cover for my art book.

things I'd like advice on:-

• Zeth (the guy) has a very stiff pose. Is there any easy way of fixing this?
• Composition- is it an interesting layout?
• Colour choice- Is it suitable for an art book front cover?
• Zeth's 'shot wound'
• Something else that may be relevant (I'm sick so I can't think of more)

Things I don't require advise on:-

• I am aware that the dress isn't ankle length and I've only started on the designs in the pleats.
• Her necklance has no chain
• There's no shading in the hair
• Her figure should be fine. A few people noticed she was flat chested. She's meant to be as she is a gymnast.

A bit of background to the picture- They're both wearing wedding attire, and Zeth has been shot by synthetic blood bullets. He should have blood coming off him, but not be dead. She was aiming for his heart.

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The only major thing I'm noticing there is that the girl doesn't seem to have any legs under her dress. Zeth seems to be lying flat on the ground, even though his back should be propped up a little bit on her knees, and the dress seems to be laying flat on the ground, too. Since she's on her knees, the dress should appear shorter in the back (since it would drop to the floor from her waist, and then spread out on the ground, while it would slope down her legs in front.) Her upper body is drawn very well, though, especially considering it's drawn at an angle.

As far as layout goes, you might want to try to place the image closer to the lower right hand corner. Zeth's legs take up a lot of space and there's nothing particularly important about them. The composition might be stronger if you zoom in on and include the most important things (The fake shot wound, the gun, the characters' faces. This leaves a lot of white space in the upper left corner, which might actually increase the effect of the image, but if it doesn't, you could put something else there. Cropping the image might also make the issues I mentioned in the first paragraph less noticeable.

The shot "wound" could use a little work. The place where the bullet impacted should be the most noticeable part. The way the blood streamed really widely down his side makes it look more like he was shot right underneath his armpit. I'd move the bullet wound a little bit to the viewer's left, so that the shot still hits Zeth's jacket, but there's a little bit of splatter on the inner shirt.

On the whole, it's very well drawn. I like both characters' expressions and I really dig the design on the woman's dress.

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The legs may be easier to see on the sketch



They're hard to see on some monitors cause the high end and low end tones can become lost. The shading is apparent on my monitor at home, but not at work. The legs farr about where the pleats are so I figure it'll hide a bit. I'm not completely done with the shading though so well see how that turns out later :)



Yeah- that's what I mean. I'm kinda hoping someone would know how to fix that ^^; His whole body feels flat >.>

The legs may be easier to see on the sketch



They're hard to see on some monitors cause the high end and low end tones can become lost. The shading is apparent on my monitor at home, but not at work. The legs farr about where the pleats are so I figure it'll hide a bit. I'm not completely done with the shading though so well see how that turns out later :)



She's not really on her knees. Shes sitting on her bottom with her legs spread apart to either side. I wouldn't do that with most characters, but as I said, she's a gymnast, so she's flexible :)

The legs may be easier to see on the sketch



They're hard to see on some monitors cause the high end and low end tones can become lost. The shading is apparent on my monitor at home, but not at work. The legs farr about where the pleats are so I figure it'll hide a bit. I'm not completely done with the shading though so well see how that turns out later :)



Thanks :) I fought with that. Specially since it's very easy to give cleavage on that angle ^^;

The legs may be easier to see on the sketch



They're hard to see on some monitors cause the high end and low end tones can become lost. The shading is apparent on my monitor at home, but not at work. The legs farr about where the pleats are so I figure it'll hide a bit. I'm not completely done with the shading though so well see how that turns out later :)



I'll play around with it. I was leaving the gap at the bottom for writing and other details but I guess it is a little excessive. I'll play around with it when I get home and see what I can do :)



Yeah It's only something I've recently picked up. IT looked pretty naff to me too. I'll update that tonight also if I can and see if it's any better :)



Thanks :) The design will end up going right up the pleat. I stopped cause I had major eye strain (I hate digital for this reason) Thank you for your critique- I'll see if I can attack it in the next day or so and stuff. Hopefully I can post something very soon on this that I'm actually happy with. I'm very with it right now

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OMG Arkillian, what a gorgeous pic! *__* You always do such dynamic poses and perspectives that I am so envious of. Aaaahh <3

Personally I think it looks fine the way it is. Perhaps you're being too harsh on yourself there. Maybe Zeth's posture can be altered a little, but it doesn't distract from the whole picture. I really like it the way it is. <3 If it's really nagging you, I'll be happy to sketch something out. But otherwise don't fret too much about it.

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Lol- I am a perfectionist, but it does bug me alot ^^; Mostly that pose. The rest of it I am cool with surprisingly enough >.> I'm not sure why he flattened off so much >.< His arm is cranked around weirdly too. That's what the crit thread is for though, right? People learning from their mistakes? ^^ IF you could red line me, I'd be very happy :) Thank you hon ^^ *huggles*

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I think I know why he looks so flat.

His legs are like the figure on the left, and they should be like the figure on the right.


(lol my art so cool)

If he's propped up on the woman's lap, he should be bent ever-so-slightly forward at the hips. If you can find a way to fix this by only re-drawing the legs, go for it.

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Yeah- it looks like I'll need to redraw his legs definitely... Damn. Oh well, that's what it takes. Thank you for your crit hon ^^

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Hi guys, I'm attempting to draw Cammy meele, but it is proving very difficult, mainly because of the pose. Please can I have general crits about how I can make her seem more 'natural', she seems slightly robotic.

I know the arms and legs are bad, thats the main thing, shes supossed to be trapped in the bubble., her arms pressed on the sides.

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Hrmm... Ok. See, the biggest problem here is her basic proportion. Not so much that she looks robotic, but because the pose is a little out of the ordinary for you, it became difficult to draw, and consequently looks robotic.

OK, so I'll start by linking this tutorial Take this tutorial with a grain of salt SOME proportions can be tinkered with, but some can't. This tutorial is based off the final product being human proportions (1:8 heads in height), and not chibied proportions (1:2 to 1:5 proportions). This tutorial is from a book I learnt to draw from called 'Drawing the head and figure' by Jack Hamm. It's a tad old school (It was first printed in the 1960s), but the ground up structures he uses in art can be adapted easily when you understand it. Even with manga, you need to know how to draw realistically to know HOW to break the rules. I know alot of excellent manga artists who agree. It follows most of the proportion rules of realism. After all- both styles are based off one thing- humans.

OK- so when you've got the proportions settled, I dugest then that you mimic her post physically and see if what she LOOKS like she's doing is what you want her to be doing. Right now, she looks a little like she's summoning the bubble around her (Which hey- for Cammy, that is a cool power. Imagine the ability to float in a bubble anywhere?) This is because she isn't braced for a push. I can't tell you how the pose SHOULD look, but if you try it out for yourself, you can see what works for you and replicate it. Sketch it out first in simple shapes like lines, circles, and cylinders very lightly. It helps to tell you if the pose looks static or not.



Notice how the un-inked lines are very light, very fast, and only have vague shapes? That's called a layout sketch where you throw out the basic shape of the object, before fleshing it out. Given some imagination you can already see how it's going to look, right? The beauty of layout sketches is that if you don't like where it is, you just erase it and try again.

Besides that, I could redraw the whole pose with a red line crit, but that won't help you learn. I hope this info is ok. Feel free to ask any questions about anything I've just said here if you need more info :)

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@ Arkillian

Thanks for the criticism, I appreciate it and Proportion is a problem for me..
The bad thing is, I did do a 'mannequin' of her before I actually sketched her out...

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OK, but the problem is that it's not just about doing the sketch hon- he sketch has got to be of a pose that works, so as I suggested, give the pose a go and see if it feels natural for what you want her to do.

Also- do you draw the sketch clothes on or off? A layout sketch shouldn't include clothing or hair or anything unneeded in the picture, unless it's vital fro the composition- like the bubble is important, but not her hair. If her hair was fanned out in a specific way, you'd just block it in as a simple shape.

Besides that- if your layouts have the incorrect basic composition then it'll be very noticeable by the end even if it's polished. I'd suggest cutting back to simple poses till you get proportion right. It's nothing to be ashamed about. I didn't learn human proportion till I was in my mid teens, and was never hugely great at it till I took life drawing classes.


I tell you my other secret- it sounds like a short cut, but draw from reference. IF you have a photo to go off and you don't trace or cut corners but try to get it right, it WILL improve your sense of form from different angles. So give drawing a simpler pose a go, and see how your proportions look :) give it a few goes too. It takes practise to learn art *nods*

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thank you again.

I maybe should start with less ambitious poses. I just had the idea in my head and wanted to draw it so badly. Maybe I should look at someone doing a similar pose and copy that. And my mannequin had no clothes/hair, just basic shapes.

I will try and improve on my basic proportions. It's the thing I struggle with most, but I am sure with practice it will be okay - As long as my art follows a similar pattern to yours.

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Sorry if I sound like I'm taking the wind out of your sail :( It just that if you want to be able to run, you have to be confident on your feet, you know what I'm saying? ^^; If you're talking about mannequins like this then keep it for geeky decoration, cause they're not really that useful. I know alot of people (including myself) that own them and frankly, there's no substitute for understanding human form. The mannequin things are very rigid, featureless, and muscle-less. While it may be fine for basic pose sketching, you actually beter to use something like this websitefor base reference cause it has a wider range of movement, shows actual form, and the flex of muscles. They also break down the genders, and offer 30 second poses. 30 second poses are GREAT to force the brain into looking at a form simplified. They're difficult at first though, so I suggest learning proportion first. I took life drawing for 2 terms, and 30 second sketches were VERY difficult to get into for the first few lessons. I kept rendering it too much. When you get good at seeing the form as shapes and not as just a whole, you get something like this as a result. IT really helps for coming up with interesting poses on the fly if you've drawn them before :)

Anyways, just practice some proportion, and when you feel comfortable with your efforts, post some here and I'll see if I can think of your next step. If you have money to invest in books, I can name some good ones to pick up on:-



As I said, that first book was first printed in 1960s, so the art is old school. Please don't let that deter you, as the tutorials are what's important- not the art style. This book is the BEST stepping stone of how to draw I've seen.

The drawing form the right side of the brain is also good cause it frees up the imagination. It didnt' help me a huge amount when I got it cause I had already freed mine up, but I've lent it to a few people and it's helped their art alot. It's basically the ability to see things as shapes and simple forms, and not as they are. When you can do that, you'll find art alot easier cause your left side of the brain fights the right too much to correct its self.

Sorry- that's alot of info- I'll stop now ^^;

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i really like it but i would do her like this for a pose
(yeah sorry its not very good my manga studio is playing up)

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Oop, random comment here, but I've been reading through some of the thread and find that I have to give some thumbs up here. I was expecting flaming and goodness knows what (almost all critique threads end up that way) but I've found a lot of useful tips here.

So I present to you a drawing I did a very long time ago, and this is one that I wish to remake. My drawing style has changed much since then, but I'd love any advice people could give me, particularly on clothing folds.



Also, Arkillian, your critique style is lovely, keep up the good work there! <3

I find a big difference can be made if a picture is looked at in a critical light, and a corrective light :) I will always attempt to suggest a fix to any negative I say about a picture, and I'll try to be honest. I've only ever had 2 people complain about my critiques before due to this, and it was because the person 'drew it for fun'. Because of the element of 'drawing for fun', I have certain rules in place for quality of images, but if you're posting here, I assume you want to get actual critique, so for me, I fell confident to critique without worrying about offending anyone. I think other feel similar due to the bad rep critique has. It's so personal. You pour alot of time and love into art- even a doodle. I think people that flame crit are the worst. I've had that done to me, and I never want to see anyone else have to go through that. It put me off drawing comics for so long.

Anyways- the critique. I'll need to be fast with this cause I'm meant to be working on an art book, so I hope I'm clear. Hrmm... There's not a huge about I can suggest for your art cause it's already a lovely piece, but the clothing doesn't quite seem to sit on her properly, which I assume is what you're wanting thoughts on? I'm not sure how you draw your clothing on characters, but what you need here is a sense of 3D. This is something I've only JUST started learning, so it's very difficult for me to explain. I also struggle with clothing too. My only real suggestion there is focusing on the figure as a naked 3D object. Don't draw the hair in till the VERY last, and make sure you have your depths nutted out in your mind before you can attack it cause I think perhaps you were focused on getting those curls in first before the outfit.

Drawing on Hair/ clothing to me should be treated as a layered effect. IF you know what the outfit looks like, then the best way is to start with the first layer of clothing. Get that looking right, then add the next, and carry on adding till it's done. Why I say 3D though, is some of the lengths on the shoulder pads are uneven, the breast area looks... I'm not sure what is happening there cause she looks both large breasted and flat chested at once cause of the closest breast to the viewer having significant cleavage, but the underside of the breast doesn't support that... the bonnet looks like it's sorta facing the viewer, and the collar looks like it is flat on the shoulder area, not the neck (Is this correct?). I think most of this is because the hair may have been drawn first, and had become a distraction.

So... yeah... It's a little out of my league, as I don't normally draw frilly outfits, but I just feel like you need to look at it at ground zero as a 3D object, and work up keeping the body underneath in mind. Posemaniacs is a very good site for references if you'd like to use one, perhaps with her breast area cause that felt a little confusing to me. Also, the how to draw Manga costume encyclopedia is an EXCELLENT reference book on costumes, folds etc... that is relevant to everyone, and I recommend it to anyone playing around with difficult costumes.

One last thing- I'm not sure if you've changed this, but when you draw a curve, put your hand on the inside of the curve and draw your arc with your wrist rather than your fingers :) You'll get a smoother curve. Otherwise, good luck with the revamp, and I hope for the best with the outcome for you ^^ It's a very pretty picture, and I'm sure if this is old now that the new one will be fantastic ^^ She has very doey eyes ^^

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Wow! I wasn't expecting such a thorough reply so fast, thanks a lot! Firstly, I completely agree with your first statement about critique having a bad rep and that. I've had a few people actually showing concern of giving me any kind of advice because they're afraid they'll be attacked, it's crazy! I've dabbled in giving critique in the past myself and I know how difficult it can be to cover everything without people overreacting, so you've really hit a good balance here. I shall indeed be checking out that clothing book!

And I've improved somewhat with female torsos since drawing that picture- but I still do have trouble with them. I find them a lot easier than male figures though, good grief. I've never really had any proper art classes and just... draw it, really, so perhaps doing things more methodically will help. Once I get a bit more confidence, I shall definitely be posting some of my newer work and ask for your opinion, if that is alright?

Ah, and concerning your tip of drawing the curve with your wrist? That's a technique my dad recommended to me a while back, but I have a lot of trouble with it. In fact, drawing in general is very difficult as I have both hypermobile joints and problems with my muscles, so moving my wrist freely doesn't quite work, so I do what I can. xDD

Sorry for the short reply, I'm about to head out! Thanks again.

Sorry- I normally ask for something in your current art level for this reason- I hate critiquing old images cause I don't know what is relevant >.<

Sure- post what ever here :) The forum is a Phoenix Wright one, but I like to think that a crit thread shouldn't be limited by content cause any crit with help fanart get better- right? :D

Um.. as for the lines, the other way is using french curves or a bendable ruler. I tend to only use them for long curves myself, but you sound like you'd make good use of them if your wrist is stiff. I personally find them cluttery if I'm using it for smaller curves cause my hand is ok at drawing curves, but yours seems to have trouble so it may be worth it for you for the inking process. The other idea is digital inking- not with a tablet, but with a vector program. Scanning your lineart, and tracing over it with vectors. That would give you a perfect curve with the bonus of realizability. Takes AGES though. Well, for me it does >.> I'm slow. The beauty of vectors though is that it's EASIER with a mouse. Something to consider :)

Hope this all helps! And post something new so I can give a crit that can help ;)

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I come bearing new art
This time, I tried extremley hard to get the proportion right and even looked at some websites for poses and I have been trying hard for a few couple of days and THIS TERRIBLE thing is the best I have done so far



I would like criticism on the proportion please, I know the posistioning of the legs/arms/hands sucks, but is the proportion right?

ALSO

The 'mannequin' I sugessted isn't like the one you posted, I use this book for all my drawing needs:

It has basic rules on proportion, skeleton, clothes, hair and many other tips too. But Next birthday I may see if I can get a proportion book, because I do struggle with that, as you can tell in my picture lol

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Proportions are okay. Might want to make her a little shorter though. Also as just a general sort of thing, She's a bit noodle-y you might want some more sharp edges. Unless you want an abstract look.

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I like to draw a lot, but i've got one problem: I don't have an own style, so I tend to copy stuff...
For example:


When I try not to use reference, you get stuff like this:


Got any advice on drawing manga for me??? Any comments are more then welcome!! I really appreciate it...

Well, the hands and arms are actually MORE important than the proportion to be honest cause you can make it look right at any scale. For the sake of argument though- what scale is this on? 1:6 heads high? 1:5? If it's 1:8 like a full scale human is (or 1:7.5) then her head is much too large. Think of the scale of the human figure in head heights. I haven't seen this book in NZ so I don't know what is in it, but just be careful, cause what you are learning is stylised, and it'll make it very difficult to get your own style because of it. Make sure you use real references so you don't lose sight of actual human form

Some tips to remember- the the elbow goes to the belly button in length, the arm when straight and hand is flat finishes half way down the leg, The head is as tall as the foot is long, and if the person is crouched, their knees go up to their collar bone. I don't know HOW you are learning in that book though cause you sound like you're struggling a little :( I hope they're teaching the basics. I haven't seen a how to draw manga book yet that teaches the basics so I hope they're not expecting you to be a pro artist already.



GAH! DON'T SAY THAT!! Never EVER say that you don't have a style. IGNORE THAT NOTION NOW PLEASE >.< Urgh- sorry. Pet peeve. People get SO wound up about style saying stuff like 'My proportions are off cause that's my style' or 'I wish my style was like their' or 'I have no style'. IGNORE STYLE. Serious. It'll develop the more you understand art. It's not something you do or don't have. It's just not apparent right now cause you're still learning so get it off your brain's priority list cause it IS actually holding you back when you draw. There is FAR more important things to deal with than the petty things like how you draw an eye or colour things, so take it off your priority list right now. Seriously- for a long time I thought I didn't have one till someone commented to me that they knew it was my art work by the thumbnail. You have a style right now and it'll change as you get better at art. FINAL. </rant>

Right, now that is over and done with, the crit.

Actually- I like your 'non referenced' art better than the 'referenced' stuff. Why do I say this? It's hard to describe, but the one of Franziska isn't forced. I mean, sure- there's mistakes, but for aesthetics, which is the FIRST priority of art, it has ALOT more in it. Don't get me wrong- I love Godot to pieces. He's my favourite character in the AA series, but I'd rather see you draw him without a reference simply because it is more honest. Your Godot picture has some forced lines which the original artist used cause they knew how to use them, so they work. When you've used them, you weren't familiar with how they drew it so you've subtly go it wrong cause it didn't make sense, but you wanted to finish it off anyway. Your Franziska doesn't have that cause all the lines you've drawn on her made sense to you.

Do I sound crazy and like I'm looking too far into this yet? ^^; Lol- sorry if this sounds to oogly boogly hocus pocus to you. Art is a talent that you develop over time and you'll never see your style yourself, but you do have one.

Now, you say that you want to draw manga, but you also still have some basics issues- even with the referenced art. Now, I wish I could tell you a how to draw manga book that is any good but sadly, I can't . Not for this. Basic proportions is something that needs to be learnt off realistic proportions first before you poke them and make them wonky. Why? Cause you may find that you want your women to have a realistic waist, and bigger thighs, and your men have narrow shoulders and washboard abs, but how do you do that if you're learning off someone else's style? All you can do is adopt their style, and that's sad. If you learn realistic proportions, then you'll knew how much you can distort the human figure to your liking

How to draw Manga- Drawing Bishounen has some good tips on refining male figures along with photo references (If you don't mind looking at photos of aesthetic asian men looking like they SHOULD be doing shounen-ai stuff but are not.')

The best of Wizard- How to draw- This book is excellent for a fast all arounder of alot of aspects in drawing art (in a western styled art- don't let art styles stop you from learning their ground up stuff. How to draw manga books seem to miss the ground part of the process) for comics, but it can be adapted to general art

How to draw the Marvel way- Not as pretty as the book above, and I don't like the old comic style of art, but it has better tutorials than the one above... if you can find it. That book is GOLD.

Drawing the head and figure by jack hamm- I rave on about this book alot, cause it's what I learnt from and I've looked through ALOT of art books. This one has THE best ground up tutorial on drawing the human face that I've seen. All other books copy off this one I'm sure. Down side, the art style is old (It was first printed in the 1960s). You'll be put off by that- I know now, but it's dirt cheep to buy, and the tutorials are excellent.

Now this is going to sound REALLY out there, but if you're really serious, Betty Edwards 'Drawing from the right side of the brain'. I just recently got this book, and it's REALLY opened my eyes to why art comes to some so easily, but not others. It's because when you draw, your brain is yelling "THAT'S AND EYE!" to you while you draw it, but if you ask it what an eye looks like it shrugs, and says 'uh, and oval?'. The Right side of the brain usually gets ignored cause it's a shape loving hippie even though it knows better. This book teaches you how to listen to the hippie side of your brain that's filled with weird and wonderful concepts. This is cool, cause it also makes you FOCUSED when you draw cause the left side gets shoved aside, and it controls hearing ;) Alot are techniques I picked up by accident and I now know why. If you can get it, this book seems random, but stick with it and it'll unlock your brain fully :)


*lets out breath* OK, spent too long on this crit, but please- don't say you don't have a style. If you're going to reference, I suggest referencing off a photo and seeing how that helps instead, keep practising your art, but practise right :) Have a look at some of the books above if you can. A good how to book for the basics will break down the human figure like 50% of the book being the head, and the rest being the rest of the body. If it spends most if it's time showing you final art that you 'could' do, it's being flashy and enticing you to buy it so you can look at their art. I hope I was a help here ^^; Sorry if I sounded a little bully like :(

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