Drawing characters: Anatomically correct vs. looks good

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ameliori
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Drawing characters: Anatomically correct vs. looks good

#1 Post by ameliori »

When you draw which is your priority? Does it change between personal artwork or a commission?

(Recently, I made two sketches. One is without reference, and the other is with a photo reference. The one without reference looks good at first glance but skews like a badger's lunch when you mirror it. The other one is anatomically correct but it's not as striking as the other one. It might be the angle or something else... mmmhm +_+)

Which do you think should be given more emphasis?
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Re: Drawing characters: Anatomically correct vs. looks good

#2 Post by Jate »

It depends on the style I'm going for. My priority is only on anatomic correctness if I'm drawing in a realistic/semi-realistic style. Otherwise, I want it to look good whether it's "right" or not.

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Re: Drawing characters: Anatomically correct vs. looks good

#3 Post by Reikun »

If I'm doing something more serious than doodling, I sketch in two steps: 1) draw whatever I want w/o reference, 2) correct my drawing using reference. Sometimes I will like the way the 'looks good' sketch looks over the anatomically correct one (or vice versa), but generally I would consider a few things when making the call over which takes priority:

1) does the 'looks good' version match the rest of the graphics even though it's not as anatomically correct? If it's a standalone image, which version is closer to your vision/the commissioner's guidelines?
2) how important is anatomy to the image? (e.g. something like drawing a sword where you need to account for range of motion/arm and blade length, vs lounging on a sofa where one might take liberties to emphasize qualities like gracefulness or laziness)
3) what is attractive about the 'looks good' version what can't be added to the anatomically correct one? or, what can I do to the anatomically correct one to give it the quality I like in the 'looks good' version?
4) is there a better way to compose the image than what I currently have that is both stylistically and anatomically what I want?

Like Jate mentioned, style is important to me in this consideration too. If the style is closer to realism, I'd likely opt for anatomically correct over 'looking good.' If everything is highly stylized anyway, like in cartoon styles, anatomical correctness only needs to follow the 'physics of the style' and looking good can take precedence.
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Re: Drawing characters: Anatomically correct vs. looks good

#4 Post by Jate »

Reikun wrote:If everything is highly stylized anyway, like in cartoon styles, anatomical correctness only needs to follow the 'physics of the style' and looking good can take precedence.
This is really what I should've said. Rather than not prioritizing anatomic correctness, that less realistic styles have their own version of what correct anatomy is. Keeping consistent to that doesn't stop being a concern for more stylized works, there's just usually less of a gap between correct and looking good because the latter is a part of the style's aesthetic. Then there's also anatomically "loose" styles, where the rules are intentionally nonsensical, or different characters have drastically different anatomy to make them more distinct from one another.

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Re: Drawing characters: Anatomically correct vs. looks good

#5 Post by truefaiterman »

Correct anatomy is a must, always. Of course, "correct" is not the same than "realistic". The proportions have to be coherent for the character, which means it has to be logic to the overall style. If it's good in that regard, it doesn't have to be like a realistic painting.

Also, remember that "non realistic" doesn't necesarily means cartoony. It can be something closer to realism like Blizzard games's art, or anime style.

TL,DR: If it's coherent with your style, a little exaggeration can be fine, but be sure to not break the character's anatomy.
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Re: Drawing characters: Anatomically correct vs. looks good

#6 Post by Green Glasses Girl »

Jate wrote:3) what is attractive about the 'looks good' version what can't be added to the anatomically correct one? or, what can I do to the anatomically correct one to give it the quality I like in the 'looks good' version?
Pretty much this. There are many quotes in the drawing world that pretty much sum up to about the same thing: Learn the rules before you break them...then bend the rules/make new ones. Any appealing art style still follows this pattern fit for the object being drawn. Even people who work at big name studios known for their expression and innovation are required to learn anatomy because understanding anatomy gives a better understand of proportions, balance, and aesthetics. Take what you've learned and then make it your own!
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Re: Drawing characters: Anatomically correct vs. looks good

#7 Post by wendybirdx »

I try to have both, but balancing it out in this sense - since my work is stylized, I try to be anatomically correct in the sense that the muscles are in the correct location and some proportions are maintained (wrist at the middle, elbow at the waist). I notice that, if there's a general sense of form and all the curves or lines are purposeful (if you choose to add or remove or simplify muscle), it looks good. The proportions don't always need to be 100% accurate, but it's good to analyze the artists you like and see which rules they break and which ones are necessary for us to understand something as a figure.

I'd just redraw it! Repeating can really help you improve. But maybe try to use gesture. It tends to be the best tool to make an anatomically correct, stiff figure really striking and different. Maybe you could also try to focus on the underlying form? Try to really simplify it as much as you can, see if you can put cylinders or boxes or however you simplify the figure under that to make sure any foreshortening or different perspectives are really working out. You could try to see if there's some kind of action line you liked in your less anatomically correct sketch to maintain in your new one.

I can't really tell you specifically what's the best improvement since I haven't seen your sketches, but these could be good things to try out!

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Re: Drawing characters: Anatomically correct vs. looks good

#8 Post by hiko27 »

I do both if I could. There are tons of poses out there that can be anatomically correct and still look cool. Usually, changing the perspective makes a drawing more interesting. Well, it does for me. But having a drawing be anatomically correct doesn't mean you have to sacrifice how good it looks. Usually, if the pose doesn't look cool, you could just change the perspective. Or maybe you could change other elements of your drawing. Make bolder lines, change your color palette, change your composition, add more elements to your drawing. And if you're doing digital, you have more at your disposal. One thing I seem to notice that Japanese artists on pixiv use is the "copy layer > gaussian blur > burn, around 50%-ish" technique.

As for personal or commissions... I try to do the same for both. Sometimes though, my commissions don't come out as amazing as I imagined them to be. It has to be anatomically correct, and looks cool, but not all the commissions I get inspire me to do the latter. But recently, I talked with a friend of mine who gets a whole lot of commissions every month on DA, and asked her about it. She's been doing commissions for three years, and what she told me was that she usually goes for "looks good" for her commissions, that she's giving the commissioners what they want. That's how she's been able to get commissions for three years. If you do think about it, if you're doing commissions, you ARE doing business. And a business mindset tends to think of "Okay, so they want this, I'll make it like that and I'm done" or something like that. Totally opposite of how you would think if you were doing personal artworks, where the aim is to improve/test yourself or just draw what you want to draw. Doesn't mean you can't do both for commissions. It's really up to the artist themselves.
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Re: Drawing characters: Anatomically correct vs. looks good

#9 Post by ffocal »

If you flip it and it looks wrong, you really can't use it, because after a while the places where it's wrong will come through even without flipping it, when your brain gets out of drawing mode and into viewing mode. If you've already polished it by then it'll be a disaster...

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Re: Drawing characters: Anatomically correct vs. looks good

#10 Post by Noyemi K »

ffocal wrote:If you flip it and it looks wrong, you really can't use it, because after a while the places where it's wrong will come through even without flipping it, when your brain gets out of drawing mode and into viewing mode. If you've already polished it by then it'll be a disaster...
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