How Do I Draw Cool Poses? Tips and Step-by-Step!
Hi everyone, my name is Reichel, and today in this video I'm going to explain how I draw more dynamic poses with movement, and I'll also give tips and show my entire process, and at the end there will be an extra tip!
#Video Tutorial
TIP 1: Use Photos and 3D
The first tip I give is to use photos, not internet photos, but photos of yourself posing.
So here, for example, in this drawing of mine, I did exactly that: I took a photo of myself in the exact pose I wanted the character to have.
So this makes the pose much more dynamic, much easier to do, because you'll be following your own anatomy and natural body movement.
So there's this, and another thing you can do is combine one of your photos with the help of 3D to create a drawing with a very dynamic pose. So you can use 3D and also use the photos you take of yourself; that helps a lot.
TIP 2: Use 3-Point Perspective
Now, another very important point is perspective. I think this is a bit more advanced because, for example, this drawing of mine is done in a perspective that only has height and width, making it look flatter.
It looks nice, it looks cool, but it doesn't have that dynamism we'd like to have in a pose, which is what we're looking for here.
This other drawing of mine, however, already has that dynamism because it was done in a 3-point perspective.
So here you'll need to know perspective well, because you'll have to apply perspective to the human body, but knowing that, you'll be able to make drawings with very good dynamism and add a lot of depth.
So there are larger parts, parts that become smaller, and all of this brings a lot of depth to the drawing.
So there's a big difference between making a drawing that only has height and width and a drawing that has height, width, and depth.
That makes the difference, and you achieve much more dynamism by adding depth to your drawings, so you have to use 3-point perspective.
Here's another drawing of mine where the camera is high up, and you can see it's a 3-point perspective. So it has height, width, and depth.
Here's another drawing of mine for you to see how it follows the line. So one hand appears larger because it's closer, while the other hand appears smaller due to perspective. The foot also diminishes, the leg along with the foot diminishes downwards because of perspective.
So being able to apply 3-point perspective will also help a lot, but this is a bit more advanced, because you need to know both perspective and how to draw the human body, its anatomy, in 3 points of perspective.
TIP 3: Use Hands and Feet
This next tip is very easy to apply, very simple to understand. So you have your little character here, and you notice that when you draw the character straight, with just height and width, they will have both hands and both feet the same size.
So my tip is, make one foot and one hand different sizes. So you put one hand back, it will be smaller; you put the other hand forward, it will be bigger. Or you put one foot forward, it will be bigger, and one foot back, it will be smaller.
So just by putting one hand forward and one hand back, as they are inherently the same size, you intuitively know that hands and feet are the same size, you create a lot of dynamism, a lot of depth.
Because we know, this hand is smaller, this hand is bigger, it's because something is in front and the other is behind. So I do this a lot in my drawings to give that depth.
So here you can see that one hand appears very large in the front and the other hand is tiny in the back.
Here I've already applied it with the feet, so you can see that one foot is larger in the front and the other foot is smaller in the back.
This is precisely to create that depth, because it adds a lot of dynamism.
And here I've done it with both: so there's a big foot in front, larger in front, a smaller foot behind, a larger hand in front, a smaller hand behind.
So that's it, you create dynamism and depth if you perform this operation. Foot in front, foot behind, hand in front, hand behind.
TIP 4: Misalign the Body
Now here I've drawn this character pose, and now I want to try to make this same pose more dynamic.
How do I make it more dynamic? So one main thing is that the character's axis is completely straight, between the head, torso, and hips. So pay attention to these three boxes: the face, the torso, the chest, and the hips, how they are perfectly aligned in the middle.
To make this pose more dynamic, we'll need to disconnect these parts. So we'll shift the axis of the head to one side, shift the middle of the torso to the other side, and shift the hips to the other side as well. So when you take these three body parts and you make them misaligned, shifting their middle, their center, to different sides, you also gain a lot of dynamism in the character's pose.
So a pose that seemed static and simple gains a lot of movement.
Step-by-Step
So now here I'm starting to sketch a character who is dancing. So I start by drawing her very loosely, and I'm going to apply this tip, I'm going to try to use all the tips I gave you, which is to put one hand forward, put one hand back, to make one hand larger and the other hand smaller.
I'll do the same with the feet, making one foot smaller and one foot larger as well, to gain dynamism.
Now that I've finished the sketch, I've left it in blue. Underneath, I create a new layer, and now I'm going to draw with a bit more detail. So the first sketch is very loose, very free, and now I'm going to add a bit more detail, but not too much.
And I'll also define more of the facial expressions I want for the character, how I'll create her hair, her movement, her gaze—all of this now in this part I'll try to draw with a bit more detail. But I won't draw with too much detail; I'll save the clothes for later, so I'll first draw the character without clothes, and then I'll add the clothes once the anatomy is correct.
Now here I took several photos of myself as reference to see what the pose would be like, especially for the hands, that's why I took them, but it also helps to see the folds of the clothes.
So I'm also going to draw her with a hoodie, and I'm already wearing the hoodie in the photo. So taking photos of yourself posing will help you a lot, especially in getting the specific hand pose right, because there's a lot of variation. The clothing folds will also help, the angle to check if it's correct, the anatomy, all of that, and also how to bring naturalness, because one bad thing about using a limitation, in the case of the video using 3D for posing, is that it doesn't account for naturalness.
So if you do the pose, your whole body will naturally react to that pose, and you'll make it much more natural.
So now in this final sketch phase, let's say, I'm already adding more details to the clothes, defining the hand more precisely, making everything as if it were the final drawing itself.
And doing this more detailed part, making everything neat, will help you a lot when it comes to the line art, because then you won't need to redraw too much in that part; it's just about doing the line art more smoothly.
And now there's a somewhat later phase, already at the end, which is for me to redo, to make small adjustments that are bothering me. For example, the shoe, I'll change the angle; it was pointing up, I'll turn it down, the sole, and here I generally keep my drawing, the sketch part, very small.
Then I duplicate it and make some alterations to that copy I made, and see if it will look better than the previous one, or if the previous one was already good.
So basically, it's about redoing, making some adjustments, like, "Ah, this pose, would this leg look better if it were lower or higher, if it were smaller, if it were larger?"
You do all of this in this final adjustment part of the pose, until you get it right, and you compare it to the previous drawings, seeing if it's improving, if it's getting worse, if it was better before—so this is the final adjustments part.
And now that I've finished this entire sketching phase, I'm going to start doing the line art. So I'll do a more normal anime line art, black line, normal, without texture, without anything.
So just the normal G-pen, without anything, I set it to 1.50mm, and I allow it to vary with my pressure. So if I apply less force, it will be thinner; if I apply more force, it will be thicker. Thus, you use the pressure variation itself to get this variation in line thickness.
Once this line art part is finished, I start the painting part, the painting stage. So one thing I do is select the background, then I invert the selection, and then it selects the character. And I put an entire layer of color on the character, on the characters in the scene.
Then I zoom in and deselect where the background is actually selected and not the character. So this is just for me to block out the entire character, and then make it easier when I'm going to do the colors, to apply the color.
Alright, after I've already applied the colors, now I just put that mask on top, and everything I paint on top, on the upper layer, will stay within the bottom layer, the first one I made.
So the colors, as I paint, nothing will go outside, nothing will go into the background. So it's basically just me painting and selecting.
And if the line art is well-closed, you can paint very quickly, without the ink spreading out.
So, once this base color part is finished, I create a new layer and set it to multiply, and I start doing the shadow, painting the shadow in this case.
So, where I want to go, here I already put a single color, a warm gray, a purplish gray, and then I start painting where I think there should be a shadow on the character. I do this throughout the entire character until I finish.
Then I create a new layer, also set to multiply, and redo the shadows again, making them a little stronger in some areas.
So in some areas where I don't want the shadow to be too strong, I only leave one shadow layer, and in those where I want it to be a bit darker, I leave two shadow layers. I also add a touch of red to the cheeks, ears, and fingers as well.
And I also add a bit of white for the light effects. This is a very simple painting, so I won't add too many details.
EXTRA TIP
KNOW THE PROPORTION:
So my character's entire height is this line, then I divide this line in half.
So the upper part will be the torso, and the lower part will be all of the legs. So all the lower part will be below this line, and all the upper part of the body will be above this line, which is divided in the middle.
You draw a 'briefs' shape in this lower part, which will be the hip area, where I stopped drawing.
After this blue middle line up to the top line, I divide it in half again. Divide it in half again. And then I mark the nipples.
Our character. Then from the nipple up to the top, I mark, I divide in half again, and then we have the head. So we have the head, the nipples, and the hips.
Just dividing in half. From the head to the nipple, I divide in half again. And then you'll have the shoulder here.
You'll mark the shoulder here, and then you can already mark the chest. So we already know this proportion here.
From the middle of the nipple to the middle of the 'briefs' shape, we divide in half again.
And then we'll have the belly button and the elbow. So it will be at this mark here. And at the very end, we can already mark where the wrist will be more or less.
So here we basically have the entire proportion of the upper torso, always dividing in half. So if there's a line, you divide in half, divide in half, divide in half.
Now for the legs, just follow down to the bottom line. From that mark. And then divide in half from the 'briefs' shape down to the floor.
This division in the middle will be the knee. So we'll mark below the knee here. I'll mark the feet down there.
Just that little triangle. From the middle of the knee to the 'briefs' shape, we mark in the middle again, divide in half again. And we'll have the hands.
So the end of the hand will be at this proportion. If we divide from the knee to the foot down there, we'll have the proportion of the calf. And from the calf to the end, we'll also have the proportion of the foot, which I had drawn before.
So this is basically the proportion. And then it becomes one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. So it ends up being exactly eight heads tall.
Thanks & Bye!
And that's it for today, this video ends here. I hope it helps you draw, how to say, more dynamic poses, with more movement. Also, if you don't know how to practice drawing the body and the proportion used.
So there are several different proportions, but I think this one is easier to remember. So that's it.
Bye and see you next time!
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