Thoughts?

[Zink]

The anatomy on this is giving me trouble. Everything looks a little bit awkward right now, the collar bones in particular.
I was thinking of completely scrapping the body and taking some reference pictures from a different angle.
The perspective looks strange, but I can't quite see why. I probably should have worked that all out earlier in the process.

Any suggestions/overall crits will be very much appreciated. Thanks~

[FourTonMantis]

neck is too thick, head is too big, perspective is off. did you have ref for this?

[Elwell]

The anatomy on this is giving me trouble. Everything looks a little bit awkward right now, the collar bones in particular.
I was thinking of completely scrapping the body and taking some reference pictures from a different angle.
The perspective looks strange, but I can't quite see why. I probably should have worked that all out earlier in the process.

Any suggestions/overall crits will be very much appreciated. Thanks~

Crits: Everything looks a bit awkward, the collar bones in particular. The perspective looks strange.
Suggestions: Take some reference pictures. Work things out earlier in the process. Oh, and LISTEN TO YOURSELF.

[Grunler]

Seconding Elwell. Sounds like you already know your biggest issues and how to fix them, so I'll just encourage you to do that.

I think working out the entire figure in your sketches might also help with the perspective, even if you crop it later. Her head is in profile, while her body is viewed from overhead, and the body below the breasts is just a vague block of grey. Besides that, the whooshy lines coming from her body aren't working, and don't seem necessary. I can tell there's wind from her hair blowing, and if she's meant to be falling or flying, you'd need a different composition entirely to get that across.

Rather than scrap the body, I would just start over. The head isn't awful or anything, but I think it'd be counter productive to try to make it work with a new body.

[Zink]

I used my own refs, but different ones for the head and body - that's where it started going wrong.
I think rather than start over I'll just drop this picture and start on something more exciting, since there isn't much of a concept or interest to this.

Thanks for your comments, I'll keep it in mind for my future pieces.

[arenhaus]

I'll just drop this picture and start on something more exciting, since there isn't much of a concept or interest to this.

Actually, there is a lot of interest to be found even in the simplest composition: the angle, foreshortening, expression, lighting...

If you are going to start over, start with structure and perspective. I think your main problem was rushing into detail before solving the structure.

[Zink]

Thanks arenhaus.

I started again, though it is quite different - but not enough so to start a new thread.
This time I began with a pencil sketch, which seems to work much better for me.
I plan on getting rid of the lines before I start with colour and I might thicken her waist.
Any glaring mistakes?

[arenhaus]

Any glaring mistakes?

Enough to make me think you've rushed into detailing again.

Do some anatomical studies. You're not thinking clearly in terms of muscles and other structures - learn where everything connects, don't just guess.

[Zink]

Enough to make me think you've rushed into detailing again.

Do some anatomical studies. You're not thinking clearly in terms of muscles and other structures - learn where everything connects, don't just guess.

Fair enough... Though I didn't feel like I was guessing, I took my time with the sketch and followed my ref as well as I could. I have done a fair amount of anatomical studies, but clearly not enough, or atleast not recently enough. (Not that I'm making excuses, you're absolutely right about not understanding where things connect) Is there something specific, or is it just the entire figure?

I'll look over it again, thanks~

[hziegel]

Compare the size of the two upper arms, and you'll see what he meant. The chest is also very tiny and kind of weirdly shaped, as if there are no ribs. The neck is kind of disconnected from the head/collar, and the muscles behind her neck are distorted.

Something I've found is that doing anatomy studies is pointless unless you know what you're looking at. Rather than copying an image, try to get a feel for the 3D object, and most importantly the living person. What muscles are connecting her arm to her shoulder, and what direction do they go in? How does the shape of her skull impact the relationship between her nose and cheek?

In my opinion, you're using line art as a crutch. It's something all art students do at some point, and I had issues with this myself for years. Force yourself to do value studies without drawing any lines at all, only focusing on the planes and shapes. When you do use lines, use them to draw a skeleton rather than contours, and then paint shapes on top of that frame, keeping in mind what each shape is and why it's needed. The difference between cartoons and painting is 2D vs. 3D. Once you start thinking in 3D, you'll be able to paint objects rather than just shapes.