Bucky lives in a sleepy town, shares a house with his should-be-boyfriend Steve, and helps Wanda with her crafts. He likes hanging out with Clint the owner of the animal shelter, and drinking Natasha’s delicious coffee at the bakery. But there is something off about this life that Bucky can’t quite place; Tony Stark dislikes him for no apparent reason, his dreams are too strange to understand, and his left arm occasionally glints under the light. A series of strange events clue Bucky in on the fact that maybe their lives aren’t what they seem…
First, I have to apologize because it’s gonna be a long post, consider it as my “DEFINITIVE REFERENCE PICTURE POST” 🙂
I’m obligated to use references to draw something a bit different.(…) I want to leave my comfort zone and draw poses from
my imagination alone. Any tips, tutorials ? ❤
The first step is drawing all kind of poses under different angles using reference pictures. What? But…I don’t want to!! That’s why I’m contacting you P-M!!! WHAT THE HELL!!!
Calm down ^^
It’s necessary in order to build in your head a kind of “visual library” that will give you the possibility to draw without references later. It will train your eye and your hand. Also, at the same time you’re working on your “visual library”, you have to study anatomy techniques like for instance breaking figures
from reference down into more simple 3D shapes. You have to learn how to draw groups
of simple 3D shapes in perspective and then construct figures from them. However, it doesn’t come in one day and also, you’ll have to use tons of reference pics AT FIRST. You see what I mean? You can’t go from zero reference to “cool figure drawing” in one step, you have to use the combo “reference + anatomy technique” to be able to reach this goal.
Artists who train in
illustration are taught how to draw from using a building block tool for construction, much
like some of the pictures that you can see below.
As I said above, it really takes a lot of training and practice
to build objects from shapes. Basically every form begins as a shape. The more experience you
get, the more you understand proportions and the more skills you will have to draw
without visual reference.
In order to reach this result, you have to study anatomy tutorials. They always work more or less the same
way, a bit like the pic above: decomposing the human body in geometric shapes or in elaborated stick
figures. Here are a couple of video tuts.
TLDR: practice over and over again by using refs. Create a “visual library”. Learn to break the body into shapes. That will be the only way to make you come out of your comfort zone.
(Rainbow Comic Sans for maximum effect. I guess that now, I have everybody’s attention if it wasn’t the case til now)
Yes, you have rules to make
things easier to draw from memory BUT THERE IS NOTHING WRONG ABOUT USING REFERENCE PICTURES!! It shouldn’t “kill you”, it shouldn’t make you feel guilty and you shouldn’t feel “less of an artist” because you need references for complicated poses!!! Plenty of pros don’t do art without models and props. And the old masters did the same thing. You want examples? Ok, let’s start!
Here’s a great quote from Alex Ross’ book, Mythology.
Ross’
biggest breakthrough as an illustrator came in June 1987 at the
American Academy of Art, when he was introduced to the use of live
models. “Before that, I had no idea how much I could grow as a
draftsman. It was a huge turning point, because all through
grade school I hadn’t so much as drawn from photographs_I’d always
thought that you had to make it all up out of your head, and that’s how
you did ‘fantasy’ illustration. Now I wonder if I would have developed
even sooner had I drawn from life as child”
Photo session for a Superman drawing:
Alex Ross using the photos for his work (and you see the pose is not even complicated!)
posing with…huh…a modern day sword for one of his artworks)
And if you want a funny anecdote, you see Dean’s shoes in this art? It’s mine. I had a problem with the pose so I took a pic of myself with a camera and worked from the pic.
Yeah…but for manga and
comics, it’s more stylized, they don’t use refs…Artists draw from the top of
their heads…and…HA! HA! HA!!!! MEGA LOL! Two examples from my personal archive. Here is a
picture taken from a Japanese program. I don’t remember the name of the artist but
this mangaka is drawing a page for his forthcoming comic and instead of drawing
from memory do you know what he did? He asked his assistant to pose for him. He took a pic with a Polaroid and…voilà!
The guy
is in his 70′s!! He’s a super experienced artist and he still uses references
for his art.
Let’s carry on! Another example. When I was a
teen I bought an artbook by artist Takeda Yaoi
(my first yaoi stuff!)
and two of the poses looked
familiar.
You bet it looked familiar. The artist used as reference, pictures of members from some my favorite bands at the time, Gene and Menswear (90′s
teenagers, fan of Britpop, hello…).
(Pictures: L’UOMO Vogue, May-June 1995). And yes, we are in 2016 and I still have this magazine and this artbook at home. I..have problem throwing things away, ok? ><
Also, do you know what comic
artists use nowadays for referencing? 3D softwares like Poser.They create the pose with a 3D model, they orientate the model according to the perspective they want and they use it as ref. It doesn’t mean they aren’t “real” artists, it just makes life fucking easier and it reduces the chances of anatomy mistakes.
(The picture above proves that not ALL the artists in the business use models or reference pictures xD)
Listen, I understand that you want to draw from imagination, that for some reason it makes you feel “freer” and that some poses are complicated to obtain from refs (the super dynamic “spider man poses” for instance) but it shouldn’t “kill you” to need refs to draw the human body when you really need it. If it’s to sketch or to draw “super comic style” poses, ok, why not, but otherwise WHEN IN DOUBT: REF!!! Particularly when you work on something complicated or on a big project like an artwork, for a book, a comic cover, etc..Do you understand? Even dôjinshi artists who seem to sketch things from the top of their heads use refs. I KNOW IT BECAUSE I KNEW SOME OF THEM.
TLDR2: Drawing from imagination is cool, it’s convenient for some poses or for some styles (super dynamic comic poses) but otherwise, don’t feel guilty for using refs! Pro artists do it all the time and now that 2000000 miliion images are available on the Internet, they do it even more than before!
DOGGIE AU PART 3 (mainly because I have no impulse-control. Ever.)
“What the ever loving hell is this.”
Borky and Stebe look up at Sam’s voice from where they were digging the third hole. They bark in excitement and run to him even if they’re a bit miffed they couldn’t surprise him with Hole Number 4 which would’ve been the Best.
“Nat! Why didn’t you do anything?!”
“And then!” Clint takes Stebe’s head between his hands.
“And then she asked me out on a date!”
Stebe whines at Clint’s high pitched voice and sticks his head between the couch cushions. Clint pats him and apologizes.
“Of course I said yes. After she blew up the building.”
Stebe does. Not. Like. Cats. Especially that Devil of Mrs Wittgers.
Nat sighs as she climbs the tree for the third time this week to get him.
Borky growls. This evil creature will not get the best of him. He growls again, louder, and doesn’t break eye contact. He will win.
“Sam, Borky is scaring Butterblossom.”
Wanda snags up her bunny and coos at it soothingly.
“Borky, down.”
Did that malicious fiend just smirk at him???
Sam loves it that Borky is so affectionate. Trying to climb up onto his lap and wanting cuddles. Licking his chin and burrowing into his chest like a medium sized ball of fluff. Or just lying curled up on his chest and snoring softly.
What he doesn’t love so much is the farting. In his face.
Stebe is running after a laughing Steve through garden, both golden and radiant in the sunlight. Borky whines longingly from where he’s lying in Bucky’s lap. Bucky pets him.
“I get it, pal. I get it.”
Sam pats his own shoulder. He’s a genius. Borky takes to the ball in a matter of seconds, nosing it through the living room and yipping happily when it lets out a squeak.
Sam is an idiot. He puts a pillow over his head as Borky, proud of his new toy, pads up and down the bed, ball between his jaws, squeaking with every step. Squeak, squeak, squeak.
Clint rubs his arms as he’s waiting for the coffee machine. He wishes Nat would turn up the heating but alas.
Stebe pads up to him, dropping something at his feet. Clint grins and scratches his ears. …
“Clint, why are you wearing my dressing gown.”
“It’s a gift from Stebe. It’s mine now.”
First a blanket for Sam. Then a pillow. He noses the TV remote to his human friend, gets Blanket and climbs into Sam’s lap.
Sam smiles down at him wetly and hugs Borky to his chest.
“Thank you.”
Stebe barks and lies down, paws over his snout, before getting up and shuddering. Borky is silent for a second, then barks in agreement.
“What do you think they’re talking about?”
“Probably your meatloaf. What did you even put in there?”
Nat slaps Sam’s arm none too gently.
Fan is Borky’s new Bestest Friend. Sam agrees and lies down behind Borky. This heat wave can suck it.
Stebe Loves laundry day, he thinks as he snuggles deeper into the freshly dried and warm clothes. Natasha does not.
“No.”
“But think of the possibilities! You would match!”
“No.”
“But–”
“Tony, I forbid you from making wings for Borky.”
The first time Stebe saw T’Challa in costume he jumped straight into Natasha’s arms.
Borky on the other hand padded up to him, sat on his hind legs, and pawed at the air in a clear sign of “Pick me up and give me cuddles.”
Stebe doesn’t understand this kind of reckless behavior at all.
So Stebe and Nat like to go parachuting.
Nat does not expect this when she opens the text. It’s a picture of Borky in a corner, miserably looking over his shoulder and into the camera. There’s a sign leaning against his back. “I’ve been put in Time Out until I learn to respect the sanctity of Sam’s potted plants.”
“We were still doing Political Animals when Sebastian met with [Picnic director] Sam Gold and he told me about it, and then I was all excited for him because I thought it was a wonderful part for him, and then all of a sudden I got a call to meet with Sam. When I did, I told him how much I enjoyed working with Sebastian, and I was kind of pitching him to Sam. And Sam said, “I’m hiring him.” So he had already decided. I was very excited for him. He’s a darling guy. He’s just real sweet and we are having a very good time.” -Ellen Burstyn
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