Females and Anatomy

[Nick-Toney]

Hi everyone, I'm a new user here at CA.

Just wondering if I could get some help drawing the female anatomy, nothing specific body part-wise, I need help with the body-shape.

Here's what I'm talking about:

http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff4/Therhi/KnuyiaLineart.jpg



So can anyone help me out here?

[Razorleaf]

Try this link ... it might be helpful.

http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://www.azillionmonkeys.com/qed/sketchw179.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.azillionmonkeys.com/qed/artwomen.shtml&h=1037&w=935&sz=227&hl=en&start=18&tbnid=J3Ao00CKzb6DlM:&tbnh=150&tbnw=135&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dfantasy%2Bwomen%26imgsz%3Dxxlarge%26g bv%3D2%26hl%3Den

[JParrilla]

Well the problem isnt female specific in that drawing.. its proportion issues. The forearms are very wierd.. and the way they connect to the hands is way off. The hands are also very small. You should check out Andrew Loomis, George Bridgman, or any other figure drawing books to figure out how each body part should look and how big they should be in proportion to each other

[Jasonwclark]

This is really better suited to the critique section, but since you're here...

I'm not going to go into the shape and proportion of the body, because that needs a lot of work. Instead I'd suggest just working on soft curves. You want to think rounder. Sharp angles, like the ones you're employing here (especially around the jaw), will make pretty much any figure look more masculine. The expression is good, but the position of the features on her face and the size of her skull, make her look more like an alien, dwarf, or stylized child. The eyes and ears are too large, for example, and the lips set too low. The face tattoos, arm bands, and anime/punk hair aren't really helping either. I find that the manga style makes male figures look more androgynous relative to western expectations, which doesn't do much for you here, since you want something that is clearly 'female' and not just effeminate.

Check out Razorleafs link though. It should help :)

[JParrilla]

The more obvious and simple answer to this.. the one that I should have given you at first.. is to draw from life. If you can.. go to a life drawing class.. you will surely get a female model eventually and I cant think of a better way to learn how to draw a female. No book will be better than that

[PieterV]

Here's a rule of the thumb concerning male/female proportions (tough it is not necessarily true in all cases).

http://www.dhfa.net/Notebook9.jpg
( source: http://www.dhfa.net/Artiststatement2.html )

Andrew Loomis also talks about the differences between male and female proportions in his Figure Drawing For All It's Worth book.

Try doing lots of studies from reference and life, you'll improve the fastest that way.