The Caique Lady

[Saelyra]

For my Drawing II series, I decided to do drawings of the female figure with clothing/costume/whatnot design mimicking certain species of birds. First is the black-headed caique... I'm trying to finish these by the 9th (I think is the due date), so there might be more to post later. Right now I need to go to bed XD
Concept sketch (http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y29/rikaierain/birdladies1.jpg), base sketch (http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y29/rikaierain/caique-lady.jpg), and earlier WIP (http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y29/rikaierain/caique-lady2.jpg).

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y29/rikaierain/caique-lady3.jpg

I could use some crit on this one, I think. I'm probably going to break from it a bit while I get feedback, because the forearms have me baffled. I just couldn't get the hand down for the life of me, so I said 'blah' to it all and decided to try a long glove or somesuch. It looks.. a little weird though, but I havent shaded it yet. Do you think it would be better as perhaps a sort of thin shirt underneath the sleeves and white peice, with the fingers exposed?
Just thinking out loud, and now I ramble. I should really be asleep. o_o

Please let me know anything you notice!

[AmontilladoAg]

Interesting idea :)

Hope you don't mind, but I scrawled a few suggestions over your pic:
1) her right hand isn't bad, it just needs the finger extended a bit...
2) I'd give her left hand a more natural position, like the bird was perched on her finger rather than standing on her hand...
3) her shoulders might need to be sloped a little more, unless she's got curved shoulder pads or something ;)

This "lady in plumage" thing is cool... you might think about connecting those green sleeves with the white front; it'd make it seem more like a conventional top :)

Keep up the good work! :teeth:

[Saelyra]

Oh, nice idea, thank you!

And yes, the sleeves are poofy :)

[Senira]

Your forearms are too short, which is probably what has you confused. Remember that the arm is the same length from the shoulder to the elbow and from the elbow to the wrist; you're missing a good chunk of length from the forearm as it is now. If you extend it, I think you'll see much improvement.

I agree with Amontillado's earlier comment, as well. Even with poofy sleeves the arms need a bit more slope to them. As it is, her shoulders slope upward and thus seem severely dislocated. Also, her neck is MASSIVE. Increase the size of the back of the skull and slim down the neck, and I think you'll see a more natural relationship between neck and shoulder.

Lastly, the leg is the same length from socket to knee as it is from knee to ankle; conveniently, the length of each is equal to the distance between collarbone and bellybutton. Keep that in mind when drawing your legs, as they seem much too thin and short for her body as they are now.

I'm a college student myself, so I know the pain of looming deadlines, but these are things to keep in mind the next time you get to work on something. Good luck with your series!

[Saelyra]

Alright, I'll see if I cant fix some of those to an extent (considering the medium).
The neck should be easier to correct; I knew it was too large, and tried slimming it down and adding some more hair to compensate, but the hair is such a similar tone to the skin that it looks like a bit blob-ish.

On the note of proportion this and anatomy that, I've sketched out the basics for my next part of the series (trying to switch around a bit to keep me aware of mistakes); I'll go ahead and post it here, so as not to spam with another thread.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y29/rikaierain/heronlady.jpg

Any ideas? Thanks again for pointers thus far!

[Senira]

I did a paint over this time, since it's easier to show than tell with things like this. Most of my suggestions coincide with what I said for your first image; everything else are just some other minor things I noticed at first glance.

I'd go into more detail, but it's almost 4AM here and I'm about to drop dead. Much luck on your project; I hope this helps!

[Saelyra]

Thank you so much! That does help a ton. I'm much more used to drawing males, which is part of why I chose this assignment; to improve my female anatomy. So the corrections are much appreciated :)

[Saelyra]

Here (http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y29/rikaierain/sunbirdlady.jpg) is the sketch of the next one. I'm not asking for a redline or anything because I hate to bother you nice folk so much, but if you see any quirks I'd love to hear about it! Especially being such an unusual pose, I'm sure there are some. I'm just going a little scatterbrained trying to finish these up in 32 hours XD

[AmontilladoAg]

Her neck is still kinda thick -- it's like she has a man's neck, almost. Her left forearm and her calves could use a little more flesh, though, and her feet seem awfully small..

Hope this helps :teeth: