The Spine

The Back is Not Straight. The spin curves, and you have to remember this or else your character will look very stiff. The more you bend and twist the spine (in physically possible ways) the more natural the pose will look. When varying the spine, it is important to remember balance. If a person looks off balance, it will be very obvious to the viewer. They may not know ‘what’ is wrong, but they’ll see that something is off.

The hips are a very important part of the body, and a very difficult part as well. Since complex poses often require the legs to be in positions more diverse then the basic standing pose, the hips can quickly become a problem area. Many people tend to squish them in ways they shouldn’t be squished.

Figure 3.1 shows the hips of the female figure highlighted. This basic shape remains the same in all poses. There will always be this height and width of space at the base of the waist, no matter what pose the legs are in.

Figure 3.2 shows the profile view shown before. The lighter circle shows the direction of the legs when standing, and the darker circle and highlighted area shows the legs when bent. Notice how the shape of the hips and torso remain the same. Imagine that the legs are attached to the hips. They bend, while the hips remain basically the same.

Figure 3.3 shows the new location of the legs when bent forward. The shape of the hips has remained the same. The upper hips and butt still maintain their original shape, while the legs have bent forward.

If you can remember this, you will have a lot less trouble moving the legs into different and more complex poses, from multiple views and angles.

Even when you have a complete understanding of the way the human body is shaped, and how it bends and changes, there is still one problem remaining before you can create a complete pose. You have to think one up. When drawing out a manga, or an image with a specific intent, the process of coming up with the pose you want, isn’t quite as difficult, but when you don’t have a specific idea in mind, it can become a timely and annoying process.

Try uses resources like magazines or catelogs to practice a variety of poses. You may also want to look into a photographic pose book from your local book store (try barnes and noble) - There are art guide books that are nothing but a hundred+ pages of photographs of real people performing various stances, poses, and stunts.

If you can't find/afford one of these books (or your parents won't let you have one - the people in these books are completely nude), then try looking at yourself infront of a full-length wall mirror. Make sure to examine all the details before you return to your drawing.

Examine where things are located in comparrison to the other things around it. How far out does the elbow extend - further or not as far as the foot down on the ground - things like that. And remember them! You have to remember these details or you'll have to keep getting up and looking again and again. The closer and more thuroughly you examine the figure in the mirror, the less trouble you'll have when drawing.

I feel that a number of people could actually find this pose useful.
The idea is that the person is leaning over and removing their shoe (My idea for this was that the Japanese always remove their shoes when entering a house). But the pose itself is also a great example of a couple of very important principles. Balance and Foreshortening.

Probably the most difficult part of this particular pose is making the upper torso, neck, and head look like they’re actually connected and that each is closer then the other. For this we use layering. The head is obviously closer to the point of view then anything else, and since it is completely bent forward, the neck isn’t viewable at all.

Once again, I used an oval along the top of the shoulders to remind myself that there is thickness there. Layered below the shoulders is the rib cage, and below that are the hips.

Since this figure is quickly standing on one foot, the balance is slightly unstable. One arm is reaching down and exerting some force to remove the shoe, so to keep from falling over, she has to stick her left arm out to maintain balance. Little things like this will help keep you poses looking lifelike and realistic.

If you ever find that you’re stuck with a pose, and you just can’t picture it in your mind, a full-sized wall mirror can be a great help.

Stand in front of the mirror, attempt to keep the pose you want and stand there examining and memorizing as many things about it as you can. Pay attention to where something is in comparison to something else. Does one thing stick out to the left further then another thing? How far down from the waist is the right hip? The left hip? Is there an angle?

This pose presents us with an rare situation. Seeing the chest from above. When drawing in the breasts, gravity had to be taken into account. Their presence actually made the image simpler, making it easier to layer the image and create a believable foreshortening effect. Truly giving the appearance that the head and upper torso were closer then the waist and hips.

The body isn’t the only location with foreshortening. The left arm is bent and positioned in a manner that the upper arm is perfectly perpendicular with the point of view. Once again, layering is used to create the illusion of depth. Since the shoulder is closer then the arm, and the shoulder is virtually blocking the entire upper-arm, the shoulder is all you see. It gets thinner from the bulk of the shoulder to the elbow - this also creates the illusion of depth.

Remember, objects further away from the point of view are smaller then objects that are closer. Also, when a solid object is partially far away, and partially very close, it is a lot shorter then it would be, if it were parallel to the point of view. In other words, a person looking up at the camera from an angle would have a shorter body, the feet being the smallest area. In this image, this applies to the torso. The torso is very ‘short’ in this image because part of it is close, and part of it is further away.