Anatomy/Cloth Level-Up - Phil Mehr SB

Torch

Hey all, figured I'd get a sketchbook going as I really want to push my Anatomy/Cloth skills further - right now my anatomical knowledge is pretty dire XO

Been working on a japanese character this evening, going for a lean build so not too muscly. I'm sure there are quite a few glaring issues so please point them out and I will address them as best as I can Cheers!

Torch

Made some proportional changes, worked some more on the hands. Still lots to do, any C&C would be great

BradMyers82

Hey man, nice start. I think you got into detailing too quickly. The proportions of this guy are off in many places. Arms look a little too long, hands too big, Skull mishapened (it looks bigger in the forehead area, when really it should be the opposite.), knees too low, legs and thighs too thick, hips and gluts need a lot of work, pull the shoulders back from the side view, make shoulders fuller, and work on the insertion points chest to shoulder, back to shoulder.

The hands on there own however actually look quite good! I would step back a few subds, get out some more anatomy reference and really crank on this for a while. I find it not only helps to have good anatomy sources but also other artist sculpts to compare yours to and try to see why there's is looking better than yours.

Torch

Hi Brad, thanks a lot for the detailed critique - much appreciated I actually started off from Dynamesh and made the base a little too high XO I'll address all the points mentioned and come back with an update soon, cheers!

Torch

Tried to address some of the issues mentioned and changed some proportions, still trying to keep the guy quite lean with some definition. Please keep crits coming, could really use them

BradMyers82

looking better but you need to push this much further! Just keep working at it. Off the top of my head I would refine the legs more so they arn't just basic tapered cylinders, the knee joint is too wide, the back of the knee isn't connecting right there. You should have more seperation in that joint. The ass is too dumpy, like an out of shape female. Bring it up much higher and make the upper part stand up much higher as well. The crease in the groin area is too harsh and not technically correct. work on that some more. Don't pinch the bicep into the forarm like that, there should be seperation there (same proboblem as the back of the knee joint.) I still feel the hands are a bit large and the head could be larger.

/edit this isn't absolutly necessary but if you want to give him a more appealing form I would give him more of a V taper. hips more narrow shoulders more wide. If you are not trying to make a ideal male figure than you may not want to do this, but just thought I would mention.

Torch

Hey Brad, thank you for your patience, I hope it doesn't wear thin anytime soon I tried to isolate the legs to work on them closely tonight (only get a short amount of free time outside work unfortunately) and have been studying lessons from Spencer and Eaton. I'm hoping to get some Ecorche studies done soon as I think it could really help. Have to work on sharpening my forms as well! Update:

BradMyers82

yea man, coming along there! Just keep hacking away at it. One thing to be careful about is using multiple references without thinking of the forms of your particular model. I see this all the time in peoples stuff. Like you have certain areas that have crazy muscle development and other areas that are lacking and then again other areas that are super lean while other areas are way too fatty.

So for example, if you want your guy to have cut defined abs, then I should be seeing striations in various muslce groups. The uper middle quad should then pop out, and you might see the biceps split where you can clearly see each head, which you only see in very lean individuals. So don't only look at your references, but really try to imagine your characters body and understand the various muscle groups, there insertion points, how the skin lays on the muscle, the where the fatty tissue is etc. When you start to understand this stuff and apply it rather than just blindly copy reference you will see a dramatic increase in the quality of your work. Good luck man!