Hello everyone, I'm Du Du without a belly ~ today I'd like to share some of my understanding and experience of human body structure when drawing figure illustrations ~ and the creative process of my letter girls. I hope it can help you ~
Sports girl illustration Exhibition
Link through: https://www.behance.net/gallery/94226299/Sports-Girl-
This creation takes "Sports" as the theme. After "music girl", it also creates "sports girl". This time, it is mainly displayed in the form of English letters. Most of the inspiration comes from Olympic sports, followed by yoga. It shows the rhythmic beauty of sports through character images. After more than half a year of intermittent and fragmented creation, a total of 26 English letters have been created. At present, 16 letters have been created. This work is divided into two parts, and I am encouraged to continue to complete the second part.
Human body structure
1. Simple sketch of human body structure
This part mainly shares a new method of measuring the proportion of human body, the drawing method of different types of sketches, and how to find the dynamic curve of human body.
Human proportion
In measuring the proportion of human body, we usually measure the body in the unit of head height. Dr. Paul richer (anatomist) divides the proportion of human body into 7.5 units to represent symmetrical figures, and uses the height of head to measure the proportion of human body. This method is also common in painting at present.
Next, I will share Robert Beverly Hale's method of measuring human body proportion. He uses skull size as the basic unit to measure human body proportion. Many artists prefer this method. The advantage of this method is that it will better match the proportion of bones and be more accurate and easy to use when drawing some character dynamics.
Before that, you can briefly understand the name of human bones.
The skull measurement method has many advantages, because after taking the skull as a unit, you will find that many key parts of the body correspond to this unit, and the size of the skull can be measured from all directions and angles without change. In the front, when the head is not facing up or down, the bottom of the nose will only align with the skull.
We can understand the skull as a box, which is convenient for us to observe the proportion on the skeleton.
From the front, the trunk of the human body can use the width of two box units, each clavicle is also a box unit, the sternum is a unit (excluding xiphoid process), and then to the tenth rib, the whole chest will show 2 × 2 box.
Next, the distance to the bottom of the pelvis is 2 units or 2.5 units. In absolute terms, the pelvis volume of men should be larger, and the proportion of women's pelvis will be larger relative to their own weight. The female pelvis involves the function of female childbirth, so it will be special. Compared with men, it will be short and wide, so it can be understood as the length of 2 units.
The male greater trochanter is two units apart, the width of the pelvis is equal to the width of the chest, and the 10th rib should be aligned with the anterior superior iliac spine. The width of the female pelvis is 2 units, no longer aligned with the chest, and the distance between the greater trochanter is wider.
Viewed from the side, the pit in the neck is aligned with the chest next to the edge of the box. And the sternum leans forward, and the cartilage continues to pass through the sternum for about half a unit. The width of the pelvis is usually 1 unit, the length of the legs is 6 units, which are the upper three and the lower three respectively, and the lower three feet are one unit height. From the side, the length of the feet is 1.5 units and half a unit high.
Let's look up at the arm. The length of the humerus at the arm is 2 units. The joint from elbow to hand is 2 units. The hand is 1 unit long. At the junction of the greater trochanter and the top of the tibia, there are 3 downward units as the joint boundary, and then add the foot downward as 3 units.
When you understand the human body's scale system, you can put the box scale into consideration when drawing characters. The box drawing method can help you adjust whether the human body's scale is appropriate, help you find the general structure of characters, and can be used as an auxiliary method to find the human body's scale.
Of course, this ratio is not absolute. I tried to use this method to test many different human bone pictures. The biggest difference is that the height of the pelvis is different. Some pelvis plus head and torso will just be 6 box units, while others will show 6.5 box units. Studies have shown that there are great differences in the shape and structure of pelvis among women of different countries and ages due to the influence of race, nutrition, genetics and endocrine factors. But in most cases, using 6 box units and 6.5 box units can meet the normal painting needs. This method is very helpful and valuable for us to draw most of the human body dynamics. I hope this method can play a guiding or auxiliary role for you.
Types and drawing methods of simple sketches
Next, we will introduce two simple sketch types.
- Egg shape
Use egg shaped ellipses to express the structure of human chest and pelvis, and then draw the limbs of the character with simple lines. This method can draw the human trunk very simply and quickly.
- Basin shape
Similar to the egg shape, the chest and pelvis are simply drawn by simple strokes, which will be closer to the outline of the skeleton.
Personally, I prefer to use egg shape to draw sketches, which is relatively simple and fast. When drawing, I can further simplify the sketches.
Of course, the above simple lines will make the characters look very stiff. Pay attention to observing and analyzing the characters' actions when drawing dynamics.
△ the picture comes from vogu and femin official websites
We can also understand a person's chest and pelvis as a box and draw the person's chest and pelvis diagonally. Draw the arms and legs of a character with lines, and simply outline the momentum of a character. The direction of the shoulder is opposite to that of the pelvis. If the left and right balance is broken, the human body will show momentum and appear less rigid.
The lines are curves with rhythm and fluidity. When drawing the shape sketch, we should reduce the entanglement of details as much as possible, and first ensure that the momentum of the characters is balanced and rhythmic. In the above ways, you can choose a method you are used to to trying to practice.
- Find the dynamic curve of the body
The dynamic curve of the body determines whether the character looks dynamic or not. When drawing dynamic lines, use curves as much as possible and reduce the use of straight lines. The movement trend of lines can make the picture look more flexible and help to draw in the next step.
When drawing, make the lines as simple as possible, along the length of the trunk, along the length of the legs and along the length of the arms. Use the simplest curve combination of lines C, s or I to minimize complex lines.
Students who are not very skilled in the early stage can find some character photos as exercises. Photos can help them quickly master the momentum, balance point and center of gravity of the human body, quickly and accurately grasp the action characteristics of the characters, and make the characters look energetic, rhythmic and powerful.
2. How to ensure the character's sense of balance
focus
To ensure the balance of human posture, we must first consider the center of gravity of the character. When standing, the center of gravity of the human body is generally 7 cm in front of the upper edge of the third sacral vertebra on the median plane of the body. Generally, the center of gravity of men is higher than that of women.
The height of the center of gravity is about 56% of the height of men and 55% of the height of women. The center of gravity will also change with age and body shape. The approximate reference position is the position of the navel.
The line pointing vertically from the center of gravity to the ground is called the center of gravity line. The center of gravity line will change with the change of people's posture. Character balance is actually the balance of weight. After weight balance, the center of gravity can be balanced. Draw a straight line between the two feet of the character, and then draw the center of gravity line of the character. The feet are the support / support point. If you want the character to maintain balance, the weight needs to be evenly distributed between the two feet or at a certain point.
If most of the weight is on the right leg and some on the left leg, the center of gravity will be close to the right foot. As the body moves, the center of gravity changes. Some characters look unbalanced because of the unstable center of gravity caused by unbalanced power. While paying attention to the center of gravity, we should also pay attention to the turning of human body.
In a balanced posture, the weight of the body needs to be balanced and supported by one leg, so the weight needs to be evenly or unevenly distributed between the two legs.
The weight is not only distributed on the feet, but also on the feet and knees, or in the combination of hands and arms, the weight distribution of people in different postures will be different, and the force distribution will change with the change of postures, so the center of gravity will also change. For example, when lying down, the weight will be distributed on the hips and elbows. When jumping, the center of gravity will move up slightly, and the strength will be distributed on the arms and legs.
Of course, not all actions have a center of gravity to maintain balance. Only people can maintain balance when they are static. For example, people's center of gravity is different when running and pretending to run. In real fast running, the body is unbalanced. The lower legs do not support the center of gravity, and the weight of the body cannot be evenly distributed. Therefore, the center of gravity is in front of the legs to push the body forward.
When people pretend to run, they need to find a support point to support themselves and maintain their balance. So the center of gravity will be above the support point (foot).
When drawing a character, if you want the character's momentum to look not strange, you must maintain the character's balance. When you are not sure, you can draw a horizontal line for the character, or draw the center of gravity line of the character, and use the line to check whether your character is balanced. At ordinary times, you can practice a variety of actions in front of the photos. You only need three simple lines, one is the horizon, one is the character's moving posture line, and the other is the center of gravity line. You can help yourself understand the balance of the character's center of gravity by practicing the photos.
Conception and painting process
1. Conception picture
The series I created is mainly in the form of 26 English letters. Most of the sports inspiration comes from sports. With the foundation of letters, we have a clear goal when creating this series, and it will be easier to find materials.
When we conceive the character form in our usual business needs, we can first associate some keywords or associated words according to the theme, and search some character actions according to them, such as "National Day 8 Tianle". The key emotional words we think of first are "happy", "excited" and "expectation". We can find some character action references according to the emotional words, Then conceive your own scene picture and integrate the characters. In this way, after long-term practice and exercise, you will quickly conceive and draw the desired picture, and imperceptibly understand some actions and human body structure.
Next, we begin to draw the J of the sports girl series.
Before drawing the letters, I will read all the sports items first, select the sports items suitable for the letter J shape, and finally feel that playing volleyball is quite suitable, so I began to search a lot of materials. When selecting materials, we should pay attention to observe what posture the human body looks tense and dynamic. We can re select some reference drawings with a sense of strength and dynamic.
2. Sketch the figure shape
We can first find out the dynamic line of the character on the real character dynamics, and then determine the head body ratio and key action points of the human body. We must pay attention to the balance and center of gravity of the character. On the basis of the skeleton, draw the body of the character, and build the character bit by bit like a building. You can also try the above method to practice finding the position of the character's bones.
I changed the action of this character into a action closer to J. the modification of the action should be based on the normal motion principle and human body structure, so I need to search a lot of materials to observe and practice.
3. Sketch deformation
Deform the sketch and adjust the head body scale. This step can not copy photos, but follow the dynamic structure of human body curves, and summarize and deform their own painting style and character dynamics. When I draw the form, I will draw directly according to the style I want, and then fine tune the scale. The most important step to change the character style is this step, because you have determined the skeleton of the character in the sketch stage, so you can turn the character into any character style you want.
4. Draft
Use the pen tool to draw out the shape of the picture and color it. The sketch I usually draw is not exactly the same as the picture I finally presented, whether it is pure illustration or character illustration. Because in the process of painting and coloring, new ideas will be added to the picture. The sketch just sets a general picture direction or character shape. When coloring, we should constantly think and try how to express the picture better.
5. Detail description
More detailed characterization of characters, adding light and shadow of characters and increasing the texture of the picture. Dynamic line is the most important element in the picture. With the decoration of dynamic line, the whole character will look powerful.
After reading this article, do you have a deeper understanding of figure illustration? In fact, figure illustration is very simple. As long as you can pay attention to the dynamic curve and sense of balance of the characters when creating, there is basically no problem. If you want to draw good characters, you should practice more. You can use the picture materials as reference and inspiration.
In fact, many of the inspiration of illustration comes from life. The films we have seen in our daily life, the beautiful scenery or interesting people and things we encounter during our travel can be recorded in the form of photos. The accumulation of these materials can become the inspiration of our creation.
The above is my personal experience sharing, which may not be applicable to many people. It is only for everyone to learn and communicate. I hope my sharing will be helpful to you.
reference material:
- Human Figure Proportions – Cranial Units – Robert Beverly Hale
https://www.facebook.com/100047088338491/videos/471759976665932 - Four kinds of pelvis - it turns out that the pelvis is not only male and female http://www.360doc.com/content/18/0329/08/29553696_741160854.shtml
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