I've seen many posts recently with people looking to improve upon their art ^^ Good luck and keep that spirit up! However, one thing that I've noticed people struggling with consistently is human anatomy. So I've made a simple simple guide to chibi anatomy.
Simple Anatomy
Firstly, you would want to decide upon the proportion of your chibi's body. Usually I like to separate the body into three sections: the head, the torso, and the legs. Please note that the proportion of body parts may differ depending on individual styles and if you are going for a more realistic approach. Some of the body proportion I've seen are :
1:1:1 head to torso to legs
2:1:2 head to torso to legs
2:1:1 head to torso to legs
Also note the fact that the belly button usually lines up with the elbows in an arc, and also the hands usually fall on the side of the hips and should not extend past the top of the thighs.
If you're looking for a more realistic body proportion, the torso would be 1.5 to 2 times the height of the head, and the legs are usually another 2 to 2.5 times the length of the torso.
I also like to divide the face up into three major sections: the forehead (A), the eyebrows to the nose (B), the bottom of the nose to chin (C). The proportion of A to B to C is usually 1:1:1. However, section B may be bigger if you want your chibi to have bigger eyes. In addition, think of your chibi's head as a ball. There's a mid line down the centre where it lines up with the nose and where the left and right mirrors each other. When you turn your head, because of the ball's contour, your mid line curves and is not entirely straight.
Then, just as you can think of the head as a ball, think of every part of your body as either a ball, a cylinder, or a box: your neck a cylinder, and so is your arm, forearm, thigh, leg; and your torso as a box.
Your joints, which include the top of the neck, the base of the neck, the shoulders, the waist, elbows, knees, wrists, ankles etc. are balls. It is the ball-like nature of the joints that enables the body parts to move, rotate, pivot. When you pose, the proportion and the dimension of the body parts stay the same; it's just the perspective of the cylinders and boxes that changes.
You can see the joints as balls more clearly in this picture of a ball jointed doll:
The hands and the feet are probably the most complicated parts in your body but they can also be broken down to balls, boxes, and cylinders. Your hand can be thought of as a box; the joints are balls once again, and each section of the digit is a cylinder.
Once you have a good grasp of the basic body, you can stretch or compress the boxes and cylinders to make different body types. If you're drawing girls, they usually have narrower shoulders and wider hips than boys; the position of the breasts is about 1/3 down from the shoulders.
Simple Posing
Coming soon~~~
But in the meantime, thanks to tamagotchi for sharing this useful website so that people can practice drawing different poses.
I tried my best to make everything clear. I hope that some would find it helpful. If anyone has anything that can be added to this guide, I appreciate your input. Thank you.
Simple Anatomy
Firstly, you would want to decide upon the proportion of your chibi's body. Usually I like to separate the body into three sections: the head, the torso, and the legs. Please note that the proportion of body parts may differ depending on individual styles and if you are going for a more realistic approach. Some of the body proportion I've seen are :
1:1:1 head to torso to legs
2:1:2 head to torso to legs
2:1:1 head to torso to legs
Also note the fact that the belly button usually lines up with the elbows in an arc, and also the hands usually fall on the side of the hips and should not extend past the top of the thighs.
If you're looking for a more realistic body proportion, the torso would be 1.5 to 2 times the height of the head, and the legs are usually another 2 to 2.5 times the length of the torso.
I also like to divide the face up into three major sections: the forehead (A), the eyebrows to the nose (B), the bottom of the nose to chin (C). The proportion of A to B to C is usually 1:1:1. However, section B may be bigger if you want your chibi to have bigger eyes. In addition, think of your chibi's head as a ball. There's a mid line down the centre where it lines up with the nose and where the left and right mirrors each other. When you turn your head, because of the ball's contour, your mid line curves and is not entirely straight.
Then, just as you can think of the head as a ball, think of every part of your body as either a ball, a cylinder, or a box: your neck a cylinder, and so is your arm, forearm, thigh, leg; and your torso as a box.
Your joints, which include the top of the neck, the base of the neck, the shoulders, the waist, elbows, knees, wrists, ankles etc. are balls. It is the ball-like nature of the joints that enables the body parts to move, rotate, pivot. When you pose, the proportion and the dimension of the body parts stay the same; it's just the perspective of the cylinders and boxes that changes.
You can see the joints as balls more clearly in this picture of a ball jointed doll:
The hands and the feet are probably the most complicated parts in your body but they can also be broken down to balls, boxes, and cylinders. Your hand can be thought of as a box; the joints are balls once again, and each section of the digit is a cylinder.
Once you have a good grasp of the basic body, you can stretch or compress the boxes and cylinders to make different body types. If you're drawing girls, they usually have narrower shoulders and wider hips than boys; the position of the breasts is about 1/3 down from the shoulders.
Simple Posing
Coming soon~~~
But in the meantime, thanks to tamagotchi for sharing this useful website so that people can practice drawing different poses.
I tried my best to make everything clear. I hope that some would find it helpful. If anyone has anything that can be added to this guide, I appreciate your input. Thank you.
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oh wow, thanks for this!!! i've mostly been going by the "what looks right" rule xD will def reference this!
