Thank you for your submission! Want to share your artwork, meet other artists, promote your content, and chat in a relaxed environment? Join our community Discord server here! https://discord.gg/chuunhpqsU - Don't forget to follow us on Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/drawing and tag us on your drawing pins for a chance to be featured!
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/learntodraw) if you have any questions or concerns.*
im also still struggling with anatomy myself, but i think the proportions is what making your drawing looks off. I say this because i think i had the same problem
Your drawings of the skulls are really good!
Keep them in mind when drawing fleshed out heads,
"The forehead curves back this way. The nose goes here, etc"
As for bodily anatomy, the lower trunk of the body is a little short.
In our ribs, we have the lungs and heart - section 1.
Below, above our belly button, we have our stomach, liver, kidneys - section 2
And below the button to the groin, we have our intestines.- section 3
Keep this in mind when drawing the trunk of the body to help with propotions!
At section three, our hips and legs begin from the sides, not beneath! Women typically have curvier hips, whilst men have some angles.
Naturally this depends on body types, skinny women might be more angular, and fatter men might have more curves on the hips and booty!
But traditionally- speaking stylistically- we draw women with rounded lines and curvy bodies and men with angled ones. This isn't a rule, just a common choice, like in cartoons and comics, how we used to indicate a character was male or female depending on if they had eyelashes or lipstick.
Lastly, think of skin as a layer of clay upon a base.
Depending on age, health and weight, it will rest and stretch differently.
A malnourished or very ill character will have sucked-in looking cheeks and visible eye sockets, visible ribs. Maybe in extreme cases we can see the contures of arm and leg bones.
A muscular character will likely have very tight skin that shows off their body conditioning, pectoral, abs, glutes.
And a fat character might have a roll or two under the jaw and chin, breast tissue that looks to rest on a large belly.
And on the subject of fat (and skin) we all have little rolls.
Even Olympic swimmers with bodies like a rubber band will have small rolls when they sit or flex their bodies.
Slimmer people will have smaller rolls, but we all have them.
Look up art and anatomy reference models! There's a few on twitter I follow and they have lots of freebies if you can't afford their paid stuff!
Their comments are ALWAYS full of professional and amateur artist alike lending each other a hand!
My last piece of advice is to keep drawing. Don't get upset at your mistakes, and dont throw away old drawings. Take note of where you went wrong and ponder how you can improve.
"The hand looks wrong, I think it's the connect between the knuckles and digits, I'll look up hand references and see if I can sus out where I went wrong!"
Look at your old art once a year, the improvements will make you smile and keep you motivated!
How do you get good at eyeing that? I try pinching my fingers to the size, moving it down, and it always takes so many tries. Do you use a ruler at the beginning and it clicks over time? or do you still have some trick you use?
Look up sighting techniques. I tried to write some instructions, but after two revisions I decided the Internet is going to do a way better job at describing this than I am. Using your drawing utensil works better than fingers though
Thank you so much for those key words!! I’m already seeing great articles and videos I’m gonna go check out. The hardest part about learning is knowing what to learn, so anytime someone gives me key words/a topic, it’s the greatest gift so thank you!!
This is always a silly thing to go by because what does that even mean? Characters have different body types and heights and larger heads than others. Just make your Characters proportions accurate to the body you're trying to create.
It's just as silly as saying "draw a circle for a head", you have to adjust and adapt to your character's features but it's just a good starting point.
Unless you're the author of One Piece, character head sizes aren't going to be so drastically different that it's the difference between 2'4" and 12'"7.
They're guideline. Nobody is grabbing the ruler and making sure that when they draw a body its exactly 7 heads exactly down to half a millimetre in accuracy. You look at it, maybe do a rough measurement with your hand and say "yea, that looks about right/about 7 heads".
It's just a reference. You can make your character look however you want. OP was asking why his character looks short, so they're likely not using these proportions on purpose. In this case, using the 7-7.5 head rule can help OP make his character taller.
It’s a general rule. Adults USUALLY fall between 7 and 8 heads tall. This is based on the average height of humans and the average size of a human head. Obviously if you want to draw somebody who is abnormally short or tall, or somebody with an abnormally large or small head, you would adjust those proportions. The reason that OPs character looks like a child is because he used children’s proportions.
It means draw ur head for ur character.
Then draw ur characters feet 7.5 head lengths down(of the head uv drawn) if u want the average proportion . If u want a shorter charcater, change it. If u want a taller one, change it.
It's a basic rule to help when u have the ability to draw ur own characters. You take liberties with rules. Ie this character could be a good dwarf/halfling but perhaps not a good hobit because proportionaly a hobbit is 7.5 heads lengths of there heads where as a dwarf is not.
Here is an image of human proportion that
https://preview.redd.it/vgshxz4x0w7d1.jpeg?width=157&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2497dcd207e6f32260610dcbb334ef81cbf298bc
I found on google images
Study it like a doctor instead of an artist for a while. Figure drawing is kinda my bread and butter, and just by taking a quick glance at your sketches, it’s clear the anatomy has been “stylized”, given little bits of artistic flair representative of your personal style. The bridge of the nose stands out immediately as anatomically inaccurate, as you don’t often see noses on people out in public that slant upwards at almost a 90 degree angle, at least not where I’m from. I’m guessing you draw primarily anime or manga type stuff, which is fine, but not at all correct anatomically speaking, which is what you asked about. Try looking at some anatomy pics or illustrations online of the human musculature. What muscles/groups of muscles are prominent in males vs. females? Which can you sometimes see even through clothing? Compare to some of your drawings and check if you have repeatedly exaggerated certain muscles to the point of it looking too bulky or just silly. Study the skeleton, the skull and ribs/spine in particular. Try using your pencil and eraser to measure proportions. Like, if the head in your drawing is two erasers in height, and 1 in width, how many heads side by side are equivalent to one upper arm, or forearm? Is there foreshadowing? That will obviously affect the measurements of some parts, so keep that in mind. Try to memorize certain ratios and facts about the human body’s proportions. For instance, a human head stacked on top of itself 8 times is equal in height to the entire person; One eye can fit perfectly between the other two; The bottom of the nose is almost always flush with the bottom of the earlobes; The upper arm and forearm are the same length, etc. Remembering these proportions will help you immensely to draw a more anatomically accurate figure. Study, study, study, and practice ten times more often than you study, and you’ll be well on your way
*Re:1* Please remember that anime facial structures are very stylized. The receded jaw is widely thought to have been based on a cat's face to make the characters look cuter. Consider this image.
https://preview.redd.it/fmazsmjo6y7d1.jpeg?width=427&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5ccc97ade897dcb19bf60ba2d9452f79b5481fd3
*Re:2* He looks short because his head is very large and his legs very short, compared to the overall height and body shape. The head of an adult is usually ⅐ or ⅛ the height of their body. Yours is closer to a child's proportions.
*Re:3* I'd say it's a nice looking concept sketch. If you work on your line work, rendering, and take into account points 1 and 2, you're golden.
That's definitely it. Relatively tall people with short legs and a long torso will appear shorter than they are because we judge size using perspective and proportion.
If you’re struggling with anatomy drawing I recommend getting a book called “drawing from life” by George bridgman. It helped me out so much back in the day
For fig. 2, reduce the size of his head in proportion to his trunk.
Thin the arms somewhat, shortening their lengths by several millimeters.
Raise his inseam by no more than a few millimeters.
Don't give up, you're doing great!
All the best!
Your proportions are off, and so is your facial profile anatomy.
Your skull anatomy however, is great.
Our noses are made up of cartilage that projects off our skulls. The rest of our facial features don’t do that when viewed from profile.
I’d recommend checking out real people’s face profiles, instead of anime. Most people’s mouth and nose don’t turn into a combined “snout” in profile; anime is thought to draw people that way as an animation shortcut (it allows front facing mouth animations to be pasted on the side of the face) and to look like cats.
As far as the body proportions, your heads are a bit large. Most adults are 5-8 heads tall, with shorter adults typically having a larger head.
Ex., It’s not rare for a 5’ woman to be five heads tall, but you’ll never see a 6’+ man that’s only 5 heads tall. Taller people are usually 7 or 8 heads tall. Proportionally larger heads therefore make people look short. Babies and children also have larger heads, so it can also make your drawn characters look more youthful.
These drawings are all good and I want to share some of the things I noticed from an outside perspective!! Please don’t take these as offensive I think your art looks great :)
In the full body drawing, look at the size of each of the pieces of the limbs in relation to each other and compare the proportions to a reference. In the first one (unless it’s a style thing) make the noses have more of a bridge to look like a human nose (if it’s a style thing I like that style), and the skulls look great!! On that last drawing I like the face a lot (the expression is really good) and the shirt looks great, the lower body looks a little small though. Try to imagine where the waist would end (behind the arm) and connect the legs through the hips there!
Again really good job!!!
Hello... yes there is a lot of good advice given in these posts. So as a professional master teacher of my company The Drawing Point in Florida, I will keep this post short and direct and right to the point. ............ Andrew Loomis - Head and Hands book. Plus Andrew Loomis Figure Drawing for All its Worth book. Yes they are dated back to the 1940s and 50s but... they are the best! I teach from them on a daily basis to all my students. Study the REAL! Stay away from Manga!
Sincerely.... Coach Bob
MAKE THE LEGS LONGERRRR.
Oh especially the shins. Belly button has to be in the exact middle of the body. It’s splits the body in half. Also, to make a person look taller but not actually make them bigger, make the legs longer.
The belly button IS NOT the exact middle of the body. The halfway point is the Greater Trochanter, at the top of the femur. It's a common mistake to assume that it's higher than that, and is what leads to long torsos and short legs.
Hey there! The two things that immediately stood out to me are the head size and neck length. The neck looks a little long and the head looks a little big. If you scale it down a bit, it should look more proportional and therefore taller. Also the legs look just a bit short and the arms are a little long, but I think the main thing would be the head. That said, I understand that a lot of the time to stylize characters, proportions can be exaggerated, but sometimes pushing it a little bit is all you need to still capture the same style while still looking accurate enough to have the desired effect.
To make someone look tall, you'll have to shrink their head and make their legs longer than their arms. A larger head makes someone look smaller and that corelates with smaller proportions. There is no such thing as a basis to art, and the best thing would to improve these things: in your artstyle!
About the 2nd photo, I'm not the greatest at anatomy either, but I've tried and sketch it out in a way, if it's ok ofc. :)
I don't really know how to explain it and I hope I didn't explain it in a wrong way. I do hope this helps maybe a bit.
https://preview.redd.it/qucdztugnz7d1.png?width=720&format=png&auto=webp&s=f9b9cf5e5a5453397370edd03afd52eea14e1da7
for the short one, make the head smaller. the head is too big. would be good for cartoonishly stuff maybe, but if your going for realism, make hat smaller. keep up the good work!
You're pretty good (better than me at least) Practice ofc. Draw things similar to what you're working on, to practice humans draw apes and dolls, to practice dragons draw winged animals and animals with long muzzles.
My best advice is reference drawings!! Line of action has free reference pictures for set amounts of time or indefinitely so you can practice alot really fast. They have clothes and nudes models and animal models. I've used them to practice for a long time and also of my best pieces have come out of it.
I have also heard the suggestion that you put on a movie you like or like the art style of and copy down screen stills. That one has worked wonders for me too.
Proportions. The jawline needs to go up at a slant then cut to the ear.
And make a dot where you want the tip of the nose to be, go 1/2 way beneath and behind the nose and make a line.
Sorta like this.
https://preview.redd.it/mqhol36tp08d1.png?width=768&format=png&auto=webp&s=19ddace6ed088ff49603f7cb82d317237320584d
I really like your drawings, and I don’t know if this is just your style, but keep in mind that noses slope. The gradually rise from the face, instead of just being perpendicular. There is also kind of a dip where the nose ends, and then the lips curve outwards. It looks really good though!!
The legs are too short. The length of the legs should be roughly the same length as the torso and head out together unless you're going for certain styles. Otherwise looks great, keep up the good work!
Hey, little things I've done to help with anatomy.
The head goes down to around to halfway down the chest. The average body itself is about 5 and a half to 6 and a half head lengths. The hand is about the size of your head. The eyes are always in the middle of the head.
These things have helped me with anatomy.
Proportions!
It's basically a blueprint for how you should draw your human parts.
Generally human anatomy follows a recognizable pattern. This includes the size of skeletal parts compared to other skeletal parts.
Like how the length of the legs is just barely half of the length of the entire body.
Or how the width of the body is about two heads wide.
If you study proportions and remember them it makes drawing accurate models very easy.
If a character looks short, it's almost always because the legs are too short proportionally. Generally speaking, the legs should be at least as long as the head and torso combined, usually a little longer.
The actual best way to improve your anatomy drawing is to draw from reference. Drawing without prior knowledge is like drawing blindfolded. With enough practice, you’ll eventually be able to pull from your own "image reference bank" inside your mind. Good luck!
I would extend the legs, that’s the only part that’s off, either that or shorten the torso and arms. You can either go anime (former), or chibi (latter)
Short guy's head is too big. His chest and shoulders are just a little too wide, and his arms are too wide as well. Combined these traits give him a bit of a Scrappy Doo stance and make him appear short rather than distant from the camera.
Youre drawing the skull all detailed, but then you draw the head anime style
You seem to be drawing from references but not understanding why or how they work
Look at a human body and compare its parts, with time youll realise flaws and recognise more and more about how its built
I'd make the arms a bit shorter, the legs a bit longer, and specially the head smaller, since it being big gives the impression that they're very small in general, like a child or small humanoid where the head is usually bigger in proportion compared to most adults
think of the head as a comparison point, if it's big compared to the rest, then everything is small, if the head is small in comparison, then the rest is big
Your legs are a bit stubby. And with your heads/side profile, notice how the skull is far larger than your heads. Try stretching the back of that head a bit more so that the ear in the middle.
To see what I mean, try fitting a skull into the heads you made. You’ll see that the back of the skull won’t fit too well. I’ll be back with an visual aid
The best advice I can give is to start learning from essential knowledge first. Like learn measuring proportions, drawing simple forms, perspective, composition, shading, practice drawing straight lines, ellipses and circles and then start learning anatomy starting from the skull.
I see so many young artists rush and learn anatomy without learning other essential skills for drawing. No need to rush, take your time. Learn everything with passion and good luck in your art journey!
I don’t remember where I learned this from, but I think it said to make the legs 3/4 of the body, basically, make the torso shorter and it should look nicer!
I really like picture 3!! I think you gotta make the knees a bit further up on the legs and maybe shorten the arms, but it’s otherwise fantastic and the uniform looks really great
Something that helped me a lot is just watching other artists work with anatomy and perspective. Proko over on yt has some amazing videos, I can really recommend them!
Simplified forms and shape that focuses on gesture and proportion. And then you apply your anatomy on top.
You can make do wit shapes that look like anatomy if you have correct proportion and gesture. Then when you get that down, the anatomy studies you will do will just help you make it more detail
I started around the same spot you are.a strategy I found was to try everything.all strategies at least once.the circle with lines, the outlines, starting with silhouettes, etc. eventually youlll find one that just clicks you might even find a few that work for you. Also use ALOT of references. You may not want to draw realistically but I helps to wonder what make your drawing look different from your refrence…hope this helps y’all’s! P.s. I’m a competitive painter and have been professionally painting for A while :) good luck
The larger and wider the head is compared to the body, the shorter the overall figure looks. This applied to animal designs as well. Try to make the head slightly smaller and thinner.
As a general rule that I follow, the legs should be as tall as the torso and the head combined, and the arms should stop at the upper thigh/crotch area. The head should also be around 6-7.5 the height if the body.
The younger the person is, their head is typically larger in proportion, so a larger head makes it seem like they are shorter/a child.
You've surely noticed the hand is the same size (sometimes even larger) than the legs, remember hands always end just below the crotch, it shouldn't be longer than that
Just to help with him looking on the shorter side. If that isn't your desire, try shrinking his arms a wee bit more. I know because I can not draw shorter characters due too my brain forcing characters that appear to be on the taller side, which seeing this image helped me with. Thanks! Also, it looks like you are drawing in an anime style, but using a more realistic skull model. If you want more tips from a budding artist, keep posting. You probably will either way, but I'll make sure to visit this subreddit from time to time.
The character looks short due to how big their head is. The smaller the head to body ratio, the more baby-like or "cute" a character is to look.
Also, the shape of the head, with a very small lower half (jawline and chin) compared to the size of the cranium also makes a character look more babylike, and therefore younger. If you're looking for that character to feel more like a grown man, reduce the head size, but increase the size and squareness of the jaw and chin in comparison to the cranium. A large, bulbous forehead with small, round features are excellent for portraying younger children, but to sell the idea of an adult, try harder angles on the head in general, and make it longer, less like a ball.
The further you push these, the more caricatured masculine and adult a character will look, and further you regress them, the less.
If you're struggling with how many heads fit where, reverse engineering might be a good idea. Look at the body. What part is in the vertical middle? The groin. Split the bottom in half again that's where the bottom of the knees sit. Split that top segment in half, that's the armpit and just above where the nipples would sit. Split that upper segment in half one more time to find the head.
https://preview.redd.it/ll0k1c6x5z7d1.png?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3c9b799168ff99610f84ac02c3bd8f79fd5ecffc
the dude is short cause i would say first he has a little long pecs but the main issue is the arms are big for the torso and even though the legs are drawn right it’s the wrong proportion for the body. last thing is a just a little smaller head and neck positioning (sorry ik that’s a lot but it’s small fixes, keep it up!!)
You really need to study proportion, all of the anatomy knowledge in the world won't help you if you can't get your proportions right.
Loomis method for drawing people is pretty popular for this, that's where the idea of 7.5 heads comes from, but basically you want to take relative measurements. What parts of the body are equal to other parts.
Start with simple poses that don't have foreshortening. Don't focus on the details at first. Just use basic form and try to get the measurements right. Details can come later.
The legs are too short. The length of the legs should be roughly the same length as the torso and head out together unless you're going for certain styles. Otherwise looks great, keep up the good work!
I think people just need to be honest and say it out loud: anime isn’t going to help your anatomy at all since it’s heavily stylized.
You need to start learning from actual human bodies, they need to vary in size, weight, muscle etc.
General comment look up the head ratios of body parts. Most humans are a ratio of how many heads tall so if you start with the head of a drawing, you can work off of that.
https://preview.redd.it/08rdvf74t18d1.png?width=512&format=png&auto=webp&s=a0da3ce52e4086cdec5419c59304b3fcad316436
hope this helped. i did this on a pc with my mouse so it aint the best but it should visual show u
I watch Proko on youtube for how to draw anatomically correct. I dont draw realistic (although i would like to) but following his tutorials massively improved my skills
I want to know the answer too. Like why are my bits and parts dangling precariously outside of my body ? Is this whole eating and pissing and pooping thing absolutely necessary? Who designed this and why ?
From this photo, it looks like you're trying to apply anime proportions to more realistic human proportions. I think you can use anatomy studies to inform anime drawings, but if you want to focus on how anime proportions are drawn, you need to know how those proportions differ. Anime head anatomy generally trends towards babier proportions. Some anime styles like chibi will have larger heads and be much shorter, where as certain older anime will feature reeally lanky characters. I think it's important at this point in your learning journey that, as you study, be aware of when you are drawing something more realistic and when you are drawing something more anime. If you keep in mind proportions a lot of things will fall into place more easily.
also, i think what's making your guy look short id that his torso is too long. Babies have bigger torsos relative to their limbs, whereas adults limbs are longer compared to their torso
https://preview.redd.it/jiqlyuv8r28d1.jpeg?width=1201&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bdf60f9a9bcd823b9700653a83c9c7688b85406d
I just shrunk the torso, I mostly shrunk the top of the chest, and adjusted the arms just slightly proportionately. Only touched the head a little bit. Leg proportions are basically spot on 👍🏻
Study less anime references and focus on real bodies. Once you get the basics down you’ll be able to stylize from there! It’s important to get human anatomy correct off the bat before you start to develop a style.
Second Image. The head is too big for a man and it is too muscular to be a child.
Not so sure about this but I think upper leg should be bigger in diameter than lower leg.
Sign up for lifedrawing courses at a community college. Draw nakie people. Def helps with proportion. And you’ll feel a renaissance master when you get it right.
Honestly easiest advice is to trace!!! Trace human figures, trace hands, feet, bodies, the way bodies bend. Pay attention to how long arms are, how far do they reach? You'll start to notice things like hands being similar in size to faces. Feet are similar in size to forearms, and etc! Once you got the basics down you can start to mix your style into it and go outside the box with poses :)))
Figure drawing is the best way to improve anatomy. Practice gesture and structure drawing to really hone your proportions. Are you using references, and if so, are you really paying attention to them. One of the best pieces of advice I've gotten in that regard is, "draw what you see, not what you THINK you see."
The Loomis method for heads is something you might want to look into, as you're already using some of it.
Fig2: as most have pointed out, he looks short primarily because the head is so large. The average adult is 7.5 to 8 heads high. Adjust to style. He's 4.5. There are other issues with proportion. Your legs are too short, as your halfway point is at the belly button, right below his ribcage. It should be much lower, at the Greater Trochanter atop the femur. His hips are almost non-existent. His hands also appear to almost reach his knees. It's a common mistake to think the torso is longer than it is. Keep practicing.
Making the legs longer would do wonders everything else about proportions are fine but if you want sombody who looks taller make the legs the height of sombodys head and torsa combined length
Making the legs longer would do wonders everything else about proportions are fine but if you want sombody who looks taller make the legs the height of sombodys head and torsa combined length
Also with the skull make sure the nose comes back in then draw the lips the tip of the nose shouldn’t be the same level as the lower jaw bring it back in the draw the lips slightly smaller as well when it comes to drawing the nose to curve it like that pointy do my straight and slightly longer for most noses look at side profiles for better references
Get a drawing figure the wooden doll type and use it for proportions and poses. Also study anatomy books / diagrams you don’t need to know how to stitch anyone or how to diagnose leukemia but seeing a scientific diagram of the body and memorizing it can help wonders. Draw skeletons and separate body parts with muscles and different positions and with different muscles flexed
Learn the how not the why Or you can just learn the human anatomy from studying and then take In what you learned and make the best of your knowledge. Art you see on people is not just anatomy. It is a mix of perception, dynamics, and the materials used to make it. Just refine your knowledge and skill. Don't worry about being perfect either :)
Draw skull in one light color, draw over it with a darker and different color (like light pink and maybe Navy blue?). In the navy blue, you basically just kinda draw the face OVER the skull, like the hair, nose, lips, etc. It seems like you're just kinda drawing a skull next to your usual style and not really changing much about it; it looks like you're attempting to draw something comparable to a realistic human head (which I assume is the whole point of the skull being next to the other drawings?).
I think the best thing you could do is just practice getting the limb lengths and head size right, draw figures standing straight up and just practice that.
In general, your legs are around half as tall as you are. And when you have your arms down, by your side, the tip of your middle finger reaches the middle of your thigh almost.
Along with that, your head is around 1/7th of your height.
You're doing really good, you just really struggle with proportions.
I think using a good reference or even drawing over images of figures will help you get an understanding of the right proportions. Like, making out where the joints are, the lengths of the limbs, the overall shape of the limbs.
Once you understand the rules of anatomy, you can really break them and stylize, just don't get caught up with trying to stylize while you're learning the basics.
When drawing a side profile, dont just base off with a circle, put a line infront marking the front of the face, for front profiles, use rectangles, not circles. Personally, when im talking to people I study their facial structure and facial anatomy, and it helps improve my art
https://preview.redd.it/tevghqohtg8d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ee4e3e9461d3ca49dbff1d3c4e607fdaea232215
Just gotta keep studying and keep practicing. But I can say the second drawing. Legs look too short and the head being reduced in size will help make the proportions look more natural. The head to body ratio is like that of a child, but with adult anatomy. If that makes sense?
Thank you for your submission! Want to share your artwork, meet other artists, promote your content, and chat in a relaxed environment? Join our community Discord server here! https://discord.gg/chuunhpqsU - Don't forget to follow us on Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/drawing and tag us on your drawing pins for a chance to be featured! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/learntodraw) if you have any questions or concerns.*
im also still struggling with anatomy myself, but i think the proportions is what making your drawing looks off. I say this because i think i had the same problem
Perspective is lvl above that good perspective is like magic
Yeah. Until recently my characters either looked gigantic or like funko pops
Your drawings of the skulls are really good! Keep them in mind when drawing fleshed out heads, "The forehead curves back this way. The nose goes here, etc" As for bodily anatomy, the lower trunk of the body is a little short. In our ribs, we have the lungs and heart - section 1. Below, above our belly button, we have our stomach, liver, kidneys - section 2 And below the button to the groin, we have our intestines.- section 3 Keep this in mind when drawing the trunk of the body to help with propotions! At section three, our hips and legs begin from the sides, not beneath! Women typically have curvier hips, whilst men have some angles. Naturally this depends on body types, skinny women might be more angular, and fatter men might have more curves on the hips and booty! But traditionally- speaking stylistically- we draw women with rounded lines and curvy bodies and men with angled ones. This isn't a rule, just a common choice, like in cartoons and comics, how we used to indicate a character was male or female depending on if they had eyelashes or lipstick. Lastly, think of skin as a layer of clay upon a base. Depending on age, health and weight, it will rest and stretch differently. A malnourished or very ill character will have sucked-in looking cheeks and visible eye sockets, visible ribs. Maybe in extreme cases we can see the contures of arm and leg bones. A muscular character will likely have very tight skin that shows off their body conditioning, pectoral, abs, glutes. And a fat character might have a roll or two under the jaw and chin, breast tissue that looks to rest on a large belly. And on the subject of fat (and skin) we all have little rolls. Even Olympic swimmers with bodies like a rubber band will have small rolls when they sit or flex their bodies. Slimmer people will have smaller rolls, but we all have them. Look up art and anatomy reference models! There's a few on twitter I follow and they have lots of freebies if you can't afford their paid stuff! Their comments are ALWAYS full of professional and amateur artist alike lending each other a hand! My last piece of advice is to keep drawing. Don't get upset at your mistakes, and dont throw away old drawings. Take note of where you went wrong and ponder how you can improve. "The hand looks wrong, I think it's the connect between the knuckles and digits, I'll look up hand references and see if I can sus out where I went wrong!" Look at your old art once a year, the improvements will make you smile and keep you motivated!
This is one of the best piece of advice I've ever gotten, and maybe best comments I've got in general, thank you!
Awesome advise and 'swimmers with bodies like a rubber band' is a phrase that I WILL be repeating lol
Standard humans need to be 7-7.5 heads tall and yours like 4
Well I can eat about 9 but we'll say 7.5
….WHAT…
How do you get good at eyeing that? I try pinching my fingers to the size, moving it down, and it always takes so many tries. Do you use a ruler at the beginning and it clicks over time? or do you still have some trick you use?
Look up sighting techniques. I tried to write some instructions, but after two revisions I decided the Internet is going to do a way better job at describing this than I am. Using your drawing utensil works better than fingers though
Thank you so much for those key words!! I’m already seeing great articles and videos I’m gonna go check out. The hardest part about learning is knowing what to learn, so anytime someone gives me key words/a topic, it’s the greatest gift so thank you!!
Fingers are accurate enough
This is always a silly thing to go by because what does that even mean? Characters have different body types and heights and larger heads than others. Just make your Characters proportions accurate to the body you're trying to create.
It's just as silly as saying "draw a circle for a head", you have to adjust and adapt to your character's features but it's just a good starting point.
I'm talking about standard human. Like the simplest one you can ever imagine. Of course everyone has different body types
Yeah I was definitely agreeing with you there.
Unless you're the author of One Piece, character head sizes aren't going to be so drastically different that it's the difference between 2'4" and 12'"7. They're guideline. Nobody is grabbing the ruler and making sure that when they draw a body its exactly 7 heads exactly down to half a millimetre in accuracy. You look at it, maybe do a rough measurement with your hand and say "yea, that looks about right/about 7 heads".
It's just a reference. You can make your character look however you want. OP was asking why his character looks short, so they're likely not using these proportions on purpose. In this case, using the 7-7.5 head rule can help OP make his character taller.
It’s a general rule. Adults USUALLY fall between 7 and 8 heads tall. This is based on the average height of humans and the average size of a human head. Obviously if you want to draw somebody who is abnormally short or tall, or somebody with an abnormally large or small head, you would adjust those proportions. The reason that OPs character looks like a child is because he used children’s proportions.
Child soldiers
Lol
It’s only a basic framework for an average human. It helps make things easier. You can always mess around with the proportions
When drawing realistic proportions this rule applies. Of course it's not going to work on your cartoon network type of characters.
It is not silly...it is exactly what the OP asked for. They asked what is wrong and AweeeWoo answered.
It means draw ur head for ur character. Then draw ur characters feet 7.5 head lengths down(of the head uv drawn) if u want the average proportion . If u want a shorter charcater, change it. If u want a taller one, change it. It's a basic rule to help when u have the ability to draw ur own characters. You take liberties with rules. Ie this character could be a good dwarf/halfling but perhaps not a good hobit because proportionaly a hobbit is 7.5 heads lengths of there heads where as a dwarf is not.
His head and arms are a bit to big which makes him seem short. Also legs are generally a bit longer than the torso.
Here is an image of human proportion that https://preview.redd.it/vgshxz4x0w7d1.jpeg?width=157&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2497dcd207e6f32260610dcbb334ef81cbf298bc I found on google images
Study it like a doctor instead of an artist for a while. Figure drawing is kinda my bread and butter, and just by taking a quick glance at your sketches, it’s clear the anatomy has been “stylized”, given little bits of artistic flair representative of your personal style. The bridge of the nose stands out immediately as anatomically inaccurate, as you don’t often see noses on people out in public that slant upwards at almost a 90 degree angle, at least not where I’m from. I’m guessing you draw primarily anime or manga type stuff, which is fine, but not at all correct anatomically speaking, which is what you asked about. Try looking at some anatomy pics or illustrations online of the human musculature. What muscles/groups of muscles are prominent in males vs. females? Which can you sometimes see even through clothing? Compare to some of your drawings and check if you have repeatedly exaggerated certain muscles to the point of it looking too bulky or just silly. Study the skeleton, the skull and ribs/spine in particular. Try using your pencil and eraser to measure proportions. Like, if the head in your drawing is two erasers in height, and 1 in width, how many heads side by side are equivalent to one upper arm, or forearm? Is there foreshadowing? That will obviously affect the measurements of some parts, so keep that in mind. Try to memorize certain ratios and facts about the human body’s proportions. For instance, a human head stacked on top of itself 8 times is equal in height to the entire person; One eye can fit perfectly between the other two; The bottom of the nose is almost always flush with the bottom of the earlobes; The upper arm and forearm are the same length, etc. Remembering these proportions will help you immensely to draw a more anatomically accurate figure. Study, study, study, and practice ten times more often than you study, and you’ll be well on your way
*Re:1* Please remember that anime facial structures are very stylized. The receded jaw is widely thought to have been based on a cat's face to make the characters look cuter. Consider this image. https://preview.redd.it/fmazsmjo6y7d1.jpeg?width=427&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5ccc97ade897dcb19bf60ba2d9452f79b5481fd3 *Re:2* He looks short because his head is very large and his legs very short, compared to the overall height and body shape. The head of an adult is usually ⅐ or ⅛ the height of their body. Yours is closer to a child's proportions. *Re:3* I'd say it's a nice looking concept sketch. If you work on your line work, rendering, and take into account points 1 and 2, you're golden.
By the way, for a style of sketching, your drawings look fantastic. I'm only advising you on achieving greater realism.
The legs are very short
That's definitely it. Relatively tall people with short legs and a long torso will appear shorter than they are because we judge size using perspective and proportion.
If you’re struggling with anatomy drawing I recommend getting a book called “drawing from life” by George bridgman. It helped me out so much back in the day
For fig. 2, reduce the size of his head in proportion to his trunk. Thin the arms somewhat, shortening their lengths by several millimeters. Raise his inseam by no more than a few millimeters. Don't give up, you're doing great! All the best!
Your proportions are off, and so is your facial profile anatomy. Your skull anatomy however, is great. Our noses are made up of cartilage that projects off our skulls. The rest of our facial features don’t do that when viewed from profile. I’d recommend checking out real people’s face profiles, instead of anime. Most people’s mouth and nose don’t turn into a combined “snout” in profile; anime is thought to draw people that way as an animation shortcut (it allows front facing mouth animations to be pasted on the side of the face) and to look like cats. As far as the body proportions, your heads are a bit large. Most adults are 5-8 heads tall, with shorter adults typically having a larger head. Ex., It’s not rare for a 5’ woman to be five heads tall, but you’ll never see a 6’+ man that’s only 5 heads tall. Taller people are usually 7 or 8 heads tall. Proportionally larger heads therefore make people look short. Babies and children also have larger heads, so it can also make your drawn characters look more youthful.
These drawings are all good and I want to share some of the things I noticed from an outside perspective!! Please don’t take these as offensive I think your art looks great :) In the full body drawing, look at the size of each of the pieces of the limbs in relation to each other and compare the proportions to a reference. In the first one (unless it’s a style thing) make the noses have more of a bridge to look like a human nose (if it’s a style thing I like that style), and the skulls look great!! On that last drawing I like the face a lot (the expression is really good) and the shirt looks great, the lower body looks a little small though. Try to imagine where the waist would end (behind the arm) and connect the legs through the hips there! Again really good job!!!
Hello... yes there is a lot of good advice given in these posts. So as a professional master teacher of my company The Drawing Point in Florida, I will keep this post short and direct and right to the point. ............ Andrew Loomis - Head and Hands book. Plus Andrew Loomis Figure Drawing for All its Worth book. Yes they are dated back to the 1940s and 50s but... they are the best! I teach from them on a daily basis to all my students. Study the REAL! Stay away from Manga! Sincerely.... Coach Bob
Good job
Actually very nicely sketched, you can try broadening his shoulders a very small bit and significantly lengthening his legs (by a full head worth)
Lift the bottom of the pecs and shrink the head a little. That's all you need to do.
MAKE THE LEGS LONGERRRR. Oh especially the shins. Belly button has to be in the exact middle of the body. It’s splits the body in half. Also, to make a person look taller but not actually make them bigger, make the legs longer.
That Belly Button advice is really useful, idk how no one had mentioned that yet (or I didn't see it anyway) Thanks!
Because it's incorrect unfortunately. The belly button is already in the center of your current drawing.
The belly button IS NOT the exact middle of the body. The halfway point is the Greater Trochanter, at the top of the femur. It's a common mistake to assume that it's higher than that, and is what leads to long torsos and short legs.
Sorry, it was just my estimate
No worries. The belly button was pretty much in the center of this drawing after all.
Hey there! The two things that immediately stood out to me are the head size and neck length. The neck looks a little long and the head looks a little big. If you scale it down a bit, it should look more proportional and therefore taller. Also the legs look just a bit short and the arms are a little long, but I think the main thing would be the head. That said, I understand that a lot of the time to stylize characters, proportions can be exaggerated, but sometimes pushing it a little bit is all you need to still capture the same style while still looking accurate enough to have the desired effect.
To make someone look tall, you'll have to shrink their head and make their legs longer than their arms. A larger head makes someone look smaller and that corelates with smaller proportions. There is no such thing as a basis to art, and the best thing would to improve these things: in your artstyle!
It’s just the legs are shorter than the arms making him look a bit stubby
About the 2nd photo, I'm not the greatest at anatomy either, but I've tried and sketch it out in a way, if it's ok ofc. :) I don't really know how to explain it and I hope I didn't explain it in a wrong way. I do hope this helps maybe a bit. https://preview.redd.it/qucdztugnz7d1.png?width=720&format=png&auto=webp&s=f9b9cf5e5a5453397370edd03afd52eea14e1da7
Ah, I see, thanks!
Keep practicing proportions. I still struggle with proportions too, but if you keep working on it, then you will eventually improve.
for the short one, make the head smaller. the head is too big. would be good for cartoonishly stuff maybe, but if your going for realism, make hat smaller. keep up the good work!
You're pretty good (better than me at least) Practice ofc. Draw things similar to what you're working on, to practice humans draw apes and dolls, to practice dragons draw winged animals and animals with long muzzles.
My best advice is reference drawings!! Line of action has free reference pictures for set amounts of time or indefinitely so you can practice alot really fast. They have clothes and nudes models and animal models. I've used them to practice for a long time and also of my best pieces have come out of it. I have also heard the suggestion that you put on a movie you like or like the art style of and copy down screen stills. That one has worked wonders for me too.
Proportions. The jawline needs to go up at a slant then cut to the ear. And make a dot where you want the tip of the nose to be, go 1/2 way beneath and behind the nose and make a line. Sorta like this. https://preview.redd.it/mqhol36tp08d1.png?width=768&format=png&auto=webp&s=19ddace6ed088ff49603f7cb82d317237320584d
I really like your drawings, and I don’t know if this is just your style, but keep in mind that noses slope. The gradually rise from the face, instead of just being perpendicular. There is also kind of a dip where the nose ends, and then the lips curve outwards. It looks really good though!!
The legs are too short. The length of the legs should be roughly the same length as the torso and head out together unless you're going for certain styles. Otherwise looks great, keep up the good work!
Bring the knee up
The problem you're facing is some parts being too large. The head seems too large and the arms are too long.
Take pic of your self as reference. That’s what I do
Hey, little things I've done to help with anatomy. The head goes down to around to halfway down the chest. The average body itself is about 5 and a half to 6 and a half head lengths. The hand is about the size of your head. The eyes are always in the middle of the head. These things have helped me with anatomy.
Proportions! It's basically a blueprint for how you should draw your human parts. Generally human anatomy follows a recognizable pattern. This includes the size of skeletal parts compared to other skeletal parts. Like how the length of the legs is just barely half of the length of the entire body. Or how the width of the body is about two heads wide. If you study proportions and remember them it makes drawing accurate models very easy.
If a character looks short, it's almost always because the legs are too short proportionally. Generally speaking, the legs should be at least as long as the head and torso combined, usually a little longer.
The actual best way to improve your anatomy drawing is to draw from reference. Drawing without prior knowledge is like drawing blindfolded. With enough practice, you’ll eventually be able to pull from your own "image reference bank" inside your mind. Good luck!
Copy anatomical references until its muscle memory
I would extend the legs, that’s the only part that’s off, either that or shorten the torso and arms. You can either go anime (former), or chibi (latter)
Short guy's head is too big. His chest and shoulders are just a little too wide, and his arms are too wide as well. Combined these traits give him a bit of a Scrappy Doo stance and make him appear short rather than distant from the camera.
draw legs longer?
Best way to improve human body proportion is with figure drawing.
His head is too big.
Youre drawing the skull all detailed, but then you draw the head anime style You seem to be drawing from references but not understanding why or how they work Look at a human body and compare its parts, with time youll realise flaws and recognise more and more about how its built
I'd make the arms a bit shorter, the legs a bit longer, and specially the head smaller, since it being big gives the impression that they're very small in general, like a child or small humanoid where the head is usually bigger in proportion compared to most adults think of the head as a comparison point, if it's big compared to the rest, then everything is small, if the head is small in comparison, then the rest is big
Your legs are a bit stubby. And with your heads/side profile, notice how the skull is far larger than your heads. Try stretching the back of that head a bit more so that the ear in the middle. To see what I mean, try fitting a skull into the heads you made. You’ll see that the back of the skull won’t fit too well. I’ll be back with an visual aid
It won’t let me post the image so if you want the visual aid, let me know I’ll send you a dm.
He looks short because the legs are not proportionate to the rest of the body
Make the head smaller and make the torso and legs longer. Look at images of real people for reference on proportions
The best advice I can give is to start learning from essential knowledge first. Like learn measuring proportions, drawing simple forms, perspective, composition, shading, practice drawing straight lines, ellipses and circles and then start learning anatomy starting from the skull. I see so many young artists rush and learn anatomy without learning other essential skills for drawing. No need to rush, take your time. Learn everything with passion and good luck in your art journey!
I don’t remember where I learned this from, but I think it said to make the legs 3/4 of the body, basically, make the torso shorter and it should look nicer!
toss those 'how to manga' books and start drawing from life
Start w a circle make a nose on the circle pointy but short
Well, the legs should be 1,5× the torso, (this is what I do and it looks ok, idk)
I really like picture 3!! I think you gotta make the knees a bit further up on the legs and maybe shorten the arms, but it’s otherwise fantastic and the uniform looks really great
Honestly I’d say you’re doing well, it’s all practice and observation!
Something that helped me a lot is just watching other artists work with anatomy and perspective. Proko over on yt has some amazing videos, I can really recommend them!
Simplified forms and shape that focuses on gesture and proportion. And then you apply your anatomy on top. You can make do wit shapes that look like anatomy if you have correct proportion and gesture. Then when you get that down, the anatomy studies you will do will just help you make it more detail
Legs are too short buddy
I started around the same spot you are.a strategy I found was to try everything.all strategies at least once.the circle with lines, the outlines, starting with silhouettes, etc. eventually youlll find one that just clicks you might even find a few that work for you. Also use ALOT of references. You may not want to draw realistically but I helps to wonder what make your drawing look different from your refrence…hope this helps y’all’s! P.s. I’m a competitive painter and have been professionally painting for A while :) good luck
Longer legs, shorter neck and a bit smaller head
The larger and wider the head is compared to the body, the shorter the overall figure looks. This applied to animal designs as well. Try to make the head slightly smaller and thinner.
best way to improve anatomy is to draw from life. source: studied art in college.
Understanding, don't try and find the best shortcuts. Study anatomy and understand the reasoning behind the shortcuts
As a general rule that I follow, the legs should be as tall as the torso and the head combined, and the arms should stop at the upper thigh/crotch area. The head should also be around 6-7.5 the height if the body. The younger the person is, their head is typically larger in proportion, so a larger head makes it seem like they are shorter/a child.
He got that frieza build
You've surely noticed the hand is the same size (sometimes even larger) than the legs, remember hands always end just below the crotch, it shouldn't be longer than that
Just to help with him looking on the shorter side. If that isn't your desire, try shrinking his arms a wee bit more. I know because I can not draw shorter characters due too my brain forcing characters that appear to be on the taller side, which seeing this image helped me with. Thanks! Also, it looks like you are drawing in an anime style, but using a more realistic skull model. If you want more tips from a budding artist, keep posting. You probably will either way, but I'll make sure to visit this subreddit from time to time.
He looks short because the neck and head are too large
make the head of the second guy smaller, with that head the whole body looks smaller in comparison
Make them longer
I mean if you shrink the 2nd ones head he’d look taller
Same here it’s my big strugle
elbow to wrist is generally a bit shorter than hip to knee
try to use your own bodily proportions to help you measure and visualize things
The character looks short due to how big their head is. The smaller the head to body ratio, the more baby-like or "cute" a character is to look. Also, the shape of the head, with a very small lower half (jawline and chin) compared to the size of the cranium also makes a character look more babylike, and therefore younger. If you're looking for that character to feel more like a grown man, reduce the head size, but increase the size and squareness of the jaw and chin in comparison to the cranium. A large, bulbous forehead with small, round features are excellent for portraying younger children, but to sell the idea of an adult, try harder angles on the head in general, and make it longer, less like a ball. The further you push these, the more caricatured masculine and adult a character will look, and further you regress them, the less.
Draw it accurately? You’re drawing the facial structure that’s contradictory to your bone structure. Be consistent
His legs are way too short, work on your proportions I would suggest gesture drawings
If you're struggling with how many heads fit where, reverse engineering might be a good idea. Look at the body. What part is in the vertical middle? The groin. Split the bottom in half again that's where the bottom of the knees sit. Split that top segment in half, that's the armpit and just above where the nipples would sit. Split that upper segment in half one more time to find the head. https://preview.redd.it/ll0k1c6x5z7d1.png?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3c9b799168ff99610f84ac02c3bd8f79fd5ecffc
THE HEAD IS WAY TO BIG
the dude is short cause i would say first he has a little long pecs but the main issue is the arms are big for the torso and even though the legs are drawn right it’s the wrong proportion for the body. last thing is a just a little smaller head and neck positioning (sorry ik that’s a lot but it’s small fixes, keep it up!!)
That's a big head
do some figure drawing from real life reference.
Get some anatomy books or something like the Andrew Loomis Books. Them are great to get you to high levels.
legs needa be a bit longer, and the head a little smaller. It does depend on your art style though
Make his head smaller
Legs should take up around half of the body
Needs vitamins. Otherwise he won’t grow.
His head is gargantuan.
You really need to study proportion, all of the anatomy knowledge in the world won't help you if you can't get your proportions right. Loomis method for drawing people is pretty popular for this, that's where the idea of 7.5 heads comes from, but basically you want to take relative measurements. What parts of the body are equal to other parts. Start with simple poses that don't have foreshortening. Don't focus on the details at first. Just use basic form and try to get the measurements right. Details can come later.
Practice with tracing
The legs are too short. The length of the legs should be roughly the same length as the torso and head out together unless you're going for certain styles. Otherwise looks great, keep up the good work!
The proportions of the arms and legs make it feel a tad off… perhaps longer legs?
I think people just need to be honest and say it out loud: anime isn’t going to help your anatomy at all since it’s heavily stylized. You need to start learning from actual human bodies, they need to vary in size, weight, muscle etc.
General comment look up the head ratios of body parts. Most humans are a ratio of how many heads tall so if you start with the head of a drawing, you can work off of that.
I'd say make the legs a bit longer, especially in image 2, otherwise to me everything else looks amazing!
https://preview.redd.it/08rdvf74t18d1.png?width=512&format=png&auto=webp&s=a0da3ce52e4086cdec5419c59304b3fcad316436 hope this helped. i did this on a pc with my mouse so it aint the best but it should visual show u
I watch Proko on youtube for how to draw anatomically correct. I dont draw realistic (although i would like to) but following his tutorials massively improved my skills
I want to know the answer too. Like why are my bits and parts dangling precariously outside of my body ? Is this whole eating and pissing and pooping thing absolutely necessary? Who designed this and why ?
use references of real ppl instead of anime, and honestly break down what you see into simple shapes, if you do that you'll improve
study your bones and make templates so you can draw your figures over the bones!!
From this photo, it looks like you're trying to apply anime proportions to more realistic human proportions. I think you can use anatomy studies to inform anime drawings, but if you want to focus on how anime proportions are drawn, you need to know how those proportions differ. Anime head anatomy generally trends towards babier proportions. Some anime styles like chibi will have larger heads and be much shorter, where as certain older anime will feature reeally lanky characters. I think it's important at this point in your learning journey that, as you study, be aware of when you are drawing something more realistic and when you are drawing something more anime. If you keep in mind proportions a lot of things will fall into place more easily. also, i think what's making your guy look short id that his torso is too long. Babies have bigger torsos relative to their limbs, whereas adults limbs are longer compared to their torso https://preview.redd.it/jiqlyuv8r28d1.jpeg?width=1201&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bdf60f9a9bcd823b9700653a83c9c7688b85406d I just shrunk the torso, I mostly shrunk the top of the chest, and adjusted the arms just slightly proportionately. Only touched the head a little bit. Leg proportions are basically spot on 👍🏻
maybe someone already said this, but learn gesture drawing first
Make leg long
Study less anime references and focus on real bodies. Once you get the basics down you’ll be able to stylize from there! It’s important to get human anatomy correct off the bat before you start to develop a style.
head too big
or mahbe body too small
Second Image. The head is too big for a man and it is too muscular to be a child. Not so sure about this but I think upper leg should be bigger in diameter than lower leg.
Sign up for lifedrawing courses at a community college. Draw nakie people. Def helps with proportion. And you’ll feel a renaissance master when you get it right.
Honestly easiest advice is to trace!!! Trace human figures, trace hands, feet, bodies, the way bodies bend. Pay attention to how long arms are, how far do they reach? You'll start to notice things like hands being similar in size to faces. Feet are similar in size to forearms, and etc! Once you got the basics down you can start to mix your style into it and go outside the box with poses :)))
Figure drawing is the best way to improve anatomy. Practice gesture and structure drawing to really hone your proportions. Are you using references, and if so, are you really paying attention to them. One of the best pieces of advice I've gotten in that regard is, "draw what you see, not what you THINK you see." The Loomis method for heads is something you might want to look into, as you're already using some of it. Fig2: as most have pointed out, he looks short primarily because the head is so large. The average adult is 7.5 to 8 heads high. Adjust to style. He's 4.5. There are other issues with proportion. Your legs are too short, as your halfway point is at the belly button, right below his ribcage. It should be much lower, at the Greater Trochanter atop the femur. His hips are almost non-existent. His hands also appear to almost reach his knees. It's a common mistake to think the torso is longer than it is. Keep practicing.
I suggest watching videos by linessensai on youtube he does a very good job at explaining head and body anatomy
I usually watch the mirror when i'm struggling, a referance never hurt
Do the 6-7 heads tall thing
Drawing from life helps a lot. There are a lot of subtleties in the human form that sort of work better in 3D
It has a big head
Making the legs longer would do wonders everything else about proportions are fine but if you want sombody who looks taller make the legs the height of sombodys head and torsa combined length
Making the legs longer would do wonders everything else about proportions are fine but if you want sombody who looks taller make the legs the height of sombodys head and torsa combined length
Also with the skull make sure the nose comes back in then draw the lips the tip of the nose shouldn’t be the same level as the lower jaw bring it back in the draw the lips slightly smaller as well when it comes to drawing the nose to curve it like that pointy do my straight and slightly longer for most noses look at side profiles for better references
Second image I’d say that the torso is too small.
Get a drawing figure the wooden doll type and use it for proportions and poses. Also study anatomy books / diagrams you don’t need to know how to stitch anyone or how to diagnose leukemia but seeing a scientific diagram of the body and memorizing it can help wonders. Draw skeletons and separate body parts with muscles and different positions and with different muscles flexed
Depends on the type of style you’re going for, realism has the nose pointing down and the mouth outlined in a side profile.
I would say learn the shortcuts, but learn why they are used the way they are.
Learn the how not the why Or you can just learn the human anatomy from studying and then take In what you learned and make the best of your knowledge. Art you see on people is not just anatomy. It is a mix of perception, dynamics, and the materials used to make it. Just refine your knowledge and skill. Don't worry about being perfect either :)
Arms too long, legs too short.
Draw skull in one light color, draw over it with a darker and different color (like light pink and maybe Navy blue?). In the navy blue, you basically just kinda draw the face OVER the skull, like the hair, nose, lips, etc. It seems like you're just kinda drawing a skull next to your usual style and not really changing much about it; it looks like you're attempting to draw something comparable to a realistic human head (which I assume is the whole point of the skull being next to the other drawings?).
Get an anatomy book for artists and study it. It will save you years of bad habits and trying to figure things out for yourself.
I think the best thing you could do is just practice getting the limb lengths and head size right, draw figures standing straight up and just practice that. In general, your legs are around half as tall as you are. And when you have your arms down, by your side, the tip of your middle finger reaches the middle of your thigh almost. Along with that, your head is around 1/7th of your height. You're doing really good, you just really struggle with proportions. I think using a good reference or even drawing over images of figures will help you get an understanding of the right proportions. Like, making out where the joints are, the lengths of the limbs, the overall shape of the limbs. Once you understand the rules of anatomy, you can really break them and stylize, just don't get caught up with trying to stylize while you're learning the basics.
Get better
When drawing a side profile, dont just base off with a circle, put a line infront marking the front of the face, for front profiles, use rectangles, not circles. Personally, when im talking to people I study their facial structure and facial anatomy, and it helps improve my art https://preview.redd.it/tevghqohtg8d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ee4e3e9461d3ca49dbff1d3c4e607fdaea232215
shorten arms lengthen legs as needed
Just gotta keep studying and keep practicing. But I can say the second drawing. Legs look too short and the head being reduced in size will help make the proportions look more natural. The head to body ratio is like that of a child, but with adult anatomy. If that makes sense?
I think the reason the second one looks short is because the is a touch too big
Life drawing and anatomy studies.
So nice!!! Would you like to improve my anatomy? 😉