Help with a fuh-reeeeaky pose!

Soap Committee · Post by **Soap Committee** » Thu Mar 31, 2005 7:15 pm

Because I'm on this silly FMA kick, I recently drew this amidst my semester-fourth-quarter-crisis. Howeeever, I don't want to ink it yet because it all doesn't look very natural. He's supposed to be in mid-flip, with his hand "on the camera" as he flips away from his pursuant (not drawn yet).

BOTTOM LINE, YO: Do any of y'all have any suggestions about shifting the weight/limbs around? I just want it to be as dynamic as possible without looking TOO ridiculous.

Side note: I AM A DITZ and first posted this in the Help Center. I hope no one saw. >___>;;

Faub · Post by **Faub** » Thu Mar 31, 2005 9:31 pm

The way I see it, most of the pose is correct except the placement of the head and the left shoulder. I don't know if you can see it very week in the pic, but it seems to me that his head should be higher and his shoulder should stick out a little more, showing part of the side of his chest.

Soap Committee · Post by **Soap Committee** » Thu Mar 31, 2005 10:31 pm

How's this? The differences are subtle, but I like it a lot more now.

I moved his right (our left) leg and arm a bit. I also added to the left (our right) shoulder some. Moving the head...well, I admit I didn't do anything about that. But I did bring out the chest a little bit. Thanks for the roapmap, faub. :p If anyone has any more tweakage to suggest, let me know!

Bluebug · Post by **Bluebug** » Thu Mar 31, 2005 10:40 pm

Something about his left leg bothers me. I think it's the fact that the lower part of his leg is skewed so that it's pointing away from his body. It falls outside the line of motion that is being made by the rest of his body:

However, I don't think that makes it wrong; it just feels a little awkward. But awkward is Ed all over. Still, if you wanted to remedy this, I suggest bringing his knee down and turning his foot so that it points more inward than outward.

The hand on the camera isn't right. You can trace a horizontal line through his pinky and his thumb; it's impossible to splay your fingers like that. Take a look at your hand when you spread your fingers. Your thumb and pinky are still almost at 90 degrees to each other (I hope!) And the middle finger should be placed so that if you drew a line through it, it would divide the palm in half (hence the big fat line I drew through the palm). Furthermore, the fingers on his other hand seem quite contorted. It would be more natural looking if they were slightly more relaxed and foreshortened.

All in all though, I'm looking forward to seeing this pic when it's done. Maybe you can submit an inked version to the coloring thread.

Chibiartstudios · Post by **Chibiartstudios** » Thu Mar 31, 2005 11:12 pm

Damnit Soap! Your screw ups are better than my regular work!

*glares*

So to make it better you should make it... Not... Suck...

HAHA! Oh yeah!... I went there!

...

...

...Damnit! Stop looking at me!

*Stabs random person with a fork*

In any case we really should have more threads like these. Having detailed imput on one comic may be better for new people learning how to draw than looking at their work as a whole. Detailed help on things like body placement is hard to find. You think I should start a thread on this?

DancingChaos · Post by **DancingChaos** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 6:49 am

Hey, Soap, that's really good! I can tell you really like Ed, judging by the avatar and the picture!

Kirb · Post by **Kirb** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 2:27 pm

bluebug wrote: Something about his left leg bothers me. I think it's the fact that the lower part of his leg is skewed so that it's pointing away from his body. It falls outside the line of motion that is being made by the rest of his body

I think you're right. The left leg seems too far away from the line of motion, even for a cartwheel/flip thingy.

chibiartstudios wrote: *Stabs random person with a fork*

Argh!

Corgan_dane · Post by **Corgan_dane** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 2:30 pm

I think until there's a background, it's always going to look to me like he's falling through the air, and not grounded at all...

Dotty · Post by **Dotty** » Sat Apr 02, 2005 9:26 am

corgan_dane wrote:I think until there's a background, it's always going to look to me like he's falling through the air, and not grounded at all...

Just make sure you don't use only sky, assuming he's outdoors...like most of my work

Put him in some kind of structure or underground complex, etc....you know, a place with pipes, chains, girders, other assorted things you can put all over the place to make it apparent he's touching the ground, as opposed to falling through the air.

If you're really really looking for something complicated to throw him in, try a support structure for a sky scraper under construction like you'd see in about every superhero cartoon on the face of the earth.

Just try and line up the girders so it looks like his hand is on one of them, as opposed to falling in between.

Chibiartstudios · Post by **Chibiartstudios** » Sat Apr 02, 2005 1:49 pm

No... I don't think the pose is grounded enough to have him on the ground. I can easily see this as a "jumping to grab something" pose though.

Simbrie · Post by **Simbrie** » Sat Apr 02, 2005 10:59 pm

I'll put in my little ameteur two cents.

I agree with everything else said here, but I think the coat and his braid should wrap about his body more, so that it looks his body's moving horizontal, rather vertical, if you know what I mean. At the moment, it makes him look like his falling towards the camera.

Also, until you color the hand, it's hard to see that he's actually flipping on the camera.

These are just my thoguhts, but I could be wrong. =(

Cool sketch either way, though.

Soap Committee · Post by **Soap Committee** » Sun Apr 03, 2005 5:32 pm

DancingChaos wrote:Hey, Soap, that's really good! I can tell you really like Ed, judging by the avatar and the picture!

Yeah, he's too punk-ass for me not to like him.

chibiartstudios wrote:No... I don't think the pose is grounded enough to have him on the ground. I can easily see this as a "jumping to grab something" pose though.

Nope! He simply must be on the ground!

This is a little delayed because I was away all weekend, but thank you guys for your input! Whenever I get a chance to finish this picture, I'll have y'all to thank for it looking more natural!

TGecko · Post by **TGecko** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 12:22 pm

Is it too late to add? I was going to say, just bend the (viewer's) right leg at the knee in towards the body. It'll kinda give direction to the rotation of the flip, know what I'm saying? Also, maybe if you made the (viewer's) right arm a little straighter, if not bent back more, that might look better. Err... *squints and tilts head* Maybe?

Anyways, good stuff! Yay FMA! *HappyDances*