# Female Anatomy (Manga).



## Cloak519 (Mar 7, 2011)

Hey all.
Over the past two nights, I've took up drawing again and I'm finding it surprisingly entertaining.
One thing I really want to be able to get to work on is the female anatomy.
I'm interested in the manga style as that's kind of what I'm aiming for. I'd really like to be able to draw some Demon girls eventually 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





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Could anyone provide me with some useful links, tutorials or tips?
I've tried Google and Deviantart and I've discovered some useful stuff... but I want to learn as much as I can.
I'd be particularly grateful for any advice geared specifically towards beginners as that's kind of where I stand at the moment 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




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Thanks in advance.
CAS.


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## sergster1 (Mar 10, 2011)

This should help you out


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## Rydian (Mar 10, 2011)

The only tutorials I know are on facial expressions, and breasts.

Facial Expressions


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## Zarcon (Mar 10, 2011)

Just draw a lot.
A lot.
A LOT.

Also, start paying attention to people.
Like, almost creepy stalker levels of attention.
Pay attention to how they look, how they move, how they carry themselves, how they stand when idle.
Just pay attention.

This sounds kind of backwards, but tracing helps early on.
Not mindless tracing mind.
Pay attention to the shapes that body parts typically use and ratios of parts to other parts.
Quickly move on to just copying with reference instead of straight tracing.
Again, paying attention to shapes and ratios.
Move on to drawing what's underneath the clothes.
Use a reference, but draw the body underneath the clothes.
At this point you should be pretty comfortable with being able to tell if something looks awkward.
This exposes you to different poses while giving you a rough guide to how it should look without outright showing you.

It might sound cheap or wrong, but this is essentially what you do when you draw still life or with a live model. Not the tracing, the rest of it, haha.

Tutorials only really help once you have a grasp of the basics.
It's all fine and dandy to bombard you with how certain things should be done, but experience trumps all.

Draw and draw and draw and draw.
If you want to get better just keep drawing.


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## Cloak519 (Mar 10, 2011)

sergster1 said:
			
		

> This should help you out
> Thanks for the link! I love it... Demon girls are teh awesomest.
> 
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> ...


Well that certainly sounds like good advice. I've traced one manga lady so far so that I can compare my drawings to it as I go along, would you recommend I trace more?
Paying attention to how people move sounds a little tricky. I guess I could do body shapes, but movement seems awkward. Could you expand on that please?
Well I intend to keep my drawing up 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




. I've already noticed an improvement... I can't wait to start drawing fairly hot Demon ladies 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




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Thanks for the advice all.


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## Nujui (Mar 10, 2011)

Just draw alot. I practice by drawing from a source.


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## Fishaman P (Mar 10, 2011)

Rydian said:
			
		

> The only tutorials I know are on facial expressions, and breasts.
> 
> Facial Expressions


Really Rydian?  Links to boobies?  You are a Furvert I guess.


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## Cloak519 (Mar 10, 2011)

Duskye said:
			
		

> Just draw alot. I practice by drawing from a source.


By source, do you mean like... anything?
Also, are you 100% sure that you improve over time simply through drawing?


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## Zarcon (Mar 10, 2011)

I'd keep tracing to a minimum. I only recommend it so people get a feel for putting things down instead of just hovering above the paper/tablet "thinking about it".

Drawing from reference will do you a lot of good.
Don't just draw exactly what you see though.
Actually take the time to try and draw the body underneath before drawing the clothes on top.
You need to mentally understand how the body moves and looks in relation to itself so straight copying does little to help.

And when I say pay attention to things and people...hmm...
Just...look at people, haha.
The body can move and shape itself in a lot of ways, but some ways are more natural than others.
Certain ways people stand when idle, certain ways people sit, rest, walk, and so on.
If you pay attention you can get a better idea of how to draw natural looking poses.
It's the same with movement.

Once you're comfortable you can start stylizing a bit more, exaggerating a bit more, and in your case, drawing sexier poses.

Try keeping a drawing log of some sort too so you can see your progress.
It'll help a week, month, year down the line when you get stuck and don't think you're getting any better.
You can just look through your log and laugh at how bad you used to be.

[EDIT]



			
				CA519705950 said:
			
		

> Duskye said:
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Yes.
Just keep drawing.
Draw until your fingers, hands, and arms fall off.
But variety is key.
If you keep drawing the same thing/pose you might master it...but then have no idea what to do for anything else.
You also have to be willing to criticize yourself.
You should know and be fully willing to admit yourself if you drew something awkwardly or wrong.
And if you can't bring yourself to do that...just post your drawings here and ask for criticism and I'm sure someone will come by to help.


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## Nujui (Mar 10, 2011)

CA519705950 said:
			
		

> Duskye said:
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Well, I've been drawing from sources like pics or anything really, and it helps.

I mean I went to this.






To this.


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## Cloak519 (Mar 10, 2011)

Zarcon said:
			
		

> I'd keep tracing to a minimum. I only recommend it so people get a feel for putting things down instead of just hovering above the paper/tablet "thinking about it".
> 
> Drawing from reference will do you a lot of good.
> Don't just draw exactly what you see though.
> ...


They're both pretty good but I personally like the latter most. Nice work Duskye!
Thanks for your suggestions, too 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




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Anyone know how long this commitment is likely to last before I notice a significant improvement? A year? Two? Three? An eternity?


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## Zarcon (Mar 10, 2011)

It depends on how much affinity you have to drawing and how much of it you do.
Or how well you can absorb visual information from paying attention and apply it to paper.

You can see pretty significant improvement in as little as a month if you really go for it.


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## Oveneise (Mar 10, 2011)

This sounds like its going to be a very sexy manga  
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	



I'd help you out, but I don't know much about drawing manga characters.


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## Cloak519 (Mar 10, 2011)

@Zarcon: Well right now I'm getting at least an hour done a night... I fluctuate between an hour to three hours but depending on my mood, I don't go out there aiming to annihilate my paper.
I hope this is a hobby I can keep up... I usually get bored of my hobbies but I find it kind of relaxing to sit, draw and listen to Citizen Cope.
Thanks for all the advice people.



			
				Oveneise said:
			
		

> This sounds like its going to be a very sexy manga
> 
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> ...


Thanks for the vote of confidence 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




. Right now my females seem kind of muscly but the one I did yesterday impressed me.


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## SoraKeyofFate (Mar 10, 2011)

you should join deviantart.com
it's a great way to get feedback on your artwork and the community there is great! There is a HUGE variety of artworks varying from drawings, paintings to poems. There are quite a few tutorials up there too. I find a lot of inspiration from there and try to sketch similar pictures to some of the artwork. I also find it helps to sketch photographs too.

EDIT: as for female anatomy, have you tried using one of those wooden mannequin thingies? they don't really help me that much, but it's good for posing and stuff, even if you just get an outline.

EDIT 2: a key thing for females is the smoothness and slim figure. often their arms and legs have less shape than male bodies. their eyes are a little rounder, eyebrows usually thinner, and their faces are a bit more smoothly curved


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## Ikki (Mar 10, 2011)

Fishaman P said:
			
		

> Rydian said:
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Well that's almost all manga females are about.


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## Myke (Mar 11, 2011)

you want female anatomy? get some playboys. Not only do you get female anatomy, but you also get sexy poses to go with them which seems is what you are looking for. 
Sports illustrated swimsuit edition helps as well, hell you could even find all sorts of legal pictures on torrents. I know demonoid has a bunch of legit wallpapers of sexy girls that are usermade that are not piracy.
as for examining the way people move and enterpreting it in a still image, it's not as much the movement that makes the pose, it's more the system of balance and counterbalance in relationship to the dead weight that our bodies have when we move. If we didn't have this system, we would hardly be able to do any type of physical activity at all. it's kind of hard to explain without any visual cues, but I'll try anyway, then later I might draw up some sketches to furter explain my point if i have time at work. Basically to check to make sure your figure is standing, you would draw an immaginary vertical line from the pit of the neck (the little spot just below your neck here the proximal side of the clavicles meet, proximal meaning the side that's closer to the center of your body), if that line falls within the inner ankles, that means your figure is grounded properly. as for the relationships between balance and counter balance, the easiest form of this would be a figure in contrapposto. Basically what contrapposto means is that say the shoulders are bent at an angle where the right shoulder is higher than the left, the hips would have to counterbalance this tilt otherwise we fall down, so the left hip would be higher than the right, at pretty much the same degree of angulature. from here you can start experimenting with more extreme forms of it, like standing on one foot and having your back ben't backwards. You will notice that the leg you are not standing on will want to automatically be pushed forward in space. Your leg that's forward is counterbalancing yoru back that is moving back. Again the dead weight line from the pit of the neck should fall precisely within your inner ankle of the weight bearing leg, otherwise you will be falling. 

The motion of running: If you break down running in slow motion you will come to the conclusion that every running step is broken down into a jump and fall situation where the forward step is breaking our fall, moves us forward as it gets moved behind our body, and propels us in the air for our other leg which is now the forward leg to catch our fall, then the process is repeated over and over again. The back leg isn't  holding our weight in this situation so it's as if we are falling (if we drop the center line from the pit of the neck down to the ground, we will notice that the line doesn't fall within the inner ankles, it will be way forward, therefore we really are in the act of falling) but the front leg is there to counter balance our weight distribution as well as breaking our fall.  So in other words running is a controlled fall and pickup situation. Where the legs balance and catch our fall. 

This is pretty much all motion. in the end it's just physics. 
if you want to learn more about motion and how it all works to convey it realistically, look at acrobats, ice scaters, or ballerinas, they use balance to an extreme level. you will see the system of balance and counter balance and dead weight that I am explaining.
Also burne hogarth goes into a lot of detail about this in his book "dynamic figure drawing".
hope this helps a little on the whole drawing people in motion thing.


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## link491 (Mar 11, 2011)

http://howtodrawmanga.com/
that site has everything you'll ever need...


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