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LadyNilstria — Lady Nilstria's Guide to the Anatomically Possible
Published: 2012-03-02 06:27:42 +0000 UTC; Views: 23926; Favourites: 962; Downloads: 0
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So, after spending way too many hours reading the blog Escher Girls all the way back to post one, I have determined I learned quite a bit about how ridiculous the American comic scene is regarding women.I mean, REALLY people. If you want to draw breasts and boobs so much, there are better jobs for you.
I myself appreciate correct anatomy. It makes a picture more pleasing to me knowing the artist took the time and dedication to learn the human anatomy and implement it instead of creating some odd wildebeest thing. Yes, I am looking particularly at you, Rob Liefeld.
So, I made a little tutorial. I hope someone learns something from it.
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Comments: 98
I always feel that correct anatomy is *far* sexier than the laminated blow-up dolls in "modern mainstream culture". Anyway, I'm just saying I support!
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Indeed. I believe it is part of an artist/writer's responsibility to create what conforms to reality in the essential sense, because the arts change what a culture refers to as "ideal." If the ideal is untrue and unrealistic, everything can become skewed.
Who wants a girl growing up thinking something is wrong with her body because it doesn't conform to the cultural ideal, when she was made just as she needed to be made? It doesn't matter if a woman has no breasts or huge ones. Everyone has a different preference. What girls need to do is find a man who loves her as she is, body and spirit.
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Exactly. I also read some articles asking what would be a "female power fantasy," and one day, I'd like to tackle that.
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"people, even women have skeletons and internal organs" bwahahaha
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Have been loking for Anatomy tutorials recently and loved this one. Great job!
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This is great. I've been drawing for many years and the human form is my favourite. I bought myself a book that shows how the body works and moves and the pages are extremely well worn. Your work is so simple but so wonderful.
Thank you.
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I love you. Just saying. (You drew the belly-bump girls have near the hips! No one draws it! (except the people who do the Durarara! anime)
Wonderful tut, though I yelled 'bullshit' at the 'spine doesn't typically exceed a 150 degree bend' and its accompanying image, because I maaged to completely forget again that most people cannot do things that belong in a circus act like me
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Thank you. It's amazing how many artists, including women, forget about that belly-bump.
And that is exactly the reason I included "as a general rule." XD It's the same for the flexibility of the leg. People like you, ballet performers, all of them can achieve higher degrees then I drew, but I know myself and most people can't. XD
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You earned it ;3 but... but... it's cute!
Good plan. 
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I personally like being flexible because it's more comfortable. A flexible body just plain feels better than one that won't do what you want. My legs feel so heavy since I stopped ballet. I need to start again.
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Fair enough. I always get depressed when I ca't do something from lack of practice. I like strong muscles for the same reason, but right now it's to hot outside to do any extreme forms. Eek... you should! It's good for you. And balance! (I wanted to do ballet but never did. I compensated by imitating my ballerina friend, though. She was NOT HAPPY)
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The heat is why I haven't played tennis recently. I don't want to die from heatstroke. 
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Exactly. And I live down on a subtropic coast, so we have humidity in spades... don't know about you. Hee, tennis. A sport I was never effective at.
Thanks XD at least SOMEONE does. Ah... Apparently I'm a good mimic and she's trained for years for her skills, so... (it's not like I'm pirroeting (sorry for butching that, my french is terrible) or anything, though, and my jumps are lackluster. I could easily stop the complaining, I think, by reminding her that I have also been training for years by myself... but it's kind of funny/adorkable to watch her huff and pout so I don't.)
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There's something about heat when it gets above 98.6 degrees, regardless of humidity. It saps you dry. D:
It's not like you're making fun of her though by imitating her. It speaks well on her that she's good enough to be imitated.
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No kidding - -; when we went shopping ealier I had to carry in the heavy stuff. when I got in, everything room temperature felt deliciously cold, so I was making everyone uncomfortable by just kind of squishing up against.. everything. Glad fall is coming, seriously. We need cool breezes! Dry is not goooood.
She is, I think. Maybe I'll try that logic when I grow tired of the anger. I'll bet an outside opinion will work better on her, anyway.
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I was at a friend's house plastering my hands against her fridge because it was so uncommonly cold and it felt so good. XD
Oh dear.
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Nice. I tried crawling in ours back in June or July, I can't remember...
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*managed.
And forgot to say (somehow) awesome job!
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Heh, as it turns out, Eschergirls led me here. The cycle is complete!
I always have a hard time with hips-- I know it's a ball and socket joint, but, whenever I try drawing from the waist down, it never looks right. I think it might be because of the mermaid figure a lot of images have going, and I'm just so used to it that it's hard to get away from...
Ah well, at least now I can see what might be happening. More practice it is, then~
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I like this a lot. I'm squeamish about things that show actual muscles (that posing site... damnit, I forgot the name), and I hate thinking about tendons, but it's easier in sketch form. XD
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Saw a link here on Escher Girls, while flipping backwards through the archive. This is fantastic.
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I love that blog. XD
Thank you.
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I commend you for putting this up and I hope it helps many artists, especially those just beginning to learn the craft. It saddens me that it has to be pointed out, though, because it should be so obvious. You cannot bend/break the rules until you learn them first.
I enjoy the Escher Girls site (even though plenty of my own drawings would be subject to ridicule) but there are two types of art being poked at there. Some artists (such as Adam Hughes and Arthur Adams) are deliberately stretching and twisting bodies into poses that are more about dynamism and "cool" than they are about realism or practicality. They could draw real figures with real poses and proportions, but are choosing to draw them the way they do.
The other type seem to have learned to draw figures by looking at artwork instead of drawing from life. They have no idea which rules are being bent or broken, or how. Or why. You wind up with art that doesn't properly communicate action to the person looking at it. (Is she throwing a punch, or did all of her joints just dislocate at the same time? Can't tell from the pose, and probably can't tell from the expression...)
Much of today's dynamism in comic artwork is the result of artists testing boundaries and seeing which rules can be bent and which can be broken, and how far to push things. But I think that too many artists take a shortcut, skipping the part where they learn to draw real bodies and jumping right into drawing dynamic and stylistic bodies. I think that this has disrupted the natural progression that would otherwise have occurred. We'd still have comics full of voluptuous women in impractical outfits, but at least they'd be recognizable as women. And a punch would look like a punch.
Draw from life. There's no shortage of references, after all.
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An excellent tutorial! I'll be sure to keep it in mind.
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Thank you, I shall keep this handy for if I ever manage to set pencil to paper!
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Thanks for the tutorial. <3 It's kind of amazing how many "good" artists will defy anatomy in the name of sexy.
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I love this! So helpful,I really learned a lot from this. I feel like before none of the girls I drew had enough room for a ribcage.
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THANK YOU THANK YOU THANKYOUTHANKYOU!!!!
You have no idea how long I've been longing for this! I'm a budding, freetime artist, and the "Must be idealized to the point of impossibility" has irritated and saddened me so much. I try to follow actual anatomy, but seeing this has made me want to hug you so hard.
THANK YOU. I am definitely directing my friends here.
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I'm delighted I could be of assistance.
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I just wanted you to know. I love you.
(Platonically, but nonetheless.
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I love the Escher Girl's blog & you did a wonderful job making a proper "how to draw women" tutorial.
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Fantastic guide. Straightforward and to the point. Thank you!
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Well I could agree if only super-heroes weren't avatars for fetishes and dreams about some abnormal powers. You don't see many regular guys with guns but plenty of mutants and other god-like warriors. And you don't want to read about normal or regular army people because even in GIJOE there were super natural powers within both fractions. And you don't see flat chested girls as well. Hell, are there any super heroes with pimples, glasses, any other features common in the world of regular people? In battle stance, I'm not asking about Clark Kent and such. No, and all know why. I see regular people when leaving house. I meet plenty of normal people every day thus I like reading stories about super muscled guys, girls with porn-like bodies which kicks evil ass with high heels. Some super powered people who shot laser from eyes. And this is it. American super heroes canon is like that and it will not change any time soon. Go read some underground zines, European comic books or psychological adult comic books from Japan but don't force super stereotype canon to be all about anatomy and "natural" because it will lost it charm.
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I know that comics are about escapism, and as someone who exclusively reads science fiction and fantasy, believe me, I get it.
The problem is that the men get power fantasies about being strong and awesome and cool, and male readers get to identify with them, whereas the female characters are also objects there for male gratification. They aren't fantasies for women. They don't seem to exist apart from the idea of "something to fuck." Why are men heroes and women PORN STARS? I'm a woman, and I sure don't lie around thinking, "Man, I wish I could be something cool like a porn star!" Men read comics and get their fantasies stroked. Women read comics and get insulted and degraded. That's not cool, okay.
It's not about realism. I'm fine with poses being a bit unrealistic in their dynamism, but preferably not so we can see a girl's ass and tits at the same time. I want lady power fantasies. I want to get what men get when they read comics. It isn't that I can only identify with women, either, I identify with male characters all the time (and I wish some men would learn to cross that gender line) but it's still really frustrating when every time a female character comes into the panel you want to bang your head against a wall.
Fantasy and escapism don't mean getting rid of a character's essential humanity, because that's what makes the whole thing work. There still has to be something that can be related to in there, or else it's just random nonsense, not something you can escape into. What comics rob female characters of is that essential humanity, that thing that lets us escape into them. They don't feel like people--not real people, any people. That's a problem.
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By your reasoning, the SIMS games should never have worked.
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Range of motion diagrams lkajflgjsdlfgh bless you.
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Thanks very much for this. As progressive as I consider myself to be, I think I often fall into incorrect tropes when I'm drawing women.
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Great tutorial--I'm trying to be a better artist and while I don't think I've ever purposefully done any of this, I always try to give the women I draw enough room in the body for major organs and not give them spines like a limp noodle.
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Then you have already taken a great stride towards artistic ability as concerning the human body. I salute you. *fanfare*
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Don't overdo it on the fan-fare--I'm sure I suck in many other ways outside of that. 
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