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ThirdPotato β Redline- Enhancing Reference
Published: 2011-12-20 21:43:31 +0000 UTC; Views: 20082; Favourites: 526; Downloads: 335
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I decided to fancy up this redline into a full tutorial because I think people may be able to benefit from this.
For more on using photo reference, see Using Photo Reference Original art by
Stock image by
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Comments: 41
I've found that these sort of tips for drawing also work really well for sculpture work too. Well, at least for me.
Thanks for posting this.
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you are my hero!!! I always wondered why my anatomy was so stiff, and now I know its because I don't add fluidity and don't add a rythem of angles to the pose.
THANK YOU!!
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Thank you! Glad to have helped n.n
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you're welcome 
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Really helpful, this one
Thanks for sharing!
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I'd add choosing suitable photography to work from is crucial. Beginners (and intermediates alike) should study clear stock photography of nude (or at least, very partially clothed) models as a starting point. Jumping straight into using clothed photographs could do more damage than good for a beginner and potentially overwhelm them with too much unnecessary detail to consider. As you said the underlying form is much more important to understand fully before applying clothing, and I believe the best way would be to start with the basic nude model.
I personally think the photograph the user chose to reference a pose was much too complex to begin with (the loose clothing hides a great deal of the figure and the sun-glare obscures most of the foot!), and next time I think they would benefit greatly starting with a more clear, minimally-clothed photographic reference to work from
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Well said! Great points. As a sentient beginner, I stray away from intricately detailed/clothed/etc drawings or photos of people. It's only going to do a beginner harm to have them reference a picture of a person with all of those types of things (clothing, lighting, glares, unnecessary details) obstructing the actual structure of the person or thing. Plus, clothing is waaaaaay easier to understand once you know the what the thing it is covering looks like.
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Yes, although I'm sure there are people technically minded enough to work from complex photos at first - fully understanding raw form should then allow you to comprehend clothing much easier. Learning things the other way around is possible, but for a beginner it's certainly more of a headache to 'unlearn' advanced steps just to start with the basics again!
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Exactly! Some can handle it, and that's great. But it's usually--yeah you said it already. Well said.
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Very interesting notes. I'd like to know why you specifically made the line go down from his head to his right leg. I realize you point out most of his body is turning to his right and that's why the line follows it. Would it be incorrect to make the line go down his left leg? Is it because the more dynamic line is the 'right' one, and the straighter one is the one to not go off of?
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The line is really to capture the general action of the pose, regardless of the leg it follows, though yes in this case, follows the left. The more dynamic one is the one that's not stiff, and correct, a stiff straight line is bad, because it makes a stiff straight pose.
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I see, I take it the aim is to go from head to toe, following the most dynamic and non-stiff parts. I'm shockingly bad at being able to recognize a line of action in stock, and even worse at making mine up, which I tend to overshoot the dynamicism and just make it go from cartoon-like to past John K. Extremism
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This is excellent, thank you for sharing! Using photo references often leads people to very stiff artwork - there is nothing wrong or bad about using a reference, but it's about making the best use of it to enhance your vision. Your tutorial emphasizes it perfectly through line of action. Great stuff!
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I'm trying to improve my art skills and this was incredibly helpful! Thank you! I never would have thought about that.
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This really is helpful. Whenever I tried drawing from life, I just couldn't grasp it and my poses ended up coming out wonky... So this really does help explain things and I'm going to give this one a try. <= )
Thanks for creating! ^^
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That has to be the thing I have the most trouble with, the dynamic nature of poses, it is a recurring thing through all my art, I canβt get good movement and fluidity down, everything I make looks dreadfully static. This should help a lot. I did botch that pose a bit, lost the fluidity like you said. I need to find a way to preserve that look, hopefully I can push away from that stiff look I always end up having, I will be experimenting a bit with poses after finals and try to make, well better looking stuff after this.
What you did here was great of course, now I actually have a really good idea of how the understructure of each of the pictures is looking and flowing, also the changes you made, the way the arms and the legs are positioned and how she just looks like her pose has all these layers to itβ¦.I need to be able to do that instinctively, your piece looks fantasticβ¦ this should be a ton of help, love the commentary on the motion and just how things are lining up and how the weight looks more realistic with how she is holding herself. I got to go back and check out more of your tutorials, I am soooooo out of practice.
Thanks for making this for me, this is very very good to see, I need to really take all of this into account now, start improving and really getting my act together. I can do details, but not dynamics. So thanks again, this should help me outβ¦and lots others too!
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Not a prob, man! This one may help you out too: [link]
The way to get dynamic poses is to focus on the underdrawing first. A lot of people really do just jump right into the anatomy or clothing details, especially fantasy artists for some reason. The best way to get into practice, is to do 60 second gesture drawings.
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Ah another good tutorial there, thanks a ton miss!
Heh and I went out of my way to get the nice anatomy down and the detail but I need to get a better hang of how things work, dynamically, time to practice with this stuff....I even took courses on gesture drawings a ways back but I guess I never used that material very well
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Thanks for this! I know this tutorial will be very useful! Will you be doing any other "redline" critiques?
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Thanks! it's something I do as often as people ask, and as often as I can find time for when appropriate n.n
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Thanks! I can't thank you enough for posting tutorials on things I coincidentally have a really hard time doing.
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XD aw thanks!
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This is very helpful!
It also reminded me that dA has stock photos! No more guessing on poses!
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I always adore your redlines/tutorials for posing and character design, they help me realize shortcomings I can improve on, so I refer to them a lot 
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Thank you! It's good reference/tutorial for a dynamic pose.
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Great ref for using refs, I could definitely learn from this. I've never been much for using photo refs, but I definitely need to start.
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Great red-line tutorial 
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