The head ratio thing is well I like it on others art work but when I try to draw it myself I always think it doesn't look right lol but I think I'm going to have to get over it X3 ..maybe
The head-size thing is a real toughie! I sympathize with struggling with it; I don't think I always get it, either, even when I set out to try to be accurate. (I'm always impressed by Wendy's consistency in this; although, the 1/5 ratio for wolfriders/sun folk/go-backs is the model-sheet, of course, and I've never actually done a survey of her in-comic work to see if she ever strays from it. But my *impression*, at least, is that she's extremely consistent about it.) People struggle with it so much that we haven't tried to hold anyone to it in what they submit to RTH (the way we *do* hold people to other EQ details, like four-fingered hands).
And sometimes, I find it goes the other way! I've wound up drawing heads that were just too big, and then had to shrink them in the ink phase. In the other direction, though, I frequently find myself doing 1/5.5 ratios. (Fortunately, many of the RTH characters are in an in-between stage in the devolution from High One to Cutter-wolfrider height, so this can be almost "accurate".) Anyway, to double-check, I'll often get something into PS, then make a rough cut-out of the head, and paste it four times over, so I can line 'em up and see how they relate to the figure's height. That's where cutting out bits and scaling them in PS comes in handy, too; which is easiest done in the ink phase, obviously, but I've done it at the color stage too. (Note: I scan all my inks for clean-up, then laser-print a copy to color on.)
This is -- if others will forgive me -- a thing where I recommend a limited form of tracing, in order to help you get your head around the EQ proportions. That is, I'd recommend either taking some of the EQ "doll" outlines that Wendy created, or else creating them yourself out of some clear figure examples (such as the animation turn-around studies in the Gatherum), and using them to create a figure outline to fill in. If you're having trouble feeling as if it "looks right" in your own style, then that might help you produce some practice pieces that you can be sure *are* replicating the correct proportions, and might help make you more comfortable with the look. (I've done this when I've been having trouble with the concept; really doing 1/5 results in REALLY gigantic heads, and I find it a good way to convince my brain that the drawing *is* in the correct proportion -- it has to be, if the figure outline was accurately copied from something that I *know* was accurately laid out.)
From there, it's a matter of figuring out how to lay out your figures so that you can reproduce the proportions yourself. (Early on, I tended to draw a rough guide-grid for myself. I don't do that as much lately, after discovering the "scaling bits in PS" technique.)
Author
Topic: C/C for mischievous_valkyrie (Read 4176 times)