Dynamic Poses

[SweetNymph]

Oh, the joy of seeing the beautiful covers of manga, and all those adorable pictures in between chapters. But how in the world are the artist's able to come up with poses that aren't boring?

... Well, how? I have no clue. Pinups are my worst form of art, as I can never make a pose look good, and my comics aren't much better. Any advice?

[Tentopet]

I've found at least that poses become interesting because of the meaning I put behind them. What type of person is in the pinup? What are they going through? Are there any symbolic things I can add to the composition, outfit, even props?

It can get quite complicated the more you think about it--just the way one arm might angle you can decide based off of a story you have in your head. If you have a reason for things you do, while the people who see it might not catch that reason, the pinup looks much better for it. Or at least, that's me. I'm a huge fan of Norman Rockwell and think in terms of his illustrations when I do pinups. I try not to make people look like they're posing...that is, unless I can make fun of the fact that they're posing (fake smile, feeling uncomfortable, wanting attention, whatever). I say, the more candid, the better.

Meh, I'll give you an example of how my mind works using this pinup-->http://www.deviantart.com/view/22849741/. It's of a character named Tentopet, who was pulled from Ancient Egypt to the present time as part of a psychological experiment to see how she'll react to the modern world. She's a cute sort of girl--very innocent and maybe a little too nice. She has a pet blender that she drags around her, and throughout the story it deteriorates as it rubs against concrete and whatnot. She loves it, but she destroys it. So in this pinup, I decided Tentopet needed to be looking a bit overwhelmed. The angle we're at looking up at her aids in that. I had her shift her weight to one hip to make her curious and cute and made her toes face in to show that she's a little timid in her new environment. She's got her blender on a leash, so to speak, and she's got a watch around her neck, tied to a chain that goes off the screen. She's time's slave, basicaly, and the composition shows a chain of abuse. She's got several watches all over her to emphasize how it weighs her down. She's looking up at whoever might be holding that chain, in curiosity. But her face is turned away, perhaps in fear. I wanted the background to be simple but help the composition, so I used the circle backdrop like Norman Rockwell likes to do, and I did a cutesy image of a modern city.

So people who see it just go, "Uh, cool!" but without all that story behind it it'd just be another boring pinup. Of course, looking at it now, I see I could've made it much more dynamic. She looks a little stiff.

Other things that make pinups dynamic are twisting torsos, asymmetry (don't have both arms doing the same thing unless you're making it a point to do so), and flowy hair and clothing. But definitely play with angles.

Oh, and pose in the mirror!!! BIGTIME important. Act out what you think would work and pay attention to what your body looks like.

[KaYoKitten]

I really agree with Tentopet-san here--it's the story you want to get across. But sometimes, there are things that you want to do just for fun. CLAMP does excellent pictures at the start of their comics by doing something that's still in-character, but goes completely off the wall of what the story is about. I especially love their work in Tsubasa's covers, because in that story, it is quite possible for them to have incorporated their pictures into a new chapter of the story.

Here's one of mine (http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/28736866/), of a character named Blank. In the original story, she's actually a pirate captain of her own crew of motled demons and humans, men and women. She's quite famous in her world, and she's comfortable with that fact. However, she's VERY uncomfortable with the fact that she now has several friends from outside her own dimension (it's a dimensional-police sort of story, but the "police" aren't very...um...skilled at what they do, and they really don't know much about what they're supposed to be doing, really...). So I decide to also show that combination in this piece.

This is a what-if-Blank-were-from-our-world sort of piece, and I show that she's secure with what she does by make her quite comfortable in her outfit and in her environment, here being a Spanish-style rooftop in basically goth clothes. But the fact that her head is downwardly tilted, her face is a bit confused, and that she uses her arms to cover her back shows that she's a little insecure with herself as a person.

Make sense, cakes? ^_^

[SweetNymph]

Cakes?

Yes, that does help.

Tee hee... pet blender.:D

[franchan]

I know what you mean - some manga poses are amazing. They often utilise outstretched arms, fingers seperated, and legs all over the shop. ^^ I'm totally crap at poses in practice, but i know some good stuff in theory.

Study the human form realistically first (later you can adapt to stylististic)- try drawing yourself from a mirror, practise drawing your hands and feet, look in biology books, bu one of the wooden pose dolls etc.

Make the pose have a lot of movement, at odd angles (eg face in corner of page), but still humanely possible (humans are flexible, but not made of rubber). Still, many manga characters are capable of poses on pinup pages that should really qualify them as a top-level gymnast. Make sure clothing wrinkles/folds and hair move with the pose. ^^ Howsat for some tips?

[franchan]

I tried drawing a fancy pose today. It was hard, but I used my wooden machete for drawing the basic outline.

[Pedes]

I agree with Tentopet and uglykitten - you have to treat it as an ilustration, eg. like an ilustration from a book. Know the whole story. Or you cant just treat it like a whole page panel of a tory that isn't included.

[SweetNymph]

I agree with Tentopet and uglykitten - you have to treat it as an ilustration, eg. like an ilustration from a book. Know the whole story. Or you cant just treat it like a whole page panel of a tory that isn't included.

You know, that makes a lot of sense... Kind of like the Between-chapter image in Dramacon right after Christy's BF tried to rape her. ^^

[T0M0_chan]

they must be really experienced...
that's sooo cool...^__^

[KaYoKitten]

Yes, the author of Dramacon has had a great deal of experience...Svetlana-san, I think is her name. Can't pronounce to save me life. XD I'd love to meet her, it'd be just like that scene in Dramacon about...I won't be mentionin' here, cause I don't wanna spoil anything from this fabulous book. (GO READ IT IF YOU HAVEN'T!)

It's interesting ya'll should bring up that "panel missing" page break technique. Svetlana-san really outdid herself on the page covers between the scenes and chapters. Marmalade Boy does a splendid job of this technique.

It also employs another that I really enjoyed: little drawings off to the side or at the bottom that have nothing to do with the story at that moment. I would love to use that technique myself if I become a manga-ka for TP.

[SweetNymph]

I'd want to do the between-chapters thing Svet does (totally awesome writing and art, and a really cool person, too. ^^). Only with my own style.

Of course, I'm thinking about writing mystery/comedies using a character that's going to appear in a comic I'll be doing once my current "practice comic" is finished, and my writer finishes it.

[KeoKa]

Tento- What computer program do you use to color? *Sorry if this is a little off topic.....