Emma Jane Bryant - Correction

Original can be found here: [link]

Allright! This is officially my first correction!! I'm going to explain everything as carefully and detailed as I possibly can, not because I think you're a retard or anything, but because I don't want to confuse you with my crappy explanation skills

My hand writing is kinda sloppy so I'm writing it here in a more detailed version all the points I brought up:

1# The mouth isn't aligned with the rest of the face and I forgot to mention this but I also think the nose could have been placed a little higher; nose actually begins from the eyebrows/a bit above the eye.

2# The neck is too thick, don't forget that females have more slender necks than males and since it's manga I encourage you to exaggerate that feature! In manga it's better to draw a too thin neck than a too thick. :3

3# Since the neck was so thick it ate up much of her shoulders and made them too short(But if you make the neck thinner they look just fine so no worries) so I couldn't really tell if you had drawn the trapezius muscle or not but I thought it to be a good point to bring up anyway(I sure wish someone had told me about it earlier D just in case. The trapezius muscle goes between the neck and the deltoid muscle(when drawing guidelines you usually draws this muscle as a ball at the very end of the shoulders) and covers most of the back(But that parts not very important at the moment, sorry...). This muscle makes a subtle bulge in the shoulders, it may sound unimportant but it makes a huge difference and also helps to not draw shoulders too short. This is the trapezoid muscle: [link] see the bulge? Here's a photograph of how it looks on a human: [link] it's right between the neck and the "bone protruding"(on another note, the collarbone ends between the trapezoid muscle and the deltoid muscle as the picture suggests. Trust me, these things are very good to know! The sooner you start studying anatomy the better, you'll thank me later XD)

4# Elbow, when limp or lining with the body, is always at the waist/right above the hip. I recommend you check it out by yourself by putting your arm against your side. It's a good idea not to just listen to what I or others tell you whats right or wrong but to really try them out for yourself to confirm it, after all knowledge can never beat actual experience!

5# When relaxed the arm's direction is towards the body, it's only pointed outwards when pulled taut.

6# That grip is not very firm and unless she's pressing the book up against her body she's definitely gonna drop it! D: This was the best example I could find to show you what I mean(Never underestimate the power of reference!): [link] See what I'm getting at? In the picture she's holding the book with all of her fingers underneath the book with the uttermost part of her fingers putting pressure on the back of the the book for balance. In your drawing she's carrying it on her fingertips.

7# The hand, when lining along the body, usually begins at the end of the crotch(See green line) and ends somewhere in the middle of the thigh. (Btw the hand I drew were pretty sloppy so don't take it too seriously )

8# Again, never underestimate the power of reference! [link] Okay so it's not exactly the same pose but you see what I mean. First of all I will share with you a tip I didn't learn until recently and still haven't quite mastered but it's still VERY good to think of while drawing a pose and that is where the weight is. In your pose the weight is obviously on carried by her right leg(see yellow line). I tried out that pose in front of my mirror( I recommend you do too), I fell. Because of this I straightened it and moved it further to the center of the body, I also moved her left leg so her foot holds a little weight as well and thus gives more balance and prevent her from falling. ALWAYS consider were most of the weight is when drawing a pose!! It's VERY good thus the CAPITALIZED letters for emphasize. It will help you a lot! The weight almost always originates from the feet(unless you're standing on your hands) since it's the feet that carries your body.

9# Since she's leaning on her right foot her chest and hip shoots out and becomes more prominent on the left side of the body the right side flattens(Not the boobs though).

10# Take a look at my red line please, first of all she's way too skinny. There are comic styles where the women have extremely thin waists and still manage to pull it off(*glances over at Jessica Rabbit [link]) but in my opinion it usually looks better in american styled comics where the style is way more exaggerated and/or simplified and before you start exaggerate and simplify or otherwise play around too much with your proportions I strongly recommend to brush up on your realistic anatomy. Trust me it helps a lot to know what goes were and how your body works and really look like. If possible(And if you're and art nerd like me! xD) I recommend drawing croqois or pictures or real humans.

The second thing was to give room for her lungs and rib case, make her upper body more plump. When I draw my guidelines I tend to draw a circle around the upper part of her upper body that indicates both the trapezoid muscle as well as where the ribcage and muscles goes. Namely there's another important muscle here; latissimus dorsi: [link] and this is were it looks like on a human body: [link] This is also good to know and remember while drawing the body.

11# (Actually there is no 11 because I forgot to write it in so I'm writing it here instead The hand against the hip feels unnatural. Sure it's easier to draw, I used to draw the hand like that too, but normally people don't hold like that. If you try holding your hand like that you can feel for yourself that it feels kinda weird and out of place. If you take a look back on the picture I posted for the pose reference you see what's an much more natural way to hold(although I've found that usually, and also in your pose, you would only see the fingers and not the hand with the thumb hidden behind the flesh). I also think your hands is a bit on the small side, it's more common to draw too small hands rather than too big hands so you could try and exaggerate that a little more, an out-stretched hand is about the same size as the face - beginning at the chin and stopping at the forehead.


Phew... I feel like I went a bit off-topic on some parts but I hope I've been to some kind of help Sorry for the wall of text and I hope you don't think I was too hard on you! o.o;; Drawings is like the artists offspring, their babies, and when someone criticizes your baby it's sometime difficult not to take it personally.

If you're wondering something, feel I'm mistaken or simply didn't understand some parts feel free to ask so that I can attempt to clarify! :3