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9:23 PM, Saturday June 4th 2022

If I may ask for a little extra help, what should I do in the case a leg seems to be "one thing" (I started looking for references and this rat's visible feet do not appear to have visible knees)? With a longer-legged quadruped I understand my approach should be draw the "shoulder" for the leg, draw the sausage for the upper leg, the sausage for the lower leg, and the foot, but what I'm seeing looks more like a single link between the foot and shoulder. I can see that the conventional approach works in the rat demo, but the knee isn't so present in cases like this image.

I'll try to dial back on the fur/texture, though maybe there's something about "balancing" the drawing I'm missing; sparse areas next to detailed ones looked off, and in my elephant drawings in particular I still have a gut feeling I was forgetting or not quite getting some wrinkles even though my problem is really the opposite. I didn't altogether forget the texture/decoration distinction, I was trying to give a sense of what fur might feel like and thiner strokes seemed appropriate for the capybara at least (the silhouette-breaking tufts were also part of this, I thought they would convey a sort of fluffiness or thickness).

10:20 PM, Saturday June 4th 2022

Technically you it's up to you, but I would still draw the rat's legs as I understand them to be - that is, having knees and all that, and not as a single continuous unit.

In truth, what matters here is that what I'd explained previously about each drawing being an exercise, a 3D spatial puzzle. The reference image gives us a certain amount of information, and we use it to the best of our ability to use it to introduce forms to our construction, and then solve for the relationships between them.

Whether you do this with a leg being made up of a single segment or multiple doesn't actually matter in regards to the spatial reasoning aspect of it - we're still playing with forms and the relationships between them regardless - but it does impact how your observational skills improve. Looking at the rat image you shared, I may well see more information there than you, because my eyes have experience in knowing what to look for.

Here's what I mean. The presence of structure tends to be visible, even if only subtly, through layers of flesh, skin, and fur. But you have to know to look for it, and the first part there is by acknowledging what you know to be present, and finding it. It'll get easier with time, and towards the beginning it may well seem like seeing things where they're not there (something the human brain is quite good at, like seeing faces on the moon) but trusting in your gut and working from it.

5:48 PM, Sunday June 12th 2022

I have drawn 6 additional animals here. I made sure to employ the sausage method for the legs and keep in mind not to totally envelop them. I also cut back on internal fur texture, but still tried to employ it to emphasize certain tuft areas (this may have led to a little trouble with the corgi, admittedly).

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The Art of Brom

The Art of Brom

Here we're getting into the subjective - Gerald Brom is one of my favourite artists (and a pretty fantastic novelist!). That said, if I recommended art books just for the beautiful images contained therein, my list of recommendations would be miles long.

The reason this book is close to my heart is because of its introduction, where Brom goes explains in detail just how he went from being an army brat to one of the most highly respected dark fantasy artists in the world today. I believe that one's work is flavoured by their life's experiences, and discovering the roots from which other artists hail can help give one perspective on their own beginnings, and perhaps their eventual destination as well.

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