This is a general guide to making more realistic poses. The best way to make more realistic poses is to carefully observe people and take notes, but here's some guidelines to quickly improve your poses. Yes, there's nudity. I did not want to blur any details on the body. If you get physically excited by this, you'll love anatomy books. ;-)
| Nature is NOT symmetrical. Having a character with one side of the body mirroring the other looks unreal. Unless Vicki here is in the Army, she doesn't look natural. |  |
| This pose is more natural. What did I do?
To have one leg support more weight than the other, move the hip more directly over that leg.The hip bone will be higher up on the leg supporting the weight when standing. (Climbing/raising the opposite leg is the obvious exception.) If neither shoulder supports any weight, then the distance between the weight-supporting leg and it's corresponding shoulder will be less than the opposite side.
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| Does this mean the Figure: Symmetry tools is useless? Heck no! I'm lazy. I use it all the time. I get one side of the body correct, then make the other side symmetrical. I then make minor changes to each side to break it up. |
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| Gravity - it's a theory, but a darn good one. Even fantasy and superheroes pay lip service to it. When standing, the leg that is supporting the weight should be firmly on the ground. The knee should be straight - otherwise the quadriceps bear all the burden of the weight. Just try this pose and you'll understand. |
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| Yes, there are Martial Arts stances that have you balance on bent knees, but your weight is distributed between both legs. (And it still takes getting used to!) The pose on the right is not perfect, but it has the weight distributed almost evenly between the two feet. If this were perfectly weighted, the distance from one foot to the center of the hip would be identical to the distance from the other foot to the hip. (I'd also pose the arms better, use a real stance, etc.) *Insert "Walk like an Egyptian" jokes here* |
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| Hey!!! Doesn't this pose contradict everything you've just said. The hip is over the left leg, but the knee is bent. The weight would be badly distributed. The right shoulder is also closer to the right hip, than the left shoulder is to the left hip. Yes, the hip is over the left leg, BUT, the right leg is actually supporting the weight. It is pushing the body up against the wall. The left leg is not supporting any weight. |
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The same general rules apply to sitting.
| What's wrong with this picture? (Besides a nekkid chick on a vinyl sofa? Ick, that vinyl's gonna leave a mark!) The left and right sides of the body are completely symmetrical. The back is rigidly upright. (When's the last time YOU sat up straight on a sofa?) There's no personality here. (Also, most people sit on one seat cushion or the other, not on the crack unless they're crammed in.) |
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| Now we have some attitude. What did I do?
The time it took me to make the pose more natural - less than 5 minutes. |
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In general, the less perfect your pose, the better it will be. Ready for some more hints on posing?
