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 wanted to better show the poses.
| Poses look best at the beginning or ending of a movement. This pose is very weak. Vicki is in the middle of a step. Her weight is in the middle of shifting from one leg to the other. |
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| This pose is much better. You can tell that she is jogging. She has just landed on one leg while the other one is kicking up and forward. Her arms are also swung farther for more speed and bent slightly more to emphasize effort.
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| Expressions in conversations are fluid. Your pictures will look best if you grab the beginning or ending of a statement. Either Vicki is mad, or she's trying to activate her super hero powers, or she's ... having intestinal problems. |
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| Oh, boy. Vicki's upset! She's taking a step towards you; she's leaning forward to get even closer to you, and she's pointing out exactly what you did. |
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| Do not always have your characters looking directly at the camera. It implies that they are talking directly to the viewer. |
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| Moving the camera and adjusting her head gives the impression that Vicki is talking to someone just off-screen and makes the scene more interesting. |
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Speaking of camera angles:
| Is Vicki holding a rally or complaining about being bird bombed? |
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| Looking down on a scene removes the viewer from the scene. Done correctly, this can create one or more of the following effects:
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| Angling the camera upward makes the figure look bigger, therefore more impressive and/or threatening. It can also be used to make the viewer feel insignificant or to point out the importance of the scene. There's no question: Vicki is holding a rally in this picture. |
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| Lighting from underneath adds to the threat and the drama. Just what sort of rally is this?!? |
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Now be fruitful and render! Back to Part I.
