Posebook -- mobile app to help artists draw the human form

[Darren Dirt]

http://posebookbysilver.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dQCgrs_j4w
from this guy http://www.youtube.com/user/silvertoons/videos

How does an artist get better at drawing? Very simple, by drawing. That practice,the act of being inspired and finding new approaches is what moves an artist to the next level.

The purpose of this book is to provide you with images to inspire you. A book dedicated to help guide every artist, to learn about, construction, form, balance anatomy, proportion, folds in clothing, gesture, silhouettes, portraiture, lighting, hands, perspective, and contrast.

With the images in the Posebook, you can sketch for the fun of it. Learn how to draw humans from the side view, back view, understand how the head tilts, how a body sits, understand the angles of a foot. You can study and draw the back of an ear, the underside of a nostril, the bottom of a shoe. Whatever you feel you need to practice, this is your chance. Flip to any page and start sketching what inspires you.

I find that when I am struggling, or uninspired, what works for me is to find photos that look like fun to draw. So I set in motion the tools to create the pose book that I always wanted. With great dedication and passion, I bring to you a book to draw from, learn from, and have fun with. Don't feel that you need to copy the pose exactly, or use it to find just the right pose for a comic you are doing. Remember this book?s purpose is to provide you with inspiration. You can take it everywhere you go.

HAVE FUN!!!!
Stephen Silver

[Mr. Analog]

Ooh, I've seen another program like this, can't remember the name though, it's pretty cool

[Darren Dirt]

I'm no artist, but this still intrigued me because

1. author/creator is a pretty decent, quite prolific producer of stuff that he makes readily available so you can see for yourself his "cred"

2. seems like it can appeal to both an experienced artist who wants to just touch up some specifics, or the n00b who needs a bit of a step-by-step tutorial (ability to skim past the stuff you don't care about is also pretty sweet)

3. it's only ten bucks (not sure if that's a low price for what he offers, considering the large # of poses/models he has gathered together)


anyhoo, thought of Mr. Analog first of course, for who might benefit from it, but hey you never know who else is a budding comic/RL artist just waiting to be discovered...

[Mr. Analog]

It's basically a collection of stock poses which is okay I guess, the really cool software lets you take a 3d model and pose it around, change attributes etc.

The main problem I have with tools like these is depending on the artist things can end up looking kinda "same-y"

[Darren Dirt]

It's basically a collection of stock poses which is okay I guess, the really cool software lets you take a 3d model and pose it around, change attributes etc.

I got the impression there's a kinda step by step tutorial-ish feature to the app, which would be helpful for "first-timers" to get an idea what is commonly done when drawing certain poses and body frames etc... over time that becomes auto-pilot and "your style" comes out but as a foundation you should have some "common knowledge" of what most artists do at the core of drawing people. Am I wrong? Just curious.

[Mr. Analog]

Well it gives you access to an artists model any time you want and if you practise life drawing but can't find the exact pose you want in stock images or hire a model tools like this help.

Life drawing and anatomy are facets of art for sure but aren't foundational (it can help, but it isn't required in my opinion).

Now here's where things go a little OT and is just me blowing off something I find annoying that many of my peers do... (stop reading now I guess)

I see people freak out all the time over anatomical impossibilities in (shall we say) less than skilled artists works (LIEFIELD!!) but beyond the schadenfreude there is another reality, one of creative expression where even the errors tell a story about the artist or contribute in their failings to produce something visually interesting.

I'm at the point now where I don't really believe in "bad" or "terrible" artwork, all I see is different art, Art that is just as dependant on the taste of each individual as the skill of the artist. Some stuff is well executed and looks stunning to most people and is accepted, conversely there is some stuff that is disjointed and difficult to accept and most people will reject it.

I also find the artwork that has a lot of thought or a complex concept is rewarding but sometimes uninteresting, artwork that had no thought or very base concepts are generally of poor quality but are sometimes utterly fascinating, almost a direct look into the soul of the person who made it, not the finely crafted representation of what they wanted you to see but a direct bearing into the person who made it.

So yes, I am really wowed by amazing pieces of artwork and marvel at those with great skill but I'm also endlessly fascinated by the people who scrawl the most banal things sometimes...



Then again I look at the world a little differently (just like everyone else haha)

[Thorin]

Nice refrigerator art.  I can get you some more, if you like.  It's funny that most kids start off drawing like that and then work hard to get "better" at drawing, even though as you say sometimes you have to just _draw_ and not _draw correctly_.  I've told my kids if they make a mistake in a drawing NO ONE WILL KNOW UNLESS YOU TELL THEM.  Everyone else will just think there's supposed to be a thicker and a thinner arm, and they might even stand around with cocktails discussing the finer points of what is trying to be said with the different arm sizes.

[Mr. Analog]

Yep, pretty much. Of course as the artist you have your own goals to set and standards to meet, that's the driving force right there, whether or not you are successful is largely dependent on yourself.

[Darren Dirt]

there is another reality, one of creative expression where even the errors tell a story about the artist or contribute in their failings to produce something visually interesting.

I'm at the point now where I don't really believe in "bad" or "terrible" artwork, all I see is different art, Art that is just as dependant on the taste of each individual as the skill of the artist. Some stuff is well executed and looks stunning to most people and is accepted, conversely there is some stuff that is disjointed and difficult to accept and most people will reject it.

So where do the contents fall that are found within the "impossible boob physics" blog?
http://boobsdontworkthatway.tumblr.com/ (or http://eschergirls.tumblr.com/ )?

PS: never heard of "Liefield" until your post above, and irony look at what is on the first page of the BDWTW Tumblr:

[Mr. Analog]

Blogs like that (fyeahawful***art, etc) hover between schadenfreude and just plain ol' "stuff someone doesn't like", I think the blogs that constructively criticize a work are far better than those that simply hold up crappy art and rake some undeserving kid over the coals.

Liefield on the other hand is supposedly a professional and cuts a LOT of corners for a fat paycheck (personally speaking I don't feel that bad knocking his work). I'm trying desperately not to get that image of his impossible Captain America I see everywhere in my brain.

Commercial artwork is generally held to a different standard or at least should be... some random kid trying their hardest and not quite getting there is a world apart from some guy sluffing it off and cashing in. IMHO of course

[Tom]

Well it gives you access to an artists model any time you want and if you practise life drawing but can't find the exact pose you want in stock images or hire a model tools like this help.

Life drawing and anatomy are facets of art for sure but aren't foundational (it can help, but it isn't required in my opinion).

Now here's where things go a little OT and is just me blowing off something I find annoying that many of my peers do... (stop reading now I guess)

I see people freak out all the time over anatomical impossibilities in (shall we say) less than skilled artists works (LIEFIELD!!) but beyond the schadenfreude there is another reality, one of creative expression where even the errors tell a story about the artist or contribute in their failings to produce something visually interesting.

I'm at the point now where I don't really believe in "bad" or "terrible" artwork, all I see is different art, Art that is just as dependant on the taste of each individual as the skill of the artist. Some stuff is well executed and looks stunning to most people and is accepted, conversely there is some stuff that is disjointed and difficult to accept and most people will reject it.

So you don't find some of the stuff at http://boobsdontworkthatway.tumblr.com/ even a little irksome? Many examples of professional artists drawing some rather impossible anatomy, just so they can get a pose with a woman's cleavage and ass showing.

[Mr. Analog]

So you don't find some of the stuff at http://boobsdontworkthatway.tumblr.com/ even a little irksome? Many examples of professional artists drawing some rather impossible anatomy, just so they can get a pose with a woman's cleavage and ass showing.

I really don't care, it doesn't bother me.

I don't listen to country music and complain about how much I hate it either

If I don't like a particular style I don't seek it out and torture myself, I'm not going to jump on the hatewagon and decry it as if my personal taste matters beyond anyone but myself.

[Tom]

So you don't find some of the stuff at http://boobsdontworkthatway.tumblr.com/ even a little irksome? Many examples of professional artists drawing some rather impossible anatomy, just so they can get a pose with a woman's cleavage and ass showing.

I really don't care, it doesn't bother me.

I don't listen to country music and complain about how much I hate it either

If I don't like a particular style I don't seek it out and torture myself, I'm not going to jump on the hatewagon and decry it as if my personal taste matters beyond anyone but myself.

It does seem to be a rather common thing in comic books (and graphic novels) though, which is something I thought you were in to.

[Mr. Analog]

So you don't find some of the stuff at http://boobsdontworkthatway.tumblr.com/ even a little irksome? Many examples of professional artists drawing some rather impossible anatomy, just so they can get a pose with a woman's cleavage and ass showing.

I really don't care, it doesn't bother me.

I don't listen to country music and complain about how much I hate it either

If I don't like a particular style I don't seek it out and torture myself, I'm not going to jump on the hatewagon and decry it as if my personal taste matters beyond anyone but myself.

It does seem to be a rather common thing in comic books (and graphic novels) though, which is something I thought you were in to.

Take a REAL good look at a true great like Jack Kirby's artwork, anatomically crazy and yet STUNNING, it's not all a homogeneous mix. Again, personal taste, some people out there can't stand Jack's artwork...

[Darren Dirt]

Take a REAL good look at a true great like Jack Kirby's artwork, anatomically crazy and yet STUNNING, it's not all a homogeneous mix. Again, personal taste, some people out there can't stand Jack's artwork...

What you said here, kinda makes me realize something about what I said the other day about movies (that Melbosa pointed out was kinda deep or something).

I think you are the same way with visual art -- just cuz it's "unrealistic" isn't enough to dismiss it or hate it ... but if it is OBVIOUS the "artist(s)" is/are basically pandering/selling out, with no apparent "artistic merit", then it is