Improvments on drawing stickmen

[Poopenheimer]

As I'm pretty bad at drawing, I use stickmen to illustrate ideas I have for jokes, but as my friend keeps telling me, "You are sh*t at drawing stickmen.". Could someone have a little peek at my comic and give me any tips on how to improve?

[eishiya]

Draw using confident, sharp (clear) lines, and utilize body language in both broad and subtle ways. Without the luxuries of body type and facial expressions, you have to convey everything using the body language.

[JoKeRcologne]

...ok this is not meant to be rude ... please, learn how to hold a pencil

And...
What eishiya did say is totally right.

[Poopenheimer]

I thought I was holding my pencil correctly. Like this?

Although, if there's anyway you could tell me how to improve my grip, I'd be grateful.

Thanks for the help so far!

[JoKeRcologne]

Well ...thats the right way if you want to learn to write ...but for drawing you have to be less tensed.
right now your fingers do move when ever you draw but you have to learn to move your whole hand additional your wrist and arm.



your pictures are very small and cramped this depends on your way to hold your pencil, therefore your lines are thick and vague ...try a firm paper (160g or higher) combined with a harder pen.

for your unsteady line drawing try this exercise
...take a scribble book and a ball-pen with you and when ever you use the public transport system take both in the hand and scribble what you see or what gets in your mind...
What you draw is irrelevant.
Important is, you will try to make the lines more precisely so you can see something but you have to balance the rumble. This way you will train you accurateness.

[sulfurbunny]

I quite like your comic so far actually. The haiku one made me laugh!

Personally I wouldn't worry about how to hold the pencil for now. You're doing fine there. I think something that would help would be to push the body language of your stickmen to make them more expressive. What you have now is very like XKCD, and XKCD can be great but I think the understatement that works for Randall Munroe is not working for you. Particularly since your subject matter is so different from his.

What you could do is look up reference photos of the actions your characters are performing, then try to draw the sort of emotion/movement you see in the photo. I know it seems strange to use reference for a stick figure comic but it could really bring the characters to life. Hope this doesn't offend you - I did a MSPaint redraw of your "Jack the Ripper" gag to show what I mean.



Jack's body language shows contrition and worry as he hunches his body over his error, while his companion is physically lifted by his anger, shoulders arched and chest puffed out. I think this tells the "story" of these two characters better.

Consider this with every comic you draw: could the gist of it be understood WITHOUT the text? The most successful webcomics can do this - even when using sprites or stick figures (see Eight Bit Theater, Order of the Stick).


disclaimer: I draw Pokemon fan comics, my opinions may automatically be considered invalid

[Poopenheimer]

Thank you, and I totally get what you mean. In fact, I prefer your MS paint version to my own, and it certainly makes a huge difference. I would appreciate any links to sites or tutorials which can help me with the body language, because I had the great idea to start a webcomic without any skill in drawing at all.

Thanks so much for all the help you've been giving guys! It's really helping

[The Bearded Man]

Strange but this is how I hold my pen (drew my wacom pen since this is what I had in hand at the moment)

http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/7029/howiholdmypen.png

[JoKeRcologne]

There is a difference between someone who never did hold a pen and try to draw and someone who did already have experience. If you have experience you can hold your pen with your teeth.
But Poopenheimer is too stiff with the pen ...you can see it on how the lines are drawn.
And it is up to you how you like to hold your tools - but he/she asked for improvement and the best way to improve is to get less cramped in your hand...

[Poopenheimer]

I've been doing a bunch of body language tests i.e Writing an emotion and drawing a stickman underneath displaying said emotion, but my main problem is that I can't get the legs right. How can I draw legs to Give out the desired body language?

[eishiya]

I've been doing a bunch of body language tests i.e Writing an emotion and drawing a stickman underneath displaying said emotion, but my main problem is that I can't get the legs right. How can I draw legs to Give out the desired body language?

The same way you draw upper body language effectively - through studying the real thing. Unlike upper body language, we don't usually consciously control lower body language, which is why it's hard to just imagine what you'd do with your legs if you were expressing some emotion. So, the best way is to look at other people use their bodies in a natural setting (that is, don't ask to see a certain emotion, but watch them express their emotions naturally as an observer).

Potentially useful resources:
http://www.spyingforlying.com/ (sometimes discusses lower body language)
http://changingminds.org/techniques/bod ... nguage.htm

Also, don't forget that everyone expresses emotions slightly differently. This includes facial and upper body expressions too, not just the lower body. Make sure you study lots of different people and don't just use your own body language in your comics! You can use these differences to emphasize that your stick figures are different characters.

Another thing to keep in mind that I briefly touched upon in my last post is how body type affects body language. Study that too! A sickly and frail person isn't going to have the same body language as an energetic kid or an overweight person. The safest way to study these variations is by observing real people in the real world, but candid videos work as well (and photos can work too in some cases). Acted/set-up photos and videos can be misleading, but they also have their uses.

[darkenergy]

eishya nailed it...confident lines. Draw them until you're comfortable drawing each body part in one smooth, fluid motion.

Also...Order of the Stick. Hardcore stick figures.

[Durvin]

Order of the Stick is stick-related, but not really stick figures. You want expertly drawn stick figures? You want XKCD.

And as for all this talk about how to hold a pencil, it's because the lines are all rough and greyish. So how about this: use a pen and hold it however you want.

[darkenergy]

Order of the Stick is stick-related, but not really stick figures. You want expertly drawn stick figures? You want XKCD.

And as for all this talk about how to hold a pencil, it's because the lines are all rough and greyish. So how about this: use a pen and hold it however you want.

Ehh...they're different ways of approaching it. And you can get better than that with a pencil.

[H0lyhandgrenade]

Well ...thats the right way if you want to learn to write ...but for drawing you have to be less tensed.
right now your fingers do move when ever you draw but you have to learn to move your whole hand additional your wrist and arm.

I wouldn't say that there is a wrong and write way of holding a pencil. I've seen a variety of ways people hold it, it's very much a case of to each their own. Granted it can be good to try other ways sometimes for practice and to try break out of drawing a particular way, but in the end result it's a case of personal preference.

As for drawing stickmen, my advice (though I'm no expert) would be maybe to try drawing other things than stickmen for practice. I think the main way to improve your look would be to get a lil more confident with a pencil altogether. Don't worry about the stickman itself- That'll improve itself as you get more confident, and learn to see what looks good and what doesn't. Maybe that sounds an obvious thing to know but it's a lot harder when you're the one drawing it yourself xD