Emmy Tiptoe WIP

Hey Steph! So glad to see more art from you around these parts. I hope this is the start of a trend!<img src="e.deviantart.net/emoticons/b/b…" width="15" height="15" alt="" title=" (Big Grin)"/> Forgive me if my star ratings are in the middle, but I view this as a very unfinished concept so rating it wouldn't be fair till we have a better idea overall of what's going on and the direction of this piece.

First off, I've done a redline comparison for you here - [link]

Visual Flow
The main things that stand out to me are a few key areas that are really breaking up the visual flow, these areas being the character's face, right foot, and left arm. Looking at what these three areas have in common, my guess is that they are all a dead on perspective while the rest of the body and motion of the figure are from a POV that's hovering slightly above the character and to the side, looking down at her.

I added a line in this piece to define the floor, as I feel this might help ground the figure a little better and also gives you a surface to plant her feet on.

Anatomy
The perspective leads us into the anatomy, which seems to be at a mixed bag of perspective. My best suggestion here is try to ground her in a scene first before putting in so much detail so you save yourself some pain later on.

I've done a few changes here and there suggesting what might be in foreshortening and where you might need more muscular tension, such as the feet. The biggest issue with the feet is that when we tip toe, our arches stretch, elongating the feet somewhat (which also might be why you felt the toes looked stubby).

I've also changed the angle on the face because I think not having the face so dead on gives her pose a little more motion. The same with her left arm, which is a strict, static profile perspective. I've shown that arm bending and foreshortened in my redline, as if she's bracing herself, should she be caught. You can do a lot with that arm rather than have it create that static straight line that it's doing right now, which technically *isn't* wrong, but could be posed differently to really pack a visual punch!

Push the Narrative
My last bit of advice would be to try to plan out your scenes and compositions first. There are a lot of interesting questions I'm asking myself while I try to piece together this scene. Why is she tip-toeing? Is she in danger? WHO is she in danger from? Having her pictured peering around a corner while hiding in shadow with a mystery figure unawares in the background is just one way you could really help frame the scene. Otherwise, we have a very pretty character here who is pretty, but not as engaging as she could be if we put her in a scene, which it feels to me she's just BEGGING to be put in one!

Unless of course this is just character drawing practice, where the focus is meant to be the detail of her clothing and anatomy, in which case, I suggest a less challenging perspective, like they do with the fashion croquis, so you can focus more on the character's personality and detail rather than trying to unite her with an unseen perspective narrative that needs to be filled in.

Hope this helps some and good luck! Draw like a madwoman!<img src="e.deviantart.net/emoticons/b/b…" width="15" height="15" alt="" title=" (Big Grin)"/>