Talk:Tam Song/@comment-38207171-20190419012252/@comment-38207171-20190420033643

I have a pretty simple base that I use for the majority of my drawings of people.

I first roughly sketch the head to show where I want the body to start. Then, I use a ruler to make a straight line to keep everything aligned. I roughly sketch out the neck and collarbones. I draw the arm that faces the front (or the arm that is shown) and also the hand. Sometimes I draw out the sleeve right then and there, but sometimes not, depending on the outfit of said character. I then start with the main body outline sketch, depending on the desired angle. Depending on how tall the person is, their stance, and angle, determines the length of their torso and legs. Legs are drawn with verythin overlapping ovals then I end it with a foot that will end up as part of the shoe. Depending on the angle of the character, dictates how much clothing on the torso is shown. Then I erase the head and redraw it at a desired angle.

After drawing the base, I’ll start on the clothing, erasing the base in the process and using the main base’s lines as a guide. I always do hair last because it gives me more freedom to draw it and it allows me to see different styles against the clothing.

The majority of the time, I don’t draw faces because it allows the viewer to project their own emotions of their own perspective of the art piece. I think it adds to their experience of my drawings.

If I really want to make a point of the character’s emotion, I’ll draw a face, but that is very rare. You don’t have to do the same, but people always ask why I don’t draw faces very often.

For this drawing in particular, I use little detail in their clothing other than their boots. I wanted the focus to be on their hands. If you notice, Tam is more protective of Linh than Linh is of Tam so I made Tam reach farther for Linh (If that makes sense). The other important detail is the Neverseen patch on Tam’s arm. I kept the ‘wall’ there to show the separation the two of them felt when he joined the Neverseen.

I can put a more detailed version of this explanation on a blog post maybe and have a walk-through of some of my other techniques if you want to use them, or modify them to fit your own convenience.