...and your point is?
Almost all illustrators, and artist use reference material. Hell, there are books published that comprised entirely posed photographic reference for artists. And these have been in print for years.
There are a lot of good ones out there!
For beginners, I feel it's important to learn how to break down complicated shapes into easier shapes. A great book for that is: Morpho Anatomy for Artists it breaks things down geometrically.
When I teach anatomy, I have my students try gestural studies. These are super fast, barely there drawings that last for 20 seconds. You can do them while watching TV, or sitting at the coffee shop etc. The goal is not to create a complete or realistic drawing, far from it, the goal is to quickly identify the tough shapes and forms. A head is a circle, the torso is a quick S shaped curve to represent the spine, a horizontal line to express the tops of the shoulders, and an oval for ribs. It's basically like a glorified stick figure. But doing this will train your brain to recognize how the body moves how weight is balanced and how long the limbs are compared to the rest of the body. You can make a game of it, like how far can you get into the gesture drawing before the person moves out the TV scene changes?
Here's an excellent video on gestural drawings: (not my video) https://youtu.be/KVXOIBRdzPw
I'd like to recommend a book you might find helpful if you continue on this path - which I hope you do. We need good artists.
Bridgeman's Constructive Anatomy Constructive Anatomy (Dover Anatomy for Artists): George B. Bridgman: 8601300292441: Amazon.com: Books
A century old; many comic illustrators' secret weapon. Pretty accurate anatomy. He reduces the human form to blocks and masses that are articulated. He also has a book of 100 hands. The Book of a Hundred Hands (Dover Anatomy for Artists): George B. Bridgman: 9780486227092: Amazon.com: Books
It's a good question. I have a few that I acquired years ago, but they may now be out of print because of the plethora of online resources. "Human Anatomy for Artists" is a classic, but it's more anatomical illustration than live poses, and it's expensive.
It might be easier to find a bunch of poses online and print them out somewhere. If you don't have a printer you can do it at Kinko's and many other places. Or put your phone on airplane mode. Or get a cheap tablet to display the images, also on airplane mode so you don't get pinged.
No, these models are only useful when you need a quick pose but can't find the image
If you want to learn anatomy, pick up one of these
If there is one book I would recommend that teaches you all the basics of anatomy simply and easily: Morpho: Simplified Forms by Michel Lauricella
In youtube video; Marco Bucci makes quick and understandable videos, he teaches all the basics and more in terms of composition, color, strokes etc.
It gives basic structure and is less "dry" than some of the academic anatomy books. (I love my anatomy books, don't mistake—I think my favorite was this one: https://smile.amazon.com/Atlas-Anatomy-Artist-Stephen-Rogers/dp/0195030958/ )
Loomis was a game-changer for me, though. It's been considered a classic for so long for a reason. There are a lot of newer anatomy books and I don't have them all, and I'm sure many of them are excellent. I think Loomis is a welcome addition to any artists' library and for me, was essential.
I'm not sure how compatible those styles are tbh. One is realistic and moody, the other expressive, colorful and stylized. By all means give it a try, but it's harder to get technical critiques.
If you just ask "is there something wrong with X", in a stylized piece like this, it's nearly impossible for anyone other than you to know. You're almost better off just finishing the piece and asking others "what do you think of this style?"
I guess if you feel like you're not getting a sense of volume (it's feeling flat) and don't like the lighting, then you'll have to understand form and light a bit better. Maybe get a copy of Color & Light:
https://www.amazon.com/Color-Light-Realist-Painter-Gurney/dp/0740797719
One quick tip for volume and lighting is to respect the basic forms of things like the head (essentially an egg), arms, legs, torso (basically cylinders). Shade them according to those forms first, and make sure that any detailed features sit on top of that, not just on a flat surface. In other words don't ruin that overall basic form shading when adding in the details.
Hope that helps a bit. Good luck!
I have various folders on hard drives and if I need them on the go I will upload them to someplace like imgur. I will reference physical books as well but it is not something I always bring with me. It is why I like the little Morpho pocket books.
I do find constantly looking at a computer for my reference to be distracting due to how easy it is to click and look at something else. It is why some people recommend not having your work computer be connected to the internet.
Depending on how you learn best, YouTube is a great resource for improving your understanding of human anatomy. I also really like this book, but it's a little pricey. At this stage I would focus on drawing what you see rather than what you think you see. You're going to do great!
Get Gary Faigin's Complete Guide to Facial Expression. I picked up the book years ago and it's invaluable for identifying the key components of facial expression. You'll still need to be able to draw features and forms, but I took a look at your work and you'll be just fine.
Here's a video that does a quick flipthrough to give you an idea.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Color-Light-Realist-Painter-Gurney/dp/0740797719 one of the best books on light and color
one of the best things you can do it paint from life for color and pretty much every skill, get a lamp a cloth/t-shirt some fruit or simple objects and do a still life painting ,doing it with a lamp at night means you can come back the next night and have the same scene.
My favorite artist to study from is probably Bridgman. I think he has a really simple approach to breaking down the figure. His book Constructive Anatomy is great and very inexpensive.
Human Anatomy for Artists: The Elements of Form by Elliot Goldfinger.
It's quite formal, almost like a medical textbook at times, but it's very thorough and detailed.
Human Anatomy for Artists: The Elements of Form https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0195052064/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_i_02FBRHCVCXRBGXXCSDCY?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
Proko has some good videos if I remember correctly. Also I really love the book Constructive Anatomy by Bridgman and the book Strength Training Anatomy is a really nice resource.
Having gone through so many books since school and afterward, Color and Light, A Guide for the Realist Painter by James Gurney is probably the best one I've ever gone through. You'll see it recommended a lot by other artists as well.
I read about it in his book Color and Light! He talks about a few other limited palettes too. It's a fantastic book I would highly recommend to any landscape painter!!
https://www.amazon.ca/Color-Light-Guide-Realist-Painter/dp/0740797719
other people have put it forward but yah you are pushing details too early before establishing a decent general form, the cartoon you're trying to use as reference has a very squared off face shape, but at the same time you could draw a skull under it and all the muscle and then fat and skin forms, same goes for the hair, you're better served by adding the hair on top of a skull and face form even if it's not a "realistic" skull
also not sure what your history is but it's 100% better to learn to model / sculpt realistic forms before you do cartoony ones, and also REALLY important to have a good knowledge of all the forms "underneath" what you're sculpting
if you want some cheaper anatomy books I recommend peck's anatomy for technical and much more accurate knowledge https://www.amazon.com/Atlas-Anatomy-Artist-Stephen-Rogers/dp/0195030958
and Bridgeman for more simplified but form focused https://www.amazon.com/Constructive-Anatomy-Dover-Artists/dp/0486211045
also, finish projects get some second opinions and move on! nothing beats practice and trying the same exercise multiple times!
I spent $100 on this book when it was still new and in rotation. Worth every penny, it’s honestly how I learnt 90% of my anatomy.
Before I get into some criticisms I want to say this is really impressive, especially at your age. I really hope you keep going because this is seriously impressive and most people your age can’t be bothered to draw more than one person let alone a black ground.
I highly recommend you take a class or two on figure drawing or at the very least drop money on this:
Anatomy for the Artist https://www.amazon.com/dp/078948045X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_BBHMFbDS2ERXR
I think it will help you greatly specifically with Nightwing’s right leg and face. At the same time I hope you maintain your style because it’s really cool. Keep it up.
If he's wanting to get into drawing, I'd suggest picking up a book or two from Andrew Loomis. They were written back in the early-mid twentieth century, and they're still popular among artists today, and for good reason.
I personally have Drawing the Head and the Hands by Andrew Loomis, and it's a wonderful reference tool for drawing/painting the human face. [Amazon]
Another great artist's reference book is Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter by James Gurney. [Amazon]
I highly recommend Jack Hamm's book on drawing figures. Buy it for her and she'll thank you later, big-time. It's a very easy to read guide that shows very simple ways to understand proportions, connections, cloth, faces, hands, shading and more. I cannot recommend this more strongly.
Source: I used to illustrate, have recommended this book to friends in Hollywood movie production (storyboards/FX) who have thanked me later, big-time.
In the meantime, I would highly recommend buying this book: https://smile.amazon.com/Natural-Way-Draw-Working-Study/dp/0395530075
Books are kind of iffy. Most content creators would rather make a video than a book. James Gurney's Color and Light gets thrown around a lot as a great reference. The old How to Paint Citedel Miniatures books were decent, though they're long out of print.
Scale 75's Steampunk in Miniature is alright, though it suffers from not being proofread by a native English speaker. There are a couple terms that they throw around in the book that don't make any sense until you've read half the book and see enough examples to know what they're talking about. I assume that Scale 75's other books are of similar quality.
Check out Jack Hamm’s book drawing the head and the figure, it’s a tad old school but amazing
I believe there are online PDF versions available too
Color and Light by James Gurney is a nice reference.
So I think the previous commenters were right in telling you to use softer lines. When you keep line art in a piece you have to be rather conscientious about your line weight and where you place lines. Lines are a representation of light value.
If you’re not trying to make a character scowl it’s best not to put lines between the eye brows unless they have a prominent wrinkle there. Perhaps if it’s a slight wrinkle a lighter line would do or it could be softly painted in.
Under the nose suffers from the line weight as well it makes it appear like it may be a scar. This philtrum May have been better demarcated with paint or lighter lines.
Your drawing is extremely symmetrical giving it a stiff appearance. Almost like you drew one half and then folded it down the middle to make a carbon copy. This is especially apparent in the bridge of the nose. Average people have slight asymmetry in their face. Little imperfections make a portrait piece great vs good.
Lastly the bone structure is slightly askew. The character being an elf this may be intentional but I would strongly advise more anatomical practice. The orbital vaults in the skull typically don’t extend that far down into the maxilla. The collar bones are also askew and extremely symmetrical.
I think you’d benefit greatly from studying more anatomy, there are TONS of online resources but if you want something tangible this is a good book for like half the price I got it for ��
Anatomy for the Artist https://www.amazon.com/dp/078948045X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_W26hDbCFHD828
All in all it’s a good render. The color is where it shines the most. Just keep drawing and you’ll get better and better �� Keep up the good work
Feel free to DM me if you want to talk about it.