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Tutorial -- your opinion?

I have been working on an anthro art tutorial, and our friendly cheetah overlords have agreed to let me host it here on this site. Awesome! So I would really like it to be as good as possible.

The idea is to post a draft version of a chapter here on the forum. If any of you guys spots a mistake, or has a suggestion for improvement, you tell me and I'll fix it. After I've taken care of all the feedback, it is uploaded to artspots.com and we'll move on to the next chapter.

Sounds good? Alright, the first chapter is about sketching, and you can find the draft here (everything on one page) and here (split up in smaller chunks).

Is there anything unclear? Perhaps I am going too fast or too slow at certain points, or it could be worded better. Is something missing? (The next chapter, "human anatomy", deals with gesture drawing, so that's coming up. But maybe it's better to move it to this chapter instead?) Maybe you have sketches or studies that could be used as illustrations?

Alright, I've added the draft version of chapter 2. Enjoy!

At a glance (sorry I'm at work so I can't get too far into it) The waterbottle in the perspective sketch seems to be leaning back like the laptop screen rather than standing up straight.

Also...personally I would rather analyze the figure of foxes in general than analyze a specific photo, 'cause analyzing foxes would allow me to sketch the fox from any angle more accurately whereas analyzing a single photo would only allow me to sketch the one pose/one angle more accurately. Copying does not seem to utilize the same part of the brain as sketching free-hand from real life (in 3-D). Wrapping your brain around a figure as opposed to a flat image allows for more versitility. I think teaching someone how to sketch should definitely include more focus on drawing a form and from life and not [just] from photos.

Thanks Vizon! That is exactly the kind of feedback I was hoping for. :)

You're right about the water bottle, I think I placed the lower vantage point too far to the right. I'll fix that part of the sketch.

Drawing foxes in general is coming up in the next chapter (*). The idea behind the first section is to show some basic sketching techniques, in this case sight-size drawing and working from big to small details. I could've picked anything as an example, so why not a fox. ;) These techniques are used for both 2-D and 3-D, but for a beginner I think it is easier to start with 2-D. (It is my understanding that in a classical training, pupils would also start with copying Bargue plates before moving on to cast drawing and figure drawing.)

But perhaps I didn't explain this very clearly. I'll add a paragraph about using the same concepts for drawing from real life, and give the text in general some more thought. If you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

*) I have the following chapters in the pipeline: animal anatomy, anthros, color theory, shading, fur, clothing, perspective, and backgrounds.

Oh good - yes, I am interested in seeing your take on combining the skeletal and muscular framework of animals and humans to create a believable anthro animal - will you go into skeletons/muscles in your anthro section? There are so many ways to combine them, I know - some people want to keep the hands and feet human with claws, while others draw them digitigrade and more padded/hooved like animals. Some people want their females to have human features (two breasts, hair) while others want none, and yet others want six breasts and a mane. Should heads/faces be purely animal if an anthro is a true "blend" of human and animal? Or should it be flatter and more human (more brainspace?). So many elements to consider...Is the change only a quadrupedal to bipedal transition or are we simply imagining a furry human with an animal head and tail?

Just commenting on this from the angle of it being a lesson for beginning and learning artists I think this is wonderful. I am very impressed with your information and illustrations dealing with human anatomy. I'm certain I'll find a use for your tutorial once it's done! Ok, I'm sure I could find a use for it now! =}

BTW, wonderful tough with getting such great detail in bone structure and movement and muscle structure and movement. Too many tutorials skip that or fly through it, but it's crucial that after you learn the structure, you then learn it's function! Top notch.

I've added a preview of chapters 3 and 4. They are not finished yet; you'll notice there's lots of things missing. I was hoping to have chapter 3 finished by now, but it's not going as fast as I would like. :P

Vison: You raise a lot of good questions there, and yes that's the kind of things I'd like to include eventually. There's already a bit about anthro skeletons in 4.2 & 4.6, but expect more to come. (Also, I sent you an email a while ago, did you get it?)

Tigress: Thank you for the nice comment :).

This is kind of off topic, but I have been wanting to experiment with making a true anthro mix for a while now. I think this will really help. What I want to do with it is take the bone structure of a human and one of some kind of animal and to split the difference between length of bones and such to see what comes out of it. The skeletal section in your tutorial has great images to use as reference in this ^__^

I think how in depth you went with muscle structure is really great! Look forward to seeing more. Oh, also...Do you plan on doing more with wings or no?

I haven't had time to really read the tutorial, but have glanced over it- and I must say it looks wonderful. I'm really working to improve my anatomy, and all the stuff you put in on the skeletal system and muscles will be a huge help^^