This is my latest attempt at figure drawing. It's not done yet; right now it's just a partially clothed female figure. I'm going to add facial features, shading, and a male figure eventually. But before I continue on this drawing, I thought I'd ask your opinion. Is there anything I should maybe change on the female figure before moving on?

DDD,
looks good, but what struck me was her breasts seemed to be going in the wrong direction, not too much but enough to make me think that she was slightly twisted away from the waist up, but her shoulders and head give a different story.

I hope you don't mind but I took your drawing and changed it a little (sorry but I might have given her a slight breast enhancement at the same time ).

Anyway here it is - I hope you don't mind and can see what I was meaning.


[attachmentid=8310]
If you are planning on drawing fantasy figures like faeries and nymphs, or anything where the females are scantily clad then I would recommend having a look at some women's underwear ads - a lot of them will show women in a number of poses that should help you with your drawing of the figure (same with men's underwear ads for that matter) and it should give you some ideas without you getting into strife for staring at people in the supermarket .
Or get yourself a good anatomy or pose book - check out Pose Maniacs on the web too.

Thank you bigs, I see what you mean. I'll try to change it and upload the changed version later. I don't plan on drawing fantasy stuff, that's just how I practice figure drawing, partially clothed.

Okay here it is. I tried to fix her breasts. Then I added her facial features and did some shading. What do you think? This is the first time I tried to put shading on a face...

Alright, I finally finished the girl. The quality of the scan isn't very good at all, but you can still see it. How does it look? Anything I could try to change before doing the male?

I added some more shading, so it should show up better now. If you still can't see it, I attatched a second image that was darkened in a photo editor.

DDD,

Looking good, careful when you put your darks in that you don't lose your middle tones (I know from experience).

There is one thing - the lines at her hips are more what you would expect to find on a man, women are softer (unless you're going for the warrior type muscle look with them at times). A suggestion of a little pod tummy (although most women try to get rid of it) is more what women have - built for comfort & children that's what nature gave us.

Here is what I mean - the little suggestion of tummy on her & the muscle lines on the male :

[attachmentid=8359]

here is a page from "The Nude Figure" by Mark Edward Smith (which is a book I highly recommend to get poses from - as well as "The Figure in Motion") and these show the softer curves and slight tummy.

[attachmentid=8360]

Thanks bigs, I really appreciate your advice (how else would we learn?). I'll try to fix her tummy, then I think I'm ready to try a male figure.

I tried to fix her tummy a little bit, and touched it up a bit here and there. I think I'm finished. I know it's not that great; this was only my first figure sketch. But I'll keep practicing.

I think you did very well for your first try - and it has really improved with the shading, that is making the figure seem more 3D. I look forward to see your future practicing.

Thank you very much, Hrymfaxe.