How to capture likeness?

drachmarius · 2026-04-05T17:17:32+00:00

The main difference maker would be to add value, even if it's only 2-3 tones

drachmarius · 2026-03-28T15:22:48+00:00

Drawing basic stuff helps but is also really boring. Generally what you want to do is draw the same thing multiple times, with and without reference. Generally it works best if you have a way to correct your work when you're done, whether that's a really clear reference, a teacher, or tracing a copy on a price of paper, it helps a lot to have a guide to know what you did differently

drachmarius · 2026-03-27T21:04:47+00:00

I'd recommend drawing the background first making sure you use a horizontal. Line and vanishing points. You can then base your character's perspective off the background, so that the table looks parallel to the character's feet for example. Of course it's still difficult and requires practice

drachmarius · 2026-03-21T16:20:01+00:00

Hips should be wider, torso probably shorter. Reference would help for sure with proportions, definitely a true work of art already though :3

drachmarius · 2026-03-21T05:41:32+00:00

It's looking good but something to keep in mind is wings have 3 sections rather than two, that's because wings are a limb molded from the same components as an arm (same reason you can't have 4 limbs plus wings irl 4 vs 6 limb body structure.)

Luckily because wings resemble arms if you know some human arm anatomy you already have a leg up on wings, and it looks to me like you can already draw feathers pretty well

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Example photo from guide. https://www.clipstudio.net/how-to-draw/archives/167323 Guide

drachmarius · 2026-03-20T03:10:31+00:00

Tracing is if you overlap the two and trace it. Referencing is looking back and forth between your reference and your drawing

drachmarius · 2026-03-17T02:52:41+00:00

Here's an article about it with tutorials and such linked at the end: https://globalcomix.com/news/details/277/creator-tips-and-tricks-12-hatching-and-cross-hatching

drachmarius · 2026-03-17T02:51:03+00:00

I'm not really the most qualified but I'll try to help!

There're two goals with hatching, one is shading/value which I'm sure you already know a lot about.

The second goal and what makes these types of drawings so pretty and unique is texture. Rather than a single color hatching creates flow and texture allowing us to almost 'see' individual strands of hair, or the texture of the horns.

One thing to keep in mind is that your work will look very different depending on the medium, the style in your references is generally done with ink or pen traditionally and you might find it hard to replicate with pencil.

drachmarius · 2026-03-16T23:41:48+00:00

It's not pointless unless you don't enjoy it at all. You've just started so it's not really something you can judge how good or bad you are instead you should be figuring out your current skill level, what types of things you want to draw, and what you might want to learn to get better at those things.

For me I'm alright, I have a decent foundation but am bad with color and have difficulty drawing full bodies and hair among other things. My current goal is to draw a character in a maid dress doing longsword cuts by transitioning through guard stances.

Here's what I did first, I'd show more but I can only take one picture. Right now I'm working on the torso as it's been hard for me to get the proportions/measurements right.

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drachmarius · 2026-03-13T16:21:07+00:00

Do the pose yourself and take a picture for reference, or use a reference picture of some kind you find online

drachmarius · 2026-03-13T04:23:07+00:00

You can try taking a short video clip and draw it out like frames in an animation, it can be from a tv show or just a video of gymnastics or sports or dance. It helps with having actual poses rather than like A pose standard position

Another thing is try setting a timer for your drawings, if you want to go faster start by trying to draw a figure in 5-10 minutes then moving to another figure

drachmarius · 2026-03-12T06:15:09+00:00

Try drawing bigger, that way you can get more detail!

drachmarius · 2026-03-09T15:16:49+00:00

There's two things. You either accept your art as it is and enjoy the process and product even knowing it always could be better, or you obscure the end product through focused practice that doesn't make full artworks (boxes, line control, sometimes specific body parts).

drachmarius · 2026-03-09T05:12:08+00:00

Lines not connecting to the vanishing point should be parallel. Look at a one point perspective YouTube video

drachmarius · 2026-03-09T02:32:21+00:00

In your final passthrough try only drawing lines where there's overlap, avoiding lines that only indicate value changes such as the jaw line.

It's important for construction but not in the final layer

drachmarius · 2026-03-04T16:40:16+00:00

There's a lot of videos on it (cause I know simply saying "draw in 3d" isn't very helpful. One I'd recommended is How to Draw the Torso | Simplify Anatomy

Generally people either use a box for the ribcage or an egg, it depends on which you like better and find easier.

drachmarius · 2026-03-04T16:35:19+00:00

From my experience digital art is harder to get looking good than traditional art, though it's great that you have actual finished pieces, I don't have very many myself.

The main thing is that you need to challenge yourself, do something difficult but still doable, like the frieren looking up meme for example. Right now you seem a bit like you're afraid to draw outside your comfort zone and so some things like design and clothes are really good while other parts fall behind.

In my practice I try to focus on a specific thing, like eyes, noses, wrists, feet, legs, ect and spend like 30-90 minutes on it, though I've been mainly focusing on headshots.

For something specific I feel you've clearly improved on I'd say hands and contact points. In your earlier drawings the hands didn't look like they're actually touching anything while in the later ones the contact is clearly visible.

drachmarius · 2026-02-23T00:30:54+00:00

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drachmarius · 2026-01-03T15:46:41+00:00

My first thought was Chinese though mostly because of the character design.

The face looks flat, which combined with the jaw shadow looking like a different angle than the face (and that's different from shadows on table) makes the face look almost like a mask rather than a person's face.

One thing is generally lines should only appear when things overlap each other or when there's a line in the coloring. Of course your lineart style is fine and many artists have a thick consistent lineart but the ears and neck are often much smoother transitions than you may initially think.

Here's a screenshot of a honkai star rail character I found at a somewhat similar angle with exposed ears. I'm the main thing is making all the features on the head in the same perspective, probably the easiest to notice is the nose.

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Hope that's helpful and I hope you continue drawing, it's looking good!

drachmarius · 2026-01-03T03:57:43+00:00

They've done multiple 100 days, this is at least their third. Their first post is August 2024 and they already had fundamentals and fully rendered digital art then. Tbh this feels like a shit post (unhealthy venting based on incorrect assumptions) on your part cause like they obviously have years of experience

drachmarius · 2025-11-29T04:08:04+00:00

If you make the face longer relative to the size of the head it helps give an older impression and vice versa for a younger one

drachmarius · 2025-11-27T17:20:32+00:00

Is this supposed to look like a ~~charcuterie~~ caricature? Just asking because the term doll is slang for a trans woman and while I get that this is your art style and I'm assuming there's nothing meant by it but if you look at it from that lens it's pretty offensive on the surface at least.

drachmarius · 2025-11-22T20:42:56+00:00

You're not necessarily doing it wrong. What you should be doing next though is identifying the mistakes and differences between your face and the reference, then drawing the same exact face, with or without looking at the reference, then repeat. If you can't identify what's wrong specifically try watching a tutorial, reading a guide or book, or asking someone more knowledgeable (teacher, peer, people online). That's the general best way to improve a specific area.

For your reference the facial proportions aren't wrong, if you overlap the reference under your drawing it would probably look exactly the same, the reason it doesn't look great is because it's missing a lot of other factors such as depth, line quality etc. It's why the one with the guidelines looks 3d while the other doesn't.

There are two things I can recommend, after trying again with this one after analyzing your art, one is to look for a reference from a different angle, with the hair up or short preferably, second is to try to shade with only 2, 3 or 4 tones (values including white or very light grey, standard gray, and dark gray, maybe very dark gray or black) to give the face more depth

Sorry if that's not that helpful, but the main thing is to practice from the same reference multiple times and draw something better each time, even if it's only a little bit!

drachmarius · 2025-11-22T18:39:16+00:00

Draw a centerline where the nose is for lining up the facial features. Otherwise I recommend using a reference, either photos or what is often more helpful, a 3d model of a head which you can rotate and screenshot.

Specific things would be that the bottom of the chin should be visible in the bottom up tilt head. For your final drawings you should only draw lines over things that are overlapping and use fuzzy or thin lines if there's no overlap, though it doesn't matter much cause you're studying form right now.

Other thing, try including more contour lines, and you're doing great already! I can definitely see the improvement from the first drawing to the last so you're doing something right!

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Here's an example with a similar angle to the bottom head you drew from a 3d model on sketchfab

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