CGAN March 2017 - Sun Wukong - WIPs

awwww what a cute lil monkey

developed it a bit more

Valence wrote:

Atto: I've been studying the complex, unusual angles in your pic and I think (and I'm not sure about this so I stress "think") you might need to flip and rotate the ref for that hand/foot. Should it be a rightie or a leftie? Are feet the other way round? Am I confusing myself?
Hm, I'm sure the answer to that last one is a resounding YES!

Banj wrote:

You mean his foot is currently holding the staff by curling his toes upwards instead of downwards as they should be. The position of the foot in relation to the leg also looks a little awkward right now.

Thanks both. I spent an hour looking at refs for this 'foot' and I agree it seems I still have it wrong. If you rotate the hand holding the staff around the wrist I believe it will exactly match his other foot so it's in correct. I 'think' the issue is his calf muscle is reminiscent of a lower arm muscle (don't ask me its name!) but the rotation of his leg is really confusing me right now.
If anyone would like to do a sketch over to help me please feel free!
I'll have another look later today if I get time after updating my wifes website.
Thanks again guys!

Atto: I'm cetrainly no expert on monkey anatomy either (I'm having enough trouble with the foot in my pic. So much so that he may end up wearing shoes!) So rather than anatomy and muscles the thing that caught my eye was chirality (and I'm sure there's a better word for it than that but I can't think of it at the moment)
The hand in the phot ref is definitely a right one but the foot/hand in the painting is a leftie so the thumb/toe should be the opposite side (downwards in that current grip). Whichever way you change it it will need a flip relative to the fingers rather than just a rotation.

Man, this is hard to get my head around, it's like those spatial orientation Mensa puzzles, and I feel like I'm being haunted by memories of old physics lessons with Fleming's left/right hand rule.

I think part of the problem is that your reference for the hand/finger position doesn't translate to the position of the staff and leg in your painting. As I see it the staff would need to be running across from left to right instead of back to front. With the staff angled as it is it would be easier to hold it as if either shaking hands or holding a pen*.


* I said holding a pen which is what I intended to draw, but didn't because apparently I have never held a pen in my life as you obviously don't hold pens anything like that - at least not for it's intended purpose. So imagine I said pencil and pretend I meant how a "proper" artist is meant to hold a pencil, not a hack like me that just holds a pencil like a pen. Yeah, that should do it.

*gives it a try too*

I hold a pen like a pen.
I hold a pencil like a pen.
And ... I even hold a brush like a pen.
Does that make me a bad person?

Those are excellent paintovers and I think any one of them could work as a solution. Well Done, all.

Meanwhile I've been trying to fix my own effort...



I've tried to suggest some movement with the flowing fabric, adding some light rays and altering the shape of the cloud. It's a bit better but I could still shift it off centre later. Still need to work out the details of the outfit. And the foot. *sigh*

Thanks all so very much - thats really helped.
Charlotte - thanks for giving it a go without moving the leg - but I like to see fingers in my drawings - they can add such character to a errrrrr... character.
Banj - I like the second of your sketch overs best - I think in the first the new angle of the leg is too similar to the angle of his arm. To me the second is the stronger pose with the contrasting angles.
Thanks again people - you're all lovely human beings and this is why I love this site!

Valence wrote: I hold a pen like a pen.
I hold a pencil like a pen.
And ... I even hold a brush like a pen.
Does that make me a bad person?

I think it makes you "normal".

I just use a crayon, a red one. Red like blood. I grasp it tightly in my clenched fist and stab it at the paper over and over screaming "why? WHY?" until the owners of the cafe threaten to call the police. Maybe I should just learn to use a pencil properly

Banj wrote:
I just use a crayon, a red one. Red like blood. I grasp it tightly in my clenched fist and stab it at the paper over and over screaming "why? WHY?"