Undressing Characters. (Patreon)

I have a confession to make...

I love drawing naked people. The human form is so beautiful to me, and I have seen and drawn so many nude bodies that nothing really looks like a flaw anymore. Young or old, short or tall, large or lean. Every muscle, curve, wrinkle or scar, all of it tells a story about that person, and I knew that was important when it came to making my own characters. 

Does that mean my characters going to walk around naked all the time? No, but I thought it was important to know what they look like underneath their clothes before I can dress them properly. I made these characters because I wanted to learn how to draw all types of people, and that is something I kept in mind as I was figuring out what their bodies look like.  

Having one with achondroplasia, I wanted to be sure I got his proportions right. It was very difficult to find nude reference of males with dwarfism, but I found enough to make him believable at least, and that is what is most important to me. My story has plenty of fantastical elements, but just as much of it is based in reality, and a lot of that realism is in these characters. Maybe no one will ever notice or even see the little details I give to them, like the Queen having a sagging stomach that never went away from pregnancy, or that Camilla has old battle scars all over her breasts, but those details are part of who they are. 

I have learned so much doing this, not just about figure drawing, but about my characters too. I also learned that I really need to practice drawing legs more. 😂