One piece of advice I was given by a dear friend and mentor that I'm passing on to you - don't draw hard outlines for the breasts. Imply them with cloth folds, but don't outline them. Mainly because in real life breasts are volumes, and when you draw them with such strong outlines you flatten their forms. Use shading and cloth folds to imply the volume of the breasts instead of drawing their forms directly.

As for the rest of your design, I love that you are starting with the torso and leaving the face alone - that's a great way to keep your overall anatomy solid. Faces are the nice treat that you earn by having a good torso drawing!

I'm still not clear on what animal she is supposed to incorporate - is she a tiger-woman, a fox-woman, or a lynx/small cat woman? Tigers have very bulky, muscular forms that you'll want to bring forward in her design, especially with their shoulders and arms, otherwise it is tough to read what animal she is supposed to represent. It might sound silly, but take a look at the tiger designs that Disney puts out - they really capture the heft and gesture of tigers well.

Thanks, Ill try to keep these in mind in the Future! I'm glad I'm okay otherwise, only started drawing about 1 and a half years ago. so some things I'm still learning!

While I want to show off all the poses that ive been working on, this is the first one done, so..Ill just post this one and hope it suffices until I have the others done.

I was having a difficult time trying to figure out how she would attack with a magical instrument. Then someone mentioned a scene from an old kung fu movie. And well...here we are! XD

poses I've been working on the last few days. been having a nasty case of depression so...I don't think it looks all that great. but, because I know that probably isn't the case, Imma post it! see what you all think.

I like number 1 and 3, and I have been playing around with this idea that her Gayageum, the instrument, can take the form of whatever weapon its bound owner needs, from any period the owner as long as its owner can clearly picture the weapon in question.

Wow! Great entry especially for a first time! Out of your last three, I like the idea of her playing a musical instrument, but not sure you can make it too dynamic. Maybe more aggressive arm movements?

Perhaps! I also have another idea that has been floating around in my mind for the last couple of days. but, it goes in another direction, and I wanted to get this semi done first so I have something to come back too, just in case It doesn't work out.

I have no idea where I'm going with this, lol.
I know its not that great, but, its an idea ive been playing with, and trying to make work haha.

My idea stems from a favorite anime called strike witches, and there are ground based witches that I have always found intriguing

so, I'm doing my best to work with something I have...never done before.

I guess you could say a bit more refined. I have a lot of work to do in the mech side of this. But, its my first time even going this direction. And I think, for what it is. it's not bad.
I'm loving the idea though.

I really like the idea of your character! I see a lot of thought was put into the design and the costume. One thing that would really make it pop would be to tighten up your shadows, Because all your shadows have soft edges so far, it makes the mech look a lot rounder and makes the forms look less defined than you probably would want them to be for a mech. If you want to enhance the form, I'd suggest adding some shadows with hard edges where the forms change faster, as well as adding shadows where forms overlap (ambient occlusion shadows), for example, between the left leg (character's right) of the first image and the ground. Some of the shapes also seem a bit distorted since you seem to not be using a perspective grid; I find that to get perspective right, simplify things into boxes, draw them onto a perspective grid, then cut into the box to define the forms of your drawing. I'm really excited to see how this will turn out! Best of luck :smile:

yeah, There is alot I need to learn, But I suppose that is why I am doing this. Thank you for the advice!

It is starting to look better! If you would like to brush up on shading fundamentals, I'd recommend checking out Marco Bucci on YouTube. There's also probably some basic perspective tutorials out there too, though I can't think of any off the top of my head. Best of luck!

no shading on this one yet, Didn't have time to do it. however, I am pretty happy with this one. Will start refining it further, soon.


I'm still unsure if I will use this idea, but I like it a lot, and may use it for something else.

I apologize on the lack of updates, Ive been at work almost constantly, that coupled with the fact, I really have been having a hard time figuring out where to go from here.

Ill be honest that I have been tempted to change gears and maybe go Vietnam or Israel.

Well, here is what ive been able to come up with between working days, I kinda like the idea to be honest Ill play with it a little more when Ive got the time.

This idea is growing on me, and ive been enjoying working on it, ive also been Playing with a new way of shading...and I think it works somewhat.

Cool progress, the colors are nice as well!
If you're up for an unsolicited critique - diversify your edges a bit. Everything is very fluid and wobly. Some places (like the elbow or the jacket's edges for example) need some more structure with defined angles. Also the hands are (imo) super tiny, which can be a design choice, but right now they're a bit lost if you look at the whole character.
Relating back to the edges thing - look at anatomy some more, both human and feline (lions?). For example the tail is at an awkward angle (the spine needs to make a hard turn for it to be like that, but spines generally don't like that :smiley: ).

Sorry for the small essay, hope it helps! And once again - she's a cool character! Keep on rocking!