Help with adding volume to a character

[tahoeboyd]

Hi all, one of the greatest problems i've been running into with my art recently is trying to get away from drawing everything "flat." I've always really admired how some artists are able to communicate perspective very clearly even on a simple full-body character sketch--and to take that to the next level with dynamic compositions, extreme foreshortening, etc. That said, my own attempts at this have been, well...flat! I'm at a bit of a loss as to how to improve. Here's an example of a simple, very quick sketch I did

:
Obviously it's extremely flat. I threw it in photoshop to spend a little time trying to correct it:

I think I managed to do semi-ok, but some things still feel off. In particular, I'm having trouble getting the feet to sit on the same plane and the various overlapping pieces to feel like they have their own volumes. Right now, I'm having to do a lot of random doodling to find volumes that feel even semi-right, and it's slowing my down immensely and making it hard to get well-constructed poses. Does anybody have tips on how to lay in a figure with volume effectively? are there any resources (lessons, books, etc.) people might sugjest looking in to? I've done a fair bit of digging on my own but I feel like I'm missing something very basic.

best--
Giuseppe Bonanno

[glubglubz]

You've got a good sense of proportions. That is essential when you change the pose and/or the camera.
The feet look like they are planted just fine to me. You should really be drawing the perspective line through the heel instead of the ball of the feet. That way even if the feet are slightly rotated away from each other (like in your 2nd sketch) you can still tell they are on the same plane. This is because the rotation of the foot always occurs above the heel at the ankle.
I would recommend tracing over your favorite poses (especially if they are very dynamic) and try to analyze how and why it works. After that erase one of the limbs and draw it in a different position. Keep doing that until you end up with a pose that looks very different from the original pose you traced.

Here are a few sketches I did a while back using the same process I just described (One was from last year's Art War contest lol).

[glubglubz]

You can also check this out if you want.
https://www.artstation.com/glubglubz/collections/199784

I have a collection on Artstation full of a ton of cool poses from other artists!

[tahoeboyd]

That's some awesome advice--i'll definitely give the pose breakdown idea a try. I think that sort of in-depth analysis will really help me beat some of these rules into my head. Thanks a ton!

[glubglubz]

You're welcome!

This video is also worth watching. In my opinion the way he does these is a bit too rigid, but it is a good way to think about things.