Torso Construction Approaches – Art Journal (Patreon)

I have mentioned before that I basically have 4 variations of my style in my art depending the type of characters, but what I haven't mentioned is that for each I use a different main approach to address the torso part on their bodies:

1. Realistic anatomy. The traditional realistic art schools approach of using a sphere for ribcage and box for pelvis. From there I build on more complex shapes on top. 

2. Anime style. I use two lines to define the main torso shape. I still use a box* and sphere as help sometimes, but my focus is on keeping the line-art follow that action lines profile than to stick to realistic anatomy or geometric shapes (taking advantage that anime is a very stylized 2D look). *note the pelvis shape is different too.

3. Cute style. Body is round and very simplified, I use a bean-like shape for this (with wide side at bottom). This bean approach was used by Disney artists from last century for small size characters, but I have seen it on lot of today's cute or chibi styles as well.

4. Animal. All mammals have seal-like shape body structure (or sea lion). Instead of vertical the main axis is horizontal. Note the tapered shape at the end on the back side since is important for the correct structure, and how the main weight hangs from the middle-front ribcage side, then goes up again to the neck. I first saw this approach on a "Force" drawing book I think, and adopted it for realistic looking animals since then because I liked it a lot.

Sometimes I end up mixing methods, so not really strict rules I follow every time, but different tools that help me get the result I look for each time.

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Another aspect I tried to show in this scale is how eyes and skull shape and size change on each step.

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About the bottom side on first image, I put the way I see each style on a "furry scale" and how they sometimes overlap. Plus examples of artworks I have made while thinking along those lines or using that construction more or less.

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Attached is the .psd version of this for those who want to fiddle with the layers.