Also realized I didn't angle his shoulders nearly enough. I changed up the posing for the right arm in the sketch because I wanted more of the arm+hand in the camera. I've started using it in some more recent work just because I keep trying these difficult angles and poses xD The rough sketch phase is the thing I have the hardest time with in my drawing and using 3D models reaaaaaally helps me avoid the 'that is not an arm that is a broken mass of flesh' problems in the rough stages. But it is a dang handy tool for getting started. It is going to have anatomical issues, it's going to have posing issues, and it's going to have.I guess camera issues? Like it doesn't help if you kinda wanna fish-eye a shot is what I mean. I think it's handy, but it shouldn't be the be-all-end-all draw-it-exactly-like-you-have-the-doll posed thing. Even the great old masters used a few tricks like the camera obscura and the viewfinder.

And/or good knowledge about anatomy.īut we shouldn't feel bad for 'cheating' a little and using tools like this. It will never beat a good reference photo, but it can get the job done very well.Īs previously mentioned, if you need to draw realistic skin and muscles I think you really need some more resources to work from. Usually when I can't get the proportions right when drawing from my own head or when I need a certain pose and I can't find the right reference photo. I use it from time to time in my other projects too. There are also quite a few Designdoll poses in my new book. Last year I did a project based on silhouettes where I decided that I should try to use Designdoll for most of it. And I really like how you can tweak all the different parts of the figures. And when it comes to finding the proportions and the right perspectives I think it works very good. But for drawing people with clothes on, this becomes less of a problem (but it still is important of course). In terms of muscles, skin and all those sort of things it is lacking in my opinion.

I have used it quite a bit (the freeware version).

Design doll models