I know I’ve talked about reference before, but I wanted to reiterate: It’s okay to stop a movie and draw the gestures. I once was yelled at by an student artist who was adamantly against using reference material, but I have never heard of one professional who didn’t.

If I was going to use any of these poses I would certainly doctor them up a bit more to make them uniquely mine—one of the things I like to do is to push the scene forward and try to imagine what it would look like if the character(s) continued in their current movements a little into the future—it helps me focus on the structure rather than relying simply on what my eyes are seeing.

But there’s nothing wrong with “swiping” or simply lifting an identical image for your own study. I find that if I’m having a difficult time with a completely unrelated pose, say of a man doing yoga, drawing out ten men of similar body types from my unrelated reference material will help me clear that hurdle. All I need sometimes is that one push to remind me of proportions or bone/muscle placement.

Also, for digital artists, I’d advocate warming up in this way with a tablet. For some reason, drawing easy gestures from reference with a tablet forces my hand to use the correct pressure—something I struggle with in my real work if I don’t warm up.

I fell in love with Cozicant’s character Death from her short animatic Death’s Messenger. Her variation of this Grimm story (link) was really cute. In her version, death is a little boy in a hooded night gown with a bad attitude and more than his share of arrogance.

The original story is that the character of Death fights with a giant who beats him up and leaves him for dead. He is then helped by a boy. I misheard the story. I thought the boy protects death from the giant. I said it would be more fun if it was a girl because little boys with a lot of bravado tend to get flustered and embarrassed at being saved by a girl. It could turn into a funnier story than the original Grimm one where Death isn’t even the main character. The Adventures of Death. I would read a webcomic like that.

Submitted by Hannah Viera

Medium: Digital

“8 minutes I will never get back. I don’t see the point of this exercise.”

Submission by Hannah Viera

Medium: Digital

“X-23 in a more indie comic style”

Submitted by Hannah Viera

Medium: Red Col-Erase Pencil

“Jace”

Submitted by Hannah Viera

Medium: Blue Col-Erase Pencil

“Sorry. All you get today is mall thumbnails.”

Submitted by Hannah Viera

Medium: Digital

“Apple”

Submitted by Hannah Viera

Medium: Digital

“A Mongoose”

Submitted by Hannah Viera

Medium: Charcoal

“My Father went to Singapore and brought me back a signature stamp with my name carved into it. This is the ink pad that came with it.”