I have literally no spare time on my hands this school year, it's total chaos, I literally (I wish I were exaggerating) spend 99% of my evenings doing coursework, homework and revision. But in my spare time (when I get any ;D) I'll be doing 'quick tips' which are short, to the point and usually vital details that people usually miss. Today I'm doing collarbones.
Let me tell you this.
A bad collarbone makes for a constipated model.
I'm just saying.
Look at this:
Now, which one looks the best to you? Chances are, you're going to pick the one on the far right. I would too. You can also see the effect of not doing collarbones here, it doesn't look atrocious but it does look quite empty and can make the model look less realistic and top-heavy.
The rules for collarbones go like this: the fatter you are, the less collarbone there is to see. The skinnier you are, the more you see, and the more muscular you are, the more defined it is, particularly round the neck. The image follows in the same order:
Now let's look at the different structures. Some are more curvy, some are more straight, some are more bony and some stick out at the arms, here's a variety of different types; variation can add more depth to characters:
The arrows indicate the direction of the bone.
The basic point is; define the innermost parts of the bone in the 'pit' of the neck, and the bone towards the shoulder on skinny to average sized bodies. Larger bodies require less definition. Never over-shade the neck, in fact, if you're unsure, just leave it out. It looks fine with just the two collarbones. If you look at my drawings up close, you'll see that some of the examples have just got 2 light flecks on the neck.
NEVER, and I mean NEVER, draw in bones directly under the neck. The only exception to this is if the person is lifting weights, then the muscles are tensed and the collarbones and muscles stick out, but not that much.
I guess the main point is: Subtlety is key to good collarbones.
Happy sketching :)
- Hunni x x x
