How would I go about practicing foreshortening?

[Demy]

Exactly what it says on the title. Like are there any sites that show foreshortened poses or something?

[dawgofdawgness]

I highly highly recommend this video, it's saved the lives of many artists

[revisionstudios]

You should definitely be able to find stock images on deviantart that show foreshortening if you're looking for reference! They have a whole category dedicated to stock images.

Other than copying, try looking up tutorials too. They have some really good tips in techniques and helping you understand basics!

(This one is criticized for being rude, but honestly I think the core concepts are still good)

Nsio explains: Foreshortening

This is a super good technique to help draw bodies in perspective:

[LCT_m_a_d]

I tend to draw tube cylinders during my thumbnail phase to help me map out in my mind what the perspective looks like. It usually looks robotic and mechanical but it helps take the guess work out of proportions

[Demy]

I have used that but the coil method tends to screw with my foreshortening. Just seems off whenever i try to use it. Starting to gravitate towards using cylinders as suggested by @vicar_comic and @revisionstudios since it seems more accurate to me and its easy for me to use.

Sure i can't get into the nitty gritty perspective stuff with cylinders but....eh. i'd say it works with the way i draw.

Top left is me using the rectangle method. Yeah it didn't really work out.

For this i used cylinders and i think its a better method for me.

[DMBrigman]

I tend to prefer the cylinder method as well. I would also suggest making use of exaggeration, when you do foreshortening. There is a tendency to draw exactly what one sees in the reference photo, but you have to remember that drawings tend to look flat even if they are "perfect" representations.

What this means is make things bigger that are close to the "camera" and things smaller that are far away. We naturally interpret size differences as being indicative of spatial distance. In your first example this would mean greatly exaggerating the size of the hand, and shrinking the size of the thighs. I think your bottom poses are pretty good, but again, enlarge the head and shrink the lower portions of the body.

[modrawmanga]

Mangastudio has a builtin 3d model you can pose and rotate around as a reference base fore setting up foreshortening, but it was a bit clunky to setup at first.
Also type in foreshortening on pinterest to get ref images

[Demy]

Ah so the principle of exaggeration also applies to foreshortening? I guess I should start working on that from now on. This probably explains why my foreshortened poses tends to look off. That's a very helpful piece of advice.

[deltastic]

I totally agree with @DMBrigman they have some great advice! I use a combination of both of these techniques when I draw. For especially difficult foreshortening I will use the box method in the bottom-right of that box tutorial: drawing something from the front flat, and then drawing the boxes in perspective and using that as a guide to where each part of the body will fall.

Just wanted to say though, your sketches look great! Just keep the techniques in mind and as you practice and draw more it will become second nature and you will find a rhythm that works for you.

Also, I STILL take photos of myself for reference when doing particularly difficult foreshortening, especially on hands. Selfies are great for this! Good luck