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You can do a lot with some evocative posing and some reference text.

Can confirm

At this point, insisting on using gen AI for anything simply means you don't respect the people you're asking for commissions and they shouldn't give you the time of day because you're a bad person and should feel bad.

I cannot explain why, but that stick figure is Freddie Mercury

This is my go to example of "what I gave them -> what they made". The final piece by @hotkoin.bsky.social

yeah (It ended up getting mirrored midway through but)

While I never mind the latter, I constantly tell my customers that giving any visual approximation of what they want when they're desiring a very great deal of specificity is ideal.

this is shot-put

I love and admire clients that send me little stick figure doodles of their concept! It's super helpful and fun! Support humans! Say no to AI!

Do not underestimate the power of stick figures

I could do a lot with that stick figure!

Last time I wanted a specific pose and a stick figure wasn't enough, I took a pic of myself (face obscured) to show what I meant. There are better methods than GenAI.

agreed, they make for some good refs and even more amazing commissions finished drawing was done by @soinasauceart

I shall name this stickmin, Henry

The last ref I provided was just a picture of me with stuff drawn on top!

I would prop up my phone and take a video of myself posing and screen shot the right one before I got a sloppy version of something that wasn’t accurate.

Is that what you mean by that stick figure?

100% agreed

100% this! I love getting crudely drawn stick figures from clients. It helps way more than they could imagine (and added bonus if they redline wips that I send them so I can fix things as I go 🙌)

"You can't make art with just stick figures" Heard that argument once a while ago. And then they saw Hyun's Dojo's projects, and Alan Becker's godlike stuff. They quicky shut up.

I still got this old concept doodle on my laptop. Definitely should make more of these because even if I can't afford art they're fun to make.

the stick person agenda!! artists truly love it when you send the scribbles, it shows effort and vision and that is what matters tbh~ send the stick guy with pride!

Just, please, do not grow attached to the stick man. Do not name him Steve, as you will inevitably remember that Steve is a concept that exists in your mind. At which point you know that your attention is the only barrier between Steve and eternal darkness in the void. Steve is scared.

also if stick figures seem insufficient or you have a REAL hard time conveying what you mean, tools like justSketchMe let you pose mannequins & a screenshot of a pose like that can be real helpful case & point art i got for a friend literally 30sec of posing, artist called it "very helpful" IIRC

Gives the artist everything they need to understand the pose, but leaves just enough wiggle room for creative experimentation~

Okay but... Is that particular stick figure depicting a certain toxic tech billionaire at a rally? 😬

the number of times I've given an artist a color coded set of slightly detailed stick figures for a multi character comm lol and I am an artist!

I do this all the time with my commission buddy @/milesmeelezz.bsky.social. Stick drawings are eternal.

my blobs vs @shkarpett.bsky.social final artwork (I love the final piece so much)

A shitty stick figure is truly worth a thousand words.

Now you will have people using GenAI to create stick people. 😅

I sent stick persons in the past and got the most stunning art with the pose I had in mind. Will always use good old stick people for this. Also, they very likely will make your artist smile!! 100/10 do recommend

posing free blender models also works, similar principle

Artists love this one trick

And creating a stick figure is easy

is this a shotputter?

I love stick figures; they're so endearing and indeed magical. They're so unfussed, raw and lack details, yet show so much. Give us the stick personnnn.

@heli.pet did this on the most recent commission she did. It was indeed quite helpful to get a general idea down ^^

Stick person magic is real. I've used a 3d poser to try and get the idea across, and so many times I've stopped half way, realized I was putting too much work into it, and just drew a stick figure. And the artist turns around in like 30 minutes and goes "Like this, right?" and it's exactly right.

Guy throwing a shot put?

Good call

Most of our drafts are stick dudes and blocks anyways we can extrapolate, I promise!

A stick figure is worth a 100 words! I have subjected many artists I’ve commissioned to my terrible doodles!

I agree. It's not just a good idea, it's moral and can save you problems. I will deny orders if I am given genAI references. I'm not alone, I've seen other artists with the same policy.

one of the most influential animations is literally a stick person versus a mouse icon, another is a stick person with pants on, oh yeah, Henry Stickman as well they help a lot with art man

Look at xkcd. Stick figures are indeed amazing at all qualities!

stick person sketch is my FAVORITE THING EVER to get from clients!! some of my favorite commissions ive ever completed came from a stick person sketch 😁

One of my favs from 2022

Great picture of Freddie Mercury dude!!

That's Freddy Mercury

Honestly need to do this just a bit more.

I DO THIS. I try to use Paint's line and curve features, BUT I DO THIS. JKSJKSJK 🚫 AI 🚫

I cannot recommend stick figures enough. Seriously.

I could look at "stick drawing vs final image" comparisons for hours! Its so cool & satisfying.

I love my messy doodles and bashing images together as reference for when I have a ✨vision✨ (both commissions are drawn by @reskiaaaann on instagram!)

Allegedly this is Dan O'Bannon's sketch of the original Alien egg and facehugger which he gave to Giger.

Saturday Night Fever stick person

I recently drew a stick person for posing purposes and the artist got the pose exactly right on the first try (though it did need just a little bit of tweaking, which is normal)

Absolutely makes my life 10000x easier when someone gives me a tiny doodle of what they have in their mind.

This is what I have done in the past. It actually became something the artist looked forward to because I would add funny descriptions in this MS Paint stick figure drawing and it became art on its own. Terrible, terrible art, but art all the same.

I have actually done similar when commissioning artists. Usually a little more than just a stick person, but there are often times where in order to get my idea across, I'm doing something that while it may feel atrocious in terms of drawing, gets the point across better than I ever thought.

My ms paint drawing and the final pieace by the artist

New challenge- I will attempt to decipher what I think this pose is meant to look like. Commission artists, I encourage you to do the same, lets see how our different minds work 😅

💯💯💯💯💯💯🔥🔥

That's good to know I'm really good at making stick figures.

As a comic with stick people, I appreciate your post in the defense of stick people.

Literally how I figure out poses when drawing The attempts from my brain aren’t always accurate, but it helps me understand what I’m getting at before I actually use a posable figure. I don’t need no wage theft AI program to do that for me. #noai #art

Another great option is just googling "[specific pose] art reference" and sending those. I once sent one such googled reference, the artist changed it slightly to make more sense with the character, and it turned out great. Much better than whatever ai could vomit out

It worked for Harvey Pekar 🤷‍♂️

I've seen ppl being like "wehhhhh the art that I'm sending as reference for a commission sucks :/" as if anyone but the artist is gonna see it in the first place, the pollution and theft from ai is always the bigger evil than any shitty drawing could be

YESSS my favourite commissions have been done for excited people rushing to explain their thing in MS paint!!

Another resource is Heroforge. You can make a guy, dress it up, pose it, etc. then you can send a share link to an artist and they can rotate in 3D!

If you can prompt AI, you can prompt the artist. The latter can also figure out what you mean.

There have been many great other options presented, such as posing in VR, using Blender, using action figures, and more. I chose to praise the stick person becase it's something everyone can draw, and takes no additional software or materials. All options are great, but don't fear the most basic!

I draw "sausage mannequins" for specific poses, but same principle, really.

But I can't stop at just a stick person! I also have to do shapes and make sure parts are pointed in the right direction and expression and PoV and-

Even finding a picture online is better than Ai...

I use a Blender armature for mine

Praise the Stick Person 🙌 🔥

I started doing poses in VR using body tracking, makes it a lot more clear to the artist what I'm after :)

I personally would like to open a mannequin model and put it in the right position. Unlimited control of anything... as long as you have basic knowledge of how to use Blender.

I love these threads so I can again contribute… My scribbles vs the final result from @stockfootagemecha.bsky.social

You say “stick person,” but I see a sigil which bestows clarity upon a magician as they use their powers to conjure a homunculus.

It seems that the populus is yet to master the mystic properties of the hidden muse from the realm of sticks

I... never thought of this... woah... this is actually awesome and I feel like a dummy for not thinking about it

I love when clients send me stick poses ♡ it's so helpful

Im gonna play the guess game, wihout context Is this stick person an atlethe in the trowing heavy balls competitions? I know the sport it not named that but... This is a casual post and Im not opening the translator just to be accurate :B

Love doing this.

Unironically this is usually the limit of my artistic talent, and yet I have no desire to use ai instead

I actually do this for references when commissioning

It works!!

Maybe I am misremembering but I think Liquid TV had a spot called Stick Figure Action theatre. It was always good.

Stick Figure Fight AnimationAlt: Stick Figure Martial arts kick to the head.static.klipy.com

Alternatively if you want something more detailed I’ve had clients use pose ref makers like design doll if you can’t find an image ref for the pose! It’s always helpful!

Literally if I can’t find a good pose for reference online, I make plenty of stick figures even if it can be messy.

I always feel silly doing it, but it's funny to compare them. Here's the most recent time I did it, with @flatwani.bsky.social

bsky.app/profile/theo...

bsky.app/profile/feli...

Agreed! The stick figure is a good reference that shows what tou wanted, with intention, from you. I get that "i cant even/can only draw a stickfigure" is presented as being bad at art, but its LEAGUES more than capitulation to AI and u can do so much with the stick gigure u cant with mere words

I love stick people commissioner sketches so much they’re so fun

😁😁😁💕💕💕🫶🫶🥰🥰🥰👍👍

Stick figs are honestly some of the best posing references you can make