Fat Art References and Resources

[jigglybellysoftheart]

I ordered an obscure academic book about feedism from my school library and they got a hard copy instead of a pdf, so now I have to look the nice old librarian lady I'm kinda friends with in the eye while I get my fat sex book.....oops lmao

[jigglybellysoftheart]

Few people have asked for the info on this book so here it is! There are some p decent academic articles on it as well! Search Google scholar sometime for "feederism" 😄

"Feederism: eating, weight gain, and sexual pleasure". Charles, Kathy and Palkowski, Michael. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire : Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.

[jigglybellysoftheart]

Update on this since so many have asked - I highly recommend it!

This book clearly takes the words of actual feedists and fat people into account, and represents the diverse community and forms that feedism can take. It also raises the inherent problems with feedism in a very respectful way that doesn't feel demonizing or like they're saying it needs to stop because of those things. That also isn't the point of the book, which I appreciated - all of the academic texts on feedism that I have read have focused on how feedism is men preying on fat girls, which is untrue in the vast majority of cases, and this book addresses that oversimplification very well. It provides a very balanced account that doesn't feel like they went in with an opinion already formed about feedism being good or bad, they just describe the community around it. It interviews quite a few members of the community, and overall provides quite a positive view of feedism.

I found it super validating to see my opinions on and experience with the feedism community echoed in an academic text, and I thought it was really great to know that there is good, balanced information available in the academic world now about this community, not just oversimplified pieces that demonize us. It's also not written in a complicated, intimidating way. I am a fairly fast reader, but I read the whole thing in a couple hours. I really enjoyed it!

I got this book through interlibrary loan, but it's also available a variety of places online:) info is above

[wxrmandfxzzies-deactivated20190]

fat bodies tutorial!

ALRIGHT SO my pal @kalreyno wanted help with drawing fat characters and as a fat artist i felt like i could give a bit of helpful insight on that. there’s also been a lot of complaining about “boo hoo fat characters are hard to draw so i can’t include them in my work Ever” goin on lately so if that’s your case then this is for you too!! and also just for anyone who would like help with fat bodies in general, ofc. anyway, let’s get this show on the road!!

let’s start with some common misconceptions. these are the two main attempts at chubby bodies i run into, so i’ll focus on them. 

the Anime Chubby i see everywhere, and it’s just……so wrong in many ways. first of all, there is almost no additional body fat compared to your average thin character - except for where it’s added in “attractive” places (breasts, hips, thighs). the breasts are way too perky, and don’t have the realistic shape fat would give them (though how to draw accurate breasts is another tutorial all on its own lmao). there is still a thigh gap, which usually only happens in very thin people, and bones are still visible on the surface of the skin, which also rarely happens in fat people.

the Michelin Man is better in some ways, but still not that great. it’s a slightly better attempt, but basically all that’s done there is taking a thin character and blowing them up, while giving no thought to fat distribution. the thigh gap is usually still present, and they look a lot more hard than soft - and fat is very soft and pliable.

here’s a chart on how fat usually distributes (if you can’t read my messy writing, “1. next to no fat, 2. moderate amount, 3. most of the fat distribution”). basically, the more muscle an area has, the more prone it is to develop fat, such as the abdomen, thighs, and upper arms. it’s important to note that fat sits on top of muscle, and that it does distribute in different levels, and not evenly across the body as shown in the Michelin Man. 

now, here’s an accurate fat body with all of that kept in mind!! notice how the fat isn’t only kept to aesthetically pleasing areas, and how it sits realistically on the character’s body. their breasts sag a lot more, which happens even in thin people with larger breasts, and the nipples are pointing more downwards than straight out. there is no thigh gap in sight, there are no bones in sight, and most importantly, they have fat rolls, which are very important in drawing a convincing fat character!! as far as i know i’ve never met a single person with no rolls at all, and everyone has them, whether thin or fat - they’re just more prominent and more consistently present in fat people. pay close attention to where they are and how they’re shaped.

here are a couple of drawings showing how fat is affected when sitting vs stretching. as seen in the first, the fat specifically on the stomach is distributed a lot more evenly and stretched out, so it becomes “flatter”. the love handles are still pretty visible, though, as well as the fat on the thighs and arms. the breasts are raised with the shoulders, and the fat on the shoulders and near the neck forms rolls as it’s being pushed together. 

in the second, there is a lot less room for distribution, so the fat is all pushed together. the breasts sag and the stomach forms rolls and spills into the lap. a good analogy for the way fat works is to liken it to a water balloon, and thinking of how its shape would change when resting flat on a surface, hanging off of a ledge, held upright, etc.

here are a few extra tips i find a lot of people miss!

first on the top is the hip/pubic region. the first circle is showing the way the bellybutton is folded in fat people, as opposed to stretched out in thinner people. the second is the stomach fat spilling over onto the pubic region and creating a separation in the two areas, which is something that’s missing in a lot of art. in addition, the pubic mound also gains fat, making it round as seen in the profile drawing i did up there (i’ve heard people refer to it as fupa?). the last in the hip region is the lack of a thigh gap. i can’t stress this enough!!!! if you’re trying to draw a convincing fat character, make sure their thighs are pretty much always touching!! for reference, mine literally don’t separate until my feet are about 2ft from each other.

the bottom right is showing the double chin, which a lot of people are afraid to draw!! fat does distribute itself here too, and there’s nothing wrong with it, so don’t feel like you shouldn’t give fat characters a double chin in your work for fear of it looking like a caricature.

in the bottom middle, it’s showing how fat affects different types of breasts with the presence of more or less breast tissue. 

lastly, at the very right are stretch marks with their usual locations and directions, which i also can’t stress enough!!!!! i sometimes forget to add them honestly, but they’re so important in accurately portraying fat characters, as they literally come from the skin being stretched from fat being gained (and they’re also just rlly neat lookin like why wouldn’t you lmao). some people have less and some people have more, feel free to experiment with them!

the last thing is body types!! there isn’t one single way for a person to be fat, so feel free to experiment with shapes once you’ve learned the basics!! 

so there you have it, a tutorial on how to draw chubs!! now go forth and make some accurate fanart or some rad fat characters, because the world could always use more of both. hmu if you have any questions or concerns, and thanks for reading!!

EDIT: someone pointed out the bad wording in the tutorial. thank you for bringing it to my attention and sorry for offending anybody. i’ve updated the tut, so please reblog this one!

[butterflyperspective-deactivate]

Okay so I am literally about to cry. I’m not an artist, but I love looking at art. And like. It makes me feel so worthless to see beautiful art with “fat” characters that are just extra curvey because I am so not that, and seeing only the sexy curvy drawings makes me feel like I am somehow the wrong kind of fat. But this. This is so spot on. I have stretch marks and I have a double chin and I have like a fatty pouch in my pelvic area and my breasts are not perky and my thighs do not touch and just… All of it. Seeing art of someone who looks like me makes me feel… Worthy. Some artist thought a body like mine was worth drawing, and that is so wonderful and validating and flattering. People enjoying said art is so good too. And like. Wow. I just want to cry.

[exclusively-art-reference]

This is a very good resource. Take note, people: “I wasn’t trained to draw fat people” is not an excuse.

[vstheworld]

“I wasn’t trained” isn’t an excuse for any artist anymore shut the fuck up Sharon and google shit like the rest of us

[isa-ghost]

BLESS NOW I CAN PRACTICE BETTER

[soybean--oil]

How do you draw fat faces? Asking as a confused artist, cause every time or try it's just round face with no chin definition whatsoever. I also can't seem to get the neck/chub ratio to look right :(

Hoo okay I’ll try my best here.

I know this is going to sound boring and probably overrated, but you need to understand how to draw human heads. Start with skulls, you’ll thank me later.

I think your problems are mostly stemming from not understanding the head and you’re just jumping to how you think the fat distributes on the face. That leads to the second step which is how it distributes I guess:

I know it’s a pretty “duh” thing, but it mostly develops around the cheeks and under the chin. But again, you won’t properly know how that looks unless you practice skulls and thin heads. After you get familiar with the fundamentals then you can certainly exaggerate things as much or as little as you want. That’s what art is about after all B) 

Here’s some more personal examples/refs too:

Have fun and make sure to make those boys ROUND

[potoobrigham]

How to draw a booty?

First and foremost, study your anatomy.

I’m not kidding. Take some time out of your day, and figure out how dat thang actually attaches to your person. Heck, don’t limit it to the glutes, study everything, you’ll figure out how it works with the rest of the body a lot easier.

Break muscles down to basic workable shapes. That’s how construction works.

With these studies and simplifications, I’ve learned:

There’s a fair amount more to it, especially if we’re talking about fat vs. muscle,  proportions, relation to hips, etc., but these are more or less the basics, I think.

Seriously though, practice anatomy. Then you can go off and do whatever you please.

[meerneko]

Not the best in explaining things but I gave it a try!

This is usually how I do it more or less, but I also look at a ton of refs.  Never be afraid to grab a ref and lightbox/lighten the opacity of it and draw over it until you start understanding the body. Also long swooping curves are great and it’s better to overshoot it than under. 

Hope this helps a bit! Sorry if it’s not as detailed as it should be. 

[keij-station]

If someone was looking to branch out into drawing fat people to diversify their body types, would you have any specific tips or advice about drawing them versus thinner people?

Nothing that I wouldn’t try and stress when it comes to drawing anything else.

Like, people want to think that drawing fat people requires an entirely different mindset, but the only thing that you have to consider is that fat people are a real tangible thing in the world;. There are plenty of them.

If you want to draw fat people, and how fat distributes on the body, look up references, research the subject, find resources regarding how to draw these things.

You need a different mindset in drawing fat people as much as you need a different mindset with drawing dogs, which means you don’t. You just need to learn how to do it. 

[fatfetishimages]

Real facts about weighing 500 pounds

If you’re curious about what it’s like to tip the scales over 400 and 500 pounds, you’re not alone. If you’re on the fence about gaining or wondering but have never been brave enough to ask, here are some points to ponder.

1. People won’t care as much as you think.

The #1 worry-question I get asked all the time is wrapped up in fear. There seems to be a lot more worth wrapped up in people’s value judgements than we are prepared to accept. I can’t tell you everyone will be nice about being obese, but I can tell you that most people won’t care at all.

2. You will be fat all the time

Being supersized, or having a partner who is, isn’t a weekend fetish thing. Airline economy seats are out. Ladders, bending into tight spaces for repairs, or long mountain climbs aren’t going to happen. When you must hoist 500 pounds every time you get out of a chair, it’s going to have some restrictions.

Some people are OK with this, and some not. It’s no different than any other choice people make for themselves-for example, lets say: some people have cats, some people have kids, some people gain weight. There are elements that are annoying with each of these choices. You have to make life changes around them and spend money but you get to choose what’s right for you. (I know they’re not mutually exclusive. It’s just an example. Try to not overthink it.)

3. You could be really happy

Nobody tells you this, but being attractive is not dependent on the size of your waistline or size of your bank account. There are going to be over 8 billion of us in the near future. You really owe it to yourself to find someone who supports you and you’re attracted to and v.versa. It’s not about being picky, it’s about having standards.

4. Read the stoics

Because you should. They are the best.

5. Maths, contrasts and cooking

If you don’t learn to cook, if you don’t stay on top of physicals, you are probably going to be surprised by a health crisis no matter what you weigh. Some people do run into heart trouble and diabetes at 400 and 500 pounds. It’s mathematically more probable. But some don’t. My partner is over 40 years old and over 500 pounds and all he has is sleep apnea. (That’s an anecdote, not data, for those of you who understand how science works.) Your milage may vary.

Learn to cook and be mature about yourself at any size. That’s just good advice and will keep you better prepared for making decisions whatever comes your way.

6. Being over 500 pounds isn’t cheap. Talk to a good financial planner.

For all the worry and medical questions I get, I’m going to add the one nobody is asking: How do I afford to be over 500 pounds?

I travel quite a bit but I haven’t encountered a single place yet on this planet where the cost of living is going down. Talk to someone who can help you plan financially for the future you want. You might be surprised by how even a tiny monthly contribution can compound (fancy word for ‘build’) over a lifetime.

7. Being authentic can be a chore

There are some things you can hide about yourself but tipping the scales over 400 and 500 pounds isn’t one of them. There are no two size 5XL/16XL that are the same measurements so clothes can be a challenge. There is no way to stop people passing judgements when you don’t fit in a tight spot. It’s not right for people to feel free to make shameful judgements about a person’s body but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen.

Remember that you don’t need other people to approve of your eating habits or body size. You don’t owe people an explanation, and when you do choose to explain, try to do so with care. Understanding isn’t an equally distributed resource.

8. Squishy bodies are for loving

Packing on pounds doesn’t happen overnight. Some bodies genetically run larger than others. (Genetics have ruined more diets than the pizza delivery guy.) Having a generous layer of fat is a feature many people find very loveable and sexy.

Socially, most people who agree feel the need to keep their feelings quite introverted. I think with a little care, we can remove a lot of the freak stigmatization around ‘chubby chasers,’ explain that fat partners are wonderful partners, not ‘Meh, the best they could do,’ and fat relationships are just as sexy as any other.

9. Restrictions vs. immobile

There are a lot of factors that go into mobility issues. Most people don’t like being quite that vulnerable. But there’s a place for everybody on the spectrum. When my partner was recovering from a knee injury at 400 pounds, he was far less mobile than he is now over 500 pounds. My friend in her 30s at 130 pounds with RA is less mobile than my partner.

Know that weight is in no way the single factor on mobility. Despite what reality TV shows would have you believe. Facts vs. fantasy.

Yes, at 500 pounds you will get winded with simple tasks. Yes, you will eat out of your clothes and into larger sizes. Yes, your fat will grow in places you expect and places you don’t. But most people don’t eat themselves into immobility.

10. Should you get fat?

Only you can know the correct answer to this question. What does success look like for you? How much are you prepared to do to achieve your goals? (It’s easy to find a cheeseburger in America. It takes more effort to talk with your partner about how good your fat rolls make you feel.)

Think and be honest with yourself. If you choose to gain weight, do it for the right reasons.

[broaderstrokes]

Some great stuff here!

[fat-art-refs]

Reblogging for authors and artists and other storytellers, hope that’s okay

[meerneko]

Not the best in explaining things but I gave it a try!

This is usually how I do it more or less, but I also look at a ton of refs.  Never be afraid to grab a ref and lightbox/lighten the opacity of it and draw over it until you start understanding the body. Also long swooping curves are great and it’s better to overshoot it than under. 

Hope this helps a bit! Sorry if it’s not as detailed as it should be. 

[anastimafilia]

Hi, im a fuge fan of your art especially the way you draw fat bellys and i was wondering if you could do a tutorial on how you draw fat bellys. Thanks

i appreciate that! i’m super busy all the time and i’ve never done a tutorial but i made this belly shapes chart on twitter, i think i never published here so there you go 

[smash-chu]

How can it be so difficult

[kastemel]

I'll be upfront and say I asked this at fatline as well: Do you know a good resource for reference images of different BBW/SSBBW body types? I'm trying to draw different body types at different weights and I'm having trouble keeping consistent how different body types carry increasing amounts of weight (i.e. how does an apple look at 200 lbs to 500 lbs?) Would you ever consider doing a basic reference guide for this sort of thing, yourself?

I’m not…ermmm…technical enough with my anatomy to put one together and feel good about it, if we’re telling the truth. Peck’s Atlas of Human Anatomy for the Artist has a small section on fat, but it’s more words than illustration. That being said, from my experience it’s easier to draw fats if you’re comfortable drawing lean and muscular figures first. I hear life-drawing classes are good for this, but I’ve never sprang for that. A very heavy person has a pretty thick, muscular frame under all the fluff, and even though fat hangs under gravity it still follows the shape of the musculature it’s rigged to. However, look at enough pictures of different fat and super-sized people and you’ll come to realize that the exact nature of that rigging varies greatly.

I’d recommend following the Bigcuties blog here on Tumblr for starters. Their models vary widely in size and body type, and each promo has a couple poses right there for you. It’s no secret that I try to base my OC’s on a real life model’s body type, at least loosely; sometimes a character model is kind of a composite of model references, sometimes I use different models for different sizes of the same character. Variety is the spice of life. (Obviously, you can get a lot more reference material by paying for material–this isn’t a bigcuties ad I swear, but I feel like I ought to point that out since they are running a business and all.)

The thing is, the same model can look dramatically different in size and shape based on the angle of the shot, the pose, etc, so photo reference is not the be-all end-all for getting consistent. Eventually you’ll find your style, elements of fat physique that you play up more than others, or hyper realism, or something. I’m not super technical, but I really like exploring the structure of fat, how it bunches up or stacks or makes interesting shapes on a body in motion. I’m not sure it’s a strength of mine, but it’s something I like to explore. 

Having a couple real-life reference models for each character you design will help you “build” them in your mind, and then having a good understanding of anatomy and go-to methods for representing fat on the body will help you be consistent.

That’s a lot of words about drawing from a guy who hasn’t posted any art in months, huh? Here’s another thing I’ve all but abandoned: my fat-art reference blog https://www.tumblr.com/blog/fat-art-refs. Hope this was useful to you!

[nsfwbutts]

Thank you to the Patrons who voted for this Tutorial! If you would like some bases to use freely for exercising your new knowledge, you can download them HERE. 

If you would like to check out my reference Pile that I used for this tutorial, check that out HERE!

Hope this helped somehow in your journey to drawing plump and fat and chub folks c:

[charlieslowartsies]

when you don’t do a warm up and go straight into lineart and your hand does the thing

[timelord-named-the-artist]

Thats a sign of inflammation of the wrist called carpel tunnel . I had surgery because it got so bad I couldn’t draw anymore.

[charlieslowartsies]

Yikes D8. That’s why it’s so important to do stretches and draw with your whole arm (ok, arguably hard with a tablet versus a big gorgeous easel) and etc but I forgot today bc I am a moron and it was great

[sidneyia-deactivated20210826]

?????

people warm up to draw? like… how?

[kesslersymbolic]

not an artists but climbing hand and lower arm exercises;

trying to find more and better diagrams for other stretches but yeah it’s super important if your gonna be using your arms a lot.

[nightmaze]

Adding this important video for all the artists out there, take care of your hands ♥

[nexis89]

For all my artist friends!

[sarahculture]

I just read all of your art tutorials and they seem super helpful! I was wondering if you had any advice on how to draw clothing?

Yeah! here are some tips on drawing fabric and clothing that I sent to a friend a while back:

Hope that’s helpful. Thank you so much, @yosugayhomomura !

[theinturnetexplorer]

For all the photographers out there.

[secretsivekept]

@lyokion  Ignore the camera stuff, but these are good photo references for different types of lighting

[lisalinguica]

Check out these guns.

[xopachi]

Thought Process for Drawing Butts

Disclaimer. 

Take this lightly. This is not “Me big pro artist! You do dis! You no do dat! RRRRGG Pretension! Arrogance!” Purely opinion and preference of me, XoPachi. This isn’t a standard tutorial or me forcing anything. It’s just how I do things, why I do them, and what I prefer not to draw. So let’s start with the latter.

These are some styles I’m not really a fan of. There’s something missing to them. Sure the first and last ones are big, but I don’t feel a sense of weight and girth. And obviously I’m not a fan of flat bottoms which is the third one “The Anime Ass”. I don’t care how shallow that makes me seem. It’s not a preference of mine. Ever. I’ve never looked at any flat butt, real or drawn, and got a reaction. So when I draw a backside with the intent of sexualization, that is completely out of the question.

Here is the very rustic method I use for forming most butts that I sketched up. There are variants, but it’s almost like model sliders when customizing a character in a game. Same base model, but just altered in some areas. My personal rules almost never change.

1) The rock. A basic oval with a flatter bottom and almost perfectly rounded at the top. I mind my perspective and angle. Here we can vaguely see from the tilt of the shape that I chose a slight worm’s eye view at a quarter angle. 

2) The divide. This is a simple curved line to separate each buttock. You can now get a better idea as to what I’m after in terms of perspective. The line is off center with the right buttock being close to a third larger than the left since that is facing more towards us.

3) Cross counter. I define the ever important lower body line, I always thought of it as a cat’s mouth or Hamtaro smile. I typically prefer to flatten out these lines for a more subtle but definite heft. But they can arch to many depths for a variety of shapes and still look excellent. Keep in mind, the longer across the bottom cheek lines, the larger the cheeks appear. Vice versa, the shorter the lines, the smaller the cheeks will be. That’s crucial when deciding my shape. The thighs come in here as well. I go for very thick thighs meaning they poke out just slightly on the sides and smoothly curve inward softly.

4) Waist. Self explanatory. Waist and thighs compliment the butt and hips. Just as important as the cheeks themselves.

5) Refine. At this stage, the sketch lines of 1-4 are cleared and the main lines are thinned. Curves are further smoothed out and I add more features. I often use short broken lines to indicate which cheek ends where at the top of the thigh and the base of the waist. I also love adding Dimples of Venus.

6) Shade. If I come this far, my basic teachings of shading over the years come into play. This is not perfectly shaded, but it gives the general idea. Quick brush in with my marker tool. Crude blotches of color for my shadows than hit it with the low opacity soft eraser to smooth shadows. No hard shadows on the cheeks except for right in the cleavage. Add a few highlights then lighten up my brush and gently dash in reflected light. Deep hard shadow between the thighs. Gradually soften. 

Basic butt. Done.

Now let’s look at some nuances, I typically toss keep in mind.

The before image was a WIP of the recent Peach image I drew. Here’s it’s perfectly rounded. But I wanted a more natural feel. Imperfections are always nice here and there to add some girth and give the butt a nice grip to it. I intentionally indented the lower body line of the cheeks to give the impression of some light cellulite which I do appreciate. It’s a bit more advanced for me to continue that throughout the entirety of the butt, but this is a start, I find. Some of the shading around the thighs are also disturbed in an attempt to give the same impression.

Here’s a beautiful real life example.

You can also see where the left and right sides of the entire leg and hip slope inward. I avoid making butts wider than the very tops of the thighs to give a more comprehensive definition and that hourglass, pinup appeal. Basically I avoid the first, second, and fourth example of the top image.

As for tight clothing. The panties squeeze just slightly into the hips making a very brief protrusion from the skin being under pressure. I add sharp wrinkles that show tension and stress for a robust sense of bigness. 

When I have a bent over position things are tightened. The crotch is slightly or completely visible and lower body lines are shortened inward showing the skin is being pulled taut. I’ll use broken soft lines to show the skindentation of where they curve when the woman would be standing fully upright. Thighs are also be foreshortened to varying degrees depending on the depth and complexity of the angle. They are also not perfectly smooth to show where the muscles are tensing for additional girth. 

To wind up, some words on different shapes.

They can have this sort of “flatness” to them yet still be thick and massive like Mallory here (my go to model for female forms). The lower body lines are typically much more level and are characterized by their wideness versus protrusion. 

Or they can simply be extremely round and jut out forming a very robust sort of “tabletop” like Ms. Hydro’s here. There is no subtlety as the definitions are highly pronounced in any clothing.

There are far more shapes and structures than just those two. Stronger, more fit butts for athletic types and a nice middle-ground of the above that have a nice stockiness that I find are perfect for my women of a shorter build. All of which and more have thousands of variants to them.

Form and Nuances. Both of these things are the main factors I focus on when constructing a butt that is sure to satisfy. If you don’t look/feel like the man below when viewing my women’s rears, I have failed.