how to draw fat faces and necks better
something i notice a lot with artists trying to draw fat people is that even if they get the bodies decent they often draw the heads and necks in a "skinny" way, which isnt usually done with ill intent but rather out of inexperience and trying to apply skinny rules to fat faces
ID: A drawing of a thin and a fat person. The fat person has a thin neck and a sharp defined jawline like the thin person. End ID.
and it ends up like this in a lot of cases ^
ID: A drawing of a thin and a fat person. The thin person has arrows pointing to their neck and jaw, labelled, "face distinct from neck" and "sharp jaw". The fat person has arrows to their neck, jawline, and chin, labelled, "thick neck (shoulder meets chin)", "undefined jawline", and "double chin". The thin person has a distinct and fully drawn jawline, and the fat person has a double chin and no line that goes all the way to the ear like the thin one, leaving only their profile and chin defined. End ID.
my biggest tip for drawing fat faces and necks is to define less. if u look here, the fat person has a very indistinguishable neck, and ive left out a part of the lines for the jaw, which makes it softer and more natural. adding a line there, especially if its very straight and angled, will tend to take a lot away from the fatness of whoever ur drawing, because it implies a distinct separation of the face from the neck
ID: 8 pictures of OP, who is a fat white person. The first 4 pictures are of them when they were skinny. Their jaw is defined and their face is distinct from their neck and shoulders. The other 4 are current pictures of them, in which they're fat. Their jaw has little to no definition and there's less distinction between the face and neck. End ID.
heres some pictures of me when i was skinny vs me now. notice how my jaw is significantly less defined and the shadows are much softer and rounder. i also have a double chin, which softens my neck shapes even more. in some cases, theres no harsh enough lines or shadows present to even remotely define where my face ends and my neck begins, so if i were to portray myself with lines that define those areas, it would make it seem like i had a sharper jaw and less fat
generally, look at lots of fat people for references! and please note that there will always be exceptions to this, so this is just a general thing to help artists develop their skills for drawing fat people more accurately ^^ hope this helps!
