You can experiment with using a software manequine in Pencil2D.
Are you sure this would work as a mannequin? There are some people that are still learning how to use pencil 2d, like me, and I don’t know if this would still work.
A majority of people might assume, that everyone is able to do basic drawing. That’s not always the case. Drawing with vectors, the initial drawings, could initially be a series if straight lines. These are converted to curves using the Smudge Tool.
You can then adjust the shape, to acheive the desired look. Once a basic shape, like a human or animal, who stands on two feet is draw, you can duplicate it and then move components around, to acheive other poses.
Smiffy is a character draw using the mannequin principle. This method of animation, is called Stop Frame Animation.
The file is the starting point for the project Smuffy-1.pclx (475.9 KB).
There is a Background and a Foreground and a Camer Layer of course. The foreground layer gives the animation more visual depth, by allowing Smiffy to partially disappear, behind scenic objects.
There has always been those in the art world, who decry the use of techniques, that are seen by the purist as ‘cheating’. In modern times some attact others, including animators, who use reference.
Reference includes photographs, video and 3D models to explore the drawing subject.
In the past this has included the camera obsqura, a device to take an image and project it, onto a canvas. Such techniques were seem as copying, not creating a work of art.
Some artists, attacked the use of reference, and then used them in creation of their own work.
What counts, is what works for you as an individual creates. Don’t be put off, by the cries of others. Unless you ate willing, to stand up fir yourself, don’t make it your way, to advertise how your work is created.
Strive to create the best work, that you can!
This file contains a starting point for a mannequin Puppet-5.pclx (597.4 KB)
With it you can experiment, with different body positions. Once you have one or more of these, you can make a bitmapped or Vector layer, and then draw you drawings, using the mannequin as a guide.