(Feel free to post whatever pushes your buttons in this one)

Ok, straight up

/rant ON

I've been rolling around the net for a while now checking out character illustrations and what not. I totally know how hard it is to draw the human body's anatomy. Talk about a son of a gun... Anyway, what blows my mind is how many people screw it up drawing an archer. For crying out loud, why can't people figure out where the bowstring goes? I am stunned how often I see a fantastic illustration gone totally wrong because they fail to understand the mechanics of Archery.

Now, maybe this only bothers me because I used to do some archery back in the day, but it seems to me a simple thing to walk through in your mind. If nothing else check a reference photo.

I've seen images with rangers holding the arrow backwards, I've seen people holding a bow with the string on the outside of their arm.....there is absolutely no way that works!

In one instance I saw a character sneaking along holding a bow with his arrow on the wrong side of the string, in other words he was screwed because there was no way he could use it to any effect. Nobody sneaks into danger like that!

Now, I will be the first to admit that I'm not good at doing humans. I have little practice and no background in how to do them. I just draw by looking at what I'm after. I just can't believe that someone would spend all sorts of time doing a masterpiece and screw it up drawing in the sting of the bow incorrectly.

I don't know but it seems to me this is something a high school artist should have learned. How are professionals screwing this up?

/rant OFF!

PS. It's entirely possible that I've just had a bad week, but I can allow for a lot of things. This one just sticks in my craw. Grab a stick, put a sting on it, grab another stick and fire it across your yard and you will know everything you need to know.