'How to' book on drawing inflation?

well someone could make various TYPES of inflation drawing possibilities so that it caters to ALL forms of the fetish, while still being vague enough to let new people try them out for themselves and put their own twist on it. There are basic principals used in drawing inflated people too, just as there are for drawing them normally. I just don't think someone ever took the time to actually THINK it all out and draw it.

Here is a question: If I were to make such a book and sell it as a PDF or something... would people buy it? lol

Everyone's right... to give an example, if Kraban (for example) wrote a book on how to draw inflation art, it wouldn't just be about how to use the drawing technique he uses, because that could be used in any kind of art almost. It would be inflation specific, talking about how to draw inflated figures, but for kraban, his inflated girls are at times very anatomical, whereas me and CattyN draw much more balloon-like girls, Critical Volume lies somewhere in betweeen.

Actually how to draw can be learned through books, what is required is advice on, once you can draw a figure (regardless of drawing style) how to inflate it. And there is no right or wrong way to do this, only different ways that float different peoples' boats.

Critique in this field isn't like critique in normal art because of it's purpose. CattyN may be an awesome artist, but mostly, people decide whether or not they like his art, not by looking at his drawing technique, but by looking at his style of inflation. The way he draws inflated girls might just not float their boat, but they may like an artist who is technically inferior because they prefer his brand of inflation.

Several times. It's just hard to sit down and actually work on something.

"name a couple of chapters..."

Would anyone be interested in a chapter on digital manipulation of still photos and/or video? That's such a broad topic packed with lots of little details, but I might consider writing something general; a primer.

This is what I was talking about. You can give advice on basic BE, B2E that could apply to anyone's style, but there are still subtle difference between different peoples' styles of inflation such as how much each body part is inflated and whether it becomes round (like me), fattish (like Arcanumbot) or a shape that seems to suggest some more complex internal structure (like blooberboy). Any guide would have to allow for those differences as well as differences in drawing style.

Catty is giving out some golden advice, but I'm not sure he's being heard. Allow me to take a shot at it (Catty, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong). It's true of any subject, but before one can successfully apply any kind of a "style" to any kind of artwork dealing with the human figure, he or she must first understand the basics. His work looks so fluid, natural, and effortless because he has thoroughly studied and understands these basics. He has practiced them so long that he has the skill to translate what he visualizes in his head and place it on paper. And, knowing them, he can play with and exaggerate them to achieve a desired effect.

Do you know the basics? Ask yourself these questions:

1) Do you know what the vanishing point(s) is(are)? If you can't answer that with any degree of certainty, go and study perspective drawing and how both it and the vanishing point pertain to spacial orientation. It's a simple concept, but one that must be practiced, understood, and then practiced, practiced, and practiced more - pages and pages and pages and drawing tablets full of practice. An understanding of this will open worlds to you - well beyond what we're discussing here.

2) Do you understand what the proportions of the human figure are and how the underlying skeletal and muscle structures affect it? Do you understand how gravity affects the body in various positions? Do you understand gravity? There are lots of materials, both free and not, that can teach you this. Despite the physical differences that exist from person to person, the human body tends to conform to certain proportions. Until you understand this, you will never be able to develop any kind of "style" that can be taken seriously. Can't afford figure drawing classes or a figure drawing book? Can't figure out how to search for it on the web? Then start by drawing those around you. Look in the mirror and draw yourself. Look for and study the commonality between people - head to toe. Here's a little test: if you can study and practice hard enough so that you can draw a human hand in any position and to affect any gesture, you are well on your way.

Once you've got a handle on those two subjects, you can begin to combine them with other elements.

- Light: Study how light interacts and reflects with objects. Start out by drawing simple geometric objects like spheres and cubes and practice shading them. Then apply what you've learned to figure drawing.

- Cloth: study how cloth hangs from various objects in various positions. Draw the drapes. Throw a sheet over a table that has various objects on it and draw what you see as accurately as you can. This a type of "still life", and is a good exercise which teaches the student how to combine various basics.

- Color: learn how and why the colors that you perceive in a painting aren't necessarily the colors that are really there.

- Mediums: learn what you can do with various mediums and how you use them. Pencil, ink, oil, and water color all require different approaches. Be able to do this in the physical world before you try it on a computer.

Once you understand these basics and can demonstrate so (especially #1 and #2), then (and only then) can you truly begin to develop a style of your own.

And lastly - practice, practice, practice the basics, even after you understand them. Apply the basics to anything you draw.

Svens did make a good point. If anyone wants to learn how to draw inflation, you must learn the basics and drill it in your head. I have a hard time teaching the basics, but I always say practice makes perfect.

My advise:
1) Practice. Practice a lot.
2) Get a basic artbook. It should cover basic anatomy, prespective, shading, shadows, and such. Get nothing advance until you fill you art is good (to you and friends). If feel good about drawing normal things, ignore this advise.
3) Study your environment. Take note on how clothes appear, people's poses (relaxed and active), and effects of gravity, wind, and water.
4) Last, listen to criticism. It can greatly improve your art. However, ignore criticism on your content, since you should draw whatever you want.

And Kuumuzu made a good point, use you imagination. Art is made for it.

The problem with this is that it likely wouldn't sell. The target audience, compared to the rest of the world, even if you include all varieties of inflation (excluding weight gain and sometimes pregnancy, which actually have a practical place in art), is very small. If I went into a book store and saw an entire book on how to draw women, for instance, transforming into inanimate objects, I'd probably either just pick it up and look at it because it was so weird, laugh, then put it back down, or just shy away altogether.

Really, you just need to learn how to draw humans, and change basic shape to become inflated, i.e. by means of adding large circles onto the basic outline or by expanding a piece of the basic outline.

Alright, fine. I'll do it. I was practicing animation anyway (Yes, better than the Yojumbo thing), I should be up to the point where I can publish a passable book before long anyway.

Don't expect me to do anything serious, however.

LOL, I read my name in there, so I had to say something...
I think carnatic is right, it all depends on who d do the manual, and at the end, and you d have a very generic result, thus very uninteresting. So basically, without having to make manual, the easiest way to teach people to draw inflation is either to practice anatomy. Wether cartoony or realistic, then distort it in order to make the inflation believable, and you know what to distort...
Or we d have to make a manual on all kinds of approaches on the matter through different styles.

An other issue with this is the fact of revealing secrets, I know I'm not willing to give anything out that easily.