Realistic Feet - Roareye Black

Before the tutorial starts, a brief note. This is a modelling workshop and as such, it will not show how to make one specific art piece, but instead pose different bodyparts from different angles using different techniques. As such, the work will be unshaded to show the structure of the work, and it will be up to you to practice this knowledge and apply it to your own artwork.

The feet are one of the hardest parts to make. Shoes are much more simple because they cover most of the detail and, for the most part, are one main base shape (The sole) with a different top. However shoes and naked feet have very different appearances, as I'm sure you know by now, and feet in any artform are usually hidden away behind or in something to make sure the artist doesn't need to try and depict them, usually because they lack the knowledge on how.
Like all bodyparts, it can be made simpler if you view it as a construction and build it by it's own design plans, as you would a building or piece of furniture. Your starting point would be the area that actually takes the majority of your entire bodyweight - the ball of the foot. Make a circle that will become the ball (The ball is the Calca bone, which creates the round form at the very back of your foot) in a primary colour so it's easy to distinguish. Also make a smaller circle that will be the guide (But not the finished produect) of the knuckle above the big toe.

Copy and paste the small circle and arrange the circles into shape. I'll do the foot in a sideview for you. Put the ball at the back and leave a sensible gap between that and the knuckle. Then place the toe circle past the knuckle to keep you reminded of what areas you've got. Then you need to mark where the arch of the foot is heighest. A straight line will do, and a look at your own foot will be a great help, as well as pictures found online. The arch isn't very high, but enough to keep the balance of your knuckle and ball joints as the main rests on the ground. This is because the middle of the foot has no weight-bearing bones inside it, and any exerted pressure here could puncture the skin. As well as this, it keeps the foot stable using the strongest shape, a triangle. Your main balance goes from your Ball, to your big toe knuckle to your little toe knuckle.

Now you need to add the arch in properly. The best way to do this is take the purple and start at the end of your arch line closest to the Knuckle and, using the Curve Tool, move it to the Ball joint and curve it into a gentle round. Then go from that end to the Knuckle joint facing the toe (I've done this bit in blue so it's easier to see) and bend it the other way so it goes up and meets the purple line. Then smoothen it out so it curves in easily with the rest of the arch. You will also need to know where your leg is coming from, so make a small circle and use it to mark the spherical shape of the ankle joint which you feel poking out of your lower leg (It's not actually a sphere, it's actually your leg bone formed to stick out that way to ease pressure from the ankle joint).

Now to start filling in the blanks a bit. The ankle marker you placed should be just below halfway of the curvature of the back of the foot. Mark a spot over twice the distance between the ball and ankle and then use the Curve Tool to make a quick curve up the back of the foot (Remember that this shape is held in place by a thinner and flexible bone). From here make a sensible judge of the distance between leg outline to leg outline and drawn an almost straight line for this side, stopping the line halfway throuhg the ankle joint marker. From here use the Curve tool to make a curve down and towards the ankle marker to show the fold of the skin and then use the Curve Tool again to mark a basic line down to above the big toe knuckle.

Now to perfect that downward slant of the top of the foot. Firstly, extend the toe circle to a more accurate length, then make a starting mark above and to the side of the toe circle. Now, using the Curve tool again, create a curve that goes into the foot and then up all the way to above the knuckle. From the knuckle do the same up to the middle of the foot (In my example I've done these steps in blue and pink so it's easier to see) and then finally do the same again from the middle of the foot to the leg line (Don't worry it if doesn't follow your original curves precisely ir if the final curve creeps up the leg a little).
With that done, you should round off the bumps so they're less sharp and remove the original outline, making the new one the same purple as the rest of the foot. From here, you can make a flat angled sheet which will become the toenail and make a round edge yourself that goes back to the knuckle, finishing the main outline of your foot.

Now simply go over the outline in black and shade the inside, and you've got a completed foot. This is lacking skin depth and detail of course, but that's for you to add in yourselves.