I want to make a bulky and wide character with the help of exaggeration. The problem is that it loses believably. How do I make a character resemble the upper portion of the gallery rather than the lower?
For example, these looks natural:
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These look unnatural:
Sources: Left, Right
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Presuming that you already have some experience drawing human forms, and that you don't need links to "how to draw" style resources I would suggest that you use a software tool such as DAZ Studio (Free) or Poser (Paid) to generate reference images.
Both packages have the ability to create custom muscular figures of varying proportions. From biologically accurate to extreme fantasy, and to pose\position them in a representative manner.
You can then trace the images that they output, or draw freehand based on the images as you would any other reference piece, until you feel comfortable with drawing muscle figures.
This has the benefit of being able to generate reference images that match your chosen scale, position and perspective.
In short, look at actual strongmen and heavy lifters and don't exaggerate at all. There's a difference between bulky and balloony. The more you exaggerate, the less natural it looks.
The lower images of your question are all examples of body building with the goal to make individual muscles as visible as possible. But these muscles aren't stronger than those of your average construction worker. They are just more visible, usually because they are trained specifically for visibility instead of strength and the body builders deprive their bodies of the natural layer of skin fat that would cushion them. Most (if not all) of the extreme examples also use substances to make their muscles grow bigger than natural.
Just as an example, let's have a look at an old image of a young Arnold Schwarzenegger:
In contrast, actually physical strength looks different. Here's a list of the objectively (measured in a contest) strongest men on earth. Click through a few of the names to see photos of the people. As an example, here's Tom Stoltman, winner of the 2022 competition:
What are the similarities?
What are the differences?
So how do you show the strngth of your character? By their actions. Superman never needed bulky muscles to lift a car.
Indeed practicing it's the key to reach your desired result. Oractuce both drawing from real life and your memory/imagination. Also, keep an eye on how your favourite artists work on proportions in their artwork. Investigate and try to understand what they wanted to tell by modifying proportions.
A classic example of this can be the David sculpture by M.A Buonarotti. His hands are huge compared to that of a teenager (and that without mention his facial features). with this, Buonarotti wanted to talk about how strong was David, determined to defeat Goliath.
By the other hand, Comics are the best example of exaggeration, just see Matteo Scalera's work (Black Science for example).
Also, a good tip to create consistent characters, you should keep an eye on the silhouette of them. Usually we can recognise someone by his silhouette, it's like a stamp in our minds. So it's good to start character designs with some thumbnails focusing just in the silhouette. Also, doing this you will be defining the anatomy of the character, and then you can decide what you are coing to exaggerate basing on what the character is and how the character behaves.
I hope these tips to be useful. When comes to art, there is no such thing as a right solution. Do not get discouraged if the result is not fine, try to change what is not working on your drawing. You will eventually get good results if you keep on it, that is for sure always.
