I'm no great artist. Quite the opposite really. I've watched a few good artists on here have their own threads to post stuff as they go. So I would like to start up my own. I certainly don't expect oooing and aaahing for sure, but if anyone could stop by and drop some critique that would be great!
I'm just finishing up high school now (hopefully) and am taking the next year to actually work on improving art and getting somewhere.
My current project is to learn how to paint. I've done a bit of painting before in art classes, but never really got anywhere with it. I admire painters, so I aspire to match them.
I'll be posting something at least once a week until school ends then I'm forcing myself on a daily schedule
Might try to get daily up and going now, but it will be quicker stuff.
Just to start the thread i'll post some of my current shat stuff.
[IMG]http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2012/126/c/9/pastel_skies_by_rhenae-d4yphwa.png[/IMG]
As you can see I mostly do digital art.
This clearly was not made for the amazing artistic ability. This was a quick stylized sketch of an old dissused character I ended up liking. Made it more for looking at the colour effect.
I don't expect Facepunch to like my anime/disneyish stuff. And anime/disneyish stuff isn't going to get me in to art school. So yeah, no need to tell me that. It's just an easy start which shows what I usually draw (sorta, this is more stylized really)
[IMG]http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2012/139/9/3/storm___fynr_by_rhenae-d50bh3i.jpg[/IMG]
My first real picture in watercolour. Wasn't really being ambitious I just wanted to test the colours from my new paints. I have no idea how to control watercolour... but I love them D:
This was kinda another messing around with colour thing.
So yeah. Anyone who wants to hang out and help me out would be greatly appreciated! I have a DA, but I never really found DA was the place to get useful and honest help. More like having a little ego-stroke gallery where anyone who says something isn't great or cute is a troll.
Not that I don't like a little ego stroking... :D
Edit:
Oh another thing I did recently. Sort of a graphic idea. I've been looking at going in to Graphic Design or 3D Animation as a career, so I tend to mess around with graphic stuff.
[IMG]http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2012/126/6/9/white_hot_rage_by_rhenae-d4ypou2.png[/IMG]
An attempt to work with silhouette. Only too late did I realize that lip curls on canines make the muzzle look odd in silhouette. Oh well I still like it. Want to re-visit the mouth again some time though.
[IMG]http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/330/d/a/corel_cat_doodle_by_rhenae-d4hd865.png[/IMG]
This was a realistic cat picture I did in Corel Painter, a rather different program to what I usually use. I really like the look of things that come out of Corel but I realized I really struggle without layers, and This was supposed to have a background but things didn't overlap well and yeah.
I would like to try re-doing this picture and finishing it some time though. It was going well.
You're a good artist, and you have plenty of potential to improve even more.
Good stuff.
I like the cat, though its eyes appear to be in a different style to the body.
[QUOTE=cyber_cam34;36048998]I like the cat, though its eyes appear to be in a different style to the body.[/QUOTE]
Yeah, I did the eyes last and I think I sorta got tired and ended up cartooning them when I stopped looking at the reference. Should definitely make sure I don't do that next time.
[QUOTE=Chaplin;36048947]You're a good artist, and you have plenty of potential to improve even more.
Good stuff.[/QUOTE]
Thanks, That's what I hope to do :D Always my goal with everything
On the topic of anime/disney, it would be best to forbid yourself from turning to a flat or stylised style like that at this stage, rather than making excuses to cover yourself for them. I love manga and (early) disney styles, but they're a means to an end and are certainly nothing an entry-level artist should go near. They look the easiest to replicate because they're primarily just outline drawings, or that's as much as you see in the finished products at least, but to produce work like that of your own you need serious understanding of anatomy and realism and tonnes of experience. Trying to start out mimicking a style like that won't do you any favours, because you won't learn very much that way. If that's the kind of stuff you want to produce, then that's your goal, at the top of a mountain of prior work that will give you the grounding to do it. So @ your comment that it's an easy start; that's the trap. It's not too late to avoid it.
Next, your watercolours - be warned that watercolour is the most difficult medium in painting to master. Sure, you can spread some on a textured paper and it'll look wonderful on its own. Painting inside a line drawing is a different ball game really - when it comes to anything impressionistic using watercolour alone, you have to be a [i]good[/i] painter to make it happen. Most likely not what you're concerned about, just putting it out there.
The silhouette - I don't know if you worked from reference or not, but you very much should. And working from life instead of a picture gives you huge bonus points. Also pencils are paper are good things. I imagine it would be pretty hard to develop confidence in your drawing hand with just digital work. Curves and circles, flowing lines and just general good instincts come of drawing on paper.
The cat - forgive me if I'm wrong, but I mildly suspect you copied the outline/some element of the cat? If not, it's a step in the right direction and looking good, though the eyes are lazy as sin and the black outlines need to go, on the mouth too.
Your best bet to learn fast is figure studies. I'll paste a couple of posts I've made before that will hopefully help;
Well your best bet would be doing rough sketches of the human form.
[url]http://pixelovely.com/gesture/figuredrawing.php[/url]
Be as rough and messy and you need to be, make sure you're working quickly rather than meticulously, try to use flowing lines (I.E don't pet in one curve with five overlapping pencil strokes) and plot out the SHAPES that comprise the body first, NOT the outlines. Don't start at one extremity and then work into the rest of the body from that, such as the head or one leg or something. Start with big gestural lines that capture the rhythm of the pose, and keep looking at everything in relation to everything else rather than focusing on the shape of one body part and killing yourself trying to make it look right.
Aside from just drawing yourself, you'll want some knowledge of basic proportions, anatomy and so on. Here's a heap of resources: [url]http://boom05.tumblr.com/[/url]
Annnd here's a long post I made about drawing with a pencil that may or may not be useful idk
[url]http://facepunch.com/threads/1160405?p=35637008&viewfull=1#post35637008[/url]
[editline]22nd May 2012[/editline]
Oh and on the same page as that last one, check out the portrait I did in painter and more importantly Lazy's advice concerning it, also I asked him a couple of questions which you might be interested to know more about so just read all of his replies really
Thanks! A lot of useful advice there. I wont ban myself from flat stylization all together, but I from this point banning myself from posting it here, meaning that once I'm on a daily I have to do at least one thing that isn't every day.
I do find digital much the same as traditional line wise, working with pen and tablet im pretty comfortable with both. I'm certaintanly trying to work more traditional here though :) Or at least not allow myself to use ctrl+z and layers when working digitally. I find i'm far too reliant on that.
Figures is a good idea actually! Been ages since I did any of those in art class. I think quick figures will be my quick studies for now. Thanks :D makes a good starting point.
And thanks for the heads up on watercolour. Maybe I'll do some work with acrylics first before jumping feet first into watercolour. Although I certainly want to get to watercolours eventually too.
The cat I didn't trace or such, but I did work from a reference for most of the body and head, (then got lazy and kinda quit Xp bad habit.
As for anime easy start, I mean more for this thread. It shows what I normally draw. I learned anime is a bad start for overall art in middleschool when I was just copying bleach pictures, but couldnt draw without a picture to copy worth a cent. My highschool has some great art teachers and we did tons of live reference drawing and a learned a lot from that. I stick to proportions, but it has been some time since I studied them realisticly.
Thanks!
I'll be adding some digital figure sketches soon. (mostly gonna be digital at least until I dig up the money for a scanner. My camera destroys everything)
Cool, I'll keep an eye on the thread
Looking forward to seeing something full-body from you
I had some free time, so I tired out that figure drawing link you gave me, and that was pretty awesome. My digital art program (sai) isn't the most cooperative with being non -full screen but I quite like how these turned out. Been a while since I did some stuff like that. And you can tell when I start out.
Started here with some 30 second a piece sketches to get back into it. Thick brush and general strokes.
[IMG]http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2012/144/7/a/figure_drawing_1_by_rhenae-d50ylk3.png[/IMG]
Then one of my 30 second ones I really liked the model, and my sketch turned out really bad (lost focus a little) So I went back and did a 1-2 min sketch of it, then went in after and made a few adjustments in red where I noticed I was out of line with the picture and it looked bad. Sort of a mini-redline for myself
[IMG]http://th09.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/i/2012/144/b/4/figure_drawing_2_by_rhenae-d50ylow.png[/IMG]
Then lastly I switched to doing some a minute of time, so I could get better real figure practice, muscle lines and such rather than more gesture-ish sketches. I was a bit slow with these, and ones I liked but wasn't done I went back and did another 30 seconds to finish up where I thought it would help me to practice.
[IMG]http://th03.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/i/2012/144/3/3/figure_drawing_3_by_rhenae-d50ylsm.png[/IMG]
Thanks for this site, it is really useful. I'm gonna make sure I do some of these every day. It's fairly quick, and good practice.
Edit:
Oops one more I missed. Went on another sheet when i ran out of room above, really liked this one actually. The way her ribs stuck out and the angle was very interesting to sketch.
[IMG]http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2012/144/9/8/figure_drawing_4_by_rhenae-d50ynmu.png[/IMG]
Edit:
[I][SUP]Butts are not my strong point xp[/SUP][/I]
Good practice, but outlinesoutlinesoutlines
You need to draw through the figure, use "lines of action" and essential curves and stuff and then build on them
I also detect that you're starting with the head and moving into the rest of the figure from there
Ok so, I did a quick one to show what I mean
[img]http://niggaupload.com/images/ckl4A.jpg[/img]
So this was the first picture that came up.
[img]http://niggaupload.com/images/OWjqb.jpg[/img]
Getting started. To do this much only takes a couple of seconds, but these are the most important lines you'll draw for the whole thing. Be loose and flowing, try to capture the motion in the figure in as few strokes as you need. This is literally just gesturing, roughing out the vaguest ballpark sketch of your subject. You're trying to get the aspect down more than the proportions; don't go any further with any limbs or details until you've established something like this, from head to toe. Proportions can be fixed when working on top of this much, but not if you dive straight into outlining a leg or something. Head to toe, don't go over your lines. There's no shame in Ctrl-Zing a line or two if you don't like them, better that than ending up messy at this stage.
[img]http://niggaupload.com/images/djck.jpg[/img]
Continue in the same, head-to-toe, all-over-focus manner. From your base lines you should be able to [i]see[/i] the limbs translating into your drawing from your model or ref. With a bit of practice, you should be able to pick your lines to fill out the shapes. Something that I forgot to do was flip my canvas horizontally, which is a perk you should always take advantage of when working digital. If I had done that, the minor things I got wrong here wouldn't have happened I.E his legs being slightly in the wrong position, his ass being too low, hands too small etc. So try to remember to flip, then your mistakes will pop right away. If you feel up to it, it's a good idea to work in the flipped position until you need to flip it again, as this will lessen your reliance on flat references by making you feel out the forms rather than just going from the outlines.
[img]http://niggaupload.com/images/bcOj.jpg[/img]
More of the same, but here I've erased a bit here and there, tightened it up and generally tried to make everything a bit more accurate. Note how I haven't deviated much from my original nondescript set of lines - again stressing that they're the most important step. Only here am I focusing on outlines, because without any structure underneath they would be all over the damn place if I tried to do them first (typical process for a beginner is to do this.) I didn't develop his hands because this is just a gestural sketch, I wouldn't go any further than this with extremities since this is about pose and rhythm, not details.
So that's about as much as a short timer would allow, if that, but if you wanted to add some finish to it to make it look nicer and more like a concept rough or something, quick monotone shading as follows will only take seconds.
[img]http://niggaupload.com/images/YbFfc.jpg[/img]
And of course you could clean up all the internal structure lines so you just have the outline plus shading to make it look slicker, but personally I like to see the seams with quick pieces like this. I mean, once you get good at doing these, you can take a little sketch like this as far as you want to. It's a valuable skill to have, whatever kind of art you want to get into. A painter might go out and sketch a landscape using the same process, then take it back to their studio and use it as their base composition, and so on.
My advice from before was directed at exactly this kind of work, so I'll paste it again and you can read it more in context;
Be as rough and messy and you need to be, make sure you're working quickly rather than meticulously, try to use flowing lines (I.E don't pet in one curve with five overlapping pencil strokes) and plot out the SHAPES that comprise the body first, NOT the outlines. Don't start at one extremity and then work into the rest of the body from that, such as the head or one leg or something. Start with big gestural lines that capture the rhythm of the pose, and keep looking at everything in relation to everything else rather than focusing on the shape of one body part and killing yourself trying to make it look right.
Aside from just drawing yourself, you'll want some knowledge of basic proportions, anatomy and so on. Here's a heap of resources: [url]http://boom05.tumblr.com/[/url]
Well that turned into a long rambling post. Good luck!
Thanks for the advice, i'll try the motion lines next time, although I find they take so much of my time, I'll have to extend to 2 minutes at least to start.
Since I was stupid and didn't save the link to that site I ended up deciding I was going to re-vamp one of my old art pieces while I couldnt get on FP. Here seems like a good place to get advice. Right now it is just in a planning stage, I retraced the cats, since they were in good anatomy still, with some minor changes.
This is the old version:
[IMG]http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2011/120/0/9/beginning_of_the_end_by_rhenae-d3f9lhi.png[/IMG]
and here is my current version for general idea, cat markings may be a little different, but closer will still be dark tabby and further is a silver tabby. Couple of characters of mine. Any suggestions on composition, or just tips for when I continue would be nice. The old version is from almost exactly a year ago. There are so many things wrong with it, particularly in the background. Floating piece of ground with a weird grass circle.
I don't even xp
[IMG]http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2012/147/4/0/scrap_work_by_rhenae-d51cgbi.png[/IMG]
Warrior cats hurr hurr. Not going full realism, hence lack of real cat butt, but am mostlyyy keeping to it.
Gonna change silver cat tail to cotninue on curve toward black cat, rather than outward. thinking about it.
[editline]26th May 2012[/editline]
Also, is there any way to re-find stock images on that site? I kinda want to go back and use the last one I posted for a shaded body study. I liked it.
older version looks better composition wise, other than that, I see no difference.
[QUOTE=Detlef;36096502]older version looks better composition wise, other than that, I see no difference.[/QUOTE]
You like the more square composition? hmmm I'll try a more square set of this. My main goal is to fix composition ( personally I find the original doesn't work very well, although that may be because of the bad shading and background)
Main goal in improving it is to not make it a random floating piece of ground with a grass circle around it though. Well and fixing the front paws on the black cat since I was regularly told by people when I put it up they looked off.
Cropped it up a little to move it to a more focused squar-ish composition again. This one look better then?
[IMG]http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2012/148/e/5/cats_re_make_2_by_rhenae-d51ebce.png[/IMG]
Edit:
meant for that to automerge, but oh well xp
The composition feels busy, tight and unbalanced, plus the perspective on the path (if that's what it is) is very strange
[QUOTE=Rhenae;36094044]Thanks for the advice, i'll try the motion lines next time, although I find they take so much of my time, I'll have to extend to 2 minutes at least to start.[/QUOTE]
Anytime
Nothing wrong with turning off the timer if you've got a good thing going
Plus you should be as loose as possible with those first lines. Try to find the vertical middle point of the figure, so you can more or less anchor that to the centre of your canvas, to give you some point of reference when starting off
[QUOTE=Rhenae;36094044]Since I was stupid and didn't save the link to that site[/QUOTE]
Browser history?
[QUOTE=Rhenae;36094044]lack of real cat butt[/QUOTE]
Treasonous
[QUOTE=Rhenae;36094044]Also, is there any way to re-find stock images on that site? I kinda want to go back and use the last one I posted for a shaded body study. I liked it.[/QUOTE]
Not that I'm aware of :/
[QUOTE=MakoSkyDub;36104889]The composition feels busy, tight and unbalanced, plus the perspective on the path (if that's what it is) is very strange [/quote]
Any suggestion on how I could fix the composition? And yeah the path should probably end in more of a vanishing point or something... I still have a bit of edge of the earth syndrome going on here dont I XD
[quote]Not that I'm aware of :/[/QUOTE]
Too bad, oh well.
I might do some more figure sketches tonight, or not. I spent a lot of my time working on some 3D models for class, but if I feel like grabbing my tablet again I probably will.
Well, the first thing I would address is the extreme feeling of movement you've created with your use of line. I don't even know if you're aware of it, since it's not present in the original, but it looks like they're fighting in a gale force wind. Either way I would open it up again, that crop has made it claustrophobic
Keep up the nice work :)
[QUOTE=MakoSkyDub;36116291]Well, the first thing I would address is the extreme feeling of movement you've created with your use of line. I don't even know if you're aware of it, since it's not present in the original, but it looks like they're fighting in a gale force wind. Either way I would open it up again, that crop has made it claustrophobic[/QUOTE]
You mean with the grass lines? I'll definitely soften that in the final, grass will also likely be shorter. Was a little placeholder-y So do you prefer the full composition rather than the cropped?
Maybe I'll have to make both versions lol.
I probably wont be able to post much more for a while, dont have spare time with all the things I have to do for school. I might post my 3D model when it is done though :)
The grass, the path, the posing of the cats, the little flecks above the "horizon" (I'm guessing they're continued grass-silhouettes that you erased, but they've ended up looking like the wind has blown them up), the dappled colouring of the path and the brighter parts of the grass, even the way you've done the moon; it all looks chaotic and in motion
Composition-wise, personally I would be inclined to box them in some way, a paved street or something maybe - to emphasis the sinuous and organic forms of the cats against their backdrop. With the field motif, having them pitched to the left like that doesn't help much since vertically they're still sandwiched, plus the right side is empty and the path is dragging the other side down like an anchor.
[QUOTE=MakoSkyDub;36138891]The grass, the path, the posing of the cats, the little flecks above the "horizon" (I'm guessing they're continued grass-silhouettes that you erased, but they've ended up looking like the wind has blown them up), the dappled colouring of the path and the brighter parts of the grass, even the way you've done the moon; it all looks chaotic and in motion
Composition-wise, personally I would be inclined to box them in some way, a paved street or something maybe - to emphasis the sinuous and organic forms of the cats against their backdrop. With the field motif, having them pitched to the left like that doesn't help much since vertically they're still sandwiched, plus the right side is empty and the path is dragging the other side down like an anchor.[/QUOTE]
Well at least I know i'm good at creating motion XD
I'll try re-sketching it into a back alley backdrop once I have time. Thanks for the tips X3
I wont be on for this week, super busy last minute finishing stuff for class. Be back on friday!
Did you die or what
FINALLY. Graduation is done! I Can get back to having a life. Geeze.
More art tomorrow I think :) Sorry for the absence xp
edit:
And then I hurt my wrist.... FFFF.
I'll be back in whatever time it takes to not hurt when I move my hand.
Or until I get frustrated and start drawing with my left hand :)
hot
I swear I will get back to this thread soon! All i've been working on is a ref sheet commission for someones anthro character, and I made one for my own Anthro character as a getting used to my tablet again thing. I would have more time to draw but I'm visiting my dad in hospital XP I don't think anyone is to missing my art but just gonna put this here for anyone who is still following -
[IMG]http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2012/199/4/2/amadahy_ref_by_rhenae-d57ol4v.png[/IMG]
Just the ref sheet I finished. Feel the need to post something.
Anyway Im gonna go see if I can buy some small canvases today, see if I can get anything done on those :3
What does a ref sheet do exactly?
Also welcome back
[editline]18th July 2012[/editline]
PS don't forget, good stylisation requires knowledge and ability in realism. Don't neglect further study and try to skip to just doing stylised work, or you'll have a really hard time improving.
[QUOTE=MakoSkyDub;36820420]What does a ref sheet do exactly?
Also welcome back
[editline]18th July 2012[/editline]
PS don't forget, good stylisation requires knowledge and ability in realism. Don't neglect further study and try to skip to just doing stylised work, or you'll have a really hard time improving.[/QUOTE]
Or welcome semi back, I hate life some times. Yup I know stylized is just quick easy stuff.
The ref sheet is a character reference, much like what would be made for an animation project except more simplified. I didn't bother with a turnaround on this one. it helps with consistency for character details between you and anyone you commission to draw them :)
I swear I will get this thread working for me! Eventually XP
AHA I did it. But this is all for today since it's coming up to 1 am and I'm traveling for my sisters wedding in a few days. Can't really look like a zombie for that.
I tried to avoid some of the odder poses and there is a definite lack of males cause any of the stock came up had large prop focus and I didn't really want to go for that, or perspective. I'm still basic working with figure, I dont really want to throw in extreme perspective or really weird contorted positions immediately.
[IMG]http://th04.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/i/2012/214/2/a/quick_sketch_s2p1_by_rhenae-d59lwcy.png[/IMG]
I could tell I was a bit out of practice. I started one before this but immediately scraped it cause the initial leg lines were only half the height they should have been. The first one pose ended up fairly good, the mess of lines around the face was me correcting the head angle. I start ish from the head so that happens sometimes to me. (just as a placement circle to work with) there is double lining on the shoulder and arm where i moved those a bit also. It may look a mess to someone else but the line si laced helped a fair bit and did make it look better to myself, and learned a bit from adding them.
Bottom left was great I liked the fabric to work with. Need to practice fabric wrinkling some time.
[IMG]http://th09.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/i/2012/214/1/0/quick_sketch_s2p2_by_rhenae-d59lwmt.png[/IMG]
I love how the top one here turned out :) the other two... not so much. The morph suits made it hard to see details on the body form or distorted them and it threw off my drawing a bit. Proportions are sort of wonky as well.
Hands and feet are semi blobs cause I couldnt see the detail very well, and likewise I put minimal face detail when i did for the same reason (Im just sitting at a bad distance, its most comfortable for drawing but I would need to stop and zoom in to get the details)
I'm gonna do some specific face and hand/feet practice some time to make up for it though.
Looking better, keep at it. I suggest trying a soft blue rather than a neon red - in illustration and animation circles using a blue pencil for character sketches is very common practice. Blue is far less opaque than a black (or in this case red). You can afford to be messier, which would help you I think because you're at a very messy stage right now. That isn't really a bad thing, it shows that you aren't erasing and refining like crazy and you're moving on from one piece to the next without agonizing. But yeah try a blue, if you have a lot of lines overlapping in blue it's much easier to see the "true" or best line than another colour - and if you want cleaner less numerous lines you can work on top of the blue with black without it looking like too much of a wreck.
[QUOTE=Rhenae;37039144]
The ref sheet is a character reference, much like what would be made for an animation project except more simplified. I didn't bother with a turnaround on this one. it helps with consistency for character details between you and anyone you commission to draw them :)[/QUOTE]
But how can you gain consistency from referencing one image of your subject at a 3/4 angle
I don't know really but I'm pretty sure a character sheet should include full frontal and full profile shots at very least
[QUOTE=MakoSkyDub;37047948]Looking better, keep at it. I suggest trying a soft blue rather than a neon red - in illustration and animation circles using a blue pencil for character sketches is very common practice. Blue is far less opaque than a black (or in this case red). You can afford to be messier, which would help you I think because you're at a very messy stage right now. That isn't really a bad thing, it shows that you aren't erasing and refining like crazy and you're moving on from one piece to the next without agonizing. But yeah try a blue, if you have a lot of lines overlapping in blue it's much easier to see the "true" or best line than another colour - and if you want cleaner less numerous lines you can work on top of the blue with black without it looking like too much of a wreck. [/quote]
Actually since you mention this i'm going to go download one of my old programs. Corel which came with my tablet would be much better for this. :) It works more like an actual pencil rather that placing this one colour no matter how hard your pressing :)
Totally still going to sketch in orange colours though, I switch them to blues if I actually intend to line over them just for sketches on their own I just use whatever XD
[quote]But how can you gain consistency from referencing one image of your subject at a 3/4 angle
I don't know really but I'm pretty sure a character sheet should include full frontal and full profile shots at very least[/QUOTE]
Its more for marking placement and such. I have an old picture of her which mostly just showed the back so I made this as a companion to it for a commission I was getting from someone of the character :) It's not really a practice for full consistency and such like a full character sheet because generally im getting people to draw the same character in their own style :)
Yeah get something with pen pressure, otherwise there's little point in having a tablet really
What do you use currently?
And I see
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