Ok, I'm on teaching overmode at this point (stupid teaching genes! bad!), so I'm going to give you some honest critique (not bad, simply honest. I've been trying to be more honest when needed and less "yes man" recently)
Either you're drawing too small or you're not using the correct paper (if you can find smoother paper, use it) - that's why your ink lines look raw. I suggest drawing bigger because your close ups are phenomenal, all your regular shots are good but your pen size seems too big to get the proper inkline proportion and detailing in. A trick "from the industry," always draw pictures larger than you want them and shrink them down for final product. It will make the lines look much better.
More importantly, I think you're afraid of shading and highlights. I say this because what shading you have is barely there in any of your drawings. I'd start doodle exercises, figure out where your light is and imagine where the shades and highlights are. Get some books on it. play with cross hatching. All of your color work looks flat to me because there's no shading and no highlights. Also, the darker blur around the images is flattening it out and giving your characters a "paper doll" look. It's good if that's what you're going for. Shading and highlights are going to make your characters pop off the page because it's what our eyes specifically use to note three dimensional shapes. As far as inking goes, I'd recommend using a smaller pen size for detailed shading than the size you use for regular outlines, I've used that trick in the past and it does help.
Something that I was working on with a friend of mine yesterday was the phrase "draw what you see, not what you think you see." Which is, in essence, inking the shadows and highlights by drawing darker lines where the shadows are or not drawing in areas that would be in shadow and drawing thin or even not drawing lines for highlights. This will give you some variations in your inking that will pull people in to it.
Ok, now for good stuff. Your detailing is awesome, your proportions are spot on, and your characters are extremely expressionate. One of the harder things to achieve for anyone, you put the correct level of detail where it's supposed to be. And your best work is in your scraps, because your pencils really show that you understand how your characters work. How to train your Tugley is my favorite piece of yours. And your more watercolory stuff makes me cry. Seriously. Have you considered inking some of your characters in brush rather than pen? Also, with that shading stuff, play with pencil shading, I think you'd be really good at it. And one of the biggest things, I've always admired your ability to actually get work done. You are constantly working on it and getting better, and in the industry, that is what will get you a job is the ability to produce by deadline.
Essentially, the reason why you're feeling that you're "good" but not "great" is because you're standing on that line right freaking now, and the boundary lines are the hardest to push past. And honestly, I'd say that, in the stuff that you're really good at, you're completely in the "great" category, just need to push up a few other things to really get it across :)
Okay, falling off the soap box now... And if you have any questions on any of this, let me know, I got pretty rambly...
Stupid excuses timewillowandererNovember 10 2010, 19:31:38 UTC
Much of my work was on bristol board or cardstock for the longest time. it doesn't really help with the wobbly lines. I use a thicker line to try and get a more 'brush' feel and disguise the scratchyness of gthe line. Iv'e tried going over a very thin line with a slightly thicker line, or attempting to thicken lines to visible by going over it sevral times like I've seen other artists in my genre do and it just makes little bubbly holidays. >,< not exactly making my lines less wobbly.
I keep trying to press less hard, because I think that's alot of my problem.
I'm sorry that you havent' noticed the shading and highlights I've been adding in my more recent color work, but I've been putting them in. I thoguht that's one of gthe things I'd been improving in, but I guess it's not noticeable.
Recently, (recently. Pha. for a while.) I've been giving each figure a darker outline outside the thinner work because I find it makes the important parts- the people- stand out more from what background there is, and put the attention on them.
I've always really sucked at shading casting shadows. I get the impression that I just don't see them the way other people do, because people are always like 'it's right there,' and I'm like... 'but it doesn't look right' same goes for drawing what I see. I really really suck at that.
I'm sorry to give such lousy excuses for your honest certique. I appreicate that you think I'm good enough to bother helping
Re: Stupid responses time :3bakadragonNovember 11 2010, 06:12:00 UTC
Nah, it's not excuses. It helps me know where you're coming from better :3
And what you're saying makes sense, pressing down too hard can cause the ink to bleed into the paper more. Maybe something to look into would be sumi-ee, that deals a lot with a single strong bold stroke paired with a light touch. It's those stupid straight lines that are the bane of everyone's existence trying to make them not wobbly, srsly. Any time anyone ever says I can draw and they can't, I just remind them that I cannot, for the life of me, with a 90triangle, draw a straight square :P Like I was saying earlier, if you want to, try drawing bigger then shrinking it down on the final product, and that will fix some of it.
As for the darker outline around the character, no issue there, in fact it's been pretty popular lately. I'm more referring to the dark blur effect around them (and take this with a grain of salt, because it's your art, and if you want to work with it I say go for it. It really is a neat effect, this is just the perspective I'm seeing with it, which will be different from everyone else). It does make them pop from the background for sure, but it flattens them out as well. From a realistic lighting perspective, it's kind of like having the light source about 2 feet in front of them with the backdrop right behind them. But again, sod the realism, 'cause sometimes it more fun :D
And actually something I forgot to mention earlier, I dig what you're doing with your backgrounds, like the gray tones and your gradients, they're well placed.
And drawing what you see IS hard. Because we are hard wired to look at symbols rather than realism. It helps us pick out faces, dangers, etc. and that really does take a lot to break. I'm sure there's books on it, what helped me was just looking at things on a day to day basis and trying to deconstruct the symbols... which probably doesn't help anything as far as typing goes :/
As far as shading, feel free to really lay it on thick to play with it. It'll look crazy at first, but the more tonal layers you put in the more dimension you'll get (and stylizing shading and highlight areas can be pretty fun too!). I'm trying to think of anything that could help you with that, as far as the casting shadows thing, 'cause "practice more" really isn't insightful :P I do see your shading, but (and maybe this is just on my monitor) it's really light, for me it's only darkening by a subtle shade. If you'd like some good example (you know, the ones that make me cry at night), Silverone on FAF does good stuff because she also shows tutorials and WIPS and stuff - http://www.furaffinity.net/user/silverone/
I think the biggest thing for ink shading is to pick an angle when your doing your shade lines and stick with that angle for the entire piece to make it look more cohesive, you brain with consider it all the same because it's all going in the same direction (example time I guess, although it doesn't all follow this rule. All my ink shading all either goes in the same direction or is directional dependent on the shape of the object and its curve. I guess specifically look at under the shirt sleeves and the skirt? http://animuse.deviantart.com/#/d31j72b )
And I poke you now *poke* you are good enough, like I was saying you're better than I am and you're getting your stuff out there, just smack me if I get too far into teaching mode (those that can't do teach, right?) :3
Either you're drawing too small or you're not using the correct paper (if you can find smoother paper, use it) - that's why your ink lines look raw. I suggest drawing bigger because your close ups are phenomenal, all your regular shots are good but your pen size seems too big to get the proper inkline proportion and detailing in. A trick "from the industry," always draw pictures larger than you want them and shrink them down for final product. It will make the lines look much better.
More importantly, I think you're afraid of shading and highlights. I say this because what shading you have is barely there in any of your drawings. I'd start doodle exercises, figure out where your light is and imagine where the shades and highlights are. Get some books on it. play with cross hatching. All of your color work looks flat to me because there's no shading and no highlights. Also, the darker blur around the images is flattening it out and giving your characters a "paper doll" look. It's good if that's what you're going for. Shading and highlights are going to make your characters pop off the page because it's what our eyes specifically use to note three dimensional shapes. As far as inking goes, I'd recommend using a smaller pen size for detailed shading than the size you use for regular outlines, I've used that trick in the past and it does help.
Something that I was working on with a friend of mine yesterday was the phrase "draw what you see, not what you think you see." Which is, in essence, inking the shadows and highlights by drawing darker lines where the shadows are or not drawing in areas that would be in shadow and drawing thin or even not drawing lines for highlights. This will give you some variations in your inking that will pull people in to it.
Ok, now for good stuff. Your detailing is awesome, your proportions are spot on, and your characters are extremely expressionate. One of the harder things to achieve for anyone, you put the correct level of detail where it's supposed to be. And your best work is in your scraps, because your pencils really show that you understand how your characters work. How to train your Tugley is my favorite piece of yours. And your more watercolory stuff makes me cry. Seriously. Have you considered inking some of your characters in brush rather than pen? Also, with that shading stuff, play with pencil shading, I think you'd be really good at it. And one of the biggest things, I've always admired your ability to actually get work done. You are constantly working on it and getting better, and in the industry, that is what will get you a job is the ability to produce by deadline.
Essentially, the reason why you're feeling that you're "good" but not "great" is because you're standing on that line right freaking now, and the boundary lines are the hardest to push past. And honestly, I'd say that, in the stuff that you're really good at, you're completely in the "great" category, just need to push up a few other things to really get it across :)
Okay, falling off the soap box now... And if you have any questions on any of this, let me know, I got pretty rambly...
Reply
I keep trying to press less hard, because I think that's alot of my problem.
I'm sorry that you havent' noticed the shading and highlights I've been adding in my more recent color work, but I've been putting them in. I thoguht that's one of gthe things I'd been improving in, but I guess it's not noticeable.
Recently, (recently. Pha. for a while.) I've been giving each figure a darker outline outside the thinner work because I find it makes the important parts- the people- stand out more from what background there is, and put the attention on them.
I've always really sucked at shading casting shadows. I get the impression that I just don't see them the way other people do, because people are always like 'it's right there,' and I'm like... 'but it doesn't look right' same goes for drawing what I see. I really really suck at that.
I'm sorry to give such lousy excuses for your honest certique. I appreicate that you think I'm good enough to bother helping
Reply
And what you're saying makes sense, pressing down too hard can cause the ink to bleed into the paper more. Maybe something to look into would be sumi-ee, that deals a lot with a single strong bold stroke paired with a light touch. It's those stupid straight lines that are the bane of everyone's existence trying to make them not wobbly, srsly. Any time anyone ever says I can draw and they can't, I just remind them that I cannot, for the life of me, with a 90triangle, draw a straight square :P Like I was saying earlier, if you want to, try drawing bigger then shrinking it down on the final product, and that will fix some of it.
As for the darker outline around the character, no issue there, in fact it's been pretty popular lately. I'm more referring to the dark blur effect around them (and take this with a grain of salt, because it's your art, and if you want to work with it I say go for it. It really is a neat effect, this is just the perspective I'm seeing with it, which will be different from everyone else). It does make them pop from the background for sure, but it flattens them out as well. From a realistic lighting perspective, it's kind of like having the light source about 2 feet in front of them with the backdrop right behind them. But again, sod the realism, 'cause sometimes it more fun :D
And actually something I forgot to mention earlier, I dig what you're doing with your backgrounds, like the gray tones and your gradients, they're well placed.
And drawing what you see IS hard. Because we are hard wired to look at symbols rather than realism. It helps us pick out faces, dangers, etc. and that really does take a lot to break. I'm sure there's books on it, what helped me was just looking at things on a day to day basis and trying to deconstruct the symbols... which probably doesn't help anything as far as typing goes :/
As far as shading, feel free to really lay it on thick to play with it. It'll look crazy at first, but the more tonal layers you put in the more dimension you'll get (and stylizing shading and highlight areas can be pretty fun too!). I'm trying to think of anything that could help you with that, as far as the casting shadows thing, 'cause "practice more" really isn't insightful :P I do see your shading, but (and maybe this is just on my monitor) it's really light, for me it's only darkening by a subtle shade. If you'd like some good example (you know, the ones that make me cry at night), Silverone on FAF does good stuff because she also shows tutorials and WIPS and stuff - http://www.furaffinity.net/user/silverone/
I think the biggest thing for ink shading is to pick an angle when your doing your shade lines and stick with that angle for the entire piece to make it look more cohesive, you brain with consider it all the same because it's all going in the same direction (example time I guess, although it doesn't all follow this rule. All my ink shading all either goes in the same direction or is directional dependent on the shape of the object and its curve. I guess specifically look at under the shirt sleeves and the skirt? http://animuse.deviantart.com/#/d31j72b )
And I poke you now *poke* you are good enough, like I was saying you're better than I am and you're getting your stuff out there, just smack me if I get too far into teaching mode (those that can't do teach, right?) :3
Reply
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