Oh, god I've lurked these boards for so long. Years. I have admired several of you from afar, quietly in the shadows of the internet. Since this is my first topic I'll post something and not just talk. I know how good you guys are and fully expect the best kinds of criticism. Insecurities away!
7 color illustration "Not just your tongue".
I'll post more as it comes and may make this a dump thread. I just wanted help on this first. Thank you.
If you want to keep this as 7 colors....I'd suggest darkening the 2nd brightest part of the tongue, because it almost matches the white right now and you could probably get something more out of it.
Also you could've done the highlights with dots instead of lines, which would mimic the tongue's tastebuds and probably look more accurate too.
Welcome to the surface!
NightDragon on
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MustangArbiter of Unpopular OpinionsRegistered Userregular
edited January 2009
Just a little something: try tapering the tips of the whiskers using the eraser, it'll make them look a little more authentic and also welcome!
Actually (assuming you're not counting black or white), if you're including the background, you've now got 8 colors, unless that nose is playing some crazy optical illusion on me. Also, while the stippled tongue does look more tongue-like (though I wonder if you'd be able to do smaller dots without sacrificing the style), you lost a bit of depth by taking some of the relevant shading away from the face on the tongue.
Actually (assuming you're not counting black or white), if you're including the background, you've now got 8 colors, unless that nose is playing some crazy optical illusion on me. Also, while the stippled tongue does look more tongue-like (though I wonder if you'd be able to do smaller dots without sacrificing the style), you lost a bit of depth by taking some of the relevant shading away from the face on the tongue.
You guys are like a a basket full of good ideas. Filled with little light bulbs or something. Anyway crawdaddio, I'm not counting the background color for now. I added another color for depth for the tongue and did your suggestion of adding tinier dots. You were right about the nose, it makes 8 now.
I didn't realize you were looking for crits on this, but since you appear to be, I'll offer some.
I'm intrigued by the strangeness of the piece, but there seem to be a few elements holding it back.
You've got the tongue colored so that it has the appropriate texture, yet the fur is a habberdash of scribbles and random black lines. Line variation is really key and if you removed the color, you'd be left with a flat drawing with no variation. I don't know what methods you are using to create it, but you may want to try inking traditionally so that you can apply some different thicknesses to the lines.
Also, you may want to add a body even if it just runs off the page so that it doesn't just float there.
Thanks guys! I was thinking how I should make it more realistic without losing the 8 color limit and you all have some great input. I think I'll use a photo reference for the fur.
I'm not sure I'd want to see more traditional inking, personally. I do agree that the fur looks a bit messy right now, but I do like the look of the lines; it kind of reminds me of a linocut print or something (I'm actually kind of curious to see how well you'd be able to do this with traditional printmaking methods). I suppose that muddies the waters more than clearing things up, though, so don't mind me.
Since there's no more input on this I'll post something else. You all don't have to critique it if you want, its just something else I enjoy drawing. Comments welcome like always.
That orange is...wow...sorry, there's nothing wrong with it per se (to be honest, color theory-wise, I kind of like the general theme), but I've got an LCD screen, so it came out kind of bright. I had to copy/paste and desaturate. Anyway, that done, I will say that I'm not a big fan of the non-uniformity of the thinner lines; in this particular case it comes across as a bit sloppy. I do like the eye seems to be led to the top...fifth(?) of the page, though it doesn't know what to do once it gets there. It's a very strong pull, though, so maybe there's something you can add there. More about the colors, the blue seems like it would work better...tweaked a bit, somehow...though it hurts my eyes to say it, I think it might work a bit better more saturated, and maybe a tiny bit tealer. At this point, you're basically getting simultaneous contrast of color (which I dig), but it's not coming out to its maximum potential right now.
Oh, no, no, no, I didn't mean that you needed to desaturate it; it might hurt my eyes, but that's just because of my screen; you brighten that thing back up!
Oh, no, no, no, I didn't mean that you needed to desaturate it; it might hurt my eyes, but that's just because of my screen; you brighten that thing back up!
Fix'd above.
Also, what else should I post? (Dumb question) Like figure drawing stuff?
Absolutely; post damn near everything and anything. Look at other people's dump pages, and take a cue from that. If there's some aspect you want to improve, post art related to that aspect.
I actually like the darker colors in the 1st version (but maybe my monitor is displaying it differently than craw's is.)
I really like the design, though. I'd make the orange space between [the black "curvy triangles" 3/4 down] and [the blue shape] a bit bigger I'd match it with the width you have between the black and blue shape directly above it, actually.
Tip on creating unity in a piece: use the same widths/distances/thicknesses/lengths/etc throughout. That one area sticks out because it's got two shapes closer together than anywhere else.
6 minute figure drawing from posemaniacs I admittedly haven't drawn people in a while. I didn't draw it with it on the screen, rather I drew it in my book from the screen then scanned and put the pose next to it. Practice practice practice.
Yeah, we'll go with different monitors on this one (although it is true that the whole gamma thing does make color stuff a bit tricky)...
Anyway, Arden, I'm going to put it out there first, and say that from what I'm seeing here, posemaniacs isn't the right tool to start learning anatomy. I mean, it seems useful enough, and the musculature can come in handy for some, but at this point, it's only going to distract from the form, and that's what you need to start learning first. Break down the body into different forms, like cylinders or boxes, or wedges. Take a look at the Loomis books Wasser posted in that Web Comic thread (that way someone gets some use out of it); looking at it, it's got some good stuff in it. If you're new to the principles it's got, you can start simpler--get simple-shaped objects from around your house: a cup (cylinder), for instance, or a book (box), or such. Try drawing people around you, or yourself (I always advocate that, because you can sit still for as long as you want, and as often). Post everything you've got here (a page at a time, to keep the bandwidth demons away), ask specific questions. And so forth.
Here's some more I did tonight. The numbers correspond to the minutes spent on them.
I should be drawing faster, shouldn't I? The dragon is a sculpture I have.
I agree, it's kind of cute, but the arms with the sleeves don't match up, and have me wondering about the angle. Also, it's a bit of a small thing, but have you tried a solid gray instead of an outlined stroke for the wrinkles and eyes and other such black-on-black parts? The way it is right now isn't really working for me.
The four little creatures behind the Nun look like cooked oats. And yes, it is cute.
winter_combat_knight on
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The_Glad_HatterOne Sly FoxUnderneath a Groovy HatRegistered Userregular
edited January 2009
i'd fiddle around with the magic wand controlls before you do your fills. it's only a small effort and removes the little gray edge around your fills. You could also try to expand the selection by 1 or 2 pixels..
all in all, pretty cute, but the mantis arms and the stick figure arms'n legs kinda put me off.
@ crawdaddio - I think I fixed what you were mentioning with the outlining.
@ winter combat knight - I looked at some more grub pictures and figured out they needed to be segmented (of course)
@ The Glad Hatter - I included a mantis picture for reference, but I'm not quite sure what you mean by stick figure arms. I tried to fix that by adding and subtracting some from the figures.
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Also you could've done the highlights with dots instead of lines, which would mimic the tongue's tastebuds and probably look more accurate too.
Welcome to the surface!
This is done per your suggestion NightDragon: (great idea btw)
I realized that I was only using 5 colors so I gave him somewhat of a light source too.
EDIT: put in your suggestion too Mustang, thanks.
That is the very reason I should have not deleted the photobucket file.
You guys are like a a basket full of good ideas. Filled with little light bulbs or something. Anyway crawdaddio, I'm not counting the background color for now. I added another color for depth for the tongue and did your suggestion of adding tinier dots. You were right about the nose, it makes 8 now.
Updated:
Try to add fewer dots, and be aware that the farther back on the tongue, the larger the buds are. At the very tip of a tongue they're very very tiny.
[NOTE TO ALL: Never look up "tongue" or "dog tongue" on GIS. ]
I'm intrigued by the strangeness of the piece, but there seem to be a few elements holding it back.
You've got the tongue colored so that it has the appropriate texture, yet the fur is a habberdash of scribbles and random black lines. Line variation is really key and if you removed the color, you'd be left with a flat drawing with no variation. I don't know what methods you are using to create it, but you may want to try inking traditionally so that you can apply some different thicknesses to the lines.
Also, you may want to add a body even if it just runs off the page so that it doesn't just float there.
Keep up the good work.
INSTAGRAM
Well its not really supposed to be real in terms of reality. If it was real the tongue would be really tiny like a cat's tongue.
Fix'd above.
Also, what else should I post? (Dumb question) Like figure drawing stuff?
I really like the design, though. I'd make the orange space between [the black "curvy triangles" 3/4 down] and [the blue shape] a bit bigger I'd match it with the width you have between the black and blue shape directly above it, actually.
Tip on creating unity in a piece: use the same widths/distances/thicknesses/lengths/etc throughout. That one area sticks out because it's got two shapes closer together than anywhere else.
Anyway, Arden, I'm going to put it out there first, and say that from what I'm seeing here, posemaniacs isn't the right tool to start learning anatomy. I mean, it seems useful enough, and the musculature can come in handy for some, but at this point, it's only going to distract from the form, and that's what you need to start learning first. Break down the body into different forms, like cylinders or boxes, or wedges. Take a look at the Loomis books Wasser posted in that Web Comic thread (that way someone gets some use out of it); looking at it, it's got some good stuff in it. If you're new to the principles it's got, you can start simpler--get simple-shaped objects from around your house: a cup (cylinder), for instance, or a book (box), or such. Try drawing people around you, or yourself (I always advocate that, because you can sit still for as long as you want, and as often). Post everything you've got here (a page at a time, to keep the bandwidth demons away), ask specific questions. And so forth.
I should be drawing faster, shouldn't I? The dragon is a sculpture I have.
all in all, pretty cute, but the mantis arms and the stick figure arms'n legs kinda put me off.
@ winter combat knight - I looked at some more grub pictures and figured out they needed to be segmented (of course)
@ The Glad Hatter - I included a mantis picture for reference, but I'm not quite sure what you mean by stick figure arms. I tried to fix that by adding and subtracting some from the figures.