Hi all. I'm going to be putting up a lot of art soon since I'm going back to school to finish my art degree for art.
I've decided that instead of being incredibly picky about my work and always trashing it after I'm finished I would start archiving everything I've done, good and bad online. And since I've tricked Iruka into letting me into the DA group I feel like I'm obligated to actually post some art here. I would appreciate crits as I'm always looking to get better at arting.
So, art:
2/14/10 : Done over the course of 6 hours. Learned a lot about brushes/masks and shortcuts for workflow in photoshop.
2/15/10 : Done in about 30 minutes while waiting for a friend to pick me up. Restricted myself to hard round brush.
I'm not the resident proportion expert around here (senior cake) by any means, but I can tell that the PS brushy thing is not adding anything positive to the first image. In my opinion there's only one brush worse than that fake grassy brush, and it's that fake leafy brush. If you want to achieve something similar take the time and effort to do it without shortcuts! Besides that it looks okay despite coming off pretty flat.
The second one I really can't offer much advice on besides I don't think building your character without the surrounding environment is a good way to go about doing it. Build them both up simultaneously so that they seem like they have some sort of relationship with each other.
I've been working on a lot of practice stuff since my last update all, I figure I'll throw these color studies up because this page needs some color. I'll hope to apply what I've learned from these color studies on some more finished products. I've learned a tremendous amount of stuff about coloring since my first masterpiece in the first post.
Color studies! Done about 30-45 minutes each.
This spring break week I will be doing a lot of color/figure studies, so i hopefully will have a few more updates.
I like where you're going with it. My only problem is that since the central figure is so important you might want to go back, get some reference, and really put a lot of work into the face. Right now it looks very plastic, it's rendered too much like everything that surrounds it. The rendering on her bone hand is excellent, the color really works with the BG colors, maybe use a slightly more flesh toned version of that color for her face and make her have a bit of an alabaster look. The real key is reference though. Her expression isn't bad but it could be better.
Other than that maybe think about knocking down the saturation of all those yellows, saving it for key spots, but leave the value and level of detail where it's at. You really don't want all those super saturated yellows drawing the viewers eye away from the figure, especially the "lights" in the corner. Those lead the eye right off the page.
Thank you for the feedback. I knew the color was dense but I couldn't place where I needed to pull it back. I will go back in and work on the face too, I really want to make this piece work!
You could keep working forever on this, so at some point it's up to you when to call it quits, but it has certainly improved.
If you wanted to keep working on this, some suggestions:
Detail the hair a bit more. Right now it's a little out of perspective and more of a yellow mass. Look at lit hair, there's usually pretty definitive areas of highlight and shadow.
See that ball of yellow to the left of her? I suggest making it the same orange as can be found below her.
Again, these are all suggestions to do with as you would. I would at least try taking out those lights shining down on her in the background. As a viewer we don't necessarily need to see the source light so long as the object that is being lit is defined clearly enough.
I say these things specifically because she is the focus and there's really no point in filling the image with things that are not directly related to her (like the egg thing.)
Try cropping the image a bit more on the sides, don't be afraid to cut off part of the hand (so long as it's not cut at a knuckle, wrist, or some other joint you should be good) and a more vertical piece will make it seem more intense.
I really like the slimy shiny rendering at the bottom.
I know I'm giving a lot of suggestions, I hope you don't feel like I'm trying to make it into my art or w.e. In the end it's up to you so don't feel pressured to do all this stuff.
One more thing, heh, why not have some rim light showing off a sexy (or monstrous) leg? Also, with her shoulders held up like that, she looks a little thick around the middle. It might be a design thing you're going for, I don't know, but if someone shoulders are lifted like that I would expect to see a little more definition around the ribs.
I like the colors, it has a very putridly horrifying kind of feel without getting too gross.
Wow Sab, I really appreciate the time you've taken to analyze this piece.
I think I will stop at this juncture though because like you said I could go at it for so much longer. The problem with this picture was that it was just a doodle that I kept piling detail on with no real direction at first which definitely added a lot of uncessary time, and muddled the end result a bit - which led to a lot of retweaking.
So the next piece I think will be approached in a more logical method.
But thank you so much, I will definitely consider some of these things going forward!
MustangArbiter of Unpopular OpinionsRegistered Userregular
edited July 2010
I really love the slimy pod on this, but the girl lets it down, there's a few large anatomical flaws with the head placement, stomach and hips. Also it looks like there is a breast sitting beneath her elbow when it should be completely hidden from view.
The pod though is fucking superb, you did a great job on it. To be honest I'd wipe the girl and try again, she's just too far gone to fix.
I didn't think he girl's anatomy was TOO far off, looking at it now maybe her right(our left) shoulder is a bit high and the torso a bit long. I used this for the pose reference: http://www.posemaniacs.com/?p=361
(may have to turn it until she's looking directly at the camera.)
Cool colors as the others have said! Also the girl looks cool until you look down past the boobage. The way the ass juts out is just impossible and she has no middle.
Also all the bad scifi movies I've watched has taught me that little goo strands droop a little when being pulled apart like that. Even though they're little stands they still have weight and get pulled downward as something opens up such as this.
Cool colors as the others have said! Also the girl looks cool until you look down past the boobage. The way the ass juts out is just impossible and she has no middle.
Also all the bad scifi movies I've watched has taught me that little goo strands droop a little when being pulled apart like that. Even though they're little stands they still have weight and get pulled downward as something opens up such as this.
Noted! I've been touching up her anatomy and I'll redo the slime.
Ok so I tried working on her anatomy - I roughed in her legs and where her tummy muscles should be, lowered her right shoulder be several inches and the finger on her hand - does this still look really off to you guys?
Sab thank you for the draw over. I worked on the anatomy some more and I think she's pretty decent, gonna start rendering details unless someone yells "OMG SHE HAS NO X". I also clipped a little bit off the main image and it works better. Been spending WAAAY too much time with this and I need to get something else out.
Yeah, AoB caught that on my turn around sketch. I overcompensated with her boots/baggy pants and then carried it over to later stages. Thankfully, I hope, the model doesn't suffer as badly. Thanks for the eyes mustang - and I need proportions beat over my head so please if you see anything else lemme know as I apparently have horrible eyes for it.
EDIT -Actually when you crop the image like that it looks like everything is out of whack. Sheesh. I've been doing a buncha gestures from Posemanics and going through Hogarths stuff to fix this problem. If I get less lazy I'll take some pictures and upload those.
MustangArbiter of Unpopular OpinionsRegistered Userregular
edited August 2010
Do you do a structural underlay before committing to the visible part of the figure?
I tended to find that helped me with proportions quite a bit. Cake did an awesome video on figure structure a while back, I'll try to dig up the link.
EDIT: Ehh maybe not, I thought it was in here, but it's still got some good reading and advices in there anyway.
Do you do a structural underlay before committing to the visible part of the figure?
I tended to find that helped me with proportions quite a bit. Cake did an awesome video on figure structure a while back, I'll try to dig up the link.
EDIT: Ehh maybe not, I thought it was in here, but it's still got some good reading and advices in there anyway.
I generally do the underlay of the torso/head and then commit, which explains a lot. Putting in the long legs cascades down and creates lots of inconsistencies elsewhere. Legs are people too! And thanks for the link!
UV Maps Done - Competition is due the 31st so I gotta texture and rig this thing quickly! Learned so much through this process so far including the fact I really enjoy modeling!
Thank god the deadline was extended. So I took the time to learn rigging properly. I also spent an entire day rendering and baking different maps to see how that whole process works. The right view you can see the Ambient Occlusion baked on. Left shows all the rigging and controls I created.
I also ended up talking with one of the guys in the contest who has been doing 3d for a while - he pointed me to some great free programs [Sculptris, Xnormals] to help bring my models to the next level. So next model will be even more fun.
I should have this done by Friday. I hope.
Learning is fun!
On the 2d front I'm doing a lot of gesture studies. When this model is done I'll be working back on color/light theory to make a badass dragon for the contest!
I would make the scythe look more scythe like. Curve the handle and add those two grips to it that a harveste....... wait a grim reaper's scythe don't look that way. I would still make it a little more interesting looking if you could as well as the other icons. They look a bit too simple right now. I like death veil lady the most still.
Well. It's been a while but I started sketching again to get back into art as a hobby. Just building up some basics - I have a bunch of art supplies hanging around so I might start working with oils or color pencils or something. Got a lot of things to work on - hair, hips/legs/feet/hands...and color...perspective...environments...and more.
Posts
The second one I really can't offer much advice on besides I don't think building your character without the surrounding environment is a good way to go about doing it. Build them both up simultaneously so that they seem like they have some sort of relationship with each other.
INSTAGRAM
Definitely agree with you on the photoshop brush thing, but it was fun to play around with.
And I will need to build environments with my color studies because it definitely seems like it would help from the lighting aspect alone.
I'm glad to be producing art again and should have some more work by the end of this week.
Edit: Huh, looking at these online I notice that I draw my chins slightly jutted out on 3/4ths....gotta fix that.
If you want some good insight into drawing heads, check out Riven Pheonix's stuff. It's amazing how anatomy begins to make sense when he explains it.
Color studies! Done about 30-45 minutes each.
This spring break week I will be doing a lot of color/figure studies, so i hopefully will have a few more updates.
Acrylic on Canvas.
Starting to come together.
[Updated image 3 posts down]
Other than that maybe think about knocking down the saturation of all those yellows, saving it for key spots, but leave the value and level of detail where it's at. You really don't want all those super saturated yellows drawing the viewers eye away from the figure, especially the "lights" in the corner. Those lead the eye right off the page.
If you wanted to keep working on this, some suggestions:
Detail the hair a bit more. Right now it's a little out of perspective and more of a yellow mass. Look at lit hair, there's usually pretty definitive areas of highlight and shadow.
See that ball of yellow to the left of her? I suggest making it the same orange as can be found below her.
Again, these are all suggestions to do with as you would. I would at least try taking out those lights shining down on her in the background. As a viewer we don't necessarily need to see the source light so long as the object that is being lit is defined clearly enough.
I say these things specifically because she is the focus and there's really no point in filling the image with things that are not directly related to her (like the egg thing.)
Try cropping the image a bit more on the sides, don't be afraid to cut off part of the hand (so long as it's not cut at a knuckle, wrist, or some other joint you should be good) and a more vertical piece will make it seem more intense.
I really like the slimy shiny rendering at the bottom.
I know I'm giving a lot of suggestions, I hope you don't feel like I'm trying to make it into my art or w.e. In the end it's up to you so don't feel pressured to do all this stuff.
One more thing, heh, why not have some rim light showing off a sexy (or monstrous) leg? Also, with her shoulders held up like that, she looks a little thick around the middle. It might be a design thing you're going for, I don't know, but if someone shoulders are lifted like that I would expect to see a little more definition around the ribs.
I like the colors, it has a very putridly horrifying kind of feel without getting too gross.
I think I will stop at this juncture though because like you said I could go at it for so much longer. The problem with this picture was that it was just a doodle that I kept piling detail on with no real direction at first which definitely added a lot of uncessary time, and muddled the end result a bit - which led to a lot of retweaking.
So the next piece I think will be approached in a more logical method.
But thank you so much, I will definitely consider some of these things going forward!
The pod though is fucking superb, you did a great job on it. To be honest I'd wipe the girl and try again, she's just too far gone to fix.
I didn't think he girl's anatomy was TOO far off, looking at it now maybe her right(our left) shoulder is a bit high and the torso a bit long. I used this for the pose reference: http://www.posemaniacs.com/?p=361
(may have to turn it until she's looking directly at the camera.)
So now I'm going to fix that stuff
Also all the bad scifi movies I've watched has taught me that little goo strands droop a little when being pulled apart like that. Even though they're little stands they still have weight and get pulled downward as something opens up such as this.
INSTAGRAM
Noted! I've been touching up her anatomy and I'll redo the slime.
Thanks guys
Redid the head and have begun the helmet, still early though:
Thanks for your eyes.
Hands!
Original Sketch for laughs.
EDIT -Actually when you crop the image like that it looks like everything is out of whack. Sheesh. I've been doing a buncha gestures from Posemanics and going through Hogarths stuff to fix this problem. If I get less lazy I'll take some pictures and upload those.
I tended to find that helped me with proportions quite a bit. Cake did an awesome video on figure structure a while back, I'll try to dig up the link.
EDIT: Ehh maybe not, I thought it was in here, but it's still got some good reading and advices in there anyway.
I generally do the underlay of the torso/head and then commit, which explains a lot. Putting in the long legs cascades down and creates lots of inconsistencies elsewhere. Legs are people too! And thanks for the link!
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Edit: Ignore the helmet, it's still ugly.
Learned a lot and my next model won't be so ugly!
I also ended up talking with one of the guys in the contest who has been doing 3d for a while - he pointed me to some great free programs [Sculptris, Xnormals] to help bring my models to the next level. So next model will be even more fun.
I should have this done by Friday. I hope.
Learning is fun!
On the 2d front I'm doing a lot of gesture studies. When this model is done I'll be working back on color/light theory to make a badass dragon for the contest!
Some blacks popping where they shouldn't be. I'll fix that in photoshop on the AO maps.
3 and 4 need a lot of work tomorrow. Hopefully I can get it done.
Booh! Learned a lot and will continue to improve! Crits and feedback definitely welcomed.
So a couple doodles from the last few days