I want to Art Again (NSFW)

sain

When I was in High School, I drew something everyday and improved by leaps and bounds. That energy tapered off several years ago and I basically stopped making art. Every few months I'd dust off the tablet and draw a monster or something, but that was the extent of it.

I realized I don't really have any hobbies I'm particularly passionate about anymore. I go to work, come home, and watch T.V. That's no way to live, I want to go back to doing something productive with my free time.

So, I'll be dumping things here. To start, here are a few things I've (slowly) churned out over the last year.

Two character concepts, one for DnD, the other for Vampire: The Masquerade.







Mothers Day card.



Various Aliens



Monster in a cubicle.





I guess my biggest goals right now are to brush up on the basics and go beyond doodles, finish things, use color, make images that tell a story, etc. Any criticism is more than welcome.

Ulises

short of providing any actual criticism, i gotta say i'm looking forward to what you come up with drawing on a regular basis

Brolo

http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/9573/facesfa.jpg

These show decent structure (although the ones on angles are starting to distort, watch out for that), but I think the super-high contrast you have here is working against you. All but the palest of white skin will have some mid-tones to it, and there should be some shadows around the ala on the sides of the nose that give it some definition. I'd suggest trying some more studies with single-point lighting so you have some more dramatic shadows to work with, which will help define the form of the face.

As an aside, the shoes of your second vampire character look very awkward, like the perspective isn't quite correct at all. References are great for these sorts of things!

Kendeathwalker

You said you wanted to go beyond doodles, so Im assuming finished pictures.

You have 17.00?

Buy this book.

http://www.amazon.com/Framed-Ink-Drawing-Composition-Storytellers/dp/1933492953

Ive read a lot of art books. Been to a lot of art school. Thats a good book. There are lots of others and no book is the end all, but that one is very easy to sink your teeth into because of he illustrates everything he is saying very very clearly.

also good

http://www.amazon.com/Proven-Strategy-Creating-Great-Art/dp/1929834195
http://www.amazon.com/Imaginative-Realism-Paint-Doesnt-Exist/dp/0740785508/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1308766474&sr=1-2
http://www.amazon.com/Color-Light-Guide-Realist-Painter/dp/0740797719/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1308766474&sr=1-1

Anaway

Beautiful art work. I really like it. I hope you do reach your goal, but it seems like you're already good enough. XD Wish I could draw that good!

NibCrom

If you want to make finished drawings and other projects, make a clear, written goal and stick to it. Do something manageable, like one finished drawing, posted on a blog, every Monday. And tell a couple of your friends about it, so you are accountable.

Also, those are all good books Kenny mentioned. Although I can't vouch for the Proven Strategies book. Nor can I afford it!

john-briner-art

Your drawings are just fine but definitely artistic and unique! You have the potential so you better continue what you're doing right now. Who knows, you can be a famous cartoonist someday! Well, goodluck to you!

sain

Made an attempt at drawing Rachel from Blade Runner with little success. Her face seems...smooshed?

Brolo

her features seem too large for her head

did you do this using a reference photo?

tynic

Try mirroring the picture, that can sometimes help with picking up structural flaws. Off hand, I'd say her eyes are slightly misplaced - and she has an entirely tubular neck, which is stopping things looking natural.

sain

Profile of little red riding hood, clothes are a bit outlandish so I started to lose the form. I want to finish it, and place it against a simple background to complement the silhouette.



Tried fixing this up a little.

sain

Also working on a big knight dude, trying to exaggerate his figure.

The_Glad_Hatter

Red riding's boobs are up way to high because you clearly wanted to fit them into the picture
That Blade Runner portrait looks pretty nice, i like your linework.

Brolo

are those her boobs? I thought that was just a weird bit of cloth ruffle or something

sain

Turning this one into something else, typical group of adventures waiting in line for a job offer.

Mabelma

That is coming out great, can I suggest you make an archer? I want to see what this turns into. You have a great eye for character design.

sain

Update on Red

Alexandros

the wizard needs a hat bro or else he ain't no wizard ya know?

sain

Damn, wizard is definitely lacking some hat action.

Figure doodle, with the potential to be painted.

squidbunny

Left (our right) hand read as backwards to me momentarily; I get it now but I think you need to really sell that pinky knuckle going forward. Also probably develop the right arm a little better before you dive into painting; it's kind of noodly right now.

I was gone for awhile and didn't see your OP. Great stuff. I'd buy a a print of monster in a cubicle.

sain

Put some work into this, with an alternate take on the composition, crazy detached floaty head.

sain

I'm afraid I'm losing some of the structure, so I need to go in and start tweaking.

Brolo

I think your treatment of edges is a big part of why the structure is feeling off, the arms and hands especially could use some definition to bring them forward and make things feel more "solid".

sain

Rolo, thanks! I'll try to refine the edges a bit when I go at it again.

At some point within the next year, I wanted to start working on a comic, a short story encompassing 20 or pages. My inking has always been pretty...terrible, so I'll be working on it.

bobsbarricades

just posting for support. I really like what you do.

@kendeathwalker - thanks for the link that looks to be something that would help me too.

NakedZergling

Im really loving your stuff so far. I love the colored red

sain

Thanks guys.

More work on this.

sain

More work, I think the head needs a redesign, it looks more like an angry robot.

McD

I'm just trying to make a start on the digital painting side of things as well, so I can't offer too much advice there, but it seems like you're heading the right way. Maybe some still life studies or something would be a good shout? The colour work on the red riding hood piece is looking good, but I think the one thing that's missing from a lot of the pieces you've posted is contrast, just to help things pop a little more. Your work looks quite confident and the characters have a nice style to them, so it'll be cool to see where things go.

sain

I think I'm nearing completion on this one, but the head lost some personality.

webofink

sain wrote:

I think I'm nearing completion on this one, but the head lost some personality.

I think it was just the red glowing eyes perhaps? Maybe if the V1 chin was a smidge smaller, and you could work in the visor from V2?

You definitely get the character traits from the chin, but the visor = hey there's a person in here.

I dunno, I'm no expert

sain

I have virtually no experience with environments, so this is an effort to change that.
Perspective is off, but I eyeballed it to get a rough idea down first.

sain

Needs some cleaning up, but I'm basically done with this one.