Or shading (either would work by itself). Main crit I'd have is that the nose on the first drawing looks off, as though the nose were concave instead of convex. It's the two detail lines that're doing it. Also, the hair on 2, 3, 4, and 6 are too messy and "individual-strand"-ed, especially with number 6.
crawdaddio on
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NappuccinoSurveyor of Things and StuffRegistered Userregular
edited January 2009
it's pretty obvious from that last one that you aren't really developing your pictures the right way. What you'll want to start trying to do is draw a really simple version of the whole thing first. That way, if you make huge mistakes (like ears being the rong size, eyes being misplaced, forheards being too long or too short etc etc,) they're much easier and quicker to fix than highly detailed versions of the same thing.
NappuccinoSurveyor of Things and StuffRegistered Userregular
edited January 2009
This is where i get a little over my head- I'm pretty sure the best thing to do is put a base coat of color down in the right shape of the head and build the painting up from there.
I've never really painted before (or do anything in color really) so hopefully someone else who does that alot more will give you the basic steps better than I could.
NappuccinoSurveyor of Things and StuffRegistered Userregular
edited January 2009
For one, a gesture doesn't need to be nearly that big... I can hardly tell what's going on because even my 1680-1050 that beast of a picture doesn't fit more than the head.
However, I do like the line variation you've got going on now, it seems like you've got a pretty decent hold of that already.
Alright, first of all, to expand upon what nap mentioned, no picture needs to be that big in the forums; no one will be able to get a grasp on what's going on in the piece as a whole. I've resized it for you, but I'd strongly encourage you to edit the image in your post yourself.
That said, that certainly isn't the right way to go about making gesture drawings. Gesture, as the name implies, should be about capturing the gesture of the figure, usually in the fewest lines possible. Personally, when I make a gesture drawing, the first line I draw is often the spine, and I try to do it in one stroke. I think there will be others who will have far better ways, but the point is that in these drawings, though there are poses, they aren't gestures, partly because the proportions are off in so many of them, partly because you seem to be more concerned with the outline of the figures than with the position of the limbs (which should be the main, if not sole, focus), and partly because I get the sneaky suspicion that these aren't observed. That, now that I've mentioned it, should be the one constant of gesture drawing: that you're drawing the gestures that you observe.
Err what? The color one looks like a paint over. First of all, the underlying structure of what you have there is far stronger than the line drawings...and yet you don't actually have any underlying structure...you are just painting little splotches. Probably color-picking right from the image and then laying it down right where it was.
Everything else is so rocky yet, this one, a much more complex three-dimensional image in color is so strong. It does not compute.
Yeah the contours look very traced, as does the colour picture. I expected it to be mentioned it after the first post... Even his cartoony expressions are direct copies.
NappuccinoSurveyor of Things and StuffRegistered Userregular
edited January 2009
The think I thought was most odd was that he had so explictly different styles of art so quickly... I just kinda gave him the benefit of the doubt and assumed he was showing us some backlogged stuff and more recent stuff at the same time.
everything looks like it has been drawn over or painted over a reference image. aka: traced
the color one is highly suspect because like CM said, the linework on the portraits is pretty weak in quality yet it looks super accurate.... - and then there is this quite great looking and complex colored face with no underlying structure or planning, yet it is incredibly accurate in both structure and color/value...
i'm curious to see the reference photos for all of these...
After juxtaposing the face images (which were obviously traced by an amateur on account of all the hard lip-lines and awkward eyes) with those "gesture drawings" and that obvious Eyedrop-then-paint-a-small-circle image, really all I could think is, "traced."
Tracing is a good place to start for anybody really. Helps you learn to hold and control the pencil. Which for me, is quite different to the way i hold it when i write.
I have also traced, in fact...I am sort of getting paid to do it right now. But yeah, it's something else entirely to pretend that you aren't (which I have also done). But you know, 5 years later I can draw fairly well from observation, so there is hope.
I have also traced, in fact...I am sort of getting paid to do it right now. But yeah, it's something else entirely to pretend that you aren't (which I have also done). But you know, 5 years later I can draw fairly well from observation, so there is hope.
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I've never really painted before (or do anything in color really) so hopefully someone else who does that alot more will give you the basic steps better than I could.
However, I do like the line variation you've got going on now, it seems like you've got a pretty decent hold of that already.
That said, that certainly isn't the right way to go about making gesture drawings. Gesture, as the name implies, should be about capturing the gesture of the figure, usually in the fewest lines possible. Personally, when I make a gesture drawing, the first line I draw is often the spine, and I try to do it in one stroke. I think there will be others who will have far better ways, but the point is that in these drawings, though there are poses, they aren't gestures, partly because the proportions are off in so many of them, partly because you seem to be more concerned with the outline of the figures than with the position of the limbs (which should be the main, if not sole, focus), and partly because I get the sneaky suspicion that these aren't observed. That, now that I've mentioned it, should be the one constant of gesture drawing: that you're drawing the gestures that you observe.
i would totally roll with that
block in perfect squares and make a pixelly painting
but i'm weird
Napalm Donkey, if you don't want jpeg artifacts, you need to save in max quality (12) in Photoshop.
these are straight up out of the invinvible comic. you should state the reference if you're gonna use another artiists work
http://www.posemaniacs.com is good, but the figures are a bit stiff.
many many anatomy books are out there. many at boarders are under 20 bucks in the art section.
stay away from the "how to" manga type books.
As is, they are fairly accurate in terms of relative placement, but they are sort of boring, and aren't handled with as much care as they could be.
That splotchy looking color one is coming along nicely too, I must say.
Everything else is so rocky yet, this one, a much more complex three-dimensional image in color is so strong. It does not compute.
Is nobody else seeing that?
We'll see.
everything looks like it has been drawn over or painted over a reference image. aka: traced
the color one is highly suspect because like CM said, the linework on the portraits is pretty weak in quality yet it looks super accurate.... - and then there is this quite great looking and complex colored face with no underlying structure or planning, yet it is incredibly accurate in both structure and color/value...
i'm curious to see the reference photos for all of these...
Projeck raises a good point here, I concur.
all of his facebook friends' profile pictures?
And I would know. I used to trace when I was 10.
PHONY
GET THIS GUY OUT OF HERE