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Crit thread- Need any help improving your art?
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Author:  Arkillian [ Sun Nov 22, 2009 10:13 am ]
Post subject:  Crit thread- Need any help improving your art?

Well, come here! If you post a link to a peice of art that you want critique on, I (Or maybe even someone else!) will give you critique.

The deal:-

What you'll need to do is link me your picture, tell me what you want me to critique (all the pic or certain things?), and if there's anything touchy that you don't want me to go near cause you're aware of it.

I am by NO means an expert on everything to do with art, but I'll do my best to tell you where I feel the picture falls back, and where it's strengths are. I encourage everyone to do so because my opinion is only 1 opinion, and sometimes others see things differently. No matter HOW bad you may think you are at giving critique, if you try at all, then that's better than nothing.

My critique will be honest, and I will try to give it to you easy, but this is not a thread for back pats. If you feel I am brutal with my opinion, then please advise me. I mean no personal offence with any crit I give.

Before you post, if all you want are tips on drawing anatomy just yet, there are tones of tutorials out there- This one is based off the book I learnt from. I'll also list a few other books which I found were good reading:-

Spoiler: Books of interest list
Drawing the head and Figure <- I learnt to draw from this book, but the art style IS a bit old school. It has some of the BEST tutorials I've ever found for drawing however
The artist's complete guide to Facial Expression <- My bible on drawing facial expressions. Cause of this, I don't fail to make the correct expression.
Anatomy for the artist <- This has alot of beautifull photography that compares muscle structures and bone and segements the areas off. I'd use this AFTER learning proportions however.
Anything from Burne Hogarth <-His art style is a little knobbly for my liking, but he has the most dynamic how to books out there. I have his hands one. He's not scared of the tough subjects


Also, there is a tutorial thread here on CR- it may hold something that may help you

So go on- Link me! I'll try to respond as quick as I can!

Author:  KSAT~ [ Sun Nov 22, 2009 10:44 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Artistic help thread? Anyone interested getting any?

I'd sure like some help with my drawing; I can hardly draw at all. If I start while I'm young, I might be a talented artist by the time I get older. I think I do have the creativity, just not the skill.
EDIT: Darn it! I have to print stuff?! This makes me more annoyed that I don't have a printer!

Author:  Arkillian [ Sun Nov 22, 2009 10:57 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Artistic help thread? Anyone interested getting any?

IlovephoenixwrightXD wrote:
I'd sure like some help with my drawing; I can hardly draw at all. If I start while I'm young, I might be a talented artist by the time I get older. I think I do have the creativity, just not the skill.
EDIT: Darn it! I have to print stuff?! This makes me more annoyed that I don't have a printer!


Why would you need to print stuff? To do this you WILL be required to use a pencil however. NOT a mouse or tablet. I'm not biase to traditional methods, but I GUARANTY you that these tuts are for pencil on paper only. You don't need to scan them or anything for me though. Just knowing that you completed the exercise is enough for me.

...

Oh- you mean for the first exercise? You can print it, or start a new one yourself. Or you could trace it off the screen. We'll see how it goes. A printer would be handy. Most of the stuff is black and white so you don't need an expensive colour printer :)

Author:  Arkillian [ Mon Nov 23, 2009 8:15 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Artistic help thread? Anyone interested getting any?

Well, apparently noone wants free artistic help so I'll can the whole idea >.>

Author:  ilygodot [ Sat Nov 28, 2009 8:12 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Artistic help thread? Anyone interested getting any?

I thinks this is an excellent thread! Nd ur v good at helping people. :godot: :godot: :godot:
I gonna do the excersize now! :):):)

Author:  Perrydotto [ Sat Nov 28, 2009 9:59 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Artistic help thread? Anyone interested getting any?

This looks really promising. I'm just kinda shy to ask for hints since you already helped me a lot with your posts and your red line critique a while ago ... I don't want to bother more~

Author:  RandomJibberish [ Sat Nov 28, 2009 10:59 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Artistic help thread? Anyone interested getting any?

I'm interested in improving my art skills especially when it comes to proportions. Proportions are the major problem with a lot of my custom sprites :P

Author:  Arkillian [ Sat Nov 28, 2009 11:22 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Artistic help thread? Anyone interested getting any?

I donno. Not enough really seem interested in doing the course, but I'll open this thread up for art critique. You can link your art here and I'll see if I can give pointers and stuff to you. It's the really long way at going about things but people seem to prefer this method to practise.

I'll make this a crit thread instead.

Author:  Nose [ Sat Nov 28, 2009 11:35 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Artistic help thread? Anyone interested getting any?

Seems a good idea, we've needed a crit thread for a while now.
I'll consider stickying this if it gets popular enough.

Author:  Arkillian [ Sat Nov 28, 2009 11:54 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Artistic help thread? Anyone interested getting any?

Nose wrote:
Seems a good idea, we've needed a crit thread for a while now.
I'll consider stickying this if it gets popular enough.


Oh- cool ^^ I've just changed my first post to reflect the change of MO :) I REALLY feel that alot of artists WANT direction, but it's such a big subject- most don't try cause of that. I really want to see people pumping out art that they can be proud of. Seeing all the threads with the words 'crap' in their titles really saddens me alot :(

Author:  Perrydotto [ Sat Nov 28, 2009 4:44 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Crit thread- Need any help improving your art?

So it's really okay to ask for help again even though you already helped me quite a lot? I don't want to steal the time you could use for people who need more help than I do~

Author:  Arkillian [ Sun Nov 29, 2009 8:24 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Crit thread- Need any help improving your art?

Perfectly fine hon. I'll help anyone and everyone :) I just... don't really like covering the same ground a bunch of times over and over again, so I'd like it if people actually USE my advice I give too ^^; Alot of my crits take over 1/2 hour to type out cause I give examples and reasons cause to me- telling you what's wrong isn't gonna help. I try to give the whole picture :) I'm not like most critiquers who seem to get some sort of trip out of telling people why their art is bad >.> Well... I like to think I'm not ^^;

Post your pics guys- don't be shy! I don't bite ^^

Author:  Perrydotto [ Sun Nov 29, 2009 8:49 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Crit thread- Need any help improving your art?

Well, your redline critique back then was really helpful and I'm currently working on another shirtless guy pic - I'd like to show that if it's fine with you so you can tell me what I improved since the Beach Diego pic and what still needs work, okay?

Author:  Arkillian [ Sun Nov 29, 2009 9:18 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Crit thread- Need any help improving your art?

Go ahead.

Oh- to get this thread running, I'll accept ANY art for now, but it's second priority to PW art, so if the PW art starts picking up then I'll close off general art subject crit. This is a PW forum after all :)

Author:  Reiji [ Mon Nov 30, 2009 11:09 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Crit thread- Need any help improving your art?

Girls. They're too hard to draw. I think a face isn't that hard if I really try, but they always end up looking like guys anyway (or maybe my guys look like girls? :D) But as soon as I have to draw the bodies too, I fail. Not sure if I have any pictures scanned at the moment though...

Author:  Arkillian [ Mon Nov 30, 2009 11:30 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Crit thread- Need any help improving your art?

Reiji wrote:
Girls. They're too hard to draw. I think a face isn't that hard if I really try, but they always end up looking like guys anyway (or maybe my guys look like girls? :D) But as soon as I have to draw the bodies too, I fail. Not sure if I have any pictures scanned at the moment though...


Heh- hey :D You made it to the thread ^^ Sorry, I didn't want to spam the other one with my art talk cause I can get carried away with myself XD (I love art talk)

If you could link a picture here.. I think it'd be a bit hard to give you crit without a red line crit to go with it, but if you post it, I'll see if I can help out where your females are looking too masculine. Sometimes the difference is so subtle ^^; Like- bishie men and butch women. Such a fine line with femininity and masculinity. I think alot of it can't be helped cause some face shapes do looks similar in some art styles and can make differentiating a little difficult.

If I could do a request for what you post here, could you draw a female in a pose (simple or not) without puffy clothes on? Even if it's an artistic nude (Just link the URL if it is nude cause its a PG13 forum), I'd like to see how you draw a female without having things artistically censored out. Hips, boobes, face, even hands. I'll see where it's looking a bit masculine then, cause sometimes it's the clothes, layout, lighting or mood that can confuse the eye and not just the base image. Havign a quick look at your gallery, alot feels like it's mostly the clothing distracting the eye. I think putting distracting clothing beside flesh flashing bishie boys make the girls look less femanine. I think you'll be surprised how feminine your women are when you simplify them down to skin :)

</wordy response>

Author:  Reiji [ Mon Nov 30, 2009 11:44 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Crit thread- Need any help improving your art?

Sure, I'll draw something, I'll post it when I'm done. ^^

Author:  Reiji [ Mon Nov 30, 2009 12:12 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Crit thread- Need any help improving your art?

Tadah!
Spoiler:
Image

All done! ^^ (Kidding, I actually remembered that I had that all done already. I wasn't supposed to post it anywhere just yet, you see.) And it's a PW pic too, works for the forum. :D

Author:  Arkillian [ Mon Nov 30, 2009 12:57 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Crit thread- Need any help improving your art?

XD Excellent :) Alright, lets see what we have... (besides a cheeky Phoenix XD)

Alright- starting with the head, I think the eyes are great, and the lips are great. The face shape feels a little sharp- specially around the cheek bones. I'm not sure if maybe I think that the angle is wrong, or if you specifically wanted an asian shaped face (because alot of anime style shape the face as you have here- it's based off asian faces), but I believe it should be less 'Edgy' (lol- I do puns... bad ones but they're PUNS!) like this Alternatively, if you wish for more of an asian face shape, it still needs the edge taken off a bit, like this. Angles are normally associated more with male shapes, and curves with females so this may confuse the eye a little.

Shoulders- Frans' shoulders are very tense. This is shown by shortening the neck to a short. Longer necks look alot more feminine, where shorter ones imply a thicker tougher neck which is more masculine. If you lower both shoulders down, she'll not only look more feminine, but also relaxed and confident

Besides being very petite, and thus being difficult to bring out the very female look in the shape, I think she's pretty darn good :) It's as I thought- just very minor things that aren't as bad as you might think :) I think that once you relax the shoulders and smooth off her face shape a little you'll be sweet. Assuming that these are reoccurring issues for you, then hopefully you've cracked the nut on drawing chicks that look like chicks :D I know my issue were mostly the hips. I can't draw petite women at the moment either (fails) Bah.

Anyways, I hope I was of a help ^^ It'll be interesting to see how your next female picture goes knowing what I've listed here ^^

Author:  Reiji [ Mon Nov 30, 2009 1:24 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Crit thread- Need any help improving your art?

Thanks, this was a help! I'll pay attention to these things when I draw some girlies again. I'll try and remember to show it here, as comparison to the older one. :D

Author:  Arkillian [ Mon Nov 30, 2009 7:54 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Crit thread- Need any help improving your art?

No problem! Ready for the next victim person to critique ^^

Author:  crouton [ Thu Dec 03, 2009 12:29 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Crit thread- Need any help improving your art?

Reiji wrote:
Tadah!
Spoiler:
Image

All done! ^^ (Kidding, I actually remembered that I had that all done already. I wasn't supposed to post it anywhere just yet, you see.) And it's a PW pic too, works for the forum. :D


I can't offer any crit, but I love that picture. <3 Franny looks pretty, and I love the P/E in the background. :3

Author:  Arkillian [ Thu Dec 03, 2009 1:04 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Crit thread- Need any help improving your art?

Saying what you like about a picture and why is just as helpfull as what isn't right and why :)

Author:  Perrydotto [ Thu Dec 03, 2009 1:13 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Crit thread- Need any help improving your art?

So, here's my most recent guy chest - I don't really like it, I have the feeling that something's off everytime I look at it. Might be just a nagging feeling, but perhaps you know better?
I'm trying hard to improve my anatomy skills; I can't wait for your help, it has been really useful in the past~

Diego shirtless again

Author:  Arkillian [ Thu Dec 03, 2009 6:05 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Crit thread- Need any help improving your art?

Perrydotto wrote:
So, here's my most recent guy chest - I don't really like it, I have the feeling that something's off everytime I look at it. Might be just a nagging feeling, but perhaps you know better?
I'm trying hard to improve my anatomy skills; I can't wait for your help, it has been really useful in the past~

Diego shirtless again


Oh- that's an easy one :) Ok, basically, your outline of the body is facing forwards, but the internal lines suggest that it's on an angle. This is where using a reference to draw while learning is invaluable (Not sure if you are using one- please link when ever you do :) It helps my crit cause I have to guess what it should look like in your mind). Apparently posemaniacsis very good for this. Alterntively, sifting past the porn on google images also bears some great results for referance pics :) This has also affected the neck, cause the collar bone is meeting in the middle rather than to the side.

The next thing is the pose- the pose doesn't seem too relaxed. I think it's mostly because of the arm crossing over cause it's not resting on anything. Again, references will help with this, but I've also found that acting out a pose REALLY helps to see if it's comfortable. This sounds pointless, but you'll be surprised that what looks uncomfortable on paper sometimes is for the character. I find myself pulling faces as I draw too for the same reason. You'll also feel what muscles burn to see which ones need to be tight and which shouldn't.

The combo of both of these things is making the pose look unusual. I hope that has helped :)

As a side note, I think if this guy was flipped horizonally, I think it may be the angle you wanted.

Your art has improved ALOT though in a very short period of time :D I worry sometimes if I'm too critical on some people, but then I see the improvement and it's puts my mind at ease ^^ Seriously- I want to see people getting better at art- It's like reading a novel and seeing what happens to the main character ^^ It's exciting :godot:

Author:  Perrydotto [ Thu Dec 03, 2009 7:16 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Crit thread- Need any help improving your art?

Oh, thanks a big bunch for taking your time and writing the critique~
Now I understand what's bothering me about the pic. Good to know! Perspective is really not my strong side, I need to practice it more. If my eye for it would be better, I would most likely have noticed the odd change in the angle of the pic earlier XD''
I didn't use reference for this pose, nope, but I keep on looking at stock nude photographs from Deviantart to get certain body parts right, the "manboobs" and the like *g*
I will keep your suggestions in mind and I'm really glad you gave me this feedback! It helps a lot!
And I'm pleased to hear that you think I've improved *blushes* Makes me happy to hear that :pearl-blush: Sometimes I think I'm the only person who actually sees that I'm proving slowly over time, so it's making me all fuzzy inside that someone is mentioning it~

Author:  Arkillian [ Thu Dec 03, 2009 10:18 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Crit thread- Need any help improving your art?

I'll be the second person to tell you that you've improved :) The first person will always be yourself ^^

Is this the updated version?

Author:  Perrydotto [ Thu Dec 03, 2009 10:22 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Crit thread- Need any help improving your art?

Not really - I drew the Winter Godot directly after the shirtless Diego~

Author:  FlameInferno [ Mon Dec 21, 2009 5:20 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Crit thread- Need any help improving your art?

Wow, this is an awesome thread. I think I'll take this for a spin.

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v715/FlameInferno/?action=view&current=Melslideshow20020.jpg

I'm aware that the left arm is a bit...short XD and it was drawn in a notebook while I was on a plane, so, the paper isn't too great. But, other than those points, critique to your heart's content!

Thanks!

Author:  Arkillian [ Mon Dec 21, 2009 7:18 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Crit thread- Need any help improving your art?

*scorns refill*

Hrmmm- I know you didn't want me to crit you on that, but try not to use lined paper for art as convenient as it is. The lines are REALLY distracting to look at ^^;

Anyways- the crit.

Lets start with the head
  • Firstly- I can't see his ear. In the front view it's hard to see it, but in a 3/4 view like this, it should be there. Here's his sprite sheet if you want to see what I mean. It's easy enough to forget, but noticeable if it is :nods:
  • The hair didn't turn out too bad. It's a little tall, but you may've gone off a referance for that and the artist makes his fringe sky rocket into the air. They counter the high peaks by rounding the hair off to make his over all shape wider though, so if you buff out his fring a bit this'll fix how tall it looks.
  • His nose is rather long, but that's a style thing. I draw my noses too long too. If you're going to do that, giving it some nostril detail balances out the length. Having it sans makes it seem too slender and elongated.
  • His left eye (our right) is a little high. This is more apparent if you flip the image over. I do it alot to make sure my art is balanced. It's helped me alot, and I dont' get things as off balanced as I use to. It also looks professional to people watching you >.> Lol.

    Moving down
    • Shoulders- Need to be broader. Square on, if you take the height of a head as a measurement, one shoulder to the other is 2 heads apart. A bishounen/boy would be as low as 1.5, and a body builder... maybe up to 2.5? ^^; This will also broaden the proportions of his chest and waist
    • I know you knew about the arm, but if you put a crease mark a little further back from the hand, it'll make it sorta look like it's foreshortened, or that you're looking down the arm. Foreshortening isn't easy ^^; Here's Miles' sprite sheet- if you look at a sprite where he does that pose, you'll see how they do the crease in that :nod:

    Um... It's not as bad as it might sound though. alot of stuff is style cause there's no reason that you can't get away with doing some things you've got there that I've picked up on. You just need to balance it out a bit to trick the mind into thinking it's looking at Miles :) You did get his expression down, and that is one of the key points of a picture to me. If the face says the wrong story, then you get the wrong idea of the picture.

    Sorry if I was too wordy... I hope I've been of a help ^^

Author:  FlameInferno [ Mon Dec 21, 2009 7:35 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Crit thread- Need any help improving your art?

Wow, you were more than just a help! You were a huge help! I never even thought of some of the points you pointed out. It's perfect, thank you so much!

Author:  Arkillian [ Mon Dec 21, 2009 9:17 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Crit thread- Need any help improving your art?

No problem :) I may not be a good at what I talk about, but I have an eye for art. I'm more than happy to help out anyone that wishes to progress in art i I can ^^

Author:  edgeygavin [ Tue Dec 22, 2009 9:50 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Crit thread- Need any help improving your art?

you are my saviour ^.^
I've always though I was alright at art, but recenty my attepts are just a little suckish (or a lot, judging by my thred)

This is my favourite picture idea, but it's not drawn very well, I don't think, and I'd LOVE your opinion on it's weanesses/strengths/how to improve it.
Badass Ema

Author:  Arkillian [ Wed Dec 23, 2009 9:11 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Crit thread- Need any help improving your art?

They're not suckish. We all start somewhere. All you need is to stop focusing on getting comments, and drawing for enjoyment. Being creative. In fear of sounding old, I never had internet when I was a kid, but I had a love for art and drew and drew and drew. I took every piece of artistic knowledge I could get my hands on, and I tried everything. I tried different art styles, mediums, I even tempted fate with my first scanner- a hand held scanner. You guys with flat beds dont' know how good you get it. Hand held ones ALWAYS scan crooked, and the resolution is crap. If I ever had issues with art thoguh, I'd always ask and learn from what I was advised. Nothing has changed about that- internet SHOULD have made this process easier

That's what this thread is for :) Getting advice. Just don't be discouraged ever with art. If you draw at your best, then why should you be? :)

Tip- Compare YOUR art with YOUR OWN ART. Alot of new artists compare themselves with pros and get depressed. They're professionals for a reason. MY art isn't as good as theirs. If you battle yourself for perfection, then you'll only improve. Your style isn't theirs.

For example-This is a collage I've put together of me drawing a specific character called Alex over the period of 12 years 5 years ago now. I've come FAR with my art, and I started off not so stella but I'm getting better all the time, and so will you :) This is my latest pic of him. Just keep at it, and don't beat yourself up about art. That's my rule :)

Please don't take all of that and disregard it. It is SUCH an important lesson I've learnt.

Now, for the real deal- critique.

Layout- Firstly, your layout of this page looks fine, so that's one thing you've done well in the picture. Essentially, if you divide a picture into thirds, the two lines either direction that you draw for the thirds is where the eye falls first- IE- the gun in this pic. The big problem you have here however is research. Ema holding a gun is cool, but that's not how you hold a gun. A big part of art is also research. This guy has ALOT of excellent referance art for gun slinging, and don't be ashamed to ever use referances. I use referances alot. Find a pose that you like, cause this guy knows how to hold a gun. Gun have recoil, so there's a special way you hold it so your bullet flies straight and doesn't tear your arm off. I've used this pose for one of my posters... here and you can see how much of a difference a researched pose can make :)

One thing that's not QUITE layout, btu isn't anythign else really is her balance. Imagine there's a weight hanging from her head. If half of her body is on one half of the cord from the weight, and the other half is on the other side, then she's ballanced. In this, she's hanging to the right too much.

Proportion- This is a stylistic thing, but it's still something to take into consideration incase you want it. A realistically proportioned person is 7.5 to 8 heads in height. In english, if you measure the height of a head, and add another 7 underneath it, then that's approx a proper proportioned human (head to height wise.) There's ways of fudging this, but the waist is ALWAYS the center of the body. The hands always fall straight to half way down the thigh. The body looks fine on your pic, btu the head is very big. Again, it's style thing. If you like it big, then keep it big. If you dont' like your art, then why should others, right? You're the ONLY fan you have to satisfy.

Head- OK, so she has goggles, but if she was to slip them over her eyes, they wouldn't fit. Even with anime eyes, the goggles should look like they could fit (Unless you're doign a parody pic, in which case you make everything over the top). Your ears are a good height and length, but the eyes, even for anime need to be lower on the face. Realistic proportions say that the eye line is in the middle of the head (height wise), but anime has some give. That high is a little much. Some forehead is good :) This last comment is a personal preferance one, but emotion. She's got a cool pose, but is she just posing? Or is she wanting to shoot something. If she's angery or scared or tough, she should show it in her face, cause right now she has a neutral expression

Anger (3.7M mpeg) Disgust(4.9M mpeg)
Fear(3.4M mpeg) Joy(3.9M mpeg)
Sad(2.8M mpeg) Surprise

Watch these clips slowly and spot where the face distorts. The eyes, the nose, the mouth, chin, cheeks.... in anime, you'll be wanting to draw the shape changes in the eye (If it's flat, arched or what), deep distortions around the nose, overall shape of the mouth and if the chin crumples, show this by a squiggle or something. If the expression still doesn't seem right, make the expression yourself.

A book I have on facial expressions that is one of my bibles is "The artists complete guide to Facial expressions" by Gary Faigan. It's over kill for anime, but the last 2 pages are SO important, causeit tells you exactly how the face distorts in every expression. SO handy. I nail expressions cause of this book!

Gun- I'm not sure if you used a referance with this- if you did, practise makes perfect, but if not, then it's not a bad idea to.

Arm- Going off a referance would help on this, but her arm seems like it should be for shortened, but the jacket doesn't reflect this

Image

This girl's jacket is too crumpled cause of the cut, but see how the jacket creases wrap around the top of her arm? That's a good way to show where the elbow is and make it look like the arm is coming towards you, but isn't short. That's a complex thing to describe though cause it's foreshortening...

The outfit looks good on her, so you've done well there :) A small tip for dressing characters is to draw them first naked and then put the clothes on (don't draw 'bits'- just the shape). Why do you do this? If you have the shape of the body, and you know that something hangs, then it'll cling at the top, and hang at the bottom of the arm. WAIT- the arm is already there to show you! :D It also shows clearly where creases should be (cause material likes to be flat)

I like the picture. I wish it were big enough to see it properly, and maybe not so dark (It was photographed in poor light from the looks of things.), but I've seen enough that you had alot of great intentions in this pic, and it's dynamic. It just needs some fine tuning. Sorry my comment was long. You seemed to put your art down, and I just wanted to let you know that that isn't the way of art. Art is a discipline- alot like martial arts. Paitence, practise, and perseverance is what makes the artist. That and learning right :)

My suggestion is next time you draw, ink your art with pen even if it looks crap at first cause you WILL learn how to make it better with practise, draw your picture with the aspiration that it doesn't suck cause you're putting your full effort in, and that you're drawing for yourself. The audience is along for the ride. You'r ein the drivers seat. Let it all go. Even if you don't get comments after that, after time you WILL improve. Maybe even immediatly with some of this advise.

My last tip- flip the image frequently and hold it up to the light. If the mirror image picture looks balanced, then you should be cool. If it looks un balanced, fix it till it does. A trick I picked up from.... Hmmm... who was it... I think it was Micheal Turner that told me. He also said he put mirrors around his desk so he could pull expressions for his art to see how they looked. It's capital advise :)

</long post is long>

Author:  Blake [ Wed Dec 23, 2009 9:24 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Crit thread- Need any help improving your art?

Hi there, I just finished drawing this Caramelldansen Godot with the template. I used paint and a Godot sprite for the colors, but all the clothes and head features were done by me. Then I'll see if I can animate it.
Here it goes:
Spoiler:
Image



Please comment as much as you can, and try to be constructive.
Thanks! :godot:

Author:  Arkillian [ Wed Dec 23, 2009 9:55 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Crit thread- Need any help improving your art?

Well- that's difficult for me to comment on as it's based off a Carmell Dansen template. I don't think character accuracies matter too much with those- just that they exist.

Seriously- I could critique the heck out of anything, but what you really need to do is look at the purpose of what you are drawing. You drawing for accuracy? Telling a story? Looking cool? Making a sprite? Giving a giggle?

Not all art needs to be hyper realsim or accurate- art is grey area. For example, Order of the stick. This comic is actually rather famous on the net as being a parody comic. The artist apparently has a normal art style (I've never seen it sadly), but since the comic is a parody, and for fun, he drew everyone as elaborate stick figures and now he's internet famous all over the world cause of his cool quirky storyline. He gets asked all the time- Why stick figures? Why not draw people? He could. He chose not to, cause the comic was meant to be fun and not serious.

Keeping this in mind, What is caramelldansen meant to be? A work of art? Or just some fun? Second answer would be correct.

I think if you're happy with how it turned out then I think the timing, the whoes, and the effects would be more important to you than the drawing of the figurine.

If you're wanting something from me however, the black area of his mask isn't correct. Even though the mask is cutsied up for the style of Dansen, the edges on the black area start are about 1/2 to 3/4 of the length from where the 'nose' would be to the edge. His hair also needs to be swept back, not to the side.

There's not much crit to be given for a chibi styled art form. All I can say is this is right or not right sadly ^^; The rest is all up to the viewer cause the proportions of chibi are so super deformed, it's mostly about what you wish to accent. I wouldn't stress out too much about it. Your audience will be happy for another dansen. Not a game accurate Godot *nods*

I hope you understand my feelings on this ^^; I don't meant o sound harsh if I do.

Author:  Blake [ Wed Dec 23, 2009 10:20 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Crit thread- Need any help improving your art?

Well, I can only say thanks. You helped me to "loosen up" and to stop trying that hard on similarities, and more on funny appearences. You're absolutely right, the Caramelldansen is meant to laugh at the chibi character.
As regards the mask, yes, you are right, I'll correct that. Then the hair, I'll see what I can do, but I don't think it looks that bad to the side.
Thanks again, I'm glad I asked for your advice!

Author:  Arkillian [ Wed Dec 23, 2009 10:41 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Crit thread- Need any help improving your art?

No problem ^^ I always worry if my crit will be well received with art that I can give much useful advice on ^^; I'm glad I could help that much :)

Author:  edgeygavin [ Wed Dec 23, 2009 11:21 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Crit thread- Need any help improving your art?

Thanks, I needed a peptalk :maya:
You're totally right, when was small I drew because I liked to do so - why should now be any different?
I've taken all of your advice on board, and come up with this. It's a work in progress still - a long way till I feel completely happy with it. It's improved, and I'm qute proud, even though I still need to work on some areas. (the gun hand, the clothes) but the proportions are better, and I'm happy with the face. (I own nothing but a webcam. which is why the quality isn't great, but we ARE getting a scanner soon!)
Ta-daaaaaa!
Comments?

Author:  Arkillian [ Wed Dec 23, 2009 11:37 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Crit thread- Need any help improving your art?

Her waist is a little low but that's all I wish to say just for now :) I'm VERY happy at the level of improvement that has happened between these two pictures! I say don't worry too much about crit for a little while. Just take in what you've just learnt and draw a few pics.

Patience young padawan :)

The joy of art is the process- not the result. Worry less about how it looks and more how you feel about it. You're on the right track now so just keep at it! :) I wish you inspiration in your journey ^^

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