A bit about myself: I have always loved art since I was about 5. I currently take lessons once a week.

What I use: I usually use pencil and dry pastels for my works, and sometimes use watercolor, acrylic paints, and color pencils.

Deviant Art Page: http://kaiserxdragon.deviantart.com/ I don't have much on there yet, will be adding A LOT this weekend.

Note(s) to self: (Under Construction)

Fan Art:

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Last edited by KaiserDragon on Wed Nov 17, 2010 4:40 am, edited 2 times in total.

Well, the flash makes it difficult to critique, but if you can get another shot of it without flash when you've updated it some more, I'll give you some crit in the crit thread :)

It's good to see some paintings up :) All this interest in paints makes me wonder if I should finally crack out the oil paints and get to practicing with them on some AA characters ^^ I assume it's all acrylic?

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Yep, Acrylic. My art class doesn't have oil paints, sadly.

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That's ok. I had to take a special class to learn them actually- they work SO differently to acrylics (I'm actually kinda scared to get back into them- they blend SO easily). I use to paint a bit in student quality acrylics. The pro stuff is so good though that it has the same finish as oils now days so it doesn't matter what medium you prefer.

Only thing I can say now is that he needs some texture. Like... in his hair, his jacket could use a rough dry brush of highlight over his jacket to give it a non smooth look. His cravat could use a darker shadow under the frills (I can't tell this entirely by the flash however)

One last thing (I should really do this in the crit thread T.T ) keep an eye on your values- the amount of light and dark in them



This is the grey scale of the image so far. The flash shouldn't distort this so much so I thought I'd point it out- Mile's jacket and hair is a similar value to the background. While this is ok in colour, Miles will pop out more if the value of the background is more contrasting to the background. I suggest a lighter colour on the left and graduate it to something darker on the right to pop the cravat. Cause it's colour, it wont hide his hair too much, but this will accent his outfit more, and still sorta fit the lighting of the picture more. IT'll also give the picture some movement, cause the eye naturally looks from light to dark.



This is a little less subtle than I mean, but can you see how there's not more drama in the picture now it has the contrasts? All you need is to dry brush a lighter and darker colour on what you have now. And when I say dry brush, so your paint brush paints like this. Actually, you want it dryer than that. It'll hurt the paint brush, but the effect gives heaps of texture. Flat surfaces on mass in painting can get boring to look at- you may as well use gauche at that point and make your paint opaque and completely smooth. ((Gauche is wonderful stuff <3 ))

I hope that makes sense :)

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My teacher asked me not to paint anymore anime, XD. He says they are the hardest since the color needs to be exactly the same or it won't look right. (I had to redo the face a lot so I get what he means now.)

I think I'll add texture a bit later. I need to first learn how not to mess it up, on some other paintings. I fixed the cravat. I needed some help from the teacher to draw the black lines correctly (here's some credit to him). Yeah, values. I totally forgot about them when I was doing this. I'll try adding light a bit later; I still have trouble blending with paint that is already dry >-<;.

Thanks for the crit! You really helped. I'll try to learn how to get those techniques down so I can apply it as soon as I can.

As for Gauche, I don't know if my art school has them. I'll need to ask. They really are wonderful!

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Urgh... Don't take that too much to heart. Most art teachers wont accept anime as an art style. The art style isn't the problem- it's the *colouring method*. Because you're cell shading it like in the game, it takes away all the character of paint cause it doesn't allow you to have a bit of fun with texture. That's just how cell shading and comic styles are. They cater for high replication with maximum effect. A painting however demands that you give it time and effort in the smaller details. THAT is what your teacher wants. Not for you to change the art style. They'll still hate the big eyes small mouth, but art teachers are closed minded about that. In another 10 years time it'll be more accepted. In my days in school, if I drew like that I'd be told that I had no future in art. What you want is to learn to paint not so much 'linelessly', but painting things in light and shadow. It is very possible to have the ace Attorney art style in a more painting form- all you need is to have a more graduated light source, some interesting textures, and to have a bit of fun with colour

Sorta like this :-


If it wasn't so linearted, something like this could work with a painting a bit better. Go on Deviantart and look up some digital paintings of anime characters where they haven't used lineart, but used the natral lighting of the picture to show definition. It's totally possible :) Linearts can work too though- depends on the feel of the picture.



How I learnt to do black lines is with a wet brush. ALWAYS keep it wet and smooth, and go in straight lines, moving with your arm and not your wrist. If you do this, your lines will mostly be smooth and sharp edged. IF you brush sideways, the brush will open it's bristles and and give it fluffy edges. I find it easier to do this in ink. I'm not sure how ink reacts to paint, but if it works well, why not use it? There's nothing wrong with mixing medium if done right :) Just don't mix oil base and water base without experimenting first. IT can lewd to cracking or lamination of the pigment.



Alot of it is trial and error. Don't be upset that it's hard. Just look up different painting techniques, experiment a bit, and see what works for you :) I like dry brushing alot, but somethings I just like to play around with new paints I find and see what happens.



I used copper paint, and iridescent green in this picture to give it a glow. You can't tell in the scan, but this REALLY day glows in person, like the green lantern does :) The method of drawing was a little more anime than it is now, but I used lineart in this to give it definition. I think this is the kind of output you were thinking of doing- right? It can work so don't give up! You just need to work on your values a bit more :)

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I have a feeling he told me that because he had other things in plan for me. I think I'll lay off on anime paintings for now, until he teaches me all the basics and tips. Then I'll parade all over him with anime :P. That reminds me of Dr. Suess. o_o; his art teacher said he wouldn't have a future in art.

For lines the teacher says it can't be too wet or too dry. He also says working on more sketches will help me control the brush with lines. I once asked my teacher to sign my name in ink, he said no. Not sure how it would work for lines though. Maybe I'll ask.

Challenge is always good. Whenever anyone says something is hard, it makes me try even harder.

That output was exactly how I wanted it. Well, I wanted for it to look a bit more realistic, but that didn't really work out as planned. ._.; I'll try later. I saw that painting around your stuff, I really liked how you did it. Yep, values. I'm going to stick that to notes to self. >_<

Also, quick question. Do you know a good place to put up art stuff? I have a lot of stuff that I've done, just want others to see it. All of it is just in my folder or stuck up against the wall, collecting dust. >-<;

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I hold galleries under the name arkillian on these site:-

Deviantart
PaperDemon (I am a moderator on this site. It's small but really well set up)
Y!Gallery WARNING- is an R18 website for boy love type pictures primarily
Fur Affinity

And I also post links in a few forums including this one. There's alot more than that, but if you want to ask questions, those are the ones I know. I also know Sheezy, but that site is terrible nowdays. You'd want either Paperdemon or Deviantart if you want real critique.

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Thanks! I'll use DA. I think I have some friends on there too. :) I saw your fan-made manga, you have a new fan. :)

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Oh- you watched me? Thank you :) What's your DA name so I can watch you back? :)

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