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Post by Santa Melty on May 29, 2006 23:02:20 GMT -5
Oh, don’t feel bad. The post only actually took about three hours because of all the other stuff I was doing at the same time. Why, had I been focusing on it, it may have taken as little as two hours. o.o Ah, you were talking about the cornea/retina/white area, yes? I caught that, but you have to admit that it was a bit confusing the way you worded it. Well, a sense of proportion will come in time, I suppose. I, for example, have a terrible habit of drawing hands that are far too small for the body they are on. But eventually, after having to correct the hand of a drawing some 200 times, I'm sure I'll remember the correct size. You'll begin catching stuff like that as well if we keep pointing it out, I should hope. Like what you did with the legs, for example. You started too small, then made them too long, and eventually found a balance. Thus, you have improved yourself. You mentioned on another board somewhere that you never seem to improve; here is proof that you are. As for negligence as well as laziness... eh... Shoot, what did I mean by that... Ah, yes. Perhaps it was a bit of a harsh way to phrase it, but laziness and negligence as in you either notice the problem but do not fix it, or do not look over the drawing well enough, and thus miss the problem altogether. The former can be corrected with a bit of persistence, though I'm not sure what to recommend if you simply can't see any flaws in a drawing, except perhaps to practice. I suffer from the same diseases really, so I'm not even sure if I'm one to talk. Indeed, I did do one of those. In fact, I think that it was one of the last ones I did that used that horrid lineart method. The worst part is, I actually did know that there were better ways, but just refused to try any of them. But thanks. I thought that came out pretty well, considering the amount of time I was given. I'd have taken about a month on something like that if I wasn't being rushed. Still, looking back, I can't help but feel that the image was pathetically lacking in detail. Not to mention the roughness of the lines. Euych. Anyway, the pen tool is one of the greatest means of making smooth lines that I can think of. I think that the other most recommended method involves making your pencil art as crisp as possible, and then using either channels or brightness/contrast operations to get a smooth line. Which works fine, I'm sure, though I prefer the pen. It takes a bit longer, but I find that it is more precise by quite a margin most of the time. Another way would be with a vector program, I suppose, but I'm not familiar with that, so I can't recommend it in good conscience. An example of its wonders, from about 3 minutes of snappy pen doodling: i12.photobucket.com/albums/a235/mltmlt22/Pen.jpgIt is not really a practical example, but you have to admit, them lines come out sharp. It is also possible to feather it and make the lines softer, if such is your preference. It's a pretty simple tool to learn as well. It took me about 2 hours before I could put it to use. There are numerous Photoshop tutorials around the internet that can teach you different techniques, if you're interested. www.eye-floaters.com/images/eyeanat.gifThe sclera? Pfft. Seems that we both need some brushing up. -_@<--- It was, though I didn't mean it as in insult, if that is what you took it as. I didn't catch that?! Hmmp. Well, it does look oddly natural without the nose. Of course, in this style, it almost doesn't look like there is room enough for a nose between the mouth and eyes. Not sure what to say there, except that you're right; the lack of nose seems to work. Indeed. I wrote most of that stuff before finding your update and writing the bottom half of the post. My bad. I need better samples is what I need. Try this one. www.deviantart.com/deviation/10384402/It's not great, but it is the best I can find. The part of the ponytail facing the head is shaded, while the other side is brightened. The shine goes against the grain of the hair, going up and around rather than resting on top of or going down it. I'm no sure how much better I can explain it without actually trying to make an image for myself, and I'm not sure if I can. You misunderstand. Shading the top of Yuna's head would definitely be a more difficult task because of the lumpiness of the hair, but I was actually trying to link that shine on Sera's head to Yuna's ponytails. The light shines around the hair in a halo. Similarly, the light should bend around the area of Yuna's ponytail that is exposed to the light in a circular fashion, instead of in a dot fashion, as you have now.
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Post by Pitch on May 29, 2006 23:49:40 GMT -5
*looks at books* Must... study... but.. *looks at screen* must post... *tears self away from screen* I can't, I just can't!! No, I can't do it! I can't ignore the topic! Oh, don’t feel bad. The post only actually took about three hours because of all the other stuff I was doing at the same time. Why, had I been focusing on it, it may have taken as little as two hours. o.o Well, fair enough then I suppose. The efforts very much appreciated, however much of it may've been spent on the topic. Well, pixel art and spriting is a bit different. I shift a cluster of pixels about a dozen places, fill in the blanks, and voila, the legs are in proportion. Much less detail to worry about. My hand drawn pictures all have a similar... how to put this. I don't know how to put it, sometimes there's not anything wrong with 'em, but they still seem to have this <i>flat</i> quality about 'em. Unlifelike, and uninspired. Empty vessels much like the one pictured here. www.legends-station.com/mml2/screenshot.php?screen=27As I noticed when looking at an older picture today, I most certainly have improved over time, but I still find my pictures lacking. I didn't really take the comment so harshly.. I really do get what you mean. I really am an impatient guy, I don't spend a particularly sufficient amount of time looking over things. I should, perhaps, try to take a harder look at things - would've saved me some particularly large headaches going over the image last time I did. A lot of it just goes completely over my head though. I'll try to keep those ideas and such in mind in my next venture, whenever I end up doing that idea(I actually have a really cool idea in mind, but from the looks of things, probably won't have time for a <i>while</i>.. >_<). I must say, then, if you actually did that with that method, said method must be a lot more effective than I would've thought. Perhaps not the most efficient thing in the world, but it turned out pretty well. Lacking in detail? Did you do the background? Brilliant subtleties there. My, my.. I played around a bit with the Pen today, but couldn't seem to find an effective way to use it. I did notice the smoothness of the lines, though. You certainly did seem to put it to good use there, though. If 3 minutes could yield that, I can't imagine how well it would work on a larger scale. I'll have to look into some tutorials there. Yes, evidently the parts of the eye are labeled as you go inward as well as across. 3Dimensional objects.. overall just confusing to work with. Not particularly, no.. it did seem a little out of place, because honestly, I didn't think there was much to be done about that, apart from thickening the line.. Yeah, I couldn't really think of a place to stick a nose in that picture either. I'm not sure how that worked out. I don't really think the size of her facial features is all that excessive, and I don't really think I could position the mouth that much lower either.. can't really see anyway to fit one in there though, so yeah.. I guess that did work out. I'd considered waiting for you to finish up before I updated, considering I saw you were viewing the topic. I was supposed to sleep though, because I was supposed to study today. Hey, I still got... 17 minutes. I can kinda see what you're gettin' at, but.. I dunno, I'm still not quite getting how to go about that. I have a vague idea of something I might try at some point tomorrow, but things are looking more and more busy it seems, so perhaps I'll have to look into that later. Ah... I got ya... I think I can pull that off. I'll have to give it a shot, but yeah... another time. I think I can see how to incorporate that somehow... ah... 11:50. Not quite the last minute yet, but I'm cutting it a little close, hmm? I think I'll end on that note.
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Post by Blues on May 30, 2006 15:14:06 GMT -5
Yeah, that happens a lot to me. I always can't find the right words, and my sentences usually end up awkward-sounding.
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Post by Pitch on May 31, 2006 19:01:23 GMT -5
Alright, well here we go. I took another stab at it just for phun, figured I'd try and squeeze it in before you hit up a reply to my last post, so yeah.. here we go. Using DeviantART NowThis one feels a lot better, though I don't think it looked quite like that in any of her official art. It's interesting though, I oughta see what that would look like in my sprites... Background's transparent because well... I got tired of gradients. I really want to do a background for this picture, but I think I might save that for another picture.. the one I have in mind oughta be interesting...
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Post by Santa Melty on Jun 2, 2006 0:33:33 GMT -5
Ah, not much to respond to this time. Let’s get crackin’ then. BWAHAHAHAHA— *shuts mouth and fixes tie* You should improve your study habits, son. Flat? Well, that would be a matter of personal opinion, but as far as general improvement in that area, perhaps you should try some more lively poses? I must suggest that more than anything else, but it works. Even if you can't seem to get the form right, I'd say try it anyway and see what you end up with. If you do things like show one leg curving behind the other or even something like having the arms crossed in the place of having a character in a simple standing position, maybe it will improve the sense of realism. In fact, I think I suggested the same thing for those custom sprites you made. Of course, it depends what sense of "Depth" you mean, exactly. If you're thinking of something like foreshortening, then we are on different pages. If you're talking about coloring techniques, we're don't even have the same reprint edition. Perhaps. The background was nothing to be impressed by though. The water and sky together was probably a 5-step process at most, and many of the effects, such as the snow or the lights on the tree, were very cheap. The lines were decent, but they were still extremely rough. Maybe it is just because I had to stare at the devils for so long, but the points that were thinned down too much or that are a couple of pixels thicker than the rest seem to glare out at me every time I look at the image. And inefficient is right; I spent maybe three of the five days I had on the lines, and less than two on coloring. And the Master just looks weird. At least Juno came out well. Ah, good, I think that looks better. Yuna's shadow on her own hair seems a little out of place, but it's nothing to fret over. And don’t worry about following the Legend’s art style too closely just yet. Other people’s styles can be worked up to, but your own should come first. Anyway, since this was pretty rough to begin with, I'm not sure how many more corrections I can recommend. Everything else looks feasible. You might want to put a small shine on her back boot, since you have one on the front one. The coloring on the dress looks a little off, but the curves of her body and the fabric aren't that detailed, so it might be hard to make more than a rough estimate of where light would shine off of it. A little on the side of the light source and perhaps some above the chest, but other than that, nothing sticks out at me. The top of the head still looks odd. You originally just sharpened the lighter parts of her head, but it is just too round to make it seem believable. The head, I mean. The head is round. The coloring at the bangs is good enough, unless you think it might look better if you had a halo going around it, like the ponytails. I’d completely erase the lighting in the back of the head though. Light should not come off of flat hair like that. I know that Yuna’s hair is not supposed to be flat like that, but in this drawing it is, and the coloring should reflect the drawing. By the way, I've been staring at this for the longest time and never thought to mention it until now, but her waist is very thin. o.o
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Post by Pitch on Jun 2, 2006 22:21:44 GMT -5
I'm feeling lazy so this is gonna be a quick one.. Ah, not much to respond to this time. Let’s get crackin’ then. BWAHAHAHAHA— *shuts mouth and fixes tie* You should improve your study habits, son. It's all just the same, I did pretty well on those tests without studying. Well, what I mean by flat is, in the actual line art, I suppose. I see people draw things, they don't necessarily look 3D but they don't look quite as flat as mine. I try little shadings, lines and such... even to the point of drawing spheres and other three dimensional objects and building characters out of those. It seemed to help for a while but it dind't look quite right, and it was a pretty stupid way of going about it. Alternate poses work, I suppose. I actually tried it with a custom sprite. Last one I really took seriously. It was pretty okay.. I actually haven't posted it here, though, at the request of my requestor. Of course, Mandinga didn't hold up his end of the bargain, so I suppose I can just share that real quick to get it out of the way. On the left, now. It's undoubtedly the best sprite I've done. From scratch, mind you. Started out as that bottom cluster of pixels on her shoe. None of that Pokémon sprite edit business. I actually posted it on an actual spriting forum asking for advice and the people there were real @ssholes - gave some good points(in the form of a verbal thrashing), which I fixed, but then when I reposted the fixed up one, NO ONE said anything... jerks. >_>; I'll try more alternate poses in pictures, I suppose. I'm done with spriting though. The first bit, a little. I think my pictures could be helped if there was a little sense of foreshortening. Nothing particularly major, but then, maybe I should try something major just to get the concept down. Coloring, meh.. I think I'm starting to get coloring down so that the pictures don't look flat... Well the water and sky looked pretty believable. I thought the tree looked good. Maybe not the best tree in the world, but it wasn't bad. Must've been quite a headache to make that, I can't really think of a better way to go about it, but yeah... I thought the Master looked okay. There was something off about him... I think maybe his garb and hair could've been... bigger? I dunno, I'm not quite sure what was wrong with him. Something's off, though, I can see that. I do really like the Juno there, though. xD Of course the overall picture suffered because Yuna's just an out of focus character. I didn't even notice her till I looked at the picture a third time. Yeah, I thought Yuna's shadow on her pigtail might've been goin a bit far. Perhaps I oughta get rid of it. Just one more version of this picture should do it I think, then I'ma be movin on. Yeah, that's probably another thing about my pictures. I have no particular style. I really oughta develop one or something... I dunno. I try to conform to the "typical" style a lot, and it looks awkward, I think this one came out a bit better though.. perhaps. Perhaps I can edit up the lines a bit so that I can work out the dress shading and the hair... I thought I had the hair about right, but somehow the spikeys I had got lost when I colored it. I'll see what I can do about the dress, though.. I suppose it is, but then... well. Whose isn't in Legends? >_<; Fine it was a mistake. I dunno, I just can't see 'em thicker.
I decided to shelf the awesome idea I had for a picture, until I got a little better, but I took a shot at doing Trigger. It's still a work in-progress, as you can probably tell by his apparent lack of any facial features, but I think I got a bit better, no? I've done about as much with it as I intend to, unless there's some really glaring flaws with it. Here.
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Post by Blues on Jun 3, 2006 18:27:02 GMT -5
Finally, someone draws Mega Man Trigger. ;D It's very good, actually. I think, but I'm not sure, if there's a problem with his arm. Either it's too big, or I'm just seeing things. [1] Perhaps he's a little too squarish for my tastes, too. I'm not sure about that. Otherwise, great. After all, some Mega Man Fanart is better than none. (He is the hero of the series, after all.) [1]I'm probably just seeing things.
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Post by Pitch on Jun 3, 2006 18:32:29 GMT -5
Well, thta particular arm was a pain in the arse to do. Having to draw over the body, and still see the outline of the arm, it was a bit of a pain. It is a bit large by comparison to the other, but I was trying to get some of that foreshortenting idea goin on. You know, it's bigger, so that it seems closer than the other arm. It may've been a bit much, though. Again, kinda comes back to that Two Extremes idea. I'll get the concept down eventually. It does look a bit squarish, I'll admit that.. it was a kinda awkward angle, I'm not quite sure how to draw it. It'll come to me eventually.
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Post by Dashe on Jun 4, 2006 12:19:00 GMT -5
I think the problem is in his back foot. While the other foot seems to be viewed at more of an angle, it looks like the foot in question is being viewed straight-on. Heck, it looks like that whole leg is being viewed straight on. Don't worry, it's a common mistake, and I used to do it all the time before I figured out it was a mistake. Yeah, I know the front arm also needs work, but foreshortening's more IS's thing, so honestly I can't help you much with it. That, and it's already been mentioned. And Yuna looks good, I think (that's probably all that matters, right? )
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Post by Pitch on Jun 4, 2006 12:55:05 GMT -5
Ermm.. well, I'm not entirely sure, myself, but the back leg is supposed to be straight on. I'm not really sure how else it ought to be, if it were to be on any angle, that angle would only be very slight. His stance there is one I'm pretty familiar with.. I dunno, I don't really see much wrong with it. I suppose 90o might've been a bit much, though... I'm not sure.
Well, the front arm is insanely large, I can see that now, but it was a real pain drawing that over the rest of his body.. >_< Actually ended up using layers to create that arm there, and the way I went about that, I couldn't really see a good part of his body, so it came out a bit more out of proportion than it did foreshortened, but that's okay..
In all honesty, as far as Yuna goes, the more I look at it, the less happy I am, so yeah.. I dunno, maybe I'll get her right next time.
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GSG
Cannam
o_e
Posts: 331
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Post by GSG on Jun 4, 2006 14:15:04 GMT -5
*Skimreadskimreadskimread* Good Lord, the actual images:text ratio is pretty unbalanced for a fanart thread. It's not in any way a criticism, but wow. You and Mlt can shore put out some wordy posts when you stick yer heads together. *Confiscates Pritt Stick.* But regarding the artwork: very nice. Very nice. Some folk do go for the neater lineart (And if you've never found someone who enjoys drawing lineart, yaz lookin' at one), but the sketchy look works just as well. And about the "sloppiness" - don't look at it that way. Just...don't. Look away. Just look away. I mean, if you think about it, anyone could take the time to sit down and learn the in's and out's of a duck's arse about anatomy, gradient shading and all that other jazz. It's just a matter of finding the time and the discipline to do it all, bearing in mind that some get the hang of it faster than others. But what I admire in artwork is when: - Yaz take a real life model
- Yaz copy it on down in your own original style and proportions, and...
- ...Encorporate into your style which form lines you decide are needed. Clothes creases, outlines - you can get rid of/slop up as many as you want in some cases, making it appear simple, but it at the end of the day if it still leaves the impression of what you originally had in mind, then that can sometimes turn out better than if you had gone ahead and drawn every detail.
... ...I feel like I've just out-skirted around the very edges of the point I was trying to make. Better yet, I do believe I've just forgotten what that point was. Hmmm. Ease up on the paracetamol, GSG... And yeah, Mlt did have a fair point about the colouring, but your before/after cleanup was a big improvement, so you're definitely heading in the right direction there. In regards to your latest showcase addition, it would be great if it weren't for the right forearm. It looks like you drew the right hand supporting the buster's weight first, and then pulled the forearm around to try and make it fit. As a result, the right forearm is quite a bit bigger than his actual buster, even while bearing in mind the perspective you were aiming for. Other than that, it's pre-tty swell. ^_^ Thaz all fer now. *Wann'ers off*
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Post by Pitch on Jun 4, 2006 14:44:43 GMT -5
Well, I'm actually a bit surpirsed how long that was drawn out myself, but yeah.. it's just been mltmlt22, Blues, 'n me up till now.
I'm glad you like 'em, though. ;D I'm trying not to look at 'em - the lines anyway - as sloppy, because I really think that's something I've gotten a bit better at, even in this lazy style. I'm really trying to put my own unique spin on things, but that's really not showing through much quite yet.
Ermm... well.. that's pretty much exactly what I did. Sort of. Curse me, I didn't keep the original drawing. Well, what I had though, was basically a right arm-less drawing of Trigger. He had the shoulder thing, though. And well, basically I had drawn out everything you don't see that his right arm is covering up. the body looked a bit awkward though so I'm kinda happy it got covered up. But yeah, working with the actual pixels it was really hard to pull that arm off in Paint, so I moved it into Paint Shop Pro. Errm... yeah So, what I ended up doing there, was I placed the arm-less picture in Paint Shop Pro put a layer on top of it, where I just swiped the paintbrush over his body a bit, but the left arm was still visible, and just started drawing the arm. That first light blue bit was easy enough, but it was kinda awkward trying to get the angle for the forearm bit, and it ended up being obnoxiously large.. not just in width either, but the actual length, seems as though it would go down past his knees. And yeah.. the shading's a bit off, makes it look like it's bent in a really awkward position, at least it seems to be. I'm not sure, I'll try to get it better next time though. I don't really feel like goin back and fixing things with this one.
and thanks ;D
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Post by Santa Melty on Jun 5, 2006 2:45:11 GMT -5
Well, I can't give you any advice there. As far as the actual drawings, you might want to talk to someone more versed in the art of sketching, like GSG (GSG, mind if I call you Pollymonk or something? Double G, maybe? For some reason, I find full words easier to type out than GSG. ). I never thought that depth was really the problem, but I am not that perceptive. And as far as sprites go, I have no experience there at all, though it is always nice to hear that we are better than others in giving advice. Or in anything, as a matter of fact. Nice sprite, by the way. The headache was realizing that I didn't know any better way to color the tree. I could have done a pastel-like job, but it would have taken me too long. Looking back though, as simple as the background was, it really is the best I can do, even now, I'd think. Backgrounds have never been a strength of mine. I think it's his face, really. That smile, the angle of the head, the eyes... it doesn't seem right. And to have the arm sticking out like that was just a terrible idea. It makes it look as though I tried to skimp out on doing the other arm by putting it behind his back. And yes, I may have wrongly estimated his height; the hair and clothes doesn't get much bigger until just near the bottom, but apparently, I thought the bottom was a bit farther down than it was supposed to be. As for Yuna, I like putting some things out of focus like that, just so that you need to look it over multiple times in order to take everything in. Like one giant Where's Waldo scene. I do love my Where’s Waldo. Ah, perhaps I got it backwards. Maybe it's "Start with other people's styles, and build up to your own," so that you can get the basics of proportion and angle and that irritating junk in first. Either way, it might be easier to see the peculiarities of your own work when you draw original characters instead of following other designs. Maybe that would help? My style is very generic. I've been trying to build up to something original for a while, but I don't seem to be getting anywhere just doing fanart. I should try taking some of the advice I'm giving here. There is a waist:hip ratio that should be considered, though. Characters in Legends have thin wastes, but that is because many of them have a thin frame all-around. The clothes and armor tend to make the characters look bigger, it seems. As to everything else about your Yuna drawing, I'll see what I can comment on if you choose to make another revision. A definite improvement in technique. You took consideration not to do what you did with Yuna's hair in making two large blocks of color right next to each other by making the shine on the armor thin and long. And aside from the proportion of that arm that has already been mentioned, no real glaring flaws. Double G covered that more concisely than I would have, so I'll go with what she said. The upper part of both arms are about the same size, even though one is supposed to be farther away than the other. And one of them going down while the other goes straight out creates a large separation between the outstretched buster and the hand, which the hand seems to compensate for by being twice as long as any other segment of arm. Upper part of the right arm should go straight out and be longer, and the part with the hand should be shorter. That'll balance it a bit. As for other things, I'll see how quickly I can cover it. He seems to have a jawbone, but no chin. It doesn't necessarily look bad, but I'm curious whether it was deliberate or not, remembering your comment about drawing chins. Those gray caps on both of his shoulders should be elevated more than the rest of the shoulder bulb. The face is similar to the last; no nose, simple eyes. The left eye seems to be smashed up against the side of the face, so making the whole eye thinner width-wise so that it fits onto that side of the face might help. The neck should be covered by the neckpiece. The shading at the shoes should jut out slightly where it goes from the lighter area in the center to the darker, outer area, since the darker part has that small ledge where it meets the center part. Hopefully, that makes sense. Those three spikes of hair that go out to the side should be longer and thinner, and go out in three separate directions. That should cover it. That is a mistake? I've been doing that for the longest time, and I've never thought that it was too much of a problem. Though the slight angle might be wrong, I've always thought it looked better than a simple frontal view. Perhaps giving the back foot a slight angle might balance it? Or at least, throw it off balance enough to make it symmetrical. Great, isn't it? Helps scare the riff-raff away when they see they'll need to read it all to figure out what is going on. Agreed on the lineart. Disagreed on the making of the lineart. Glad to hear you enjoy it though; it must make it a whole lot more bearable. o.o I'm not sure I entirely understood that, but I'll try responding anyway. Sloppiness is not something to look down upon, no. But usually, when sloppiness is incorporated into a picture, it is to intentionally make an impression. Like you described, you could take something you've drawn based on something else and add or take away from it to create your own original piece, but there is still work involved in leaving the sort of impression that you wanted. It is not merely sloppiness; it is planned, calculated, refined sloppiness. Like a Sloppy Joe. In fact, I think I made that exact point a couple of posts back. Laziness does not always equal simplicity, as Pitch had put it. Or, in this case, sloppiness does not always equal simplicity.
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Post by fAB on Jun 6, 2006 11:21:04 GMT -5
I know, I promised I'd comment yesterday! Sorry Pitch, the day certainly didn't go how I wanted it to either. Anyway, I'm here now, so wa-la-do! This is a lengthy thread, but I'll be starting with and commenting on Trigger for now. Most artists seem to merely want opinions and comments on their stuff, but from the look of what I see here and our discussions on AIM, what you seem to be looking for is ways to improve. Fantastic. That being the case, I'm not gonna go easy on you, 'kay? Funny thing though, I've never actually attempted to draw a finished picture of Trigger (at least not since 1998), but since I made his 3D model for AT I suppose I'm qualified to give some guidance here. XP Most of the suggestions I might give have already been covered by others here, so I thought I'd go a step further and elaborate on them visually. TA-DA!1) First thing I did was copy your original and pick out the problem points. Your proportions and stuff are much thicker than the official artwork, and the bangs shorter, etc. That kind of thing is all subject to personal style though. The arm and leg are definitely having some trouble though. So, I drew over, ROUGHLY MIND YOU, a bit more accurately with the red. A. If you'll notice the angle you have his chest at, the shoulder should start out more in front of him. The only time it should be hanging off to the side that much is when he's drawn straight-on. It doesn't look particularly bad sticking out there, but as you can see from the rest of the arm I drew, starting position from the shoulder pushes everything closer to the arm with the buster, thus less problem with the huge forearm you tried to make work to compensate. B. Obviously, the massive forearm is the first thing that grabbed my attention in this picture. Size aside, you mentioned you weren't sure how it should have looked. For this, hold your arms in the same pose in front of you. Notice how much your elbow bends and sort of points toward where the picture would be taken if you were in Trigger's position? You put the forearm in front of the elbow when it's actually noticeably behind it. So if you notice I added that, then the "pop can" shape of Trigger's forearm kind of conforms to the sphere. Do you see? C. Next, the leg. It's not as painfully misproportioned as the arm, but it is undoubtedly too small. If you notice in my crude redraw, it's a lot bigger but still not quite the size of the other. The "sweeping" arrows show how they'd kind of line up if he didn't have his legs spread. From the angle of his stance and in particular his waist, the leg really isn't all that far back at all, or shouldn't be rather. D. The foot could be fine at the side angle, but given the leg position I'd advise against it... As a matter of fact, I'd almost always recommend avoiding perfectly profiled stuff in a non-profile picture. Even if it looks right, people will often see it as a sign of laziness. Just a bit of an angle helps give it a lot of depth. 2) Turning the red outlines black, I gave it a quick coloring job. 3) Then I erased the unwanted body parts and touched up where necessary. It's not perfect, but I'm not used to drawing over other peoples' stuff and trying to conform to their style. And it was done really quickly, as I mentioned. Hopefully though, gives you an idea of what to improve and how to improve it. Practice makes perfect. I use that saying a lot, because it really is true. Now, putting aside all of my suggestions and focusing on the picture itself, you're really not the horrible artist you seem to think you are. I've seen worse Trigger artwork out there, much worse! And what's more, it's by people who draw a lot and are proud of their work! One thing to keep in mind, is that a true artist is rarely completely satisfied with his or her own work, or so they say (and yes, I personally agree). That Mona Lisa that everyone calls a masterpiece? I hear Leonardo da Vinci never finished it to his satisfaction. Further suggestions in general... If you're not spriting, get your butt out of Paint! If you have Paint Shop Pro, USE IT! Also, clean up that line art. Messy and stylized is one thing, but scribbling is another. Trigger looks like he's got hairs hanging off him or something. XP Lines can be wavy, they can be thin in some areas and globby in others, fine, but that scratchy mess look just looks awful, IMHO. Getting the line art right is just as important as the shading, or even drawing the picture properly in the first place. I think if you took the time to make some really smooth line art, you'd find yourself feeling a lot better about your skills. Roll: Keep it up!
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Post by Pitch on Jun 6, 2006 12:22:30 GMT -5
Gah.... now I gotta respond to mlt's post and fab's.. >_<; I'm sorry if this response is lazy. Santa Melty:I've just been calling her Polly And thanks. Well, I can't say I've ever really done a background myself, but I still thought yours was pretty okay. And I suppose something was a bit off about the Master's face, but I sure don't know what could've been done about that. And well, hide some other character Well, I'm not really sure, I mean, what's in a style? I've seen people draw things the normal, generic way that came out amazing. I've seen people try to do things in their own style - shoot, I'm one of 'em - that came out like absolute crap. As far as style goes, it's actually a dilemma I had in spriting too.. I'm not really sure how to put it, but I'd sit down to do a sprite, and, well, it would look right, but it'd be too simple. It'd look right, but not very good for some reason. I dunno, I've never really had my own style, even when it came to those cheap little sprite edits. In all honesty, I didn't notice the waist till you mentioned it, and yes, it is thin. I'm not sure how to go about fixing that without making her seem squarish, but that's okay. I've got one more revision in mind for this picture, but beyond that I really think I oughta try moving on to other pictures. So... lengthen the light blue bit, just a little, and straighten the forearm out, and that should fix it? I suppose so. I'll admit as far as the arm goes, I got pretty lazy, but in my defense, it was pretty hard to see what I was doing. - Jawbone? Can't say I noticed that, but no, it most certainly wasn't deliberate...
- Yeah, the gray things I messed up on. Did those last, actually... >_< They should've appeared to be under the shoulder/arm, but yeah.. Aim pointed that out to me kinda.
- No nose, simple eyes? Why no, no there isn't, and yes, yes they are. Your point? Honestly, I tried a nose on this one, I just really didn't like it. I also tried some more complex eyes, the typical style, really, but they didn't seem to be facing the right way. I couldn't get it to look right. It was maddening.
- Never considered the left eye smashed, but I suppose it is.. I dunno, I could fix that if I were planning on revising this one at all.
- Is the neck covered by that blue thing?... Well, it's not exactly covered, but there definitely is too much of his neck showing. Didn't notice that, though I suppose it is a problem..
- I didn't really get the thing about the leg... >_<'
- And for the hair, I guess so. That did seem a little off to me.
@fab:Yeah, it's fine, I was so busy playing DASH2 yesterday, I didn't even notice you hadn't posted. ' Personal style? Nah, that's just laziness and things I failed to notice. I never even considered the shoulder to be off in anyway... >_< Looking at it, though, it seems really bad now. =/ I do see and I tried to get how the arm would look by posing it myself. That looks a lot better... I also notice I seem to have given him a left hand on his right arm... >_<' I can't tell you how many times I've made that mistake already, I'd think I'd have gotten it down by now. Someone actually pointed that out on another forum.. I actually did that leg first, with no real idea of how I was going to do the other.. I'm not sure if that means the other leg is the one that's off, or what but yeah... all I can really say to that end is yeah.. No. Not gonna happen. I hate lineart, I can never get it to look right in the smooth look, at least with this it looks kinda like what it's supposed to. While I'll admit it would look better that way, I pretty much have to say I refuse to make it so.
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