MECH_Flair

Seriously. Let's keep this thread alive. Fix Fury already.

Thanks for all the feedback.

I think Oceanborn gets what I mean the most. From my perspective, I started out naturally a good writer (my father was a writer) and with a little practice, I feel I'm quite good. Where as I practice a lot at drawing and don't seem to make a lot of head way.

I read somewhere that illustrated story telling is the oldest method, dating back to cave wall drawings, and comics are essentially the same thing - some of those frames have no dialouge but tell important parts of the story regardless. That's how I really want to express my stories. Thus my frustration.

LadyJudgement. Holy crap. You could be an art teacher. I really appreciate the time you put into your reply, and it's helped a lot. I do have a filing cabinet for magazine clippings categorized, and I'm working on that still. I actually didn't know about the 3 head shoulder length rule. I must've been absent that day, literaly. Sincerely though, unlike writing I feel I am unable to self-teach myself how to draw, so a reply like that with it's criticism and how-to really helps me a great deal. I'll pick up a DA account and hope for more critiquing on par with your own. It was interesting to see how your methods made my drawing look the way I had wanted it to come out.

Thanks for all the feedback everyone.

I'm going to try that advice above with the practice steps. For the doodling on the first 30 pages, anything I should aim for or avoid? I don't want to teach myself how to draw something wrong.

I've always liked drawing, and I've always loved comics. I used to not take notes in school to save pages to draw comics in them instead. Once I got into High School at 9th grade, I had my first really great art teacher. I took her art classes every year, sometimes multiple times. I'm now 22 having graduated at 17, almost 23 (next month).

And I'm still a pretty crappy artist.

For starters, it takes me forever, which isn't very "complete your work" friendly. Second, I just don't feel I've made much of any progress. Having taken so many art classes, I've seen what good artists look like. They draw what they want, it comes out how they want it, and they can do so in a timely fashion.

I've always felt that much like many other things, artistic talent is either something you have or you don't. I've always figured if I practice enough, I'd be good too, but it's getting discouraging.

I'm a pretty good writer and pretty creative. I can come up with the story lines and such, and I get excited about them. So it becomes really frustrating when I can't express and illustrate the story accordingly.

I've got shelves full of art books but I find they don't really help me at all. Occassionally I'll pick up something of use, but I keep coming right back to my dilemma. No progress. It's like I'm stuck at this level of artistic ability.

Here's a few of my randomly selected works. Hoping maybe someone can give me some guidance. Note that when I call my work crappy, I don't feel I'm being pesimistic or under-confident, but I'm being realistic. Looking for realistic feedback.

Ok, here they are:
http://img226.imageshack.us/img226/2975/agonyhu2.jpg

http://img68.imageshack.us/img68/8693/flairoz0.jpg

http://img66.imageshack.us/img66/157...oforcusst9.jpg

Supergroup: MECH Empire
Website: www.mechempire.net
Server: Freedom
Faction: Villains
Theme: Technology oriented clan

Intro
The denizens of Rogue Isles have caught the eye of The Machine. The streets have run rampant with lessers for far too long, and purifications are at hand. Heroes of old have arisen in an attempt to prevent the war that MECH intends to wage on the streets of Paragon City, but the real question is... what will remain of their city when the dust settles?

History
MECH is a clan that was founded in the original Neverwinter Nights back in '94. They have since established successful Sectors in other games, such as The Realm, Ultima Online, Asheron's Call, Star Wars Galaxies, and currently World of Warcraft and City of Villains just to name a few. Our purpose through out all of these games and to this day has been simple fun. We enjoy the theme and characters of MECH, as well as PvPing adamantly. MECH is also a very tight-knit guild OOC, with mature members who have known eachother for several years now.

PvP
MECH always has been and always will be a pvp oriented guild. While roleplay is encouraged, pvp is mandatory. It is the means to an end for MECH, and we emphasize strongly on team work. We have climbed to great heights in pvp power in previous games, and we intend to do the same here in CoV. We have chosen Freedom as it is said to be the unofficial pvp server. We've already seen a great deal of competition here, and we're looking forward to the challenge.

Roleplay
MECH stands for Mechanically Enhanced Cybernetic Humanoids. The very bare bones of our roleplay is a military-like Empire made up of highly advanced MECHs, bent on conquering the realms through purification. Purification can be done through violent means (pvp) or peaceful means (recruiting you into our ranks). Once purified into the ranks of MECH, all past memories are erased and you are welcomed into the Empire as a Cadet. Soon, you will be promoted to a Soldier and asked to join a flight. MECH is made up of 8 Flights that all permit and encourage further roleplay. All MECH fly the MECH banner before their appropriate 5 letter call signs, such as, MECH Flair or MECH Titan. This is for roleplay purposes, tradition, and most importantly, it is a display of our organization. In game, our RP is quite mild, often simply portraying the 'attitude' of MECH. Though a few do roleplay heavily in game (and we certainly don't discourage this), most of our roleplay takes place on the forums as a lot of our members enjoy writing.

Our Goals
Our goals in City of Villains, in a nut shell, are to be able to participate in all the content the game has to offer. We level up and assist each other, often forming MECH groups for missions every night. We plan and run Strike Forces together. Though we just arrived in City of Villains about 3-4 weeks ago, we intend to PvP in the zones on a regular basis. In time, we'd like to participate in base raids with other SGs on Freedom. Ultimately, we'd like to reach a level where we can PvP competitively in the PvP League and Tournaments. Once we're more suited level-wise, we also plan to have Training Sessions in the arena, to practice, test builds and strategies, and for fun.

Joining
We ask a lot of our members, and though MECH isn't for everyone, we find our members wouldn't have it any other way. If you are interested, visit our site. There you can read our charter, flight specs, or register on our forums and get to know some of our members. If you would like to join the ranks of MECH Empire, then use the "Purifications" link on the home page and request an application. You will need a sponsor for your application, which you can attain through the forums or any MECH you have met who will sponsor you. For further questions, feel free to post on our forums, or contact myself, MECH Prowl, or MECH Titan via /t or in game email.