mistformsquirrel

Always cool work Juggy >.< nice job!

hehe <,< I don't think anyone was being serious <^,~>m

Those pens look kinda like what I bought <@.@> Though I find I really can only use the smallest one right now <~_~>;

Mine are "Faber-Castel 4 PITT artist pens" whatever the hell that means <'x'>;

Oh <'x'> Odd... I've never had the problems you've described with them though <o.@>; Maybe I've just been lucky! <'x'>; oh wells

Pens bad! >.>

<,<

(And I know I'm a loser <'x'>m)

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Here we go, here we go. Update day!:

DJ Aaron123
This came up in my head and I pretty much got the execution dead-on. Really like how this came out.

Flight
I did this one this morning as sort of a practice. It's pretty good.

Interesting story, I'll be doing a pic tonight for my grandpa's birthday. It'll be of him in front of his truck, maybe with an American flag element. He was in Vietnam and this should come as a nice surprise.

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I think that DJ pic is *really* good man! <^.^> Its got good perspective imho; and just looks good!

*ahem*

DO NOT WANT!!!!!!!


(Sorry <,&lt

<,<;;

(I hope someone gets that <'x'&gt

Lol <,< That's the kind of worry I've had for some years when it comes to drawing people >,< I have long hair, my clothes aren't very good <'x'> I'm poor hehe /shrug; and I wear mostly black <,<

So I seem to creep people out <;.;> I'm not creepy though! Really! >.<;;

The ink thing... >.> I dunno, I don't think I could live with myself doing that, at least not right away. We shall see >.>

You know what else is a nice pen? >.>;; I used this for inking before I bought my special art pens (which I'm not yet convinced I'm going to keep using yet >.&gt

But basically, you know those V5 and V7 pens? I don't know what specifically they are, they're Pilot brand... they can smear; but they're *Really* good if you're careful!

That said <,<; I still loathe pens.

Hehehe <,< I hate pens because this guy I went to HS with (who I may add, drew *AMAZINGLY* well - and very similarly to you Crimson <o.O> Creepily so... is your name by any chance Josh?)

But anyways - he drew awesomely with Pens >.> He was kind of my idol the whole time lol >,< we got along pretty well <,< I didn't get to talk to him too awful much; but cool guy. But yeah, I envied his amazing pen skills... alot. In college we wound up in the same art class a couple times <,< He'd do like this giant 3' by 5' ink drawing with color and everything... and I'd be like '... Look at my flat little faux manga people! <;.;> They're pretty... right? RIGHT?!? /selfloathing" <,<

Yeah >.> I've only recently gotten back to gestural drawing. I did it some in school; but I was *WAY* too nervous >.< and my art teacher... how do I explain...

She was a good teacher, but at the same point utterly awful.

The thing is... she was great when it came to understanding fine arts.

She was *Terrible* at explaining *why* you needed to know them.

So for a guy like me, who's sole interest was manga/anime drawing at the time >.> I just thought she didn't understand my style was all... that probably ticked her off too (understandably); but it also left my education incomplete <x.x> Something I"m trying to fix now myself.

I don't blame her at all btw; I blame myself - I just wish we'd understood each other far better; telling someone their art style is 'crappy' is the fastest way to make them defensive and unwilling to experiment; and thats exactly what happened in my case.

Hands I've been practiciing and practicing... and practicing... I have sheets of em! <X_X> still need more practice...

Pens I hate btw <. .> Pens are evil. I only use em to ink >.<; But thanks to inking - I've had less problem drawing in a gestural manner lately, because I never have to erase anything - I just draw with a 2H pencil, then go over it in ink - when scanned, you can't see the pencil marks <,<m

I'm rambling aren't I <'x'>

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I have to say, while I agree with the obvious "practice, practice, practice" saying to yourself that you suck is not the best way to go. I think I am a great artist. I don't say to myself I can't improve, and I don't think I am better than artists that are just that, better, but I don't look at my art and say "Wow, this guy sucks because his deltoid is slightly too low". I take note of that, but looking at your artwork in such a pessimistic light is not the way to go.

And never shackle yourself to a style. Sure, you can try for anime, but really, anime is so widespread and so cheap that it is incredibly hard to be noticed as a particularly expressive artist through it. I'm not saying it can't be done, but do as others said, learn how to be a great 'traditional' artist, and than switch. Just look at picasso. In 1905 he was painting perfectly proportioned people. After that his art became more and more abstract. And the reason it is great is because he *could* have done perfectly. He could have done whatever he wanted, but he chose to make his art cube-like. And because of that (and because he did it well) the artistic community took notice.

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I think this is very much a good way to look at it.

I will however say this too >.> Some people (obviously it varies by individual <,&lt aren't looking to be "amazing artists" in the overall sense - they just happen to want to do it as a hobby, maybe some budding animators even.

I still think basics first is the best idea <,< just saying; not everyone is out to be an 'artiste'; (I'm not quite sure where I stand honestly... I'd love to find I have real fine-art talent... but I've pretty much set my eyes on novels and maybe graphic novels >.&gt

That all said <'x'> for myself; I'm very good at pounding myself over the head with my own innadiquacies... Hmm... actually...

I have a picture you all need to see >.> I shall post it in another thread because I think it'll be amusing in and of itself.

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Here's one from me! CuppaBanStick!

Special bonus, if you can figure out the title of this piece, I'll give you a free drawing of your choice of character!

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Lol >.< I love it...

Hmm... as a guess "Mod Olympics" ? >.>

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Would you people _stop_ coming up with amazing, cool, uber art?

It's so hard to keep up...

CuppaJo Fan Gallery

(please PM me if I made any mistakes)

cheers,
Arctic Sun

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That's so cool Arctic_Sun! <^o^> WOOHOO!

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Draw from life. Lots. Draw everything you see. If your eventual goal is to do anime/manga, great. But don't start with it. Anime/manga "works" because the artist understands basic human proportion, and is able to distort it properly to achieve that style. There are anime artists out there who do NOT understnad basic human proportion, and their anime drawings look really bad.

So draw people. Draw objects, walls, buildings, plants, cars, everything you can see. Draw SLOWLY. Draw QUICKLY! Learn to do gesture (fast!) and contour (slow!) drawings (go google those to see examples of what they are). That will help 'loosen you up' for drawing.

But draw lots of people. Draw lots of human heads. Once you get a good foundation down, you can then learn to go off into whatever 'form' you want. Anime, cubism, surrealistic, whatever. :P

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, yes, very good book. Go get it. Go read it. Twice!

Doodle -everywhere-. It doesn't matter if it's "bad". Just do it. You can't learn what's "good" If you don't know what is "bad".

And yes I'm still an amateur at all this. But, you too can go from this to this to even this.

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/agree with Rowr >.>

I started out trying to focus totally on anime/manga stylings...

Recently; I've gone back and focused on a more fine-arts approach. The reason isn't that manga is inherently *bad* - far from it; rather, its that manga is a sub-specialization.

You can't perform the subspecialization well until you've picked up the basics that all art forms are rooted in; Ie: understanding anatomical principle, proportion, perspective, etc... I'm the first to admit I'm *not* a good artist; and alot of it is because I didn't pick up the basics early.

That said - I'm going back to the basics now, and I'm quite happy where its going... I think when I return to my anime work, I'll actually be significantly better at it.

As with any craft - its all about practice. In writing, there's a saying - every writer has 500,000 words of *bad* prose before they ever put out the good stuff.

The same is true of art - you've got "line mileage" (Sayterra that was a great one) to go through before you see anything good.

Just practice - and make sure you're practicing the right stuff (ie: don't skimp on basics >.> You'll get to the part you want to specialize in in due time - but learn the cornerstones first! <^_^&gt

Just keep trying and never EVER give up. I'm 6 years+ into my artwork, and I still suck - but I'm not quitting. So keep at it <^o^>

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I think Cuppa now has more art than TA!!!

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More free art maybe <,< but TA's like... you could fill a space cruiser with TA fanart <O,o>... not that I've tried or anything >.>

Great work Graver, Bill and Quake! <^_^> Actually great job everyone! <^o^>

This is part of why I'm still here on these forums - we actually care about our own! >.<m I hope CuppaJo enjoys em all thoroughly <^o^>! HUZZAH!! Hopefully I'll get in to go to the party later >< For now... I have counselling <-.-> (My session got set up at a poor time <>.<>; /sigh Won't be on until at least 5pm)

There I'm "mistharm" which is basically my ultra-generic non-squirrely name <x.x>; I didn't think I'd wind up posting so much.

The forums there have been up year round btw... they don't ever shut down!

Last year was my first year, I only got 24k <_ _>; This year I'm hoping to get 50k with my new project... if the motivation will strike me to work on the damn thing. /sigh. I need a NaNo Plano >.>

Thanks hehe <~_~>

I think its just been that between my art and writing not going well, my RL being farked (I don't get to go back to college as planned... lost my financial aid over something really silly); and my in-game fun being heavily curtailed lately (ie: some disagreements with people that have really pushed my patience to the limit - and believe you me, I'm a pretty patient guy!)

But anyways >.< yeah, I'll keep trying. Hopefully I'll improve >.< My friend emailed me and well, she said some things that helped alot too <~.~> I'm lucky, for being such an overemotional ball of fluff I've got tons of support out there. Haven't slept yet so I'm probably a little incoherent hehe <T_T>;

But anyways, I appreciate everything, the comments, the tips, the support... all of it.

Hopefully I can just get my tail back to art >.< sick of feeling like a stupid drama queen <-.->;

<whips out pencils> >.> Once more into the breach! <charges drawing table>

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*SIGH* Well... here goes nothing. The following links are the few artworks of mine that I have on my computer, and they are all prime examples of why Jomaro is the artist and NOT me lol:

1. 'Ebony Hall' was a comic strip series I created back in highschool. It was heavily influenced by the sitcom 'A Different World' and inspired by Archie Comics (Double Digest FTW!)

Ebony Hall cover
Tour de Ebony Hall pg. 1
Tour de Ebony Hall pg. 2
Au Natural pg. 1
Au Natural pg. 2
It's a Dirty Job But...

2. Clueless is a one page comic about Jomaro and I back when we lived in MD. I had just started to play around with Photoshop.

3. Sistah is a toon drawing I did for a friend back in 2003 or so.

4. Flower Girl was my entry for a pencil challenge on a messageboard we used to run. And here it is in color.

5. This piece was done earlier this year. It is my first and more than likely my last life drawing, lol.

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Those last two are *REALLY* good imho!

the earlier ones weren't bad either... simplistic, but not *bad* by any stretch.

Hehe, thanks <~.~> both of ya... I think it was mostly that I was doing things 'in the wrong order'. Its been literally many months since I did any figure drawing at *all*; so I guess I'd just gotten myself bass-ackwards; thanks to PMD and Z I got it straightened around >.> I think... I hope...

I still think there's a long long way to go... <~.~> and Aaron, if you had any idea how *long* I've been at this lol <X-x> Trust me; I'm not very good. I just keep working and working and working <x.x> Someday I'll get it! I can't quit, even if I want to lol <x.x>;;

Thanks though, needed a morale boost >.< I just hope this right here wasn't some stupid fluke.

'ere we go! >.< I took a new approach on these. I did the spine first as suggested and I tried to steer away from giving it the 'manga' look until after I constructed the base.

The scans are higher res than I usually do (and dark cause of the sketchiness >< I had to make sure it was visible) - but I wanted to show the 'inner workings'. I figure people may be able to give me better tips if they can see how I'm doing it.

Anyways >.< tips welcome. The elfy is the friend who's cleric I did's husband. (What a mouthful!) I'm much happier with it, though I know I can do better still.

Elven Ranger (yeah, I know... I know...)

Yumii Sketchsheet - this was what I practiced on first - I chose a workout/practice session theme... it just fit with what I was doing; I was reasonably happy how it came out for a sheet of doodles <~.~>

Anyways >< yeah. Am I on the right track?

New sketches "comming soon" (TM) (Thanks again PMD and Z I just pumped out several very quick sketches that uhm... oddly enough feel 'better' to me than what I just put up earlier <x.x> scanner's being a pain and not letting me put them up so light though (I can't even darken the lines its that light), so I gotta go over em with a darker pencil - wanted to 'favorite' the tree so I can find it again... this thing gets lost too easily!

I've been considering trying a 'fine arts' approach recently... partly just because while I *LOVE* manga (obviously)... I think you're right about it not being a good place to start.

I didn't really see that until the last couple weeks -and even then I thought I had merely taken the 'long route'... but I think you're right. Manga is a specialization of art rather than a starting point I guess. I've wished a zillion times that I'd listened to my art teachers... then again she wasn't very good about explaining things. She'd just tell me it wasn't a good style (which made me pretty defensive...) but then I still should have listened.

Blah. I'll keep trying. Very aggravating. It hasn't helped that I've been feeling picked on in RL and in-game lately.

Get so sick of people assuming that because I enjoy the occasional PVPing session, that I must somehow have an IQ sub-90s or something.

Thanks Z, and PMD... gonna try a little more now I think. I spent most of today just seething... so maybe I'll do better.

One thing that *REALLY* frustrates me is how *vastly* different my portraits are from my full-figure drawings too... Portrait wise my only 2 upsets are my eyes (or I should say, the area around the eyes) lacks depth... and my eye shapes are 'eh' (I enjoy the eyes themselves... but the upper and lower defining lines... not so very much).

Blah rambling again! <x.x> Gonna try some more.

I wish I could find some aid for my fiction lol <x.x> I tried starting up something here on the forum (and on another writing forum I frequent, www.nanowrimo.org if anyone here's a writer) - but writing is another story.

Just artistically frustrated on all fronts I guess, thanks for not giving up on me >.<

I have How to Draw Manga: Manga Mania; and How to Draw Giant Robots. Both are kinda neat... but other than a basic start neither helped me much... I don't seem to learn from text well (despite using them for almost 4 years).

The way I do it currently is...

I draw a line for the shoulders (ie: if you laid a yardstick across the person's shoulders, where would it be?) then I draw a line for the hips (If you put same said yardstick through their hips sideways).

Then I draw a line straight through the middle, well not straight exactly.. but 'roughly' to indicate their posture. Then I do everything from there, using the space between the two 'yardsticks' to guide the creation of the torso and hips, and then draw a stick figure as my basic bone structure.

Heads tend to be circles or ovals, depending, if I do a circle, I'll mold the chin out of it. If its an oval, I don't have to do too much chinwise.

Very very very frustrated with myself.

All advice is appreciated. I don't want to quit, but its like... I've tasted failure constantly this whole time... I've had *2* what I'd call "successful" projects... 1 was that portrait I put up awhile back (the one listed as my personal best - it was); the other was coloring Crimson_Jimson's CuppaJo.

Still slowly working on coloring the pic of Yumii he did for me, which was awesome. Its slow going for alot of reasons but I'll not go into it.

Thanks for trying to help btw; doing my best to improve... have been since I started on these forums and for awhile I really thought I was... now its like the bottom fell out.

Yeah. I'm just pretty upset. The only improvement in 6 years of drawing seems to have been my clothing folds and my portraits. I admit, I only started trying full bodies again recently... but... gah.

The actual character isn't 'really' tall so I didn't want to overdo the height... still may need to make her a bit taller though, she looks too 'girly' and not very 'womanly'. I dunno why I make people so skinny... I've always done 'trim' but now its just... annoying even me. The sad part? I made extra effort on this one to increase the bulk, even though it went down. blah

Between this and my writing crapping out on me; maybe I should just get a regular job or something. I've been drawing seriously since I was 16, I'm 23... and still not very good at all.

Blah don't mind me, I'm just having a bad day. Don't feel like playing, barely feel like forum hopping. Stupid brain.