love the pose Pep!
can't wait to see how ya do with photoshop too!
Er...is your girl invulnerable or something? 
j/k.
It would be nice if you could find some place to squeeze the scabbard into the pic, and make it convincing.
Nice pic, the sword looks great. Good luck finishing it.
Main thing I would probably do is turn the sword some more so the flat of the blad lies flat against the shoulders. Right now the blade would be cutting in unless she can't be hurt by it. Even then it's likeley to be uncomfortable on a focused point like that.
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Main thing I would probably do is turn the sword some more so the flat of the blad lies flat against the shoulders. Right now the blade would be cutting in unless she can't be hurt by it. Even then it's likeley to be uncomfortable on a focused point like that.
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Actually if you look at it again the flat part of the blade is on her back....no cutting from what I can see. Nice job pep!!
I knew something about that sword was bothering me. Over I really love and adore this pic!!
But yeah... I think it's the guard. It doesn't have the same 'tilt' perspective shift as the ring on the pummel and the little cloverleaf just above the guard. At least to me. Maybe I'm being dumb.
But she's cute! 
Ok I know what it is. It does have the tilt everywhere on the sword but the point! The very end of the blade doesn't match the line that goes all the way down the blade.
It's a nice pic, but I agree that the sword needs to be in its scabbard. Otherwise all I'm thinking is "Ow, pointy sharpness" instead of "Ooh, sexy dangerous."
The Alt Alphabet ~ OPC: Other People's Characters ~ Terrific Screenshots of Cool ~ Superhero Fiction
a Great scetch Pep. Perspective sometimes the hardest thing to get right but think Rowr nailed the one thing throwing the sword off was the cross guard. Fix that the rest falls into place. Its bigger and the brain adjusts all the othe factors to fit.
As far as celtic lass herself good job. The clothing folds are a nice touch also. And a great flow on the cape. Look forward to part 2.
Very nice sketch! She is very cute. I love the freckles
Great piece so far Pep. As for the eternal debate on the sword, I'd agree with Rox... no cutting there, Looks like she is holding the flat of it against her upper shoulder blades as opposed to having the edge rest on her shoulders. As for the oddness of perspective with the sword, it looks to me like the bulk of the problem actually arise from the line you have going down the center of the blade. That center does no line up with the hilt's, handles, or clovers center. Move that line up a bit so it lines up with the center of the handle and I think you'll be golden!
As for the rest of it, GREAT job!!! I love the meaty quality of the figure. She's good and solid feeling, almost like I could just reach up, pluck her out of my monitor, and take a big ol' bite out of her... niiiice! 
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Main thing I would probably do is turn the sword some more so the flat of the blad lies flat against the shoulders. Right now the blade would be cutting in unless she can't be hurt by it. Even then it's likeley to be uncomfortable on a focused point like that.
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Actually if you look at it again the flat part of the blade is on her back....no cutting from what I can see. Nice job pep!!
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Yeah thats what I saw too hehe <^_^>
I love this one Pep <@_@> I'll see if I can figure out anything wrong with it but... right now I'm liking it just as-is! <^_^> can't wait to see the finished version (Love the oversized sword!)
Cute freckles, great fabric textures. Looks very nice, I can't wait to see it done.
I'm not sure that I agree with Graver on the placement of the center ridge of the sword, though. If it was a flat 2D shape, that line would be off-center, yes - but a sword isn't. I just pictured it as being tilted slightly downward from straight-on towards the viewer, the way the angle of the hilt suggests, with the line being pushed down a little bit to show the sword is sorta diamond-shaped when viewed from the front.
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Cute freckles, great fabric textures. Looks very nice, I can't wait to see it done.
I'm not sure that I agree with Graver on the placement of the center ridge of the sword, though. If it was a flat 2D shape, that line would be off-center, yes - but a sword isn't. I just pictured it as being tilted slightly downward from straight-on towards the viewer, the way the angle of the hilt suggests, with the line being pushed down a little bit to show the sword is sorta diamond-shaped when viewed from the front.
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Oh ya... good point. I so still haven't been able to get my brain to turn back on yet. 
Sorry for the bad advice there Pep.
In this instance, what might be needed to correct the sword then is to just move the clover on the blade down a bit as it's currently sitting on the upper half of the blade as opposed to the center.
Thanks for noticing, Geno! I did try to give the sword a diamond shaped cross-section. I think the problem is the hilt isn't angled enough like alot of people pointed out. I tried to angle it, but not enough I guess. The bottom part should be smaller and more angled away, while the opposite for the top half I think.
I also think the handle may be too thick for Lass to hold as it is now. I may need to make it thinner.
As for having a scabbard, it would be really awkward to have one with the cape. I think I might give her a small waist scabbard, since Slicey O'Sword is magic, and can be any size from a dagger to the big two handed version shown ala Lion-O from Thundercats. huzzah!! Irish...Irish...IRISH LASS HOOOOOO
I'm goofy
-Pep
I'm trying to figure out why I didn't comment on this earlier... *Headscratch.* I know I've looked at it at -least- five times!
At any rate, I think it's a real nice piece! Especially given the inspiration for it.. o.O Wish my costumes ended up looking that good when I was done with them. Ah well.. maybe with practice. >.>
I can't wait to see how the rest of the piece will turn out, personally. Though I do have to agree - that hilt may be just a -tad- too big for practical use. Thinning it is probably the best option, but if you do that, you may have to thin the crosspiece a bit, too, to keep it from looking too weird. Not too much, though. Perhaps just in the middle, to give it a thinner appearance. More bowtie shaped!
But that's just my opinion on it. Personally, I'm a fan of oversized swords with manageable hilts. *Ponder.* Though I may have my sword terms confused today. Iunno, it's late, I'm tired from work, and my brain isn't working so good lately! :/
So I'ma zip ze lip for now. And possibry edit this afole too rong.
Edit: Nupe! I had it right. Brain is just fuzzy. Like a caterpillar.
Does this sword look any better?
I tried to clean up some other stuff, too, but I wasn't able to do much on it last night because the Teen Squadron kidnapped me and forced me to have fun playing CoH. It was horrible!
-Pep
I think the new handle looks better, love the pose and love the style. Keep up the good work!
Pep the handle, pomel and blade all look to be at the same angle now. Nicely done.
Okay, I did a little more on hte sketch today. I added the celtic knots(uggh tedium), changed the sword blade near the hilt, and tried to add a background. I haven't done very many backgrounds before, so I hope it came out okay.
My plan is to try to make the clouds as orange as I can from the sun, the sky as white as I can make it while still looking like a sky, and the grass green, so even the background would kinda look like the Irish flag.
How does that sound? Any critiques welcome.
-Pep
derrrr, me dumb.
I forgot to put a link to the revised sketch
and oh yeah, the reason the scabbarb is so small is because of the sword is magical, and can be any size from a dagger to a two handed sword.
Well, I got to fool around in Photoshop Elements some today, and it's gonna take some getting used to. I think I'm starting to figure out some things, but it's just gonna take time and practice I guess.
I tried using the Lasso tool to do some of the inking, but I'm going to have to do some experimenting. Thanks to PMD for pointing out that digital inking tutorial in that other thread.
But instead, I just tried to do it free hand to start so I could get used to the tablet and pen, and using layers. Here's my first attempt at digital inking.
I'm still trying to get the feel for using the pressure of the pen for line thickness, and not being able to rotate the page so I can use my hand at the right angle to get good curves is gonna take some getting used to as well.
Does anybody know what the differences are between regular Photoshop and Photoshop Elements? There was this path tool that I saw to make curves, that I haven't been able to find in PSE. The lasso keeps having to be a closed loop, but I'd like to use the brush option with just a curved line that ends without going back to the beginning. Is this possible?
All in all, I don't think it's too too bad for a first attempt.
Any advice, about how I can improve my inking would be appreciated.
Thanks for your time
-Pep
Yes, use the pen tool, you just click click click your path, then right click and select 'stroke path' and you can simulate pen pressure and such.
Good tutorial at Farlow Studios (google it you'll find it).
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Yes, use the pen tool, you just click click click your path, then right click and select 'stroke path' and you can simulate pen pressure and such.
Good tutorial at Farlow Studios (google it you'll find it).
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I only have Photoshope Elements 3.0 that came with my tablet. It doesn't have a pen tool. Only Pencil, and brushes 
I think I need 5.5 or later to get the vector tool.
Well then... I think perhaps you need to IM me or email me.... >.>
And we'll find something that works!
Well, I had some time today, so I figured I'd be selfish, and actually make a sketch of one of my toons for once. I decided on my BS/SR Irish Lass . Here's the rough sketch .
I still need to add all the celtic knots, and I think this might be my first attempt at coloring with photoshop elements and my tablet.
So, before I go any further, please let me know what you guys think.
Thanks
-Pep