City of Heroes: Live Forum Archive

Unstable's Art - Critiques Welcome

Dark Ether

By Dark Ether,
Posted on: 2008-06-03 10:13 in Multi-Media Fan Creations

 

Posted

So... I finally drew something that I wanted to draw and was actually happy with the result. And now my DA page actually has something on it. I know the right hand and arm and shoulder are wonky, but it's a hell of a lot better than the crap I drew back in high school. Anyway, it's my villain on Guardian in her newest costume:

Gwenadyne

Feel free to critique and point out all the flaws I don't see (even though I think I see all of them, there's more stuff I see wrong with it that I just didn't want to mention heh).

edit: changed title

@Johnstone & @Johnstone 2
ediblePoly.com
All my characters

 

Posted

The main thing I noticed was the right arm - the forearm, specifically, is a bit short and thick, comparing to the other arm.

Nevertheless, keep up the good work - you'll only improve the more you do it.

My Deviant Art page link-link

CoH/V Fan Videos

 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
The main thing I noticed was the right arm - the forearm, specifically, is a bit short and thick, comparing to the other arm.

Nevertheless, keep up the good work - you'll only improve the more you do it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, I was trying to make it so that it looked like the right arm was angled back a bit as if she was about to launch some fire but then, yeah, I made it too thick and it just looks weird. All my high school stuff was pretty much flat so I'm trying to work on more action shots and such now and it's tough. Anyway, thanks for the kind words.

Edit: I played around a bit with it digitally and updated it.

@Johnstone & @Johnstone 2
ediblePoly.com
All my characters

 

Posted

I think this is great

 

Posted

That small work to improve the arm worked well. The arm looks more like it's drawn back rather than flat and pointing straight up and looking off.

@Hericane @Hericane2
MA Arcs - #67636, #92202
deviantart page
Slag Heap: Why you hurt Guardian!? Guardian no hurt you!

 

Posted

That's a really great start. Of course the only way you'll improve is to challenge yourself daily. That what many of the artists who are regulars do. Specifically Lady Judgment and Juggertha have really upped their game by constantly challenging themselves and drawing every day.

Good luck and keep banging at it. You clearly have a good eye.

 

Posted

Thank you all for the kind words and encouragement. I spent the last couple hours working on it in PSP and wound up with this. I like how it turned out even though I'm not anywhere near the best at digital coloring.

Anyway, you'll likely see a lot more stuff from me in the future. I hadn't been drawing at all for a long time but I'm being forced to draw (stuff that I don't want to, like bottles and fruit and buildings; I can draw those things fine, it's people I need to learn how to do right!) so if I'm drawing I may as well devote some of my drawing time to things I want to draw, right? I think so.

@Johnstone & @Johnstone 2
ediblePoly.com
All my characters

 

Posted

Greatly improved - nice!

The only other thing I can think of would be to resize the right hand a bit - it and the fingers on the right hand seem a bit large compared to the other hand.

Keep up the good work!!

My Deviant Art page link-link

CoH/V Fan Videos

 

Posted

What Darkether said. Also, I noticed her right elbow is smaller than her wrist, just a point you may want to watch out for next time. A fantastic start though! It looks great

 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
What Darkether said. Also, I noticed her right elbow is smaller than her wrist, just a point you may want to watch out for next time. A fantastic start though! It looks great

[/ QUOTE ]

The wrist/elbow thing happened when I lengthened the arm. I rotated it a little bit to get it to sort of line up and then edited it. I was just looking at the paper version and the arm is short and a bit fat, but the wrist is thinner on it. I guess I messed it up by fixing it >.> Oh well. I'm still happy with it considering I haven't really drawn people in about 5 years, and previously it was very bland poses. Also, I drew it with no reference in front of me so, again lol, pretty satisfied with it.

And again, I wanna make sure I say it, thank you all for the kind words. You guys and my 100+ alts are providing plenty of inspiration and motivation to keep drawing (which is a good thing since I'm gonna have to get a portfolio of suitable work together to get into the major I wanna get into, kinda hard to do if I don't feel like drawing).

@Johnstone & @Johnstone 2
ediblePoly.com
All my characters

 

Posted

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What everyone else has said in reference to challenging yourself is key to improving.
What has also helped me out a lot is getting my ego out of the way and doing whats best for the art.
Thats something I have to get beyond daily - at it can require you to throw stuff out that *you* really like but is inevitably holding the piece up.
Ive wasted days trying to make something work that wasnt supposed to.

Photo reference will help you more then you can imagine, especially ( I hate to say this) pornography ( the clean stuff) and sports photos.

Photos show you how weight is distributed through the limbs and also attaining accurate flesh tones.

Also drawing space and shape rather than "hand" or "face" will guide you to be less concerned about showing everything and more concerned with capturing life.

I hope this helps - best of luck.

 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
Photo reference will help you more then you can imagine, especially ( I hate to say this) pornography ( the clean stuff)...

[/ QUOTE ]

There is much truth to the above statement. Playboy helped me tremendously while I was in my figure drawing classes in college.

You've made some awesome progress over the last day unstable...keep practicing and keep up the good work!

 

Posted

Wow. The torso from just below the collarbone down through the lower hips is incredible. The subtle twist and contortion of the waist combined with a supple rounded female thigh is super-believable.

The arms to the shoulder, the legs from the feet to the knees, and the head seem flatter and less-realized in comparison. The effect is almost like a classic Escher print where 2-d animals start pulling out of a page into a full 3-d form. The result here gives a bit of a chuckle, but even though it's obviously not perfect, it is very appealing and the potential for your future improvement is somewhat exciting.

More practice! I want to see more.

 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
Wow. The torso from just below the collarbone down through the lower hips is incredible. The subtle twist and contortion of the waist combined with a supple rounded female thigh is super-believable.

The arms to the shoulder, the legs from the feet to the knees, and the head seem flatter and less-realized in comparison. The effect is almost like a classic Escher print where 2-d animals start pulling out of a page into a full 3-d form. The result here gives a bit of a chuckle, but even though it's obviously not perfect, it is very appealing and the potential for your future improvement is somewhat exciting.

More practice! I want to see more.

[/ QUOTE ]

The torso was what I was happiest with, glad it really does look good and it's not just in my eyes.

I think I figured out how things should change with the shoulders. I made them up too high and it makes it look weird. Heads, yeah, I'm not good at making believable heads/faces yet. The legs, I was happy with her right one, but yeah the left is a bit flat.

And as for more practice, tried my hand at a guy today. Here's a pencil sketch of my new brute on Guardian Bloody Knuckles. As it says in my comment, I'm planning on inking it and then scanning it again to color it digitally. Maybe I should wait to get a critique to ink it so I can change anything that looks terrible (and is within my current skill, I know the face isn't great but it's as good is it's gonna get after being redrawn 20 times).

Oh, yes, and thank you goldbricker for the insight on the other piece. Much appreciated.

edit: changed the subject >.>

@Johnstone & @Johnstone 2
ediblePoly.com
All my characters

 

Posted

I used muscle magazines to help me. You are almost 100% sure to find some pose that fits your liking and you also get the plus of seeing how muscles work and look.