Teaching Myself To Draw - Little Zoe Line Art
By
Blood_Wolffe,
Posted on: 2008-07-09 11:25 in Multi-Media Fan Creations
wow that really good
<<till working on it :P
Volt Sentinel Reference
Thunder is good, thunder is impressive, but lightning does the work.
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Okay... so this is the second drawing I've put up here, and I think I'm making some progress. Obviously it's cartoonish, and I don't have any colors (or all the details) to it, yet, but It's coming. At this rate, I'll be passable as an artist by the time I'm 50. 
Anyway... here it is - and open for critique - Little Zoe in line art.
Thanks for taking a look!
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Even as a sketch, thats great details on the eyes.
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At this rate, I'll be passable as an artist by the time I'm 50.
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better late than never! 
those eyes are well done, they stand out very well
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Great job for "learning" how to draw. Looks like you're a natural at it, she's quite impressive.
Like others have pointed out the eyes are very well done.
Very clean and nice, I loves me some clean lines! I like her eyes too.
Busting heads since 1938
Character references * My DeviantArt gallery * I am an altoholic
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Anyway... here it is - and open for critique - Little Zoe in line art.
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Even as a sketch, thats great details on the eyes.
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Hmm... Spidey-sense tingling...
First of all, it is a nice piece. Sort of an anime daintiness that's quite appealing.
But... Something's confusing me...
I get the feeling I'm being deceived a bit here. Or maybe I'm just being overly paranoid.
Question: are you really a newbie artist? Your preamble sort of makes it easy to jump to the conclusion that you're just starting out. But maybe you only mean you're new to posting here, and really you have significant practice with art. The quality of the anatomical proportions and the pen strokes in the piece definitely suggests you've got a leg up on drawing.
Question: are you really trying for an anime style? The eye is huge in proportion to most other anatomical details (especially the mouth). That's common to anime pieces but maybe you are a newbie artist and weren't sure what you were doing.
Question: was this done with a freehand technique, or were you tracing over top of another piece? (First it's important to say that tracing is good practice for an artist for many reasons.) Much of the quirks of the outer lines (like the v-shaped points at the bottom of the cape) almost look like they're compensating for details that would have conveniently fit within the boundaries (like flowing cape folds). It seems strange that there's so much nice detail work in the eye but the technical detail in everything else is almost nonexistent. If I were to unrestrain my natural paranoia, it might suggest an explanation that the general body was done in one very-simplistic style (such as an outline trace) and the eye was done separately and with a very different technique, (possibly even a graphic editor copy-paste from another piece). Being good with multiple diverse techniques like this is another point that runs counter to the idea that the artist is new to this kind of art.
Ok, by now I'm scared I might have given too much of an impression that I'm being accusatory of something untoward. Hopefully I'm trying to only say that I'm confused about what you're trying to achieve with this piece, and thus I don't know how to judge what you put into this piece.
And my wild theorizing could be entirely wrong, in which case I apologize.
But, if I don't let myself think about it too much, it is indeed a nice piece.
I also have to ask if you are new to drawing or new to the boards.
As far as critique, if you flipped the eye upside down it would be perfect I think. I actually flipped my laptop over to make sure. I think I am right. Also, the neck goes forward, not back. I'm not as firm on that one though.
^_^b its a great start hun, I am abit curious about what your goals are as a artist, Whether you are just testing the water or looking to do it as a serious hobby or otherwise. I would suggest you go out and find pictures of people and draw them from in magazines or on the internet. Deviant arts photography sections are a great place to find references for things you need to work on.
Just keep on praticing and have fun!
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Oooh... thanks for the comments, all!
Let's see... from goldbricker:
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Question: are you really a newbie artist? Your preamble sort of makes it easy to jump to the conclusion that you're just starting out. But maybe you only mean you're new to posting here, and really you have significant practice with art. The quality of the anatomical proportions and the pen strokes in the piece definitely suggests you've got a leg up on drawing.
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My apologies... I've never meant to leave the impression that I've never drawn before. When I was younger, I used to doodle quite a bit, and occasionally I pick up a pencil and try again, but mostly I'm met with disappointment in what I am doing. So no, I'm not "new" to drawing, as in "just picked up a pen for the first time". But I'm not a regularly practiced artist, either, especially when you consider that my doodling days ended when I was in Junior High, some 22 years ago.
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Question: are you really trying for an anime style? The eye is huge in proportion to most other anatomical details (especially the mouth). That's common to anime pieces but maybe you are a newbie artist and weren't sure what you were doing.
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Yeah... the piece was pseudo-anime-ish. It seemed to me an easier style to work on, though perhaps I should work on something mroe realistic first, then develop my own style after forming a solid skill base...?
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Question: was this done with a freehand technique, or were you tracing over top of another piece? (First it's important to say that tracing is good practice for an artist for many reasons.) Much of the quirks of the outer lines (like the v-shaped points at the bottom of the cape) almost look like they're compensating for details that would have conveniently fit within the boundaries (like flowing cape folds). It seems strange that there's so much nice detail work in the eye but the technical detail in everything else is almost nonexistent.
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This was done freehand, in pencil, then inked with a cheap felt-tip micro-point pen, then scanned in. Here's what it looked like before I smoothed it over in Photoshop. I know... not pretty. As you can see, I removed the Z from her chest and shifted the far bun in her hair back a little from the original. As far as the shape of the cape goes, if you've seen the special edition cape you get with the DVD version of City of Heroes (back in 2005 or 06), you'll find it has the staggered points like that. You can see it on a screenshot of Zoe here.
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If I were to unrestrain my natural paranoia, it might suggest an explanation that the general body was done in one very-simplistic style (such as an outline trace) and the eye was done separately and with a very different technique, (possibly even a graphic editor copy-paste from another piece). Being good with multiple diverse techniques like this is another point that runs counter to the idea that the artist is new to this kind of art.
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Go ahead and restrain your natural paranoia. *grins* The whole thing was done freehand, by me, detain or no - though I will admit to having some inspiration from a piece I saw recently at DA, which might explain the detail in the eye, as that's the one place I've always considered a "problem area" for me, and where I spent a reasonable amount of time making it look right. (No, I didn't trace it or manipulate it or do anything to it except look at it and get some ideas).
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Ok, by now I'm scared I might have given too much of an impression that I'm being accusatory of something untoward. Hopefully I'm trying to only say that I'm confused about what you're trying to achieve with this piece, and thus I don't know how to judge what you put into this piece.
And my wild theorizing could be entirely wrong, in which case I apologize.
But, if I don't let myself think about it too much, it is indeed a nice piece.
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Don't worry about it... after all, I put it here looking for critique, right? And how can you critique the art without critiquing the artist? No harm, no foul.
And from Blood_Wolffe
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I also have to ask if you are new to drawing or new to the boards.
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See above! *grins*
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As far as critique, if you flipped the eye upside down it would be perfect I think. I actually flipped my laptop over to make sure. I think I am right. Also, the neck goes forward, not back. I'm not as firm on that one though.
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Okay... neck back and flip the eye. I take it that's because of the lashes?
Where do we go from here?
Okay... so this is the second drawing I've put up here, and I think I'm making some progress. Obviously it's cartoonish, and I don't have any colors (or all the details) to it, yet, but It's coming. At this rate, I'll be passable as an artist by the time I'm 50.
Anyway... here it is - and open for critique - Little Zoe in line art.
Thanks for taking a look!