- Joined
- Apr 28, 2018
Any advice on these?
Art Critique + Advice
- Thread starter Koresh
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kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Oct 18, 2017
For the first one, I like that strong silhouette. Cartoony, clear pose, decent design. Dunno what animal it's supposed to be though.
First thing that bugs me about it is that collar. It doesn't really wrap around the form properly.
I get that it's lifted by the arm, but I still don't think it would look quite like that.
For a few other things... I think if he's looking at the viewer, his face might look better turned to more of a 3/4 view instead of having just the eye facing to the screen. The head could also use more form, it looks especially flat towards the top.
- Joined
- Jun 17, 2018
Just an immediate impression on the first one... when I squint, all I can see is a greenish brown blur with some bits of red poking out. I'd change out the background to make the character stand out more. You could make it a brighter color (yellow maybe?), just flat white with maybe a shadow near the feet, I dunno... anything you like that would make the main figure stand out a bit more. I'm going to assume the drab color palette is an intentional choice - I think he's supposed to be a combat engineer or something? But even with an intentionally muted palette I think a bit of color depth here would help. Right now your shading consists of base color => solid white, which makes him look simultaneously dull (from the coloration) and weirdly shiny from the extreme highlights. I think you should go for a wider range of colors - maybe throw in some reddish-brown for shading and yellows for highlights.
The perspective on the left (our left) foot is a bit off - the toes should be angled downwards a little bit, because the side of the foot suggests an angle while the toes are a sort-of head-on view. I'd also add the suggestion of an eyeball on the other side of the head, because with the angle the head's at he REALLY looks like a cyclops. Also, I think the left hand looks a bit flat. I suggest making the base of the fingers overlap just a little bit, to give it a bit of dimension.
- Joined
- Apr 28, 2018
Wow thank you so much! I’m glad I’ve asked you guys because I loved looking at my art, but something was slightly off. Thank you so much!
- Joined
- Sep 10, 2013
I need some help with title-ing this piece I did for a wildlife clinic's upcoming fundraiser. "The Hunter" is my best idea but it sounds more active while the painting is more of a calm and watchful moment.
- Joined
- Sep 10, 2019
Question: at What quality is it acceptable to post something online? I'm a beginner artist and i dont often share most pieces i do to the wider public partially because they vary too much in quality imo.
- Joined
- Jun 18, 2019
Just do it my dude. No matter how shit it is, someone will love it, and no matter how awesome it is, someone will hate it. If you're not happy with a piece, then maybe don't if you're a person who gets insecure about what others think. But if it's a piece you're happy with even if you know it's logically shit, then share it because chances are you'll make another person happy when they see it. Don't give a shit what other people or artfags, especially artfags think. Personally seeing people share stuff in general makes me happy. Even if it looks like dogshit, it makes me happy to see that someone had the confidence to post it and that they had fun doing it. If it looks awesome, then even better.
- Joined
- Sep 10, 2019
thanks ill keep that in mind
- Joined
- Mar 22, 2019
We Didn't Start the Fire
Btw, the front claws on the right foot disappear into the void. The proportions suggest they can 'wrap' around that part of the branch.
Example:
- Joined
- Sep 10, 2019
Any thoughts on what I can do to improve the robo beans when I do them next time?
- Joined
- Jun 18, 2019
I'm assuming these are torso studies? It's a bit hard to say just based off of these, but here's a good resource that everyone sucks the cock of (rightfully so)
Personally doing stuff like drawing shapes like this didn't help me learn bodies because while I did figure out the proportions of them and general shape, when it came to how they moved it didn't help at all. What helped the most was just watching athletes in action and doing quick gestures and studies of them in motion because that shows you how energy flows, the range and limitation of joints, how each muscle interacts, how weight is balanced, etc. I think that'll help a lot here because a lot of the movement you do show wouldn't apply to humans unless you were doing something pretty stylized.
Unless these aren't torso studies then oops im a dumbass
- Joined
- Sep 10, 2019
Right now I'm just trying to get a general idea of The torso from what I've learned from proko's video of the robo bean as Im trying to get the basic gist of the figure down before I go on to learn the anatomy
- Joined
- Nov 17, 2016
Is this the thread for this? Alright.
I decided I want to learn how to draw.
It's a skill I've coveted for years of my sketches looking like absolute hell shit, all the way back to 5th grade when I was teased because my character's head didn't have a neck to stay connected to his body. My stick figures are out of proportion. My ovals look like jellybeans. I'm told I can write okay, and that's fine, but my ultimate goal is to transfer fiction to a visual medium.
I assembled a playlist of what some article told me are the two best teachers on YouTube, Jazza and Proko. Over 200 videos to feed off of until I exhaust them. I have set aside Monday nights from 7:30-9 to sitting down with a sketch pad, a notebook, and some pencils and devoting the entire hour and 30 minutes to nothing but learning from them.
Last night was my first self-taught course. I came away with a basic understanding of construction lines, simple body structure, and how to draw a scarf under the face oval that turns into a jaw. I also walked away with some confidence. Jazza in particular is an amazing teacher; his one blanket statement that a nice house is put together with a bunch of junk inside, same goes for lines and shapes that build an artist's six-figure paid drawing, was amazing enough to keep me there.
Today, putting what I learned into practice, some of that confidence is gone. My best face looks like the Howdy Doody puppet crossed with the Deliverance kid, and while I feel l can do a little better than before, I'm looking down and my sketches still look like shit.
Part of me has an insatiable urge to keep practicing and pinpointing the problems in my faces. The other part wants to walk away in disgust.
Someone also recommended me a book, How to Draw What You See by Rudy De Reyna. I just ordered it. Alright, so that was $15 I've put into this. Better stick with it and justify it.
Should I quit while I'm ahead? What else should I do?
I decided I want to learn how to draw.
It's a skill I've coveted for years of my sketches looking like absolute hell shit, all the way back to 5th grade when I was teased because my character's head didn't have a neck to stay connected to his body. My stick figures are out of proportion. My ovals look like jellybeans. I'm told I can write okay, and that's fine, but my ultimate goal is to transfer fiction to a visual medium.
I assembled a playlist of what some article told me are the two best teachers on YouTube, Jazza and Proko. Over 200 videos to feed off of until I exhaust them. I have set aside Monday nights from 7:30-9 to sitting down with a sketch pad, a notebook, and some pencils and devoting the entire hour and 30 minutes to nothing but learning from them.
Last night was my first self-taught course. I came away with a basic understanding of construction lines, simple body structure, and how to draw a scarf under the face oval that turns into a jaw. I also walked away with some confidence. Jazza in particular is an amazing teacher; his one blanket statement that a nice house is put together with a bunch of junk inside, same goes for lines and shapes that build an artist's six-figure paid drawing, was amazing enough to keep me there.
Today, putting what I learned into practice, some of that confidence is gone. My best face looks like the Howdy Doody puppet crossed with the Deliverance kid, and while I feel l can do a little better than before, I'm looking down and my sketches still look like shit.
Part of me has an insatiable urge to keep practicing and pinpointing the problems in my faces. The other part wants to walk away in disgust.
Someone also recommended me a book, How to Draw What You See by Rudy De Reyna. I just ordered it. Alright, so that was $15 I've put into this. Better stick with it and justify it.
Should I quit while I'm ahead? What else should I do?
- Joined
- Jun 18, 2019
Never quit dude. Even if it ends up just being a minor hobby you never show anyone, there's no feeling better than sitting back after finishing a piece and feeling accomplished because it's better than anything you've done before. Here are all of Loomis's books. Read them, they'll give you all the starter info you need. They're fantastic resources and help teach how to break down what you see into something you can easily understand and draw.
Biggest thing that helps is learning how to draw what you see, not what you think you see. This comes from a lot of practice and drawing from observation. Second biggest thing is learning how not to give a shit. 85% of artists are cunts with inferiority complexes who overcompensate by acting like know-it-all faggots. Ignore them.
But overall, have fun. Draw what you want as much as you can. A piece drawn strictly for showing off technicalities will be boring no matter how accurate it is. A piece drawn with love and energy will show that energy.
You will suck at first, that's inevitable. Everyone is shit at first. You don't get behind a wheel and immediately pull Evel Knievel tricks your first time. You'll get better as you practice more.
Keep at it dude! Share some of your work with us when you feel comfortable. I'd love to see them.
- Joined
- Jun 15, 2017
I made a thread here and got some (non-manga, too) book recommendations and pdfs:
I myself am not an artist (not even an aspiring one) and can only offer words of encouragement, as follows:
I studied at a music school for 8 years, starting when I was 6. I learned to play fairly well but could never ever compose a thing. "Pick a poem and set it to music". Instant failure. Mom did those assignments for me, except the one time the teacher sang an example tune and I wrote it down and presented it as my own work the following lesson (the Furies responsible for dramatic irony were on strike that day so I got a humongous A+++).
Fast forward to 2013, when I started marathon cycling. Some marathonners ride listening to mp3 players (a phone won't last). I don't, I hate background music and it's not safe. So I hummed songs and recited poems. When I got bored of the handful of songs I remembered, I started varying the tunes a bit, and when I was struggling to remember the next line of a poem, I came up with some basic tunes to serve as a memory aid. After two seasons, I could instantly come up with a tune for any (decent) poem and re-set an existing song to a new, radically different tune. The Waste Land, Lady of Pain, Chesterton's To EC Bentley, anything. (One day I'll learn arranging and turn this into a marketable skill. Pretty hard to arrange from a bike saddle.)
I am now thoroughly convinced that all talent can be acquired. "Child prodigies" can be manufactured. Composition can be learned. No reason why it shouldn't hold true for visual art.
Go practice.
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kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Oct 18, 2017
If you're a serious artist who is constantly improving and honing their craft... this is going to be a reoccurring theme in your career. There are natural steps where the theory you know will be far ahead of what your current skill level, these end up in 'bumps' where you may feel as though your art is much worse than it really is. Then your ability catches back up to your knowledge and you can start back towards absorbing more theory.
IMO if you can see your faults and know where you need to improve, you're probably on the right path. Save your shit sketches and keep advancing, seeing the improvement is great ego food.
- Joined
- May 29, 2018
It'll take a long time to draw a nice face, fam.
My first advice is to train your hand - you should be able to draw lines, circles and ovals without compass and ruler. There are a lot of videos on youtube on how to achive theat, for me the best one that made for product designers.
Second, learn academics and learn how to draw objects with construction lines. Start with some simple objects you can find on your table, it will greatly improve your understanding of shapes and space. You already started to learn it, as i see, but human body and face are very complex, start with cubes and other simple shapes.
For human anatomy i always recommend Bammes books and atlases. Read the book on a body part you want to learn, do some sketching to understand how it works and what bones and muscles are there. Go to a mirror, try to find all those bones and muscles in your body, see how and why it affects your bodyshape, and then do more sketching.
- Joined
- Sep 10, 2019
Does anyone here know any good books or videos on how to draw from Imagination? I've heard fun with a pencil was a good one to look at but Im curious if theres others out there.
- Joined
- Apr 19, 2019
I've got a bit of a question since people post their digital art here, My Wacom Intuos 4 just died(it's no longer powering on)
Are there better tablet alternatives to wacom out there now? I've have not needed to buy a tablet in years and amazon is loaded with stuff that I fear are garbage because about 10 other items share the same stock image and are called different names. I'm thinking about getting a drawing tablet with a screen this time so I can work with Maya, Mudbox, Zbrush, and Creative Suite more directly.
Are there better tablet alternatives to wacom out there now? I've have not needed to buy a tablet in years and amazon is loaded with stuff that I fear are garbage because about 10 other items share the same stock image and are called different names. I'm thinking about getting a drawing tablet with a screen this time so I can work with Maya, Mudbox, Zbrush, and Creative Suite more directly.
- Joined
- Jun 18, 2019
Any visualization exercise helps. Most books and vids I've found on specifically drawing from your head are pretty useless imo. Just dumb actualization bull. Biggest thing that helps though is just practicing drawing from your head. The more you do it, the clearer your mental image will get.
Honestly it's worth investing the 150 to 250 into a graphics tablet. XP Pen tablets are always on sale during the holiday season and are pretty reliable once you strong arm your computer into working with it. I have an XP Pen artist 12. Only issue is that the wire is super vulnerable and if you don't baby that shit, you'll be dropping about 20 bucks every 3 months to get a replacement. The one I have currently has lasted 6 months because I have a set up where it is impossible to get harmed.