Art Critique + Advice

[Koresh]

I've been trying to get back into drawing, and really have two main issues with my work: dynamic posing, and detail/finishing.

This first one is from quite a while back that I never got around to finishing:
View attachment 911555

This one I actually was able to get the general detail to where I wanted (e.g. no line art) but looking at it now it just looks static and boring, like he's just floating there not really moving - whereas that's obviously not the intent. Looking back the lighting is also kinda flat and uninteresting but that at least is an issue I know how to solve.

Here's another more recent one that sorta suffers from the same problem - the only way I know how to pose people is vaguely floating in midair, looking off into space. But with this one I had a lot of trouble trying to get rid of the lineart, so ultimately I just called it quits and made some areas extra dark as a "stylistic choice". I'm still not quite happy with my coloring style, zoom in any degree and it's very obviously rough. Though it's a far cry from my earlier stuff where I'd just roughly hatch it and call it a day.
View attachment 911558

Long story short... any tips/guides for more dynamic character posing, and more "realistic" coloring? Tips on quick-and-dirty backgrounds would also be appreciated.

You have a great eye for color and stylistic compositions, but I can see what you mean with the stiffness. To me, it seems like you have a solid grasp on structure, which is exactly where you need to be when you start tackling dynamics and energy.

The biggest thing making your images stiff is the aggressive adherence to rigid structures. The lines forming the bodies are all straight and at angles. It's not accurate to the actual structure, rather, it's what happens when you follow your brain's idea of what something should look like, as opposed to how it actually looks. The places this is most evident is areas that should be foreshortened, like the woman (Elizabeth from bioshock?)'s arm closest to the camera and much of your robot's body. It makes the image look much flatter and stiffer. Energy comes from curves and exaggeration and foreshortening and exaggerating curves is the way to achieve this. The woman who taught me the most about art always told us that you should draw curves twice as curved as you think it should be. This is to compensate for trying to show 3d energy and shape in a 2d medium.

How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way is a great resource on how to foreshorten and make dynamic energetic poses. A good practice is turning on a movie or sports and then drawing the people on-screen without pausing. Gesture drawings are also a good way of teaching flow, there's online figure drawing resources for that, but honestly doing it from a moving video and real life will help you learn faster and more, like how joints move, how the body interacts, how muscle and skin look in action, etc.

Sorry, I know this isn't a good guideline, but learning flow and foreshortening is based on fundamental ingrained full understanding of bodies and that's something that just comes with practice and observation.

 

[Gar For Archer]

You have a great eye for color and stylistic compositions, but I can see what you mean with the stiffness. To me, it seems like you have a solid grasp on structure, which is exactly where you need to be when you start tackling dynamics and energy.

The biggest thing making your images stiff is the aggressive adherence to rigid structures. The lines forming the bodies are all straight and at angles. It's not accurate to the actual structure, rather, it's what happens when you follow your brain's idea of what something should look like, as opposed to how it actually looks. The places this is most evident is areas that should be foreshortened, like the woman (Elizabeth from bioshock?)'s arm closest to the camera and much of your robot's body. It makes the image look much flatter and stiffer. Energy comes from curves and exaggeration and foreshortening and exaggerating curves is the way to achieve this. The woman who taught me the most about art always told us that you should draw curves twice as curved as you think it should be. This is to compensate for trying to show 3d energy and shape in a 2d medium.

How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way is a great resource on how to foreshorten and make dynamic energetic poses. A good practice is turning on a movie or sports and then drawing the people on-screen without pausing. Gesture drawings are also a good way of teaching flow, there's online figure drawing resources for that, but honestly doing it from a moving video and real life will help you learn faster and more, like how joints move, how the body interacts, how muscle and skin look in action, etc.

Sorry, I know this isn't a good guideline, but learning flow and foreshortening is based on fundamental ingrained full understanding of bodies and that's something that just comes with practice and observation.

Thanks - this gives a specific idea of what I need to focus on to improve, and honestly that’s enough for now. I’m aware of foreshortening as a concept but always thought it had more to do with perspective than anything else, but yeah, the lack of it just makes makes my drawings look flat and lifeless.

Great tip to just copy frames from movies - I’m usually at a loss for what to use for reference material and that’s a really good one.

 

[Talthe]

This isn't finished by a long shot, but I could use some feedback on this piece.

I'm trying a different style of shading which uses mostly the lineart itself to convey the textures. Lots of thick shading.

There will likely be added textures, gradients, and some painterly shading to go over the larger areas like on the head, but this should give you an idea of what I'm going for.

 

[WoodlumHax]

This isn't finished by a long shot, but I could use some feedback on this piece.

I'm trying a different style of shading which uses mostly the lineart itself to convey the textures. Lots of thick shading.

There will likely be added textures, gradients, and some painterly shading to go over the larger areas like on the head, but this should give you an idea of what I'm going for.

View attachment 914631

Love this!! It somewhat reminds me of the Bone comics I read as a kid. Overall I think the coloring looks great, you got a lot of mileage out of the short color spectrum you chose and it makes everything work really well together. I do think the focus of the shading on the head not being really distributed to the rest of the body makes it stick out, but it's still a wip after all so keep going!! Please post it again when it's done, I'd love to see how it turns out.

 

[Talthe]

Love this!! It somewhat reminds me of the Bone comics I read as a kid. Overall I think the coloring looks great, you got a lot of mileage out of the short color spectrum you chose and it makes everything work really well together. I do think the focus of the shading on the head not being really distributed to the rest of the body makes it stick out, but it's still a wip after all so keep going!! Please post it again when it's done, I'd love to see how it turns out.

Yes it's a WIP and I plan to go over the whole body. my goal is to use different but complementary shading techniques based on whatever texture I'm shading. So the tail will likely have a lot of stippling and rough texture using the black lineart while the clothes I might rely a bit more on textures while also adding dark shading for prominent folds. I'll also be adding more painterly shading (not a huge focus because the lineart is where I'm trying to convey most of the harsh shadows) and some gradients to give it a bit more pop.

When I'm doing the backgrounds, I'm wanting the characters and foregrounds to use a lot of shark dark shading and detail, but look a bit more washed out the further into the background you get. I'm also considering doing some kind of slight drop shadow effect on the characters to aid in that pop, but I'll have to see how it all looks when it's put together.

Edit: I'm actually using Mouse Guard as a reference for my lineart and shading, but I can see what you mean with Bone. I think if you look at Mouse Guard you'll see the inspiration, especially with the ears' shading and the more detailed hands and feet.


My only regret with his feet is that I know where it's going to lead if I actually finish the book and get an audience...

C'est la vie

 

[Koresh]

This isn't finished by a long shot, but I could use some feedback on this piece.

I'm trying a different style of shading which uses mostly the lineart itself to convey the textures. Lots of thick shading.

There will likely be added textures, gradients, and some painterly shading to go over the larger areas like on the head, but this should give you an idea of what I'm going for.

View attachment 914631

I agree with WoodlumHax, you did a great job with the colors and the overall structure and anatomy of the piece! There's so much flow and energy and it really looks so fun and imaginative. So far you have a wonderful start with the pen shading, You really express texture and lighting well with it, to the point I'm not even sure if you need any painterly textures beyond it. But it's your piece and it'll be awesome no matter what!

Because it's a WIP I can't tell if you're going to do this, but I think you can extend what you have of the fur texture into the whole head where there'd be notable differences in volume, like their cheek near where their muzzle meets and further up into the neck. It's a bit too early to say much else though, but what you have in the flats and lineart is really awesome!

Your idea on the background with heavy shading is also a really cool idea, it's what a lot of European comic artists who work exclusively in black and white do. Another idea to consider is what Ethan Van Sciver does which is the opposite, in which the foreground will have large areas of white, then as it recedes into the background, he adds a hyper amount of detail to make it darker, and since darker areas are read as receding to the human eye, this pushes them far into the distance. It really depends on what you want though. The European style works if you want the emphasis to include the background, so like a big adventure type feel, which is what I'm already getting from this character. Ethan's method is for putting a spotlight on the light areas, so the foreground and the characters, which is fitting for the gritty superhero comics he works in.

Eitherway I'm super excited to see this when it's finished! It looks really stellar so far!

 

[Talthe]

I agree with WoodlumHax, you did a great job with the colors and the overall structure and anatomy of the piece! There's so much flow and energy and it really looks so fun and imaginative. So far you have a wonderful start with the pen shading, You really express texture and lighting well with it, to the point I'm not even sure if you need any painterly textures beyond it. But it's your piece and it'll be awesome no matter what!

Because it's a WIP I can't tell if you're going to do this, but I think you can extend what you have of the fur texture into the whole head where there'd be notable differences in volume, like their cheek near where their muzzle meets and further up into the neck. It's a bit too early to say much else though, but what you have in the flats and lineart is really awesome!

Your idea on the background with heavy shading is also a really cool idea, it's what a lot of European comic artists who work exclusively in black and white do. Another idea to consider is what Ethan Van Sciver does which is the opposite, in which the foreground will have large areas of white, then as it recedes into the background, he adds a hyper amount of detail to make it darker, and since darker areas are read as receding to the human eye, this pushes them far into the distance. It really depends on what you want though. The European style works if you want the emphasis to include the background, so like a big adventure type feel, which is what I'm already getting from this character. Ethan's method is for putting a spotlight on the light areas, so the foreground and the characters, which is fitting for the gritty superhero comics he works in.

Eitherway I'm super excited to see this when it's finished! It looks really stellar so far!

Yeah, the painterly thing is something I'm saving for when I'm done with the pen shading. Gonna do a little experimenting and see what works.

Yeah, I'm sort of taking the piece bit by bit and once I get the pen shading finished, I'll go back and add to areas I think might need more attention.

I'm going for a more storybook style, less comic (I do that too tho with my actual comics) so I think Ethan's method wouldn't look as good. That washed out feel I think would be better suited for a vintagey looking storybook style.

 

[YourMommasBackstory]

long ass post

Thank you! its really helpful to get detailed feedback.
Hands and legs were always my pain, i knew theres somenthing wrong with them.

 

[Talthe]

Trying to add in more pen shading, how is this looking so far? Trying to blend it in with the texture of the fur to make it feel more natural.

 

[Koresh]

Trying to add in more pen shading, how is this looking so far? Trying to blend it in with the texture of the fur to make it feel more natural.

View attachment 916029

It's looking really great! Two things that I think might need some adjustment are the shadow cast by his coat and the fur between his legs. The fur between his legs is a more minor thing, but I'd tone down the shading you've got going on there since it's more concetrated there than anywhere else which makes it look a bit more ragged, and since they all spike directly down and aren't curved, it makes it look a bit wet which is unfortunate considering the location.

The coat shadow, I think it's worth going back in and adding curves and variation in it to reflect the curve of his body. When shadows interact with a curved surface. They aren't a straight line, they curve with the object. The abrupt straightness of it is really jarring with the curves of the rest of the piece.

Overall great progress!

 

[Talthe]

I've decided I'm done with it lol

I'm tired of pulling out my hair, and I think it's fine as it is but would love some feedback for future pieces using this style.

 

[Koresh]

I've decided I'm done with it lol

I'm tired of pulling out my hair, and I think it's fine as it is but would love some feedback for future pieces using this style.

View attachment 918057

It looks awesome! Definitely straight out of a storybook or an artbook for an old point 'n click game. You did a fantastic job with the different textures and the shading!

There's only two issues I can really see and one is that the shading on the head doesn't match the rest of the body, even the legs. The shading on the head is much more minimal and less detailed, so it looks less gritty and more fantastical and cartoony. The shading on the body and clothes looks straight out of Darkest Dungeon, a lot because of the different strokes and techniques from the shading on the head. The shading on the legs is an in-between of the two. It's not really a big issue and it's one that will naturally get remedied as you get used to shading this way and find your own niche.

The other is that the shading on the clothes isn't interacting with a light source. The shadows there are well done, but there's not a light source that would correspond with the location of them. Like the shadows on the arm closest to the camera look like they'd be cast from something in front of the figure but angled towards audience left/stage right, so not directly in front. But when I look at the shadows on the other arm, those would be cast from something directly centered in front of the figure. The shadows on the coat are hard to read exactly where the light is coming from since they seem to be directly along the line art, which is something called pillow shading and definitely something to avoid. The only way line art should interact with lighting is thickness/thinness of line art. Line art shouldn't be casting shadows, which is what looks like is happening. The lighting is almost right, so I think next time you try this shading, you'll definitely nail it.

 

[Talthe]

It looks awesome! Definitely straight out of a storybook or an artbook for an old point 'n click game. You did a fantastic job with the different textures and the shading!

There's only two issues I can really see and one is that the shading on the head doesn't match the rest of the body, even the legs. The shading on the head is much more minimal and less detailed, so it looks less gritty and more fantastical and cartoony. The shading on the body and clothes looks straight out of Darkest Dungeon, a lot because of the different strokes and techniques from the shading on the head. The shading on the legs is an in-between of the two. It's not really a big issue and it's one that will naturally get remedied as you get used to shading this way and find your own niche.

The other is that the shading on the clothes isn't interacting with a light source. The shadows there are well done, but there's not a light source that would correspond with the location of them. Like the shadows on the arm closest to the camera look like they'd be cast from something in front of the figure but angled towards audience left/stage right, so not directly in front. But when I look at the shadows on the other arm, those would be cast from something directly centered in front of the figure. The shadows on the coat are hard to read exactly where the light is coming from since they seem to be directly along the line art, which is something called pillow shading and definitely something to avoid. The only way line art should interact with lighting is thickness/thinness of line art. Line art shouldn't be casting shadows, which is what looks like is happening. The lighting is almost right, so I think next time you try this shading, you'll definitely nail it.

Yeah I definitely agree with most of this.

With the head and legs, those were the parts I did first when it comes to the pen shading. The head being first and the legs being second. So I think the further I went on, the thicker and darker I got with my pen strokes. Also I learned a new technique as I was working on the legs that made everything look much nicer. I didn't use that technique on the head so it makes sense as to why those look so different. I'll be sure to use that technique throughout the whole piece next time.

As for the light source, yes that's something I struggle with which is part of the reason I like the style I'm going with. I still struggle with it though and will be working to improve on that.

Thanks for the feedback! It'll definitely help for the final product.

 

[Jmz_33]

I saw this drawing that someone posted, and for what ever reason, something felt off about it.

I decided I wanted to try out the red line thing that some artists do so I could figure out what was wrong with, (this is my first time doing one of these)

Spoiler: Knees?

I’m not sure if I did this right, but I know their is something off about those knees.

 

[Koresh]

I saw this drawing that someone posted, and for what ever reason, something felt off about it.

View attachment 918690

I decided I wanted to try out the red line thing that some artists do so I could figure out what was wrong with, (this is my first time doing one of these)

Spoiler: Knees?

View attachment 918693

I’m not sure if I did this right, but I know their is something off about those knees.

You did it right! You're absolutely correct, either low knees or a longass torso. Also they're not very skilled in foreshortening. Probably what happened with the knees is that they had the canvas set up then drew the rest of the body too big so that they had to squish the knees into there to make them fit. I used to have this old drawing saved from some tumblrite where it was classical style gay porn except that exact thing happened and their legs were tiny compared to their giant muscled Adonis torsos.

 

[Koresh]

oops double post pls forgive me

I am slightly inebriated right now, so I finally have the confidence to out myself as the shitty drawer I am.

These aren't meant to be finished fully rendered stand alone drawings or paintings or anything. This is just to get the style down for a comic so this would be the style used on panels.

Spoiler: many pics many words mild nsfw

I'm looking for a style critique/evaluation because all my peer critiques go like dogshit and my peers give me shit marks when I present anything done in my own personal style, but art students are fucking useless so all I get is "It's ugly," or "just draw like this" insert a shitty tumblr drawing or disney princess drawing or anime waifu here or the occasional "this isn't even worth looking at." I always get full marks or near full marks on my faculty critiques though and when I ask a professor on what I can do to make the peer reviews go better, they tell me to ignore my peers and just keep on trucking. But I am a petty attention whore and long for the approval of my peers. Also I foolishly trust the Farms to be more honest than my professors and that you guys will tell me if my art is dogshit or passable.

These are all pieces I did inbetween my commissions and official project over the past week, well, except for the last two. They're not super polished, I just did them for fun. The last two are from earlier this month and I posted them in the other art thread. They're all based on a narrative project I finished a couple months ago that I spent half a year working on so I got pretty attached to it. The gag is that it's all American cults thrown in a blender, so yeah, I'm aware it's over the top, but that's part of the joke.

Sorry for the long explanation, the liquid courage isn't enough to hide that I'm a fucking pussy when it comes to showing my stuff.

Spoiler: shitty art

I can't wait to regret this in the morning.

 

[︈︈︈]

-snip-

As far as style goes, I don't think this is too bad. In my opinion, you could improve on the line details and shading. You seem to use mostly shading to express shadows on just the clothes, but at the same time you only show shadows on anatomy and muscles using lines. I'd suggest switching those two or at least using line for both, especially because folds on clothing tend to be more pronounced than musculature. The clothing looks pillow-shaded, especially that first picture. This pillow shading happens when you shade based on what is receded/further away/beside other objects rather than based on where the light for the shadow is coming from.

Spoiler: Where is the light source for this skirt

^ I'm not going to rag on the first picture too much because I feel as though it's older compared to your other art.

Lines also seem to be thicker or placed kind of randomly in places, like chickenscratch. That sort of line texture can be a valid artistic choice, but the line thickness needs to be used carefully. I'm sure most people on this thread are aware that thicker lines can indicate closeness to the camera or a larger size of object, but they also can indicate darkness- eg. when you draw an eye, the thicker lines are where the darker areas of the eye are.

Spoiler: Muscle

^ The lighting on these sorts of pictures isn't always good, because they're deliberately set up to exaggerate and contour the musculature. Either way though, the line on yours makes the pecs look smushed together. Collarbones on this seem too thickly lined too.

I kinda get what you're trying to do with the middle lines here, but I think lighter is better in this case as well.

I don't always have the most correct of opinions, so try different things and see what works. Other than that... work on anatomy and studies, I guess. I think more knowledge of anatomy forms can only help when it comes to art.

Out of curiosity, is the art course you're taking just generic or does it have a specific field, like illustration?

 

[Koresh]

As far as style goes, I don't think this is too bad. In my opinion, you could improve on the line details and shading. You seem to use mostly shading to express shadows on just the clothes, but at the same time you only show shadows on anatomy and muscles using lines. I'd suggest switching those two or at least using line for both, especially because folds on clothing tend to be more pronounced than musculature. The clothing looks pillow-shaded, especially that first picture. This pillow shading happens when you shade based on what is receded/further away/beside other objects rather than based on where the light for the shadow is coming from.

Spoiler: Where is the light source for this skirt

View attachment 925985
^ I'm not going to rag on the first picture too much because I feel as though it's older compared to your other art.

Lines also seem to be thicker or placed kind of randomly in places, like chickenscratch. That sort of line texture can be a valid artistic choice, but the line thickness needs to be used carefully. I'm sure most people on this thread are aware that thicker lines can indicate closeness to the camera or a larger size of object, but they also can indicate darkness- eg. when you draw an eye, the thicker lines are where the darker areas of the eye are.

Spoiler: Muscle

View attachment 925997

View attachment 925998

^ The lighting on these sorts of pictures isn't always good, because they're deliberately set up to exaggerate and contour the musculature. Either way though, the line on yours makes the pecs look smushed together. Collarbones on this seem too thickly lined too.

View attachment 926000

I kinda get what you're trying to do with the middle lines here, but I think lighter is better in this case as well.

I don't always have the most correct of opinions, so try different things and see what works. Other than that... work on anatomy and studies, I guess. I think more knowledge of anatomy forms can only help when it comes to art.

Out of curiosity, is the art course you're taking just generic or does it have a specific field, like illustration?

Thank you for the response, I appreciate you taking the time.

These pieces were all done last week and I spent a few hours top on each, so that's why the quality really varies. I'd realize I spent three hours on a drawing no one cared about when I should have been drawing something I was paid to draw, then rush it to a finish lol I've only ever been trained in realism and I only get paid to do realism or copy other styles so when it comes to my own stuff, I'm running blind.

I've taken general classes and a class devoted to narrative art like comics and sequences. The college I was at the time though wasn't the best and I'm transferring now, so I want to get better before I get thrown into the deep end.

 

[Talthe]

Here's something fresh, this is for one of my comics! The most recent chapter I'm working on and we're going though a total shift in art direction.

This comic is mobile format which means it's designed to be read through a scrolling device like a phone or ipad which is why the page is so long. You won't be able to make out a lot of the detail in this zoomed out example, but it will be easily readable when it's actually posted. I'll include some close up shots to get a better view.

And some closeup shots!

I'm very excited for this chapter. Give me your thoughts on the art direction.

 

[Puddleduck]

Is there a way to make the ink lines on a scanned drawing thinner? I have GIMP but not Photoshop