Art WIP, Advice & Critique Thread - spammy sister of art thread

[I AM RETARDED!]

could use any advice/tips regarding faces.
i always struggle with them, especially to make them appealing and to get likeness

View attachment 8951573

I suck at faces too, don't feel bad. I try to use loomis head method to help, I also think using more soft shapes for female and squared shapes for males helps distinguish them. has for placement, I am learning this by using actual people and measuring, I got pretty useful advice from HerbertWest on the "Post your art thread". If you have time, I would read it.

@I AM RETARDED!
I quickly sketched the image and highlighted in red important spots to focus on. This is not universal. They usually vary depending on the source. Finding what’s unique about the face you want to draw is crucial. And finding what’s not is important too. For example when I look at this girl particularly, I notice the dominant arch of her brow, the curving of her full lips, the shape of her eyelids and the shape of her hairline. But the nose is quite unremarkable and can be omitted without loosing the likeness.
When you want to capture someone’s likeness, you really just have to take a good look at their dominant features.
Side note - the position of their pupils is important.
View attachment 8913037

 

[I AM RETARDED!]

looks great man it looks way more realistic than your usual one but i do recomend to draw from life first and then apply your style later. Mostly cause when you draw from reference you learn how things look in way more detail than you mightve thought initially

Ya, that part I am struggling with, I was trying to actually copy what I see but I keep going into that weird style because my brain goes from "what that shape" to I know what windshield should look, I think after getting some sleep and coming back to it I got it more closer to what it looks like.

 

[Logistical Nightmare]

could use any advice/tips regarding faces.
i always struggle with them, especially to make them appealing and to get likeness

View attachment 8951573

I think it really depends on if your aim is realism or stylized. If your art is going to be stylized I think you’re already doing fine with them. If you’re looking to aim for more realism, my go to book recommendation is Constructive Anatomy by George Bridgman (you can find a PDF of it pretty easily if you don’t want to buy it), as it does a good job of breaking down the human body into smaller and better to understand planes.

Either way, figure out the features that your eyes are instantly drawn to and focus on those to start with. Look at different lolcows and decide what one feature you think is undeniable theirs, and try drawing it in your style. (Rackets Nose is a great option)

 

[WE'RE ALL GONNA]

Drawing over some of your guys' work, hope you don't mind.

could use any advice/tips regarding faces.
i always struggle with them, especially to make them appealing and to get likeness

View attachment 8951573

Quick tips that don't require you to look at a book (red marks are my edits):
a) Focus on symmetry, if you flip your image it's much easier to see that (3) the chin is protruding on one side as well as making sure that the bottom part of the eyes (1) line up
b) Look at real life examples in order to make sure your references align with how real muscles work. For a closed lip smile, the mouth is a lot closer to the nose since the smile pushes up the line of the mouth.
c) You need to put a lot of attention to the mouth and eyes for these types of stylized characters, make sure that it "feels" balanced. The lips needed the most attention, sometimes less is more.
You're doing great! I think your fundamentals are there, you should just need focus on refining the shapes.

almost finished with the knight

I really like the smoking knight, very cool. Hope it's in the final. I just wanted to share a suggestion for where the cigarette should be (maybe the smoke too), the one where it's sticking out of his helmet felt like it needed an adjustment. Please feel free to take the idea.

 

[DefinitelyNotMe]

its time for some high level autism
i have started to work on the background

i find it humarous that the bad guys have a neon sign that tell where they are
unfortunately i will have to rework some shading since now theres a light source in close proximity
mostly on the wizard though

I really like the smoking knight, very cool. Hope it's in the final. I just wanted to share a suggestion for where the cigarette should be (maybe the smoke too), the one where it's sticking out of his helmet felt like it needed an adjustment. Please feel free to take the idea.

well its kind of his thing so yeah he will be smoking in the final thing

edit thought i could eyeball it
i cant

 

[Sheep King]

I’m drawing abs Wonder Woman right night. View attachment 8940856
Does any one know any tricks with helping with torso proportions? I can never seem to get the distance between the rib cage and pelvis, right.

I'm late to this but the general rule I follow for body proportions is: hips are halfway to head, the breast (male and female) is about halfway between hips and the head. The navel and clavicle are each another half (so the spacing from clavicle, to breast, to navel, and again to the head of the femur are all about equal).
The elbows should reach to the ribcage, and the hands to the femur.

Obviously it will vary. I find the most natural looking (or just the most aesthetic) way to increase height is to add more length to the bottom half of the ribcage.
source: I go to nude model classes fairly regularly with both male/female of all body types and this is a good starting point.
The best way to learn is to study photos and look for universal landmarks, like the corner of the ribcage (7th rib is most prominent), the crest of the pelvis, the navel, head of the femur, etc.

 

[DefinitelyNotMe]

okay i think im done with all the geometry
i think characters do fit in pretty good but let me know what do you guys think
now for the long and tedioust procces of shading

flip your image

adding to that i recomend sapping a picture of you drawing, looking at it again from the 3rd person realy does help

after getting some sleep and coming back

sleeping on the image is very important
i lost count to to the times when i came back and saw mistackes that i missed after last session of drawing
plus you do gradually lose patientce and it helps you rethink some of your past choices
edit: ok enough for today

edit 2: im regreting a lot of my life decicions rn ngl

 

[I AM RETARDED!]

How long do you guys usually spend on pieces? I think im moving way to fast on things and Im really struggling with moving more slower, and getting impatient so what your guys strategy for this?

 

[DefinitelyNotMe]

How long do you guys usually spend on pieces? I think im moving way to fast on things and Im really struggling with moving more slower, and getting impatient so what your guys strategy for this?

I do work way faster on paper then in digital probably because you cant zoom in as much, and i just simply more used to doing art traditionally.
on a traditional drawing i was spending from 1 to 3 evenings (each like 4-6 hours)
and digital is glacial in comparison cause i wanna do every single little detail
as for keeping the focus i usually just switching from task to task, if im sick of hatching, i will switch to highlighting things, if im sick of that i can brush the pitch black parts on
but other than that you just have to lock in and do the thing

 

[I AM RETARDED!]

I do work way faster on paper then in digital probably because you cant zoom in as much, and i just simply more used to doing art traditionally.
on a traditional drawing i was spending from 1 to 3 evenings (each like 4-6 hours)
and digital is glacial in comparison cause i wanna do every single little detail
as for keeping the focus i usually just switching from task to task, if im sick of hatching, i will switch to highlighting things, if im sick of that i can brush the pitch black parts on
but other than that you just have to lock in and do the thing

I can’t really spend more than like 40 minutes on a piece before my brain starts wanting to rush it to completion. If I push past an hour or so I start getting weirdly anxious, and a lot of the time I end up forcing things instead of actually thinking them through. Then I make half ass works, that have potential but I never complete them, I think like 1 out 10 I complete, and other just stay has sketches I sometimes post here.

I should I try the task thing, maybe it because I am trying to focus on to much that I end up feeling overwhelmed and has result I want that feeling gone, and ya locking in has always been hard for me, I don't know why, but my brain doesn't stop, I'll focus on something like the headlight of car, then 10 minutes later I am somewhere else drawing something else, not even related to the thing I am actually trying to finish.

 

[Taxidermied Rat]

I can’t really spend more than like 40 minutes on a piece before my brain starts wanting to rush it to completion. If I push past an hour or so I start getting weirdly anxious, and a lot of the time I end up forcing things instead of actually thinking them through. Then I make half ass works, that have potential but I never complete them, I think like 1 out 10 I complete, and other just stay has sketches I sometimes post here.

This is something that used to plague me as well. I think the ability to focus on a piece --- and knowing when to quit --- is something that also comes with practice and time. I would also agree with DefinitelyNotMe's approach of switching what you are focusing on, that can definitely help.

 

[Elks_antler]

Some form and shading practice. I did.

 

[MerriedxReldnahc]

I struggle with drawing certain angles, things like guns, and working purely digitally. So clearly I should combine all three of these things to maximize my suffering! This is just a planning sketch so I'll be doing the actual lineart on another layer on top and I'll probably do some additional sketches to work out the clothing designs so that everyone is sufficiently dripped out.

Mostly struggling with the gun that the guy on the left is holding and the position of his arm- it should be straight out in front of him and not at his side.

For the uncultured, I'm drawing these guys:

 

[DefinitelyNotMe]

I struggle with drawing certain angles, things like guns, and working purely digitally. So clearly I should combine all three of these things to maximize my suffering! This is just a planning sketch so I'll be doing the actual lineart on another layer on top and I'll probably do some additional sketches to work out the clothing designs so that everyone is sufficiently dripped out.

Mostly struggling with the gun that the guy on the left is holding and the position of his arm- it should be straight out in front of him and not at his side.
View attachment 8979111
For the uncultured, I'm drawing these guys:
View attachment 8979112

i tried to recreate the angle that you are goining for

if you want an arm to be more pointed at the camera then the shoulder wrist and the hand itself should be roughply the same size
the vape pen will be basically a circle unless you want to change that
im not sure what kind of gun you are going for so i went for a shot gun
the geometry of which should be look kinda like that but id drew it from memory
the back of the gun is more square like and the barrel is usually supported by a rod on the bottom

and if i can suggest a different pose maybe you can put the gun on the shoulder and the other one will stay in the pocket
i drew the sketch but KF for some reason refuses to upload it
edit 2 okay it did upload now

 

[DefinitelyNotMe]

Apologies if this isn't the best place to ask for advice or if this comes as as being too vent-y, but do any of you happen to have any for someone to wants to start art.. in his early twenties? I did always have an interest in art as a child but dropped it at some point for reasons that aren't necessary to detail, never got back into it- but the desire is still there. Just not the motivation I guess. As I got older and especially now I couldn't help but to think "It's too late to start now, I missed my chance" but then there's also the reality of "I'm going to get older anyway, may as well be older and have some skill in art."

But my issue is that I do not know where to start, how to develop the habit, how to turn that desire into motivation, whatever. Have any of you been in a similar position as me?

btw @scatterbrain i do recomend you to read this thread
i did create it with the intention to help people to start drawing from the scratch
@Atticus Carpenter did already gave you a bunch of good advice on the topic but heres something to add
One of the most important skills to develop early on is a sense of dimensional thinking aka basically learning how to break down the things you see into simple 3D forms and place them in space.
That’s why I recommend starting with perspective and basic forms first. Even simple boxes and cylinders help a lot with understanding structure.
Another exercise I actually recommend is tracing. a lot of artists dislike it, but as a learning tool it can genuinely help beginners.
What I’d recommend is:
put a piece of paper over the screen
trace the silhouette of a drawing you like
then try to reconstruct or fill in the details yourself afterward
thats kind of how i started to learn things on my own
of course im not saying that pretending the traced drawing is yours, but using it to understand how the original artist constructed the image is helpfull in terms of learning.
It can help you mentally retrace the decisions the artist made and improve your understanding of shapes and proportions
plus it will help you to generally understand the composition
in terms of tools you really don't need a lot when it comes to traditional art just a sketch book, an eraser, a ruller and a pack of pencils will do
and drawing is fun to do once you will get in the flow of things, and its not too late to start in your 20s
thats kinda when i started to draw as well

 

[Atticus Carpenter]

Another exercise I actually recommend is tracing. a lot of artists dislike it, but as a learning tool it can genuinely help beginners.

Also forgot to mention: have references at hand. You will think that it's easy to draw from what you have in mind, but no. It's hard as hell.

Don't be ashamed of having references and putting them to use. After all, you won't be able to draw if you don't know how something looks like.

btw didn't knew this thread existed. I might post some of my garabage here so it can be rated.

 

[I AM RETARDED!]

Task idea actually worked, switching between things helped me not get impatient, and not has anxious, there still things I don't like but I will force myself to finish it, I am burnt out on drawing from references and needed to go back to my comfort zone to recharge.

 

[DefinitelyNotMe]

okay im done with hatching but i want to experiment and do something i rarely do and go for colored pic
its a rough draft and im still experementing
also part of me wants to keep characters black and white as an artistic choice
edit: happy with most of it but not all of it

 

[DefinitelyNotMe]

idk maybe im too tired
it kinda looks like ass?
colors are hard man

 

[Atticus Carpenter]

idk maybe im too tired
it kinda looks like ass?
colors are hard man
View attachment 8981952

They are hard but that looks amazing, my dude. Great job on that