Author Topic: Need some advice and input  (Read 2473 times)

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Offline SilverWolFox

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Need some advice and input
« on: January 13, 2012, 12:26:33 pm »
I am not a very good artist, but this is one of my first drawings. Can I have some advice.

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/7127001
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Offline redyoshi49q

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Re: Need some advice and input
« Reply #1 on: January 13, 2012, 03:42:17 pm »
From the looks of your artwork, you're much better at organic aspects of drawing than you are at geometric aspects of drawing.  Because of your relative strength in organics, your proportions, though not perfect, are reasonably good, particularly for your skill level.

Having said that, your angles are drastically off.  That's where your relative weakness in geometric envisioning comes into play.  One thing that would vastly improve your drawing is work on making the entirety of the character's body appear oriented the same way.  To illustrate what I mean, try covering up most of your artwork and either have somebody guess or try and figure out yourself which way the entire body appears to be facing given the appearance of the body parts that weren't covered up.  I've composed a list of apparent directions for body parts as I perceive them below.  Feel free to look for positioning inconsistencies yourself before consulting this list (place your mouse over the list to see it).

Spoiler: show

  • The wings suggests a character squarely facing the viewer, as they are symmetric and are attached behind the character.
  • The torso and arms could suggest either a character squarely facing the viewer or a character facing squarely away from the viewer (though the arm positions are appropriate for many other character orientations as well).  Since the torso lacks definition (such as shading to indicate either a chest or shoulder blades), you'll need to depend on the orientation of other body parts relative to the torso and arms to convey the character's position in space.
  • The head suggest a character that is facing completely to the viewer's left; since there are no lines to indicate a turned neck, and since heads don't naturally turn a full 90 degrees regardless, this element does not reflect a character squarely facing toward or away from the viewer.
  • The line at the crotch of the pants as well as the different apparent size of pants pockets (a reasonable consequence of perspective when used appropriately) both suggest that the leg on the viewer's left is more facing the viewer, which in turn lends itself to either a character that is slightly facing the viewer's right or a character facing away from the viewer and slightly to the viewer's left, depending on how other body parts are oriented.
  • The tail suggests a character directly facing the viewer's left.  Also, since the tail is attached behind the character, a forward facing character is suggested.
  • The feet suggest a character that is facing some direction to the viewer's left, with the viewer's left foot being more forward than the other (it's ahead of the character).  Moreover, since the foot on the viewer's left appears closer (it's slightly bigger), the foot appears to be the left foot, which in turn implies a character turned directly left or slightly away from the viewer rather than a character facing toward the viewer to any degree.
[/spoiler]

As you can see, the body's orientation is very inconsistent.  In the future, if you want to draw a character, figure out beforehand which way the character as whole is facing first and stick with that decision for the entire drawing (change it only if you're willing to change it as necessary for *everything*, even things you've already finished drawing).  From your character's position as a whole, you can decide which way each body part is facing such that the ensemble appears consistent with itself.  Body parts can vary in angle slightly with respect to each other (and for more complex pieces, they often do), but the angle at which they differ needs to be consistent with how a body can naturally be positioned and the difference in angle should be emphasized with lines to show contortion and overlapping, where applicable.

If you're looking to improve this drawing specifically, I have two suggested orientations for your character that you could try with minimal change to what you've drawn so far.  The second, though more visually appealing, would be quite a bit harder than the first.  Before trying either of these changes, you may want to read through what I've suggested and try drawing independent body parts on a separate piece of paper so that you'll be more experienced with drawing the suggested poses and thus less likely to mess up on your final piece.

The first one is a simple forward facing character.  Simply redraw the feet, legs, head, and tail so that they appear to squarely face the viewer.  The head could also be placed facing slightly off center with respect to the viewer, but if you choose to do this, you'll also need to draw lines in the neck to reflect this contortion.

The second is a character whose torso is facing directly away from the viewer, but whose lower body and head are all facing away and slightly to the viewer's left.  Redraw the feet (but not the legs; those are fine) to reflect this angle (keep in mind that the part of the leg just above the heel would appear to block part of the foot; draw a line to reflect this overlapping for each foot much like the line at your character's crotch to reflect the superposition of legs).  You'll also need to draw both the tail and the wings so that they attach to the side of the character that's facing the viewer (you shouldn't need to redraw the wings, but you may need to redraw the tail).  Remember that the parts that previously were shown in front of the wings and tail are now behind the wings and tail, so you'll need to erase the parts that the wings and tail now cover.  The head could be positioned either facing directly away, facing slightly up, facing slightly to the viewer's left, or facing both slightly up and slightly to the viewer's left.  The first of these head positions would be considerably easier to draw, but the last would be the most visually appealing.

I hope this critique helps.  Good luck with this and future drawings!
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Offline warriorsfan1812

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Re: Need some advice and input
« Reply #2 on: January 17, 2012, 06:02:58 pm »
Here, this might help you. I know it's helping me. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvipzDCMXHA&feature=youtube_gdata_player
I know it seems like you don't need to draw guiding lines, but they help you a lot.