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furry arts discussion => artwork techniques & tutorials => Topic started by: bkatt500 on June 18, 2013, 01:14:18 am

Title: Any changes?
Post by: bkatt500 on June 18, 2013, 01:14:18 am
So I'm working on a commission and I'm wondering if there are any easy changes/fixes I should do before I call it completely finished:

(http://th00.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/i/2013/168/e/4/foxfamily_copy_by_bkatt500-d69iu4k.jpg)
Title: Re: Any changes?
Post by: Old Rabbit on June 18, 2013, 11:28:33 am
Looks really nice as is. Lots of detail and nice coloring. :orbunny:
Title: Re: Any changes?
Post by: Sledge on June 18, 2013, 11:30:37 am
Wow..... Nicely done.
Title: Re: Any changes?
Post by: Yip on June 18, 2013, 12:17:50 pm
The pose of the arms on blue character look a bit odd to me. I can't quite place why though.
But other than that it looks good to me.
Title: Re: Any changes?
Post by: bkatt500 on June 18, 2013, 01:39:56 pm
Thanks.
And yeah, the pose of the arm gave me trouble.  Over-lapping poses like this are pretty hard for me, especially since I can't get a 100% accurate ref.
Title: Re: Any changes?
Post by: Scarlegs on June 20, 2013, 06:23:43 am
The pose of the arms on blue character look a bit odd to me. I can't quite place why though.
But other than that it looks good to me.
Maybe the shirt on his right arm...?
Title: Re: Any changes?
Post by: Storm Fox on June 21, 2013, 02:06:58 am
Really nice bkatt, the style, the colors, all of that looks really good.

Though I do see some things here and there (some of which has already been mentioned), but since it's been a few days I feel I should ask, are you still looking for advice on this?
Title: Re: Any changes?
Post by: Old Rabbit on June 21, 2013, 11:44:24 am
After seeing what the others have said. The blue foxes left arm
would look better if the upper part of his arm sloped up a bit more.
As is it looks a bit out of line where his shoulder likely would be.

Sometimes it helps to do the planned pose with a friend so you can
see if it feels natural or not. Even better if you can do the pose
in front of a mirror. If you have a third person they could take a
picture for reference.

:orbunny:

Title: Re: Any changes?
Post by: bkatt500 on June 22, 2013, 07:33:45 pm
I have actually finished this, it was a bit late to do anything about the arm once I started colouring unless I started over.

I would try to do the pose with another person, but that's not possible.  I do try to use props and take pictures with my webcam for reference, which isn't perfect, but it's all I got.
Title: Re: Any changes?
Post by: Old Rabbit on June 24, 2013, 11:43:35 am
It would help If you could find some action figures that were articulate
enough to pose. I understand animation artists use poseable figures to
help them get their pose drawings to look right.

Also when you do a drawing, remember to Sketch the figure in the back
first then when you draw the one in the foreground you can more easily
tell where the background parts are.

I imagine your aware of this, but sometimes it helps to hear it again.

Keep up the great work. :orbunny:
Title: Re: Any changes?
Post by: bkatt500 on June 25, 2013, 08:09:00 pm
Yeah, I do draw several thumbnails and rough drafts first, especially for commissions.  I might try to get figures, but I want to make sure I get decent ones.
Title: Re: Any changes?
Post by: Foxpup on June 25, 2013, 11:26:29 pm
I second the comments on the blue guy's arms. He apparently has no shoulders; the arms are almost coming straight out of his chest. :o
Title: Re: Any changes?
Post by: Sledge on June 26, 2013, 11:08:15 am
I kind agree with that... Except for his right shoulder. I think it's just the left.
Title: Re: Any changes?
Post by: bkatt500 on June 28, 2013, 11:02:35 pm
I think he had shoulders at one point, but I don't know what happened.  Some sort of weirdness with the clothing or angle maybe?  I could never really get his arms to anything I was 100% happy with.  :/
Title: Re: Any changes?
Post by: HazardJackal on June 29, 2013, 01:37:52 am
Oh stop being so critical, its not like you were drawing only arms and none of them came out right; everything else looks great, so what is there to criticize?
Title: Re: Any changes?
Post by: Miser on July 03, 2013, 01:02:41 pm
Even after sketching and working some time on a drawing we may be oblivious to some mistakes from the very start. Even after the picture is complete, one may be so invested in it that, for all purposes, the picture looks perfect. I, at least, have the habit of thinking " ... nah, it looks great", until I look at it a couple days later. Sometimes it's even hard to pinpoint the exact location/way that said picture looks wrong, but it's far from the perfect state I once thought. I imposed the habit of trying to look at the pictures from an outside point of view, but even so, it may be hard to figure out what's wrong, and depending on the phase in I'm in, I may not bother changing it, since, as it was said, the entire picture as a whole looks good.

I would say that the picture presented here looks really good, as a whole and at first glance, but if one was to get technical, the said arm irregularities are clear. I'm aware the product is finished at this time, but even if it weren't, the picture was at such an advanced state that I would advise against making said changes. It may be beneficial to post in a sketch next time witch would make posterior changes much more easy :3

One more "piece of advise"
In order to grow as an artist, you should always be critical. It's true that the arms don't damage the picture so much, but if you're ok with it, there's nothing stopping you from making the same mistake again. You should always criticize your work as much as you can without starting to hate what you did. NEVER hate anything you do, even if I don't like a finished piece that much, if I learned something from it, I consider it a huge success.

Anyway, that's just my take on the whole subject :3
Title: Re: Any changes?
Post by: bkatt500 on July 03, 2013, 05:10:53 pm
Yeah, I did try to work it out in sketches before.  In my progress for the final drawing, I can see what I did wrong with the arm a bit better.
Title: Re: Any changes?
Post by: Old Rabbit on July 04, 2013, 11:22:53 am
Drawing like any other creative craft is a life long learning process.

Just keep up the nice work. :orbunny:
Title: Re: Any changes?
Post by: bkatt500 on July 05, 2013, 03:54:22 pm
Yeah, though it is annoying to still find easy mistakes.  I'll still keep drawing though!
Title: Re: Any changes?
Post by: Storm Fox on July 05, 2013, 04:01:17 pm
One word… Layers.

(You probably already know this to some extent.) But in digital drawings, layers are your best friend.
Don’t be afraid to have a lot of layers in a picture (if your computer has enough memory).
When I draw I’ve had images where I had as many as 70+ layers for a single character, so with a couple characters, background, and over effects, sometimes I’d have somewhere around 190 to as many as 240 layers for a single image.
(Mind that most of what I do is 4k, 6k, and 8k photo real, so you might not need quite as many layers as I mentioned.)
But whenever you work on something new, a new part, a new section, make it a new layer.
Every discernible part should be it’s own layer, and then use an over layer to mix or blend everything together (if necessary).

Maybe you already do something like this but if not try keeping it in mind, as with everything being on different layers, you will be able to fix anything at anytime without having to redo or change things that are nearby.
And if you wanted to make a change, you could move, rotate, re-size, or even redraw the part if it came to that, and you would not have to mess with anything in front of, behind, or touching that part.
You will have the freedom to make edits and changes where and when you need to, and with no more having to redraw and recolor things just because it's near something you want to fix, no more spending a lot of time matching everything up after making changes, it really makes things easier.

Just to give you an idea, based on the picture you drew, if I were making something like that with a similar style, I’d probably have somewhere around 50 to 60 layers.


Hope that helps for next time.
Title: Re: Any changes?
Post by: bkatt500 on July 05, 2013, 04:40:40 pm
I use as many layers as I need to.  I generally have one layer for the character's base colours, one or two layers for shading, and a last layer for hair, eyes, and details.  Plus 1-3 background layers, a layer for the scanned paper, and a black overlay.  In some pictures I then use a second black overlay to help get the shadows dark enough since the paper layer restricts that.  Here I also have two extra layers for the clothing since they were at variable opacity and the best way to do that was with a layer-mask.  In some pictures to finish I'll duplicate and merge all layers and fuss with it to make the colours better.  The amount of layers I use has actually shrunk quite a bit from when I first started doing this.  What makes it hard to change things is that all the outlines are simply scanned in on a piece of paper.  I can correct it somewhat with liquify or patch if I catch it early enough, I know what I need to do and how to fix it.
Title: Re: Any changes?
Post by: Keitsu on December 22, 2013, 07:19:18 pm
Amazing work! :P
Title: Re: Any changes?
Post by: GrayWolf448 on December 22, 2013, 07:47:36 pm
Amazing work! :P

fyi Sciex try to not post on old topics. there is a rule (sorta) not to post on topic over 6 months old. just thought ild inform you about that ^^
Title: Re: Any changes?
Post by: Old Rabbit on December 30, 2013, 12:27:32 pm
Just keep it to less than six months Sciex, and you will be fine.  :)