Thank you. I'm hoping to get some more stuff put up soon.
For Criticism, ???? and Profit.
- Thread starter Professor Irony
- Start date
Recently, I got criticised on another board for not using strong enough outlines in my work. I kind of took this to heart as I can see the advantage of having strong, bold lineart (particularly for smaller drawings or doing comic panels) and so I've been trying to experiment with using a cleaner line for drawing things.
Tl;dr: Here's a drawing of Natalie Portman. It's not a very good likeness, but I'm kind of happy with it.
Tl;dr: Here's a drawing of Natalie Portman. It's not a very good likeness, but I'm kind of happy with it.
Thank you 
I can't seem to break the habit of sketching with a low-opacity brush, so I'll probably need to go over it again to darken up the areas that are showing grey. I've actually heard that SAI is a better program for inking than photoshop, but I never seem to have much success with it...
I can't seem to break the habit of sketching with a low-opacity brush, so I'll probably need to go over it again to darken up the areas that are showing grey. I've actually heard that SAI is a better program for inking than photoshop, but I never seem to have much success with it...
Nothing much else to report, but I have a reasonably successful doodle from my college notebook.
Cheers Admittedly, I may have been exaggerating when I said was a doodle - I was rifling through some stock photos at the time and that was a bloke who was in one of them. I think he has a distinct whiff of 'mid-boss' about him though... like someone who's uptight about having risen to a point in an organisation but frustrated by not being able to any further.
Admittedly, I may have been exaggerating when I said was a doodle - I was rifling through some stock photos at the time and that was a bloke who was in one of them. I think he has a distinct whiff of 'mid-boss' about him though... like someone who's uptight about having risen to a point in an organisation but frustrated by not being able to any further.
One of the other boards is running a 'CG workshop', so I've had a go at colouring someone else's lineart as part of that.
Think I may have overcooked it a bit in photoshop. I find choosing a colour palette and sticking to it difficult, so I tend to play with the hue adjustment more than is probably wise. I might try using SAI next time for the sake of comparison.
Edit: imageshack link broken, re-upped to photobucket.
Think I may have overcooked it a bit in photoshop. I find choosing a colour palette and sticking to it difficult, so I tend to play with the hue adjustment more than is probably wise. I might try using SAI next time for the sake of comparison.
Edit: imageshack link broken, re-upped to photobucket.
sic vita est
Dandy Guy, in Space
I'll get the possibly patronising (it's late, sorry!) critique out of my system first, ignoring the lineart:
In places it looks like the burn tool's been overused, and there's a slight lighter-coloured edge at the outer-facing part of her right glove. The necklace must've been annoying to do but still looks a little flat, especially the lighter areas of it.
It'd be awesome to see you consider the specularity a bit more to represent the materials, as everything's almost got the same textural feel to it at the moment. To do that you need to consider what the surfaces are made of, for example the gloves - are they silk or pvc? Both would have differing specular / reflective qualities.
In terms of overall lighting - how strong is the light source? If medium to bright, should there maybe be whiter highlights in there, especially on the hair and other reflective surfaces?
I do like the way you handled the hair, and I cannot stress how gorgeous the top looks: almost silk- or satin-like.
Your Natalie Portman piece is really strong, I'd perhaps suggest watching the line thickness (or was it intentional around the jaw, shadowing?) and the jaw's visibly asymmetric with maybe a tendency for the whole face to lean down to the left slightly. That said, the bold lines look good, as do the hair and eyes.
Looking at the sketch following it, I'd definitely second the suggestion to use clean lines in everything as much as possible, even rough sketches: it should also improve hand-eye coordination no end. It's apparent from your post you're already aware of the advantages of this, especially in work that needs to be coloured and in manga.
That's longer than I intended and I'm really knackered now, so apologies if any of that appears untactful - I'm hyper-conscious of how others may react to crits but don't have the energy to proof-read this post.
In places it looks like the burn tool's been overused, and there's a slight lighter-coloured edge at the outer-facing part of her right glove. The necklace must've been annoying to do but still looks a little flat, especially the lighter areas of it.
It'd be awesome to see you consider the specularity a bit more to represent the materials, as everything's almost got the same textural feel to it at the moment. To do that you need to consider what the surfaces are made of, for example the gloves - are they silk or pvc? Both would have differing specular / reflective qualities.
In terms of overall lighting - how strong is the light source? If medium to bright, should there maybe be whiter highlights in there, especially on the hair and other reflective surfaces?
I do like the way you handled the hair, and I cannot stress how gorgeous the top looks: almost silk- or satin-like.
Your Natalie Portman piece is really strong, I'd perhaps suggest watching the line thickness (or was it intentional around the jaw, shadowing?) and the jaw's visibly asymmetric with maybe a tendency for the whole face to lean down to the left slightly. That said, the bold lines look good, as do the hair and eyes.
Looking at the sketch following it, I'd definitely second the suggestion to use clean lines in everything as much as possible, even rough sketches: it should also improve hand-eye coordination no end. It's apparent from your post you're already aware of the advantages of this, especially in work that needs to be coloured and in manga.
That's longer than I intended and I'm really knackered now, so apologies if any of that appears untactful - I'm hyper-conscious of how others may react to crits but don't have the energy to proof-read this post.
Wildcard said:
Thank you
I was a bit unsure about the skintones this time round as I basically just let the background colour bleed through and added shadows/highlights to that, but it seems to have worked out okay. Could maybe cause problems if you were aiming for a particular colouration though.sic vita est said:
It didn't seem patronising at all, please fire away.
The over burned look is probably down to my overreliance on PS filters. I have a habit of finishing pictures by flattening, creating a double of the flattened layer and setting that to overlay. It gives you really intense colours, but you do tend to get that 'burned in' look. I'm hoping if I try using SAI next time it might persuade me not to do this.
I think that's probably what's led to the white glow at the edge of her glove as well - to smooth the lineart, the overlay layer had a gaussian blur on it. Some of the red's smudged off her lips and onto her teeth from this as well.
I do take your point about the surfaces though. I should really have gathered some research photos of various fabrics beforehand.
Her hair actually troubles me a bit. I can't help feeling the highlights look a bit like that 'bleeding' effect you get when you put too much marker pen on thin paper. I'm thinking I might need to try using a differently shaped, sharper brush to separate the strands. Some white highlights would probably have helped as well; I didn't put a whole lot of forethought into the light conditions
With the Natalie Portman one, I was attempting to add shadowing to the outlines, but I think I cocked it up a bit - having shadows at that side doesn't really fit in with the lighting on her hair highlights. There is also some nasty lean going on with that one. I tried to correct it a bit at the time, but it felt like there was only so much I could do without starting again.
But yeah, thanks for taking the time to write such a detailed crit - there's not many that would go to such lengths
So, I was playing about with drawing shapes instead of lineart and this happened. Basically, I've been trying to redesign the AK girl from several pages back, as I'll need her for something later on, but I wanted to change her hair and this turned out to be quite an interesting way of building a new style. Unfortunately, I cannot unsee Victoria Beckham... :roll:
Finished version of the above. I didn't use SAI in the end (it'll take a bit of getting back into), but I did manage to keep myself away from the overlay effect this time round.
Stop me, I'm on a roll. If you've ever wanted to witness my scatty working methods firsthand, now's your chance!
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Thank you I'm hoping do some more time-lapse type stuff in the future, although I haven't actually decided what or who to draw yet.
And yeah, I shouldn't have cursed myself on the AK girl one. A couple of people have suggested to me her head was a bit pointy though, so I'm trying to rework the picture a bit as we speak (and hopefully break out of any unintended celebrity likeness)...
I'm hoping do some more time-lapse type stuff in the future, although I haven't actually decided what or who to draw yet.And yeah, I shouldn't have cursed myself on the AK girl one. A couple of people have suggested to me her head was a bit pointy though, so I'm trying to rework the picture a bit as we speak (and hopefully break out of any unintended celebrity likeness)...
Fixed up the shape of her face a little and tinkered with her hair, hopefully ending any pointed head / unintended lookalike shennanigans. Still to redo the lineart around her hair and fix the shadow areas. I didn't really plan the high-contrast look her hair had the last time round, but I liked it and it's definitely getting put back in...
Done. Although I may need to come back for another go at her ear. Something's a little off about it, I think.
Another sketch as well. I made a joke the other day about what my ideal anime series would most likely involve and this piece of conceptual nonsense was the result. I think I'll probably redo the plate on his abdomen - it would probably make more sense if it was on top of his waist-belt.
Another sketch as well. I made a joke the other day about what my ideal anime series would most likely involve and this piece of conceptual nonsense was the result. I think I'll probably redo the plate on his abdomen - it would probably make more sense if it was on top of his waist-belt.
Thank you
I'm actually attempting to a series of pictures of the girl in different styles for one of those 'style meme' sheet things. I think I've taken it to kind of an extreme though; the sheet only has little boxes for each picture and I've ended up doing full A4 illustrations. It's taking ages...
Anyway, the second box is 'good looking' and this is how it's going so far. I've been fiddling about with the underdrawing for entirely too long to try and get the anatomy right, but I think it's starting to look better now. Might rework her right shoulder a bit more yet though.
Originally I was going to have her fully clothed in this one (as the hastily drawn in sleeve can attest to), but I wound up dropping that tattoo onto her arm, so I might just leave her as is in that respect.
I've reworked the other sketch a bit more as well. Someone pointed out to me his feet were larger than his head, so I've made the boots a little less chunky... I think his chest armour looks a lot better now though.
He's really only going to serve as part of a brief joke in a youtube video, but again I think I've taken it too far. I'm drawing him a mech as well :roll:
I'm actually attempting to a series of pictures of the girl in different styles for one of those 'style meme' sheet things. I think I've taken it to kind of an extreme though; the sheet only has little boxes for each picture and I've ended up doing full A4 illustrations. It's taking ages...
Anyway, the second box is 'good looking' and this is how it's going so far. I've been fiddling about with the underdrawing for entirely too long to try and get the anatomy right, but I think it's starting to look better now. Might rework her right shoulder a bit more yet though.
Originally I was going to have her fully clothed in this one (as the hastily drawn in sleeve can attest to), but I wound up dropping that tattoo onto her arm, so I might just leave her as is in that respect.
I've reworked the other sketch a bit more as well. Someone pointed out to me his feet were larger than his head, so I've made the boots a little less chunky... I think his chest armour looks a lot better now though.
He's really only going to serve as part of a brief joke in a youtube video, but again I think I've taken it too far. I'm drawing him a mech as well :roll: