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Re: Ponythread Learns to Draw II
Example of using MyPaint to figure out what you want to draw:
And using Krita's more powerful suite to work on details:
A quadrupedal form does create problems sometimes, such as reaching stuff on shelves. Although if Artee really needed to, she could just stand upright, using the tail as support - she'd actually have a fair height advantage on a typical human (visible as a very unfortunately placed outline in the first sketch) in that case.
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Re: Ponythread Learns to Draw II
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Derjuin
Thanks for the tips! I'll give them a try, see if I like them. Currently I only have Paint.net and Inkscape, so any recommendations are great.
I'm currently using a Wacom Bamboo pen tablet in combination with Photoshop and Gimp. Photoshop costs money, but Gimp is free and I can really recommend giving Gimp a try, if you haven't already.
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Re: Ponythread Learns to Draw II
Sean, if you didn't tell me, I would've thought you drew them on paper with pencils and then scanned the drawings. They're that realistic!
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Re: Ponythread Learns to Draw II
Quote:
Originally Posted by
goto124
Sean, if you didn't tell me, I would've thought you drew them on paper with pencils and then scanned the drawings. They're that realistic!
Yeah, I heard that before. :)
It's like I said,
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Sean Mirrsen
the most natural-feeling set of pencil and eraser brushes this side of everything.
As someone who has learned to draw primarily with actual pencils, I don't give that kind of praise lightly. MyPaint and Krita are both awesome. :smallsmile:
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Re: Ponythread Learns to Draw II
It's not much, but here is my first shot at using the tablet with MyPaint:
I enjoyed it :smallbiggrin: It felt like I was actually drawing on a physical medium, yet obviously was digital. There was a lot of erasing due simply to not being able to see exactly where each stroke would fall, but I already have ideas in my head to sketch in MyPaint (or another program, whichever works - but this one feels really nice already) and then color/touch it up in, say, Inkscape or gimp.
Hopefully this will re-kindle my drawing passion, which have been drained as of late... :smallfrown:
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Re: Ponythread Learns to Draw II
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Derjuin
It's not much, but here is my first shot at using the tablet with MyPaint:
Not that far off model! Certainly better than my first forays into ponykind. :)
From the looks of your strokes, you might have the Wacom pen itself set to be too soft - most of your lines end up being maximum strength. I'd advise to go into the Wacom control panel and crank up the pen sensor 'hardness' to a notch or two below the maximum value. I find that it helps immensely, though of course it depends on your style - experiment with it a bit. If that's not enough, MyPaint also allows you to adjust pressure sensitivity on a curve, it's the first screen you see when you open Edit->Edit Preferences.
Also keep in mind that MyPaint has two PNG export options - one ignoring the background and transparent, the other with the background visible. Pencil sketches tend to look best with the latter, so make sure to select the right option for the purpose. :)
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I enjoyed it :smallbiggrin: It felt like I was actually drawing on a physical medium, yet obviously was digital. There was a lot of erasing due simply to not being able to see exactly where each stroke would fall, but I already have ideas in my head to sketch in MyPaint (or another program, whichever works - but this one feels really nice already) and then color/touch it up in, say, Inkscape or gimp.
The one problem with MyPaint - and I mean "one" problem, because there really aren't many more than that - is that its primary format is ORA, OpenRaster. Although it can export flat images to other formats, if you really want to make use of it to the full potential you're actually going to need to check out Krita, which fully supports that format (unlike Gimp, which, last I checked, was slightly gimped in that regard; and honestly, Krita's interface is much easier to use, for me at least).
But you certainly got the right idea! :)
Quote:
Hopefully this will re-kindle my drawing passion, which have been drained as of late... :smallfrown:
Yeah, I keep having problems of this kind. New art equipment does tend to help rekindle drawing interest fairly consistently for me though, so here's hoping it helps you as well! :)
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Re: Ponythread Learns to Draw II
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Derjuin
It's not much, but here is my first shot at using the tablet with MyPaint:
off-model pony, bluh bluh. Shadows? How do they work?
That's not bad, really! Make her legs slightly larger and I think it's just peachy!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Derjuin
Hopefully this will re-kindle my drawing passion, which have been drained as of late... :smallfrown:
Hoping this does help get you into the drawing mood more often! It'll be nice to see more of your ponies.
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Re: Ponythread Learns to Draw II
Trying to draw a close-up of Artee's eye, with a direct light shining into the side at an oblique angle to make the inner workings more visible. Will probably need to go to Krita again to get the finer details right, but even the larger details still look distinctly wrong to me - I'm messing up the basic shape shading somewhere, I just know it.
Artee's eyes are probably one of her kind's most striking features, once you get used to the "synthetic reptilian big cat with arms" appearance. They are the most obviously unnatural part as well. Large, black, non-moving, oblong instead of spherical, and containing a trio of wide-angle optical sensors and assorted electronic bits that reflect light when it shines at them at the right angle.
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Re: Ponythread Learns to Draw II
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Sean Mirrsen
Trying to draw a close-up of Artee's eye, with a direct light shining into the side at an oblique angle to make the inner workings more visible. Will probably need to go to Krita again to get the finer details right, but even the larger details still look distinctly wrong to me - I'm messing up the basic shape shading somewhere, I just know it.
Artee's eyes are probably one of her kind's most striking features, once you get used to the "synthetic reptilian big cat with arms" appearance. They are the most obviously unnatural part as well. Large, black, non-moving, oblong instead of spherical, and containing a trio of wide-angle optical sensors and assorted electronic bits that reflect light when it shines at them at the right angle.
This is amazingly cool.
I'm going to make it a priority to try your art program setup too. I'm actually really happy you're back into it.
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Re: Ponythread Learns to Draw II
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Sean Mirrsen
Not that far off model! Certainly better than my first forays into ponykind. :)
From the looks of your strokes, you might have the Wacom pen itself set to be too soft - most of your lines end up being maximum strength. I'd advise to go into the Wacom control panel and crank up the pen sensor 'hardness' to a notch or two below the maximum value. I find that it helps immensely, though of course it depends on your style - experiment with it a bit. If that's not enough, MyPaint also allows you to adjust pressure sensitivity on a curve, it's the first screen you see when you open Edit->Edit Preferences.
Also keep in mind that MyPaint has two PNG export options - one ignoring the background and transparent, the other with the background visible. Pencil sketches tend to look best with the latter, so make sure to select the right option for the purpose. :)
The one problem with MyPaint - and I mean "one" problem, because there really aren't many more than that - is that its primary format is ORA, OpenRaster. Although it can export flat images to other formats, if you really want to make use of it to the full potential you're actually going to need to check out Krita, which fully supports that format (unlike Gimp, which, last I checked, was slightly gimped in that regard; and honestly, Krita's interface is much easier to use, for me at least).
But you certainly got the right idea! :)
Yeah, I keep having problems of this kind. New art equipment does tend to help rekindle drawing interest fairly consistently for me though, so here's hoping it helps you as well! :)
I've modified the pen settings to a point at which I think I'm satisfied. Though, the eraser does feel a bit harder to use at this level. Initially, I exported in the transparent PNG because I was going to try coloring it, but honestly that fell through. This time, however, I'm trying out the solid PNG background.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
DigoDragon
That's not bad, really! Make her legs slightly larger and I think it's just peachy!
Hoping this does help get you into the drawing mood more often! It'll be nice to see more of your ponies.
I feel like drawing every single night, so far. Even if it's just bits and bobs that don't go anywhere!
And here's another drawing, which may or may not get a color because I actually like it:
Spoiler: Meet the new Cutie Pie
Show
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Re: Ponythread Learns to Draw II
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Derjuin
[Meet the new Cutie Pie]
YES. I like the child proportions, they work well here.
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Re: Ponythread Learns to Draw II
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Sean Mirrsen
(unlike Gimp, which, last I checked, was slightly gimped
Was that pun on purpose? :smallbiggrin:
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Re: Ponythread Learns to Draw II
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Derjuin
And here's another drawing, which may or may not get a color because I actually like it:
Spoiler: Meet the new Cutie Pie
Show
Very nice! Small nitpick, if you'll accept it, is the slightly... tubular shape, of Cutie Pie's neck and body there. Like they're both one L-shaped tube, the mane would have concealed it if not for the faintly visible almost-erased lines. It's probably just my problems with perceiving perspective showing, as I'm not sure how, or even whether it should be fixed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
goto124
Was that pun on purpose? :smallbiggrin:
I do not see any plausible way for that to not have been intentional. :P
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Some more unrefined MyPaint drawing:
With the significantly different mental architecture and physiology, a synthoid like Artee does not actually need sleep. Nevertheless, as part of the many ways in which the mind requires stimulation to maintain its sentience, Artee does have that ability. When the "consciousness" retreats to a core process and lounges in the wisps of feedback as the rest of the mind is performing a thorough check-up of its contents, the surfacing memories and experiences form an oft-incoherent, but nevertheless rejuvenatingly new sequence, effectively creating new, phantom memories, formed out of fragments of existing ones. The process is as close to "dreaming" as can be understood, and is widely recommended to perform whenever convenient, often syncing up with whatever biological lifeforms living in the surroundings have as their sleep cycle.
However, involuntary limb movements are known to occur during this "sleep" process, as the new experiences can sometimes invoke motor functions. Thus, a common practice is taking hold of a comfortably soft and durable object during sleep - this tends to act as a conscious override, replacing any random limb movements with the voluntary command to grasp the object tighter, thus avoiding any damage a synthoid might inflict to itself or its surroundings with sudden motions.
A note of warning - Artee's arms may have strength comparable to human ones, but the lion-like primary forelimbs are much stronger, and do have claws. It would be inadvisable to trade places with that pillow.
(and I do hope you don't mind the exposition; I'd have perhaps made a blog if not for my dislike of social media. :P)
edit: slightly refined:
edit2: trying to get better at coloring and shading
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Re: Ponythread Learns to Draw II
Well, unless I don't find anything else to draw, this is the last iteration of the above:
Light and shadows... still not my thing. Just doesn't feel natural enough.
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Re: Ponythread Learns to Draw II
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Sean Mirrsen
Light and shadows... still not my thing. Just doesn't feel natural enough.
Not a bad attempt however. Might need a better defined light source and some harder shading. Still, overall it does look quite well made art.
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Re: Ponythread Learns to Draw II
Quote:
Originally Posted by
DigoDragon
Might need a better defined light source and some harder shading.
Mm. My brain and raytracing, they seem not to go together. Or maybe I see outlines instead of shapes.
I think I'll come back to that one and try to nuke the shading again. It also occurred to me that I'm using lines that are too heavy for full color, where they would otherwise look good on a sketch - part of why, to me, the current picture looks neater, is that I went and dulled out some of my heavier linework with an eraser there. More work is needed.
Heh. Funny how that ends up being. Drawing is fun. But drawing well is a pain. :P
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Re: Ponythread Learns to Draw II
Well, that's been an interesting few days.
Been trying to figure out the actual shape of Artee's head. Side-shots are all well and good, but anything even resembling a more forward angle starts resulting in weirdness.
Here's the latest attempt at it:
(the less said about the first few attempts the better)
Kind of like... a refined, smoother, slightly humanoid parasaurolophus? Some lines are off from my previous renditions, I noticed only after exporting the image and cross-comparing, most notably the rear half of the cranial plate should not curve upwards, and the general slope of the head should start going down much earlier. But that was really the first time in these few days I got it anywhere close to a semblance of looking "right".
Damn you, perspective. How long shall you continue thwarting me?!
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Re: Ponythread Learns to Draw II
Hey again, PTLTD~
I've decided to start working on a bigger project again (yey) involving ponies at the beach. So far I've only drawn Rarity but I figured I'd post the lineart of her so far.
For some reason my hand got really shaky while drawing her tail. I think I just need to move my hand more slowly though, since a lot of this was pretty frantic sketching. Working on a canvas like this (with actual lines and such) feels a lot more organic than working on a vector piece.
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Re: Ponythread Learns to Draw II
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Derjuin
Hey again, PTLTD~
I've decided to start working on a bigger project again (yey) involving ponies at the beach. So far I've only drawn Rarity but I figured I'd post the lineart of her so far.
For some reason my hand got really shaky while drawing her tail. I think I just need to move my hand more slowly though, since a lot of this was pretty frantic sketching. Working on a canvas like this (with actual lines and such) feels a lot more organic than working on a vector piece.
Very nice! You need to work on refining your lines a bit. A good way of doing it is retracing, just set the layer with the existing sketch to be semitransparent, and draw more firm and precise lines in a different layer on top of that. The design itself seems good, aside from the usual problems with drawing Rarity's tail (everyone has those for the first several dozen times), and the somewhat odd line on Rarity's hindquarters I can't quite determine the purpose of.
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Refined version of the earlier Artee picture:
I need to put more practice into getting Artee's features right.
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Re: Ponythread Learns to Draw II
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Sean Mirrsen
Very nice! You need to work on refining your lines a bit. A good way of doing it is retracing, just set the layer with the existing sketch to be semitransparent, and draw more firm and precise lines in a different layer on top of that. The design itself seems good, aside from the usual problems with drawing Rarity's tail (everyone has those for the first several dozen times), and the somewhat odd line on Rarity's hindquarters I can't quite determine the purpose of.
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Refined version of the earlier Artee picture:
I need to put more practice into getting Artee's features right.
What would you say if I told you that's actually the third retrace? :smallredface: I'm in the middle of another one that's a bit darker, and I'm going a lot slower in hopes that it looks cleaner. Which line, in particular, do you mean? If it's the one near the middle of her flank, that's dangling stringy-things from where her swimsuit bottom is tied.
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Re: Ponythread Learns to Draw II
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Derjuin
What would you say if I told you that's actually the third retrace? :smallredface: I'm in the middle of another one that's a bit darker, and I'm going a lot slower in hopes that it looks cleaner.
Aha. Okay then, in that case let me just toss some of my personal preference your way, see if it works for you.
You seem to be using one of Set #1's pencil brushes. I am going to recommend you switch to Set #2, and grab a pencil brush labeled deevad/2H. The brush is less stark than the other brushes, you will normally only get dark colors with it after several consecutive strokes in the same place. I see that you're using the same basic technique I am, patching short strokes together into long curves. The 2H pencil will make the "fuzz" from misstrokes stand out less, and emphasize the true curve more.
Also, for the complexity of linework you seem to be mostly using, consider zooming in a bit, drawing smaller. Especially when tracing, zooming in to follow your intended lines more precisely is going to drastically improve your final line quality.
And of course, practice. :)
Quote:
Which line, in particular, do you mean? If it's the one near the middle of her flank, that's dangling stringy-things from where her swimsuit bottom is tied.
No, the line going across the upper hind leg/rear back, that makes it look like she has a swimming cap on her butt (or like she's half-carrot, what with the tail sticking out of it :P).
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Re: Ponythread Learns to Draw II
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Sean Mirrsen
Aha. Okay then, in that case let me just toss some of my personal preference your way, see if it works for you.
You seem to be using one of Set #1's pencil brushes. I am going to recommend you switch to Set #2, and grab a pencil brush labeled deevad/2H. The brush is less stark than the other brushes, you will normally only get dark colors with it after several consecutive strokes in the same place. I see that you're using the same basic technique I am, patching short strokes together into long curves. The 2H pencil will make the "fuzz" from misstrokes stand out less, and emphasize the true curve more.
Also, for the complexity of linework you seem to be mostly using, consider zooming in a bit, drawing smaller. Especially when tracing, zooming in to follow your intended lines more precisely is going to drastically improve your final line quality.
And of course, practice. :)
No, the line going across the upper hind leg/rear back, that makes it look like she has a swimming cap on her butt (or like she's half-carrot, what with the tail sticking out of it :P).
Ah, okay. Yeah, I'm using Set 1 at the moment. I'll give 2 a try when I get a chance, then!
The line along her rear is supposed to be the swimsuit bottom :smalltongue:
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Re: Ponythread Learns to Draw II
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Derjuin
The line along her rear is supposed to be the swimsuit bottom :smalltongue:
Yeah, I sort of suspected. :P The problem with pony swimwear (and pony clothing in general) is that the body geometry is so different that trying to make it look like human-like swimwear ends up looking silly. It's fine if you're okay with it as a starting point, though, no need to concern yourself with it when you're getting used to the pony body shapes first.
But as a thought for later down the line, the swimsuit bottom really needs to somehow wrap around the torso in order to stay on.
Also, slight mistake in my previous post: I meant the 4H pencil. There is no deevad/2H. :smallredface:
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Re: Ponythread Learns to Draw II
A sketch in tribute to yet another game that has become lost to me.
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Re: Ponythread Learns to Draw II
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Sean Mirrsen
A sketch in tribute to yet another game that has become lost to me.
Speaking of lost games, I'm planning a play-by-post here on these forums and most of my usual crew is full up - are you interested?
It's either going to be a giant robot game (circa Knights of Sidonia) or a dark magical girl game (circa Puella Madoka Magica Magi). System's absurdly easy to learn, posting rate is 1 post every 2-3 days, the players I have scoped are all excellent. Interested?
If anyone else in this thread is interested too, please let me know!
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Re: Ponythread Learns to Draw II
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Thanqol
Speaking of lost games, I'm planning a play-by-post here on these forums and most of my usual crew is full up - are you interested?
It's either going to be a giant robot game (circa Knights of Sidonia) or a dark magical girl game (circa Puella Madoka Magica Magi). System's absurdly easy to learn, posting rate is 1 post every 2-3 days, the players I have scoped are all excellent. Interested?
If anyone else in this thread is interested too, please let me know!
Is it going to be reliant on interaction between player characters? Because... you don't want me in any proper roleplay. Ever. Especially with good, experienced players. >_>
Besides, I'm more of a Battletech/Mechwarrior guy anyway. :P
In other news, have you gone into seclusion again? It's been a while since your art thread last saw an update. :)
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Re: Ponythread Learns to Draw II
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Sean Mirrsen
Is it going to be reliant on interaction between player characters?
Very much so, yes.
Quote:
Because... you don't want me in any proper roleplay. Ever. Especially with good, experienced players. >_>
Besides, I'm more of a Battletech/Mechwarrior guy anyway. :P
You sure? You seem well spoken, insightful and psychologically stable which are the main things I look for in prospective gamers. Writing skill can be taught, especially in a high functioning group. If you can post with regularity and have a good attitude then I am happy to see where it goes!
But if it's not your thing that's also fine :smallsmile: Just don't sell yourself short.
EDIT: I love Mechwarrior too, grew up on that stuff!
Quote:
In other news, have you gone into seclusion again? It's been a while since your art thread last saw an update. :)
Oh, urgh, yeah I'm still drawing but it's been pretty damn crap recently. All this house drama has really, really thrown me off my game.
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Re: Ponythread Learns to Draw II
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Thanqol
You seem well spoken, insightful and psychologically stable
Thank you for the vote of confidence. :P
It's not that I'm psychologically unstable, it's more that I am inexplicably unreliable in all kinds of personality traits. So, rather than me being hesitant because I know I might be disruptive to the game, it's more that I don't know that I won't be, if that makes any sense to you. If you have a good game going, I'd rather not risk blumbering it up with any of the millions of things that might go wrong to cause me (or less likely, my character) to become a problem.
Quote:
Oh, urgh, yeah I'm still drawing but it's been pretty damn crap recently. All this house drama has really, really thrown me off my game.
Ouch. Good luck with getting back in the swing of things.
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Re: Ponythread Learns to Draw II
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Sean Mirrsen
Thank you for the vote of confidence. :P
It's not that I'm psychologically unstable, it's more that I am inexplicably unreliable in all kinds of personality traits. So, rather than me being hesitant because I know I might be disruptive to the game, it's more that I don't know that I won't be, if that makes any sense to you. If you have a good game going, I'd rather not risk blumbering it up with any of the millions of things that might go wrong to cause me (or less likely, my character) to become a problem.
Sure. I respect the self awareness :smallsmile:
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Re: Ponythread Learns to Draw II
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Thanqol
It's either going to be a giant robot game (circa Knights of Sidonia) or a dark magical girl game (circa Puella Madoka Magica Magi). System's absurdly easy to learn, posting rate is 1 post every 2-3 days, the players I have scoped are all excellent. Interested?
If anyone else in this thread is interested too, please let me know!
Are they pony-related? I might be interested in joining if they're pony games...