Maybe I should rename the thread the Nightly Draw Challenge.
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Originally Posted by
SiuiS
ARTS AND GIVING ADVICE ON ARTS
Yeah, I hear you.
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Not necessarily. He could be trotting!
How goes the brony-ness, Prince?
Ponies have really taken a backseat since I got obsessed with Homestuck last Christmas.
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Interesting.
I'm somewhat psycho, in that if I look at things I can see thin black outlines. Its probably an artefact of my bad vision, but I've seen outlines on almost everything since I was a wee lad. So it's easier for me to deal with; only an improper juxtaposition looks bad. A deep outline, and a face that's rendered through pure shading won't work, just as random black lines for detail won't work on an otherwise all-paint piece.
I have a sort of romance with traditional art though. I feel it has value because of its history. so Thanqol and I differ on whether things require outlines; they don't require them they are defined by them. Silly thanqol.
Preferably I want to rely less on outlines and more on correct shading to define things, but I still think extreme outlines are an important tool to provide contrast with in an informed manner at least. Jut have to get there, I guess.
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If at all possible Prince, do this. It is the best possible advice. My inability to listen makes my life hell.
It's too easy to rationalize why not to, but you are right of course.
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It's the book or something, it looks like a skirt panel. And the 'Barbie toe' of the right leg, which according to Top Model or something, makes feet look more feminine.
Oh, Neat! I can't wait to use that intelligently.
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Walking is best achieved heel-to-toe of one foot, followed by same with the other. Walking is defined by always having one foot on the ground. A jog, while slower than a power walk, is differentiated by the bouncing. Your body goes into partial free fall, and you require more energy and different muscles to pull it off.
As the body gears up into a run, you'll get several postures. The running man style is upright, controlling breathing, similar superficially to an accelerated walking animation. In truth it's closer to high-speed moon walking, shooting the boy forward by rolling the rear foot. A sprint is more leaned forward, the feet contacting at the balls of the feet only, which splay to displace energy, grip the terrain, and kick off. Efficiency drops off pretty quickly at this point, as the body suffers more trauma and exerts more energy for a disproportionate boost in speed - usually. Adrenaline or other strong impetus can make the leaning forward run into a full body motion, generating trememndous force outward (and thus, remarkable speed). Tears you up though, as a run with murderous intent is full body.
Fun fact: to build muscle, run. To burn fat, power walk for a couple hours. Differences in metabolic action priorities.
This is all gold. I actually knew about that last part, but I don't spend enough time on my body at all.
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Tackle anything that makes you uncomfortable. If it still makes you uncomfortable afterward, Stradle it's chest and punch it repeatedly until it submits. Uh, metaphorically.
Faces are discernible by fatty deposits, muscular structures, and bony protrusions. On a lot of your heads, there is no variation below the nasal bone. Same chin, same jawline, same cheeks, same head shape. This is where generic anime girls come in handy!
Learn to draw correct faces, learn to draw different faces, learn to draw faces doing different things, Yah!
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Pictured are Metal Mask and Faithful Song. the heart-shaped face enhances Faith's specific attributes, and gives a coy sense of head tilt. Mask uses the plain-Jane oval, with straight on features, because withot her mask she presents as naked/incomplete. Midnight would have a round head with pointy chin; Phoe has a longer oval face with a svelte thinness, and twinkling eyes. Starry has elfin features. Istana has strong bone structure and a sharp, aquiline(?) nose, like an Arabian horselord. Naiholi had wide cheekbones, and a dainty nose. Þrenoiðia has a beautiful face if you ignore her unfortunately masculine jaw.
The head can be altered on the outside into a desired shape, then just let the features swim around inside to find nice, symmetrical places to settle.
On the boy end, we have the character Raz, who came out looking too old, and hardened, due to the prominent bone structure.
Nod, nod.
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The lackadaisy tutorial summarizes and clarifies everything I've ever seen on races, ever. The only thing it doesn't touch on, I learned from old comics, and coloring books of all places; minimize detail while maintaining distinctiveness. A well designed character can be seen in the background as a jawline, a smile, and three penstrokes to make the hair, and you'll know who they are. The major fun I've had is in making a mouth with lips, and that little dimple bit right under the nose (whatever that's called). A page and a half of lips, smiling, snarling, pouting. Fun times.
Man, mouths are awful.
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I believe it has to do with the nondescript skull shape. We are seeing that across gender and age groups, all your characters have the same bone structure in relative length, width and such. It makes all your people's look the same as each other, which sort of diminishes the value of any character.
Aha! I think this definitely goes under different faces.
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All art is just lines and pigment really. It doesn't matter if you 'copied' something else, you still did a good job of copying it. You have the technical skill to pul off stuff, and make it look elegant. You chose how to combine the dragon, how to cope it and line it, how to compose it, and I can still see it vividly in my head. It was masterful. And it was mastery you pulled off, not something you bought cheaply. That dragon is a testament to what can be done with focus.
Thanqol enjoys the metal shift of coloring my work, because it frees him from constraints of composition and positioning. It's just color within the lines, mostly. Zen. Relaxing. And in no way has my being the line artist diminished the value of his work. So too, does your using components that are already there diminish what you've accomplished.
Aww, thanks!
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This is where I saw the jawbone lacking, by the way :smallsmile:
And you are an artist. Which means you're a masochist. Which means you're going to do this, eventually. We all know the pride of having more skill later wont really overcome that nagging shame of turning down the challenge, but the relief from getting this damn face thing out of the way now will exceed the pain of seeing how "bad" you do by a wide margin.
Come on, mate! Into the breach! Semper Fi.
Believe me, I will, come Sunday. You wont be seeing the shadow of it though.
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I've got it. The backgrounds and such tend to take precedence, and your characters often feel like they are an addition to the piece, as opposed to the focus. That may be because of your layering method. Hm.
Truth be told, background and environment was very important in those pictures, but you are right about this and it will be important to keep in mind in future works.
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Huh. Never thought of that. I used to watch the surgery channel though, so unless I have to actually deal with texture, I can handle a lot of stuff.
Oddly, as I get older, shock-value increases because my relative framework is more able to tell my brain what that is actually like >_<
I'm one of those people age-ratings were invented for. Make porn not gore!
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I have a desktop sitting in my living room, still boxed because we have to rearrange the living room. I'm a couple hundred away from a good tablet, a nice program, and trying to catch up to this glorious bastard we've been talking to.
Though with O:Faust it may be a good while before I have actual resources on line with 300.
Tell me when you've got it all ready so I can pester you about it.
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That would work well, but I think your best bet is to focus on doing things backwards; think of a scene, draw the characters, and then build the background around them. I think it will really help your composition, make the characters pop.
I'll give that a try.
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I draw character-focused pictures. Skeletons/outlines on the bottom, master outline on top so I can see what I'm doing, various colors and textures and different limbs and clothing and such on layers between. Folders everywhere.
But mostly, it's a psychological thing. I cannot know how many layers I will need until I'm done. I cannot make the picture until the layers are in place. It's a terrible system, and one I'll have to just learn how to let go of.
Mhm.
Why did I google that.
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I see. That jives well. I suppose I will have to divorce the guy from the my assumed background. I may be able to put that together myself though.
I was helpful!
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I can't even say its your loss. But the passive imagery along with the story and my own ruminations made a lot of serendipitous moments pop out at me. I was walking, just turning my camera around this lounge on the ship, looking at all the small details. The tidiness impressed me. And it all clicked. A mans mind is reflected in and a reflection of the place he calls his own.
I need to redecorate.
Very personal though. It evoked everything good abou military living while neatly excisin the bad as superfluous and part of human failing. I find it very personally empowering.
I'm glad you had fun with it. I don't think Mass Effect is really my kind of space opera, really. And even if I could play it I wouldn't feel any need to touch the series considering I've already obsessed over its, heh, Precursor.
Man, Star Control 2 is a great game. It's half a year year older than me and it still holds up.
Started on and didn't get finished with the commodore's belated birthday picture, just going to show how far along I've got.