Quote Originally Posted by Zorg View Post
I was referencing this post of yours:

And since I can only go by what you're posting here it looked like that work fell by the wayside somewhat - if you've still been doing it but not posting it then great I'm also jealous you have six hours to spend drawing!
My intention was not to imply you haven't been making progress, but that from what you've been posting here there hasn't been much technical stuff or analysis of your work, and that as an artist in any medium it is very easy to get complacent and not push oneself - and thus give you a nudge to do it
Ah, yes, a much more fair assessment. The past 10 days have pretty much been pure technical stuff because I was short a tablet; I just didn't post the pages of crummy hand sketches and so forth.

And complacency tends to set in when one feels proud of one's work. I'm doing my best to avoid that.

Finally, six hours painting at a time is fun. My decision going into this summer break was "I can take a full-time job, or I can learn how to paint." I'm not unhappy with my choice.


Some commentary:

In regards to composition there is an immediately obvious improvement in the facial structure, especially facial proportions. One common mistake the new and old have is the width/positioning of the mouth.
The corner of the mouth is in line with the edge of the nostril in both, while it should be in line with the pupil were she looking forward. The shortening of this skews the perspective, giving the lower face the appearance of being in profile (compare this picture to your source to see what I mean).
Extending the mouth would also change its curvature, showing more of the philtrum (the upper middle bit) which would give more perspective and depth. Shading the ergotrid would also add to this, but is not necessary in a stripped down style. The corner of the mouth should be in line with the centre of the eye regardless of the rotation of the head.
Ohhh. That's interesting to know, and a good rule of thumb. Thanks!

The bridge of her nose comes up very high, blocking the left side of her face, and I think her eye is over a little to the right of frame, as it looks the correct distance from the nose. Her eye shape is good for a front on view, but should be fractionly more squashed for the partially side on perspective (the curves should be fractionally more exaggerated).
For the eyeball itself, I think it's rotated a fraction too far. I'm not sure it's possible to look so far to the side that the pupil ends up right in the corner like that. HAving more of the lower iris visible compared to the upper gives a more 'lazy', relaxed look while having it more even or the upper iris visible shows more excitement. Shading the inner edge of the eyeball, even just a faint line, near the tear duct would give it a greater sense of depth and shape.
That's super helpful, thank you very much!

The shading and lighting on the headphones is very good. Adding some light shading to the outer corner of her eye and around the bridge of the nose would give shape/depth to her face. The curve of her eyebrow is done perfectly.

Hope this is clear what I mean, and I think it's all stuff that can be applied to comic style faces too I hope
That really helps, thanks! I mean it; having that kind of analysis helps me spot things that I just plain wasn't seeing and visualise in my mind how to fix them.

The one ongoing issue I really had from this is that I've got no idea how to paint realistic looking hair strands. I used a bristled brush, but that wasn't quite a perfect fit. I also lack any tutorials on the subject. I've been reminding myself to do more research, but I'm at a bit of a loss. Anime hair is just easier.

In regards to drawing without references - you're already doing it! Unless you happen to know a large number of red tie wearing, sleeve-ripping, knife weilding people. And anthromorphic horses. Then again, maybe you do; Canberra is a rather strange place at times.
Not using a reference doesn't mean you can't use references - I guess Domo means draw an 'imaginary' face, not copy one - but one still needs to use references for anatomy, pose and proportion. Take a picture and put that person in a different pose or expression, that sort of thing.
Ah! Grand! That's what I had in mind, wonderful.