Arts and CraftsThe place to talk about stick figure avatars, graphic design, fan art, or any application of the visual arts and creative writing--or just to show off your latest masterwork!
... AHAHAHAHAH!!!! You are saying this to the guy who has been drawing for ten days. I don't think you should bash yourself so hard. Although I agree that flyingchicken is better than both of us (but if there's anything I've learned so far, that just means he's had more practice).
As for your sketch, I think the lower left corner of the muzzle/mouth needs some fixing, as well as the feet (and probably right hand too while we're at it). Left hand looks good, though the middle finger probably shouldn't stick out a little further than the others for no good reason (Only the first knuckle does that, which if facing directly towards the viewer). The left shoulder also might be a bit long. The arms and body look good though, as does most of the head (the ear also shouldn't connect so far forward on the head IMHO). Also, sickles have a much more curved shape. Hopefully that didn't tear into it too much, it's mostly just proportions and some perceived 2Dness.
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Day 10:
I started playing Dwarf Fortress again a few weeks ago; I had forgotten how fun and absolutely hilarious that game is. A bit of an in joke, but have a dwarf being eaten by a carp, and a wheel of cheese.
Spoiler
The fish actually turned out to be decently difficult. It's harder to denote roundness without any shading.
Time: About an hour
Music: Pony
__________________
Devoted artificer of the church of Scorching Ray.
Last edited by Madcrafter : 07-05-2012 at 01:57 PM.
Well, the hand in the tendon sketch I had a reference for. Hands without references (such as those on the dwarf), look significantly worse.
@flyingchicken: That first one looks very... square. I don't know if you intended it to be that way or not. And the hand in the bottom left looks pretty good (some of the rest I agree look a little strange). You seem to always draw in the same particular style; do you try any others often?
@Bryn: I quite like this one. I might make the shadows on RD a little less stark, but they look good on Twilight. I don't know if RD was supposed to be going in to the library (which was my first impression from the title), but she is definitely flying past the door. Only other thing I can see is the expressions. IMHO RD should have a bigger grin, and Twilight some more concern/curiosity. Very nice though.
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Day 11:
Hope you don't mind Bryn; they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
Spoiler
Time: a little over an hour
Music: Pony
__________________
Devoted artificer of the church of Scorching Ray.
Some noses today, and a quick re-sketch of the hand to see if I could draw something vaguely like one in a minute.
Spoiler
Time: little over half an hour
Music: Ponies
These studies are good I think, but I don't think you should try to copy figures exactly--rather, get a feel of the underlying structures, the simpler (three-dimensional) shapes behind them, and how lights and shadows interact with their component planes.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gnomish Wanderer
@ FlyingChicken and MadCaster: Thank you both for the words! I will definitely take the advice to heart, I'm still trying to get up to a competent point in my artistry. As for the hands, that was all Inkscape magic (as the actual sketch shows), I'm terrible at hands. And yeah, line weight >.> I am so bad at line weight. You both have lots more skill than I do.
I like a bit of flattery, thanks.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gnomish Wanderer
Working on a catfolk in Photoshop, it's... slow going.
Original Sketch with [badly-done] fur texture:
Spoiler
What I have now, still WIP:
Spoiler
For starters: Its legs and feet are very tiny, and is the hand supposed to be resting on the same plane as the feet? If so, then it looks wrong. The top half of the drawing sorta implies, to me, that the figure is leaning forward, but as I look down, that notion's contradicted by the legs.
Welp, I already said a bunch of stuff in the IRCs; I don't think I have to repeat myself here
Quote:
Originally Posted by Madcrafter
I started playing Dwarf Fortress again a few weeks ago; I had forgotten how fun and absolutely hilarious that game is.
I feel dumb because I can't muster the patience to learn DF.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Madcrafter
A bit of an in joke, but have a dwarf being eaten by a carp, and a wheel of cheese.
Spoiler
The fish actually turned out to be decently difficult. It's harder to denote roundness without any shading.
Time: About an hour
Music: Pony
The dwarf's arms look a bit long wrt the rest of his body. Roundness could've been implied by the texture you gave it (though as it is, it sorta does, but doesn't). The cheese's cylindricalness could use a bit of work, specifically the roundness of the bottom circle (which looks like it's lopsided and tapering to a "pinched" point).
Quote:
Originally Posted by Madcrafter
@flyingchicken: That first one looks very... square. I don't know if you intended it to be that way or not.
The "squareness" is intended, though the way the legs turned out was not. I should've sketched out a line of action first (then sketched out the pose instead of just drawing stuff in).
Quote:
Originally Posted by Madcrafter
You seem to always draw in the same particular style; do you try any others often?
Like what? I don't think my grasp of the fundamentals is strong enough to really think about "style".
Quote:
Originally Posted by Madcrafter
Hope you don't mind Bryn; they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
Spoiler
Time: a little over an hour
Music: Pony
As I can't articulate how something just feels wrong at the gut, I'll just go with a minor quibble: the door-plane doesn't seem to mesh with the balcony platform-plane well. For this drawing, I think one-point perspective guidelines will suffice.
---
Character sketches:
Spoiler
RD's back is bent exaggeratedly, but maybe a tad too much; I was supposed to exaggerate similarly with the other figures but... I can't loosen up . Celestia's sword could be longer. I obviously didn't even bother with AJ, with a wonky line of action (which, I think, is its main problem, that needs to be addressed before even considering the others. As you might've gathered, I think that if the very basics of a figure--the line of action, the posing, the perspective, the... interestingness... of the simple underlying figure--no amount of work on the details could save it.)
Haven't been keeping up with the art. Ate a bad piece of half-priced meat, got a bit sick. Saved three dollars though! *thumbs up*
Then I rediscovered civ4 modding, forgot how oddly addicting that can be. I have been doodling heads, but they really aren't show worthy. Just circles. Unit modeling might count for doing art stuff, but I need to get back to the grand coloring adventure.
The only thing I'm unsure of that someone hasn't mentioned is the shadow for the tree branches Rainbow Dash is flying through. They are shaded, but they cast no shadow. The balcony railing has a dynamic shadow, and judging by the position of the railing's shadow it looks like the tree branches should also cast one. Shouldn't they cast a shadow on part of the balcony and over Dash? Maybe I'm wrong though. Not too sure on the position of the tree branches to balcony.
Quote:
Originally Posted by flyingchicken
Character sketches:
*snip*
RD's back is bent exaggeratedly, but maybe a tad too much; I was supposed to exaggerate similarly with the other figures but... I can't loosen up . Celestia's sword could be longer. I obviously didn't even bother with AJ, with a wonky line of action (which, I think, is its main problem, that needs to be addressed before even considering the others. As you might've gathered, I think that if the very basics of a figure--the line of action, the posing, the perspective, the... interestingness... of the simple underlying figure--no amount of work on the details could save it.)
That Dash's pose looks, rather painful... I know it's supposed to be exaggerated, but that sudden turn of the spine is just painful looking. Specifically the line for her front. This is all subjective, but you could probably leave the ribcage and pelvis where they are (and even keep the sharp turn line for her back) but it would probably look better if the front line had a less sharp turn. If this makes sense. Granted, then her body would be pinched, so I don't know. Take it with a pillar of salt.
And even though you don't, I really like the Applejack. Or rather, her legs. As you said, the whole pose doesn't flow and the perspective is off, but... This may sound really, really weird, and is probably the result of my sleep deprived and caffeinated mind, but I really like the lines you used on her legs. Especially the curves you used to define her calfs and feet. Those are some nice legs.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Balmas
Yay for tumblr posts! One of three. I'd have number two, by now, but Inkscape crashed without me saving.
*snip*
Oh ye ponythread!
I must admit, the "Not Being Significant Enough to Be an Element" made me laugh.
Attempt 80 & 81, or "Thin Lines"
Spoiler
I dropped the day, as by this point I'm not drawing everyday. Not that I was before...
But I need to keep my attempts catalogued and recorded! That's just the way I roll.
As I returned to coloring yesterday I drew a old character for a warm up. Over-saturated colors and all! But, as I was doing it, I came to realize something. I disliked large lines for linework. Actually, the break from art made me take a step back and look at my things. I realized that I despised doing linework. So I shook it up and started to doodle first, then color, then define the lines as needed ontop of the doodles. Doodles, coloring, then lines! Sloppiness forever!
I also used smaller lines. Yay?
Her face needs work. Actually, everything does. But especially the eyes, I need to do something about those. Need to find a new eye technique or something. It always looks ok as a doodle, but colored they look bad. And there always crooked. Anyways, bad art is bad, but needed to get back started somewhere.
Today I did Samurai Applejack! Standing there doing nothing!
I used more desaturated colors today. Went with sunlight light and shadow. Ok, attmepted sunlight light and shadow. Still thin and doodly linework. And need to do something about those eyes. Even the pony eyes need work.
Eyes shall be my new thing.
Uploading this I realized I forgot to put a line to define the inside of AJ's ear. Now it looks like she has balloon ears. Oh well.
Things I learned: Still working on the proper contrast between light and shadow. Fooling around with things. I don't know. Learned that somedays it doesn't pay to try to draw eyes.
I've also been fooling around with that AJ pic, need to get that one finished. Still not worth showing again.
@flyingchicken: Perhaps you are not thinking style, but there are elements that persist through almost all of you sketches that I've seen, namely heater shaped faces, sharp-edged and triangular/pointed limbs, thin necks (to match the face shape), and very curvy torsos (sometimes big 80s style hair too).
With the exception of the smile, RD does look like she just got her back snapped though.
------
Day 12:
Figure 416 from Grey's, a few doodles, and a quick copy of flyinchicken's Celestia.
Spoiler
Time: didn't check, but probably a little over an hour.
Music: Pony
__________________
Devoted artificer of the church of Scorching Ray.
You guys are right, RD is a bit too bent. As for style, I suppose it's just my default; sometimes I try to imitate certain styles, but not for very long.
Haha Madcrafter, that's a pretty neat copy Top-hat guy looks a bit flat though.
Bakuel, your coloring bothers me less now, I dunno why. Maybe it's because it's less mottled, or maybe I'm just in a good-ish mood.
---
To get on the imitation bandwagon...well, more "inspiration" in this case, here's my own take on Samurai Applejack:
sketchy lineart:
Spoiler
sketchy lineart and flats:
Spoiler
shaded:
Spoiler
Last edited by flyingchicken : 07-07-2012 at 03:14 PM.
@Bryn: I quite like this one. I might make the shadows on RD a little less stark, but they look good on Twilight. I don't know if RD was supposed to be going in to the library (which was my first impression from the title), but she is definitely flying past the door. Only other thing I can see is the expressions. IMHO RD should have a bigger grin, and Twilight some more concern/curiosity. Very nice though.
Thanks!
Flyingchicken's given some good advice in the IRC channel, and I'm currently working on improving RD's head (which I finally realised is totally out of proportion with the rest of her body, but the position of the mouth and eyes are also not show-accurate and her head isn't really correct in perspective.)
I'll also be shortening the balcony - unfortunately redrawing the railing supports and their shadows is going to take a while. RD was intended to be flying past the door, perpendicular to the direction of the balcony, and the title was completely last-minute and I'll probably call it something else.
Twilight's expression was a problem - originally I wanted her to just be happy to see Dash arrive and gave her an expression like this one, and I still don't want her to necessarily be to annoyed or angry.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Madcrafter
Day 11:
Hope you don't mind Bryn; they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
Spoiler
Time: a little over an hour
Music: Pony
Don't mind at all, glad people like the idea enough to copy it
For me, part of the point of drawing this was to learn how to use the methods in Successful Drawing (Andrew Loomis). For illustration, I did it this way, though quite a few are likely not needed...
The railing was worked out on two similar grids. I realised it was supposed to be slightly larger than the railings a bit too late, so the grids had to be expanded by half a square, which was a bit convoluted. I recommend drawing everything within your grid
The open door needs to vanish on the same horizon as the balcony, but with the VP a lot closer to the centre; this means the other VP must be a lot further from the centre. You can find their precise positions by drawing the door on the layout guide (to get the right angle), plotting that on the perspective grid for the balcony, and extending the line to the horizon. This is what I had (stupid-big image). The doorway should use the same VPs as the balcony itself. The room behind it is roughly in perspective, but I didn't draw perspective lines for the books - hopefully not too noticeable.
The supports took the most time: each had a little triangular prism set up. My interpretation of the reference had the large spirals resting on the balcony, and the small spirals connected to the railing, which means they're not tangent to the balcony at that point. Vanishing points were selected by drawing a chord on the balcony between the relevant points and projecting it to the horizon (for one VP) and using the layout guide and grid to choose the other in a perpendicular direction. For the amount of work this took, the result probably isn't worth it. In the show, it's not entirely clear how the supports work, since the railing seems to be wider than the balcony but the supports go straight up. Nobody cared then, so it probably doesn't matter.
Twilight was originally perspectived in as a box, scaled according to the reference. Her vanishing points are somewhat to the right of those of the balcony, so that she might be rotated slightly. Perspective is really important when placing the feet, when drawing the 'playground pony' I kept messing up on the legs until I actually drew some perspective lines.
After drawing her, I realised she wouldn't actually be able to see RD from that position, so I moved her over - this led to a large space of empty balcony. I scaled her according to the rules in Creative Illustration so she should hopefully have VPs on the correct horizon, but I'm not exactly sure where her vanishing points ended up.
RD was sized according to a scaling rule similar to the one used to move Twilight. Once I'd projected Twilight's height to the right place, I projected it up a bit and drew an upright bounding box. I wanted her to be banking into the turn, however... this means I needed to make her left vanishing point on a vertical line directly below the VP of the balcony. That gives a new, slanted horizon. RD could then be drawn in usual two-point perspective, but uprights are perpendicular to the new horizon instead.
Unfortunately, when I actually drew Dash, I messed up on the proportions somewhat. Her torso and legs are too large relative to her head for the MLPFIM style, and it's going to be a bit of a headache working out which bits need to be larger, and which smaller, in the tilted perspective.
Cast shadows on the balcony used another method from the book: you draw a line from the sun and a line from the point on the horizon directly below the sun, essentially casting a ray; where they intersect, you draw the shadow on the ground. Something like this.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bakuel
I like it!
The only thing I'm unsure of that someone hasn't mentioned is the shadow for the tree branches Rainbow Dash is flying through. They are shaded, but they cast no shadow. The balcony railing has a dynamic shadow, and judging by the position of the railing's shadow it looks like the tree branches should also cast one. Shouldn't they cast a shadow on part of the balcony and over Dash? Maybe I'm wrong though. Not too sure on the position of the tree branches to balcony.
This is where drawing the tree branches roughly, and not working them out in perspective like the rest of the picture, becomes a problem The railings could have shadows worked out because I knew what is directly below them on the ground plane, so I could plot out their shadows like some sort of very slow raytracing engine. I kind of assumed that the balcony happened to be in the lit part of the picture where the sun is shining through the hole in the trees; I didn't really think about light from the tree branches falling on the trunk and so on. I'll definitely give this some more thought - fixing shading won't come until I redraw Dash's head and the balcony rails though. Thanks!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Balmas
That looks amazing. How long did it take you?
Thank you! The first file I have from this project was apparently created 20 June. That appears to have about four days worth of work on it, and it has the first railing support in progress. I've been spending most of the time each day working on it since then, although I can't really say precisely how much time each day. I think I remember shading the ponies taking most of the night, but I probably got distracted at least a few times. Oddly, the ponies themselves were quite quick, despite the fiddliness of the pointy ends on the lines.
No updates to post yet, but I will post when I have a satisfactory face for RD and hopefully some updates on the shadows.
@flyingchicken: The samurai AJ looks pretty good. The issues I see with it:
-The acute angle in the face there looks strange to me, makes her look like she has giant sharp jowls on one side or something
-Trying myself, a human hand cannot actually bend back that far (left hand). It needs to be tilted maybe ten degrees forward.
-The posture is a little off; the lower part of the body (feet and hem) imply that she is leaning back, which would be impossible without falling over.
-Her one leg is a little long (the other one might be a tiny bit too, considering the stance I think she is supposed to be in)(also, human hands but still hooves for feet? And seemingly fat ones at that, compared to the slenderness of the torso and arms)
@Balmas: What tumblr is this for?
----
Day 13:
Incomplete sketches, one of the CMC from here (drawing from moving references is hard), a quick layout thing for an avatar request from the ponytar thread, and a sixty second copy of the samurai AJ.
Spoiler
Time: maybe 45 min
Music: Well, the animation above. It loops.
__________________
Devoted artificer of the church of Scorching Ray.
Last edited by Madcrafter : 07-08-2012 at 03:57 AM.
Bakuel, your coloring bothers me less now, I dunno why. Maybe it's because it's less mottled, or maybe I'm just in a good-ish mood.
It's just because you're in a good mood.
But who knows? Maybe that mood will last!
Seriously though, I have been trying to up the contrast and get rid of the old smoky look. So I'm glad there is some improvement.
Quote:
Originally Posted by flyingchicken
To get on the imitation bandwagon...well, more "inspiration" in this case, here's my own take on Samurai Applejack:
*snip*
Wow, I really don't know what to say...
You were inspired to draw Samurai Applejack and that is awesome.
I need to remember to put freckles on the shoulder for my AJ! Also the hat+scarve chin thing is something I'll have to keep in mind if you don't mind. Though, while practical and realistic, then the hat can't fly off via dramatic circumstance.
I can't think of anything constructive to say, too happy.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bryn
Thanks!
Flyingchicken's given some good advice in the IRC channel, and I'm currently working on improving RD's head (which I finally realised is totally out of proportion with the rest of her body, but the position of the mouth and eyes are also not show-accurate and her head isn't really correct in perspective.)
I'll also be shortening the balcony - unfortunately redrawing the railing supports and their shadows is going to take a while. RD was intended to be flying past the door, perpendicular to the direction of the balcony, and the title was completely last-minute and I'll probably call it something else.
Twilight's expression was a problem - originally I wanted her to just be happy to see Dash arrive and gave her an expression like this one, and I still don't want her to necessarily be to annoyed or angry.
Don't mind at all, glad people like the idea enough to copy it
For me, part of the point of drawing this was to learn how to use the methods in Successful Drawing (Andrew Loomis). For illustration, I did it this way, though quite a few are likely not needed...
*snip*
Thanks for writing out that commentary on the scene. I never thought about actual using a (3d modeling?) program like that to help layout a scene though... Must try this later!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Balmas
Tumblr Post Two image Two, continuing the question whether we have our own elements!
Spoiler
The element of denial? The denial of bronyhood? I like.
Is this tumblr a thing now?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Madcrafter
Day 13:
Incomplete sketches, one of the CMC from here (drawing from moving references is hard), a quick layout thing for an avatar request from the ponytar thread, and a sixty second copy of the samurai AJ.
Spoiler
Time: maybe 45 min
Music: Well, the animation above. It loops.
Oh hey, a CMC sketch! And a link!
Spoiler
HNNNNNNNG!
Thanks for that link. It's 8 AM and after staying up all night I was about to go to sleep, but after seeing this, I feel like I could go on for a few more hours.
This is the greatest thing.
Attempt 82, or "So I heard you liked corn."
Spoiler
Another day, another coloring misadventure!
Spoiler
Link
Pony OCs. Eating corn. In a box. I dunno.
I just finishing off a bundle of fresh corn I got for free, so I have been meditating on the power of corn on a cob. In this perfect other world though, corn doesn't have the odd strings that you have to remove! A true utopia. Alright, I just forgot to draw them.
The coloring is dirty then yesterdays, but I just wanted to finish something. Today's pain was Medusa's snakes, for some odd reason, I couldn't get the coils to be right. Now I realize that the reason is because a couple are growing out of the back of the ear. Oh well. Also, the snakes are supposed to be helping/persuading her to eat, but one of the tail snakes just looks like it's eating the corn itself a little. C'est la'vie.
Pony anatomy today is non existent.
What I Learned: I learned that I need to learn to color faster. Also, if you draw when your hungry, odd things will happen.
@flyingchicken: The samurai AJ looks pretty good. The issues I see with it:
-The acute angle in the face there looks strange to me, makes her look like she has giant sharp jowls on one side or something
I suppose it could use a little softening.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Madcrafter
-Trying myself, a human hand cannot actually bend back that far (left hand). It needs to be tilted maybe ten degrees forward.
That's true. The forearm was originally in such a way that the hand was neutral then I changed it but I'm an idiot so instead of redrawing the hand I just moved it
Quote:
Originally Posted by Madcrafter
-The posture is a little off; the lower part of the body (feet and hem) imply that she is leaning back, which would be impossible without falling over.
I think it's because of the fact that I'm a hack and didn't bother noting that eye level is high so the back part of the skirt thing won't be showing that much.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Madcrafter
-Her one leg is a little long (the other one might be a tiny bit too, considering the stance I think she is supposed to be in)
but yeah the other hoof might be a bit too small, and the leg too short, smaller and shorter than how much smaller and shorter they should be
Quote:
Originally Posted by Madcrafter
(also, human hands but still hooves for feet?
Like a minotaur, or a satyr, or the devil!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Madcrafter
And seemingly fat ones at that, compared to the slenderness of the torso and arms)
Thanks for writing out that commentary on the scene. I never thought about actual using a (3d modeling?) program like that to help layout a scene though... Must try this later!
A 3D modelling program would give you accurate perspective lines, but these were worked out by hand, by drawing lines from the vanishing points. (If you use Inkscape, making your points snap to path intersections, guides and cusp nodes (toolbar on the right) is helpful. To extend a line further, hold Ctrl and resize it...) flyingchicken posted a set of Andrew Loomis books earlier in the thread, and he goes into perspective drawing in Successful Drawing and Fun With A Pencil.
Thanks again to everyone who gave advice, not sure if I said that clearly enough
Does anyone know where I can find a picture of a pony blowing (out a candle, up a balloon, general puffing, anytime the cheeks are full of air). I tried the internet and a few likely episodes but found nothing. Looking for a reference pic, because I can't get it to look right.
__________________
Devoted artificer of the church of Scorching Ray.
Does anyone know where I can find a picture of a pony blowing (out a candle, up a balloon, general puffing, anytime the cheeks are full of air). I tried the internet and a few likely episodes but found nothing. Looking for a reference pic, because I can't get it to look right.
It's not exactly blowing air, but there's this spit take that might be handy:
Spoiler
__________________
Just call me Diego. Mr. Havoc was my father.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SiuiS
Diego Havoc, one of the hoopier froods I've met, up there with DeLancie.
Thanks for the spit gif. That will probably help (though I have the impression it will still look strange).
@flyingchicken: angle of the neck makes it look like the head is really far in front of the body. Hair is poofing really far out at the back. Looks pretty good though. (The longer I look at the expression, the stranger it starts to look. For your own sanity, do not stare at the face).
----
Day 14:
Can't say I was super inspired to draw much today, but we can't all be motivated all the time. The man is my interpretation of The Song and Dance man from the eponymous creepypasta (I love the character, always wanted to make a villain/BBEG bard like that). Rest are some quick sketches from a CoC rulebook that I opened for something else to draw (turns out they don't have all that much art).
Spoiler
Time: Maybe 45 minutes
Music: Pony
__________________
Devoted artificer of the church of Scorching Ray.
Just wanted to show off the first page of this comic a friend and I are working on.
Spoiler
We have 4 of the 6 Pages 'finished' (there's still more clean-up to do once we're finished colouring) but we haven't been able to work on the final pages in a while >.>
Link
Pony OCs. Eating corn. In a box. I dunno.
I just finishing off a bundle of fresh corn I got for free, so I have been meditating on the power of corn on a cob. In this perfect other world though, corn doesn't have the odd strings that you have to remove! A true utopia. Alright, I just forgot to draw them.
The coloring is dirty then yesterdays, but I just wanted to finish something. Today's pain was Medusa's snakes, for some odd reason, I couldn't get the coils to be right. Now I realize that the reason is because a couple are growing out of the back of the ear. Oh well. Also, the snakes are supposed to be helping/persuading her to eat, but one of the tail snakes just looks like it's eating the corn itself a little. C'est la'vie.
Pony anatomy today is non existent.
What I Learned: I learned that I need to learn to color faster. Also, if you draw when your hungry, odd things will happen.
Y'know, I just saw that picture, and then someone sent this in to the ponythread tumblr:
Spoiler
Was just thinking that your picture goes rather well. Could maybe use some party hats though
__________________
Just call me Diego. Mr. Havoc was my father.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SiuiS
Diego Havoc, one of the hoopier froods I've met, up there with DeLancie.
And here, I practice painting some more; as promised, before I had head, head with neck, and now here's head to torso:
Spoiler
I agree with Madcrafter that the expression does look a little odd. I'm not sure why that is though. Perhaps the left side of the smile should end more to a point like the other. The bottom line for the mouth should curve upward faster. If that makes sense. And if you were going for a roguish lopsided style grin. It is very nice though.
In my opinion, the hair colors look a bit *too* blended for Dash hair though, especially in the yellow and orange in the highlights but that's more of a personal choice. Darn rainbow hair is annoying to work with.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gnomish Wanderer
Just wanted to show off the first page of this comic a friend and I are working on.
Spoiler
We have 4 of the 6 Pages 'finished' (there's still more clean-up to do once we're finished colouring) but we haven't been able to work on the final pages in a while >.>
Nice, but the major nitpick which bothers me is the fourth and fifth panels.
Nity-nit-picks
Spoiler
The forth panel has a sudden crash, with a assortment of debris. And the final panel has the robot looking up at a hole in the ceiling. The problem is, up until the final panel the ceiling has not appeared in the comic so the sudden action and the appearance of a ruined ceiling seems rather jarring. To fix this, you could use the first panel to show more of the place the robot is in, in an angle which includes the ceiling as well. It's a visual narrative cliche when showing a new scene to give a shot(s) which shows most of area of interest, and then go down the more personal shots. But it's a cliche because it works, it is even more important when parts of the environment and character will interact with each character in a sudden manner. There are times when you might do the opposite, say, if a character is waking up, get a personal shot of there eyes opening, blinking or whatever and then have the last panel of them looking around there environment. But if the ceiling is going to suddenly fall, you should establish the ceiling beforehand. If rocks are going to fall, then I should see the party in a canyon or cave or something beforehand.
And when the debris falls, why not put some of those octagonal panels that make up parts of the ceiling in the last panel? This will also connect the narrative and make the action less jarring. Also, if possible, you can also show the robot reacting to the crash, perhaps instead of a panel with only crash and the debris, you can have the top part of the robot in the panel like you have in panel five. This will give the action some space and tell the viewer where the debris is falling from with regards to the character.
Take it all with a grain of salt though, a hack's advice is a hack's advice. Would love to see the other pages!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Diego Havoc
Y'know, I just saw that picture, and then someone sent this in to the ponythread tumblr:
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Was just thinking that your picture goes rather well. Could maybe use some party hats though
Yes! Party hats! This is a thing! I shall make this a thing!
I'm glad your back! It's probably late, but I hope you had a good trip!
A-83 or "Now with Party Hats!"
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Just added party hats. I like this version better, earthen colors plus a splash of color look good together. The gaudy colors are like spice, too much and it's bad, but enough in there and it's delicious!
At least I think so... Alright maybe not.
Anyway, I cleaned up those snake coils and various other things. So yay! Time to throw this one in the bin and start again!
The second panel on the comic also looks weird to me. I can see which part of the robot it is, but the outside circle looks like it needs some fixing, since it took me a moment to figure out what angle its being viewed from.
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Day 15:
Hand holding a cane perhaps, decided to add the shirt and suit for style. Also a collar and a face outline.
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Time: 45 minutes maybe
Music: Pony
__________________
Devoted artificer of the church of Scorching Ray.
Yes! Party hats! This is a thing! I shall make this a thing!
I'm glad your back! It's probably late, but I hope you had a good trip!
I did! I had a great time! Here are my pics in case anyone wants to see. Note the pic of me with Lauren Faust. (will never stop linking that)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bakuel
A-83 or "Now with Party Hats!"
Spoiler
Just added party hats. I like this version better, earthen colors plus a splash of color look good together. The gaudy colors are like spice, too much and it's bad, but enough in there and it's delicious!
At least I think so... Alright maybe not.
Anyway, I cleaned up those snake coils and various other things. So yay! Time to throw this one in the bin and start again!
Hahaha! That's great! I like the snake with the party blower!
__________________
Just call me Diego. Mr. Havoc was my father.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SiuiS
Diego Havoc, one of the hoopier froods I've met, up there with DeLancie.
@flyingchicken: angle of the neck makes it look like the head is really far in front of the body. Hair is poofing really far out at the back. Looks pretty good though. (The longer I look at the expression, the stranger it starts to look. For your own sanity, do not stare at the face).
Yeah, I should've been better with the shading so that the torso also "popped" out; also you're not the only one who thought the face was creepy! :P
Quote:
Originally Posted by Madcrafter
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Your drawings have a... flatness to them, like they were paper cutouts. Maybe work on the 3D-ness of things?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gnomish Wanderer
Just wanted to show off the first page of this comic a friend and I are working on.
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We have 4 of the 6 Pages 'finished' (there's still more clean-up to do once we're finished colouring) but we haven't been able to work on the final pages in a while >.>
The last two panels don't make sense to me :0
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bakuel
I agree with Madcrafter that the expression does look a little odd. I'm not sure why that is though. Perhaps the left side of the smile should end more to a point like the other. The bottom line for the mouth should curve upward faster. If that makes sense. And if you were going for a roguish lopsided style grin. It is very nice though.
In my opinion, the hair colors look a bit *too* blended for Dash hair though, especially in the yellow and orange in the highlights but that's more of a personal choice. Darn rainbow hair is annoying to work with.
I'll try those things next time I try to make the same expression! As for RD's hair, maybe I'll try mixing the saturation and values a little next time (only hue changed there basically, except for red IIRC); I love the pastel rainbow color scheme though, but I don't think site rules would permit me to say where I got the idea :O
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sketchy and quickly colored character concepts for something:
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some doodles:
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hmmm Dash's (legs need to be a tad longer, and her position on the imaginary plane adjusted accordingly, oh well)
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some quick doodley colors for the doodles:
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Last edited by flyingchicken : 07-11-2012 at 05:08 AM.
Yeah, I agree that my 3D definitely needs some work. Unfortunately I don't know how to fix it. Might have to do some research tomorrow.
Day 16:
Meatspace concerns ate up literally all my time today; I'm posting this half an hour before midnight. Some sketches from the train ride home (the only time to draw), to see if I could get poses outlined quickly for further development later. Made harder by the fact that I was in a moving vehicle with no way to brace my elbow (although it did allow me to draw more with my arm, it was overall negative IMO). These were all people on the sitting around me on the train; I felt a bit creeperish drawing them without their knowing.
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Time: Probably only 25ish minutes
Music: None
__________________
Devoted artificer of the church of Scorching Ray.
Thanks for the comic advice, I will take that to heart if we ever actually get back to working on that blasted thing. Tis the folly of collaboration, I suppose.
Do you guys have any advice for hands? They're been a personal weakness of mine and hands just convey so much character to do cruelly ignored like I usually do.
Hand Sketches:
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They're either alright or terrible, and always seem weirdly masculine. Gah, curse you, hands!
Well, I also struggle with drawing hands, but I like to think of the hand a the palm (a trapezoid tapering towards the wrist), the thumb and fingers (thin sausages), and the lump of flesh connecting the thumb to the palm (just a lump), and other bits and pieces but those are the foundations.
(prompted me to doodle:)
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and I'll leave this without panel borders (and color) for now:
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Re: Ponythread Learns to Draw! Together!
. Celestia's sword could be longer. I obviously didn't even bother with AJ, with a wonky line of action (which, I think, is its main problem, that needs to be addressed before even considering the others. As you might've gathered, I think that if the very basics of a figure--the line of action, the posing, the perspective, the... interestingness... of the simple underlying figure--no amount of work on the details could save it.)
