Swizzkitten's Sketches updated 02/26/08

[swizzkitten]

Hi, I'm Swizzkitten, you may call me Swizz. I started sketching at age 10 then on to painting (mostly acrylics) off and on for the next 38 years (old I am lol).

I have no formal art training (unless you count high school a million years ago). I got my first PC in 2001 (pitiful, I know) and started fooling around with graphics and such at that time.

My style has always leaned toward primitive, painting landscapes, animals and fantasy creatures. I would really love to learn Anime, so here goes!

This is the first figure work I have done in a long time, and the very first on a computer. I use PSP7 and a mouse. I did this from a great tutorial I found here. This is a work in progress... Any help would be greatly appreciated! heart




Well, I think I'm finished..but she doesn't look right and I can't figure out why arrgghhhh *goes to lay down and think about it*  

[Griffonage]

First of all, I would suggest creating your own image and applying the techniques in the tutorial rather than trying to completely emulate the image in the tutorial. At first I thought you eyeballed the image and were trying to pass it off as your own! gonk

So, yes, use your own characters, and other than that... Did you put it all on one layer? It seems like you did because the hair of the tail is overlapping the skin layer where it shouldn't, and it seems sloppy. Her arms are too short, and the way her face is shaded she looks old (also the eyes are a little too high up on the head). The shading on the chest is well done, and the textures you applied to the fabric are well-done and interesting.

I hope that didn't sound too harsh. I'm just trying to help the best way I can sweatdrop  

[swizzkitten]

Pomato Soup

First of all, I would suggest creating your own image and applying the techniques in the tutorial rather than trying to completely emulate the image in the tutorial. At first I thought you eyeballed the image and were trying to pass it off as your own! gonk

So, yes, use your own characters, and other than that... Did you put it all on one layer? It seems like you did because the hair of the tail is overlapping the skin layer where it shouldn't, and it seems sloppy. Her arms are too short, and the way her face is shaded she looks old (also the eyes are a little too high up on the head). The shading on the chest is well done, and the textures you applied to the fabric are well-done and interesting.

I hope that didn't sound too harsh. I'm just trying to help the best way I can sweatdrop

Thanks for the input. I tried to make her different from the tutorial (pose, clothing and hair color, etc), but since this is the first "computer coloring" I have done I tried to follow the hair flow, highlights etc for practice. (I would never steal anyone's art, I promise). I actually used 8 layers, but in making so many changes (especially to the hair) it may not look as neat as I'd like. You are right on about the arms..that's the biggest thing and I couldn't see it until you pointed it out mrgreen As for her face, yes she looks a bit old, I could really use a good tutorial on faces in general, especially shading. This is kinda funny, I put a mirror in front of me so I could see where the shadows fell on my face, and being 48 I guess I have old shadows lol (She actually looks alot like me, but my eyes are in the right place, I hope. smile Thanks again, I appreciate your input, it's the only way I will be able to learn.  

[swizzkitten]

OK, I fixed the arms and cleaned up the lines. Can't seem to get the face any different...

 

[loontje]

Here is a paintover. As you can see I added highlights and shadows. I made her lower lip a bit fuller... And for me, when drawing eyes, it always works best to use pure black for the pupil and pure white for the highlight. You did that but it was very heavily smudged, thereby blurring the outlines of the pupil and highlight making her eyes look somewhat glassy.... Anyway: I hope this helps 3nodding  

[swizzkitten]

Yes and THANK YOU! What a difference! I really need to work on my shadowing....and the eyes look great as well. heart *runs off to shadow shadow shadow*

Is this any better? I still like yours I'm afraid that I may have a shadow phobia. I tried to make the shadows darker and more noticeable, but then I go back and smudge them. *sigh* Takes practice I'm sure
redface

 

[swizzkitten]

OK, I have 2 new sketches I'm working on. I think I'll wait for some comments before coloring since it's alot easier to change the anatomy of a sketch confused

I actually created this character for my avatar (in the arena). In the second sketch I didn't do alot of detail on the cat as I am so used to doing animals I can fix her up in PSP.

Thanks so much for your help!!

Lyryn

Lyryn and Hope  

[swizzkitten]

Finished one of the above, but changed it a little (working on a story).


In Transition..updated

updated 01/31/08  

[tirbutt]

Hey there ;D~~

It's nice to see an older person with more life experiences xP~

I think in general you should study a few anatomy tutorials (once again linked in our main forum) and try to do a few studies of real people... if you have someone irl you can ask to pose, that would be best, if not, grab some images online or from magazines~~ try to get a variety of people, not just the pretty models in glamor shots =3=... do a couple rough sketches a day or even a week and your anatomy will improve automatically ;3...

I also noticed that your coloring in general is a bit murky and dark... This actually may be due to the smudging you're using... As a rule of thumb it's best not to smudge unless you know exactly what you're doing and blend manually instead by using lighter brush strokes etc.

Also try to keep in mind a general light source and how that comes into effect on your pictures -->> everything casts shadows and reflections, so for example your kitty girl's boobs would cast shadows on her legs, as would her arm... Just a few shadows under her on the background would ground her better too wink ...

That second sketch (Lyryn and Hope) is pretty good actually :0... her legs are too short for her though, and the head's a big large~~

Lastly I noticed that the hair on your characters seem to be drawn in individual strands... it's always best to draw hair as a blocks of shape and then go in with the details where needed... remember to keep the areas in the light less shaded  

[swizzkitten]

T i r a e l

Hey there ;D~~

It's nice to see an older person with more life experiences xP~

I think in general you should study a few anatomy tutorials (once again linked in our main forum) and try to do a few studies of real people... if you have someone irl you can ask to pose, that would be best, if not, grab some images online or from magazines~~ try to get a variety of people, not just the pretty models in glamor shots =3=... do a couple rough sketches a day or even a week and your anatomy will improve automatically ;3...

I also noticed that your coloring in general is a bit murky and dark... This actually may be due to the smudging you're using... As a rule of thumb it's best not to smudge unless you know exactly what you're doing and blend manually instead by using lighter brush strokes etc.

Also try to keep in mind a general light source a nd how that comes into effect on your pictures -->> everything casts shadows and reflections, so for example your kitty girl's boobs would cast shadows on her legs, as would her arm... Just a few shadows under her on the background would ground her better too wink ...

That second sketch (Lyryn and Hope) is pretty good actually :0... her legs are too short for her though, and the head's a big large~~

Lastly I noticed that the hair on your characters seem to be drawn in individual strands... it's always best to draw hair as a blocks of shape and then go in with the details where needed... remember to keep the areas in the light less shaded

Thanks so much for your input! I actually re-did her hair and added more shadows this morning..you're right, I need to shadow the background a bit... I'll try to keep my hands off the smudge tool as well. I'll fix the sketch before I color it and repost..I do need alot of practice with anatomy. I really never tried to draw people much, I'm not good at it lol, but willing to practice! Thanks again for your input..really appreciated smile  

[swizzkitten]

OK, so I did more work on her hair, added highlights to her clothes, put her on a more realistic background. Now her face is bothering me..seems too flat, but I'm not sure where to shade or highlight... crying  

[swizzkitten]

OK, I'm done with her lol, I re-did the hair and fixed her face. On to practice with another sketch...  

[swizzkitten]

I did the lineart for lyryn and hope, made her legs longer..still looks funny to me sad
 

[swizzkitten]

OK, I started the color..trying to do the hair more realistic with some new brushes I found. Haven't finished shading her body yet...

Lyryn and Hope  

[Chaotic Mana]

Your hair is coming along nicely but you have too much of it in comparison to her head size. Bring it in a little and see how that looks. Her tail has nice flow to it, but you might need to rough up the edges so it looks furry.