Errol McGillivray (illust. & visual storytelling) - [hiatus]

[Rags of Ash]

Errol McGillivray

Slow As Christmas

>< I'd want you but I already have a mentor xD I was actually waiting for you to open!!!

You don't have to be my dedicated mentee to run stuff by me and ask questions. I'm here for everyone. It's just that they get first dibs on my attention. And since the list is empty, you got it. xd

if you have msn... elvenboyslut@hotmail.com

Okie dokie. I wanted to run some things by you about what you posted on my mentee thread about heads and whatnot. Aaaand as soon as I do get something done I will run by you when you're not busy.

Do I post it here or should I post it in my own mentee thread that way it doesn't get confused with your mentees?  

[Errol McGillivray]

You can post in either place. It might get my attention faster here though.  

[Eizoryu]

I would like to become a mentee if you're not full yet.

What I would really like to work on is movement, some checks on my anatomy and proportions, and settings for my scenes. I tend to let my insistence on realistic movement hinder me; I don't exaggerate my subjects' movements all that well, resulting in a stiff image.
People tell me I have some proportion issues, too; I have a habit of drawing bodies with short torsos, apparently. ^^;
Any help on perspective would be great, too. And if you see anything else in my work, then I'd be grateful if you point it out. =)

Thanks in advance, by the way. ^^  

[Errol McGillivray]

I'm taking my own awesome mentor's lead and posting up some things for people to do on the first page.

Flex those minds and art it up, bitches.  

[Syrella]

Hey there,

So I'm not your student or anything but I thought I'd try one of the exercises for fun. XD

Apparently I really suck at skeletons, so go figure. Maybe that's been my problem with anatomy all these years. Well, I'm marginally happy with how the expressions turned out. I think they each have a "personality" of sorts, or at least that is what I intended. On a side note, I wish I'd noticed the height differences a bit sooner. I'm not used to group pictures, and it shows. I should've cross referenced a bit more. The result is that the "jock" is one of the tinier fellows. Woops. Maybe he just has a Napoleon complex.

 

[Errol McGillivray]

Syrella, this is excellent. Let me look it over. Critique is coming. In the mean time, try the second part of it.  

[Syrella]

Errol McGillivray

Syrella, this is excellent. Let me look it over. Critique is coming. In the mean time, try the second part of it.

Yay! How exciting... XD

Okay, I did part two just now. I'm the least happy with Sally (she just doesn't give off a bitchy vibe to me). But overall, this version was a lot easier and faster to do than the last one. Anatomy's still probably way off, but I think I've gotten the basic gist of it.

http://fav.me/d2b9xjj

(Hurray for skeletons!)  

[Errol McGillivray]

Fortunately, this is all about gesture. The accuracy of the skeletons is totally irrelevant.

It's interesting that although Sally was the first mentioned, you pleased her next to her friend. Was this an active decision, or did this just feel "right"? Do you think that as a girl, your own relationship with your friends affected that? (Just curious. Also, you'll find that paying close attention to the things you innately do will help you express things without saying them in your drawings.)

Sally's closed posturing if very good. She's paying attention, but very rigid and uncomfortable. One thing a lot of people don't know though, is that people (especially women) protect the crotch when confronted by someone (especially a man) they aren't receptive to. They will tend to cross the leg away from him. (Leg close to him crosses, covering crotch.) Men do this as well. When someone is interested, they tend to cross the leg towards the person. (You can test what I mean by "protecting or offering" the crotch by crossing your own legs. Notice that on the side away from the leg that's crossed, there is access to the crotch. Even just turning the knees away and keeping the legs tightly closed will give that impression.

Besides that, she's pretty spot on. Her friend is really well done. She's leaning in and engaging him. You can see her interest and her aggressive manner.

The men were a little weaker and it difficult to read them. Try turning the jock's hips toward Sally. When you're engaging someone, you face the core of the body to them. Also, think about what he could be saying. His gesture with his arms and hands should when possible express what he's trying to get across. He does take up plenty of space and seems otherwise comfortable and confident.

Poindexter is a little better, but he doesn't seem distracted at all. In the story, he's looking for his roommate. Other than that, his closed up posture works really well.

Like I said before, you did a good job.

You made a great choice in placing Sally and her friend back to back. That tells the viewer that they're friends. Just don't forget the other information in the story. Each and every bit of it should be communicated.

(part 2 coming)  

[Syrella]

Thank you for the feedback. ^^

I'm trying to remember what made me feel that they should be placed together. I think it was, as you said, because they are friends. It just felt like a more natural placement to me and, since they are friends, they would be likely to sit together.

As for the two girl's "personalities", I tried to imagine how I or someone I knew would sit if they were shy, or very self-confident, and draw that accordingly. "What do people do when they're interested in someone?" or "What do they do when they're not?"

I had a little bit more trouble doing that with the guys, I think. Jock was probably the weakest in the bunch in my opinion (I had trouble drawing "confidence" in him). I tried to give him space on the sofa and also puffing him out a bit. But it just wasn't going so well. Maybe I could've had him flexing his arms a bit instead.

Also... I think I forgot the part about where Pointdexter is supposed to be looking around for his friend. That was my goof up for not keeping it in mind. If his head were turned the other way, that would probably have done the trick well.

That's interesting about the leg crossing. I'd heard something to a similar effect. "If you like someone, your legs will unconsciously point towards them". I think it's the same concept, actually. I guess there are a lot of bodily cues that people give off on a regular basis, many of which they don't even realize. And then it's animators or artists that capture them and people nod and say ahhh. smile

Thanks again.  

[Yvienna]

May I please be a dedicated mentee?  

[Errol McGillivray]

I'm not taking any right now, but feel free to post things in this thread. My mentees are busy people and not terribly active, so I will be able to help you just about whenever.  

[PaperFoliage]

Hello, I tried your exercise but I did it digitally. When I sketch, I tend to be a bit messy, so I was wondering if you would like me to clean it up before I post it for a crit? Thanks!  

[Errol McGillivray]

I think you'll get more out of it if you work on paper. It helps you not get used to abusing the undo command.

Don't clean it. I want to see your thought process and underlines. That helps me help you more effectively.  

[PaperFoliage]

Sorry about that!



Crit: I find that the jock and the friend have a similar pose as does Sally and Poindexter so I'm not too sure if it came across. When I drew Poindexter, I didn't have the girl next to him so I feel like now having him look down at his watch, made it seem like he was trying to get away from her, rather then him trying to see where his friend is. I think my proportions are off, and even among themselves so I think that is something I need to work on.

Ref: I hope I was allowed to ref, because I briefly looked at my skeleton because I wasn't sure about one of the bones. I didn't pose it or anything through.  

[PaperFoliage]

Here is the second part of it. I hope you didn't mind that I did this part on the computer as well. I didn't use the undo tool, just brush and eraser. I don't think I use the undo tool a lot so it wasn't too bad.



Crit: I felt like they were a bit small in the last picture but this time I feel like I may have made them a bit too big. I like Sally, the friend the the nerd but I'm not too sure about the jock's pose. I don't feel like hes scared of getting rejected. I tried to keep in mind that they were all part of one drawing so I think proportions compared to each other is a bit better.

Questions: I'm a bit confused about how to answer the first question, "image" in what sense? As for how it affected the story, I felt the story was a lot more harsher in what was going on, as in, this one the guy is worried about being rejected and the best friend is shy and just looking where as before, they were both confident or willing to go for it.

I did keep them in the same spot because I still felt like the guys should be out on the side, purely because one is looking for their friend and the other is afraid of being rejection but I don't think it was forced. I oddly found it easier to draw this one, then the first one. Maybe because it was like "try two."

Thanks for the exercise! It was fun! 3nodding