 - Art Advice and Suggestions - 

[Yulo-chan]

No problem <: ! I'm glad you're back whee
Wow Andralexis, you thought a lot about this XD

OHHHH I see what blurry light means now! XD
Light particle/waves distribute itself in a circle-like wave, so it spreads itself
thinner as the area it needs to cover becomes exponentially larger as the light
wave gets farther from the origin of light YEAHHH I GET IT XD

^ that's just how I imagine it in my head to visualize light now XD

In contrast to a larger area of color that is relatively darker, any portion of
color can be perceived to be brighter, is what I think you're saying. So to
make something brighter, just make the surroundings darker.

.... make the light brighter around the chest, especially for females? wow XD
okay then, Andra XDDDDD

to be honest, your message comes clear during the second read. XD
It's probably because you elaborate a lot and reinforce the same
message in different ways, so that I can pick up on at least one of the
explanations of the same essence/message. XD  

[MaiLinna]

Everyone here is so much better than me... crying crying crying  

[The Syndra]

@Yulo:
Glad this time I made my ideas clearer. With all the holiday stuff and what-not going on, I've been less an less here on Gaia, and I really wanted to make sure you (or anyone else with a question here) got the answer you deserve. Thanks a lot for coming to get some advice.
I'll slowly expand over the Light subject as well as giving you some pointers about what to improve on your illustration.
Merry Xmas, Yulo-san.

@MaiLinna:
Welcome! To be honest, back when I was "young" (I still am, but not as much as your average gaian) I used to feel a little bit depressed everytime I found someone else better than me. Then I, out of pure envy ( razz ) started to check other's arts, and pick as much as I could from the technique or feeling of the artist.
So, rather than be sad about anyone's skills being better than your's, be happy, because that means you still got room to improve. Be afraid when you got no more chance at growing.
And feel free to ask around.

- - - -

@EVERYONE:
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!  

[Elylbroong]

ok seems like this thread has kinda died but I'll try to see if you'll help me on this sketch

I included my sketch (left) and outline (right) just in case you didn't get how I interpreted some of the perspective lines (which was what I was trying to work on)

anyway anything would help although I would love you bunches if you could redline it. ninja  

[The Syndra]

@TRRB:
Prolly the thread seems unactive, but I still check my Gaia on a daily basis. Shame the My Posts feature doesn't show Guild results at all.

I'll redline your sketch as soon as I get home, will get posted HERE in the next few days. However, I can quickly point out these:

- The head perspective could use some more work over it. Currently it looks a little weird.
- Watch out for the proportions. I can't define yet exactly what is misplaced, but my gut tells me something is wrong there too.  

[Yamiko]

Hello Andra,

I'm having a difficult time with a piece I'm working on because it involves lighting at dusk from the back and some light sources in the front.
I guess I shouldn't have tried drawing the figures first, but then I had a weird urge to add a background.

OTL Please point out any other problems that stick out like a sore thumb.

I have no idea how to make the two hugging characters in the middle the main point of focus, while making the other characters seem more insignificant in such a way that doesn't look strange.

Version A: Did not consider the lack of color saturation on faces with edge lighting

Version B: Tried to emphasize edge lighting  

[The Syndra]

@TRRB:

First the pic, then the explanation:


You'll have a lot of work with this one, just for the position. Several issues with the pic come from the fact that prolly you didn't used any reference at all (or you moved a lot your paper while drawing) because you have several angles in different portions of the body.

I'd start making the chest and shoulders' area broader, the guy seems like compressing itself creating the feeling of timidity or low self-steem (of course if you're aiming for those then well-done). After that. remember that even while you're just doing a sketch you need to push yourself in order to learn and become better, so try different arm positioning with his right arm, prolly bending in the air (putting his hand just behind the head) to create the ilussion of shame (the guy should look like "oh, sorry").

I also noticed minor issues with both legs, the feet and the lef hand of the subject. My sincerest advice would be, as with many others : use a good reference. Get a friend or someone from your family pose for 5 minutes and sketch as many reference shots as you can, or take a digital photo (way, way better for anything else besides a sketch), or browse the images tab in google searching for photos or your favorite professional artists. You can even try some pose reference sites like Pose Maniacs. Reference will save your day much more than any superhero, believe me, and as soon as you get used to draw something in a certain way the mechanical process of doing it kinda remains in your brain, making it simpler each time you do it. Plus it's loads of fun (specially if you manage to convince someone to pose for you).
Good luck, TRRB, hope that helps.  

[The Syndra]

Yamiko

I have no idea how to make the two hugging characters in the middle the main point of focus, while making the other characters seem more insignificant in such a way that doesn't look strange.

Let's get this done, shall we?

I have no idea how to make the characters the main focus of the pic
Well, thats' not so difficult. You can emphasize any character in a crowdy scene or pic in multiple ways, like in the following pic:



Here, Hyung-Tae Kim did a fantastic job bringing the subject as the main focus point of the whole pic. He used the perspective as a subtle but effective tool to bring the subject to the front of the pic (check how the building in the farthest layer of the pic serves as an "anchor" of sorts for the char giving it the appareance of a triangle -using the very character to define the base of it-).
Also, he didn't painted any other character closer to the point of view (your "camera", so to speak). Sure, we have the indication at the left that prolly some other guy is closer, but we don't see him (or her), thus your eyes simply drift towards the closer subject (in your pic, I can't seem to avoid looking at the guy closer to me, that is the one depicted at the very bottom, that's because you did paint the face of the guy).
And, as a final oobservation, he increased the saturation of the colors of the main subject, definitely bringing it to life (yet I find this solution kinda strange, but that's my opinion and should be taken as such).

Try repainting it with these suggestions and your pic should be better. Your color selection and composition in the pic is already pretty good. And remember to post here the newer version, I wanna see it 3nodding

- - - EDIT - - -

Beware the perspective, Yamiko. After checking your pics again I found out that you may be doing some common mistakes. Try doing a grid above the pic and transform it and tweak it until its floating above the ground and then use it as a reference for your image. Good luck, if I find the time to redline it I'll do it but lately I've been shoved up with a lot of work and stuff.  

[Yamiko]

Haha, concerning perspective, I was afraid of that. No use running away from it, I suppose. XD;;

My art program kept crashing when I tried to extend the canvas. orz

Is it alright if I try running the fixed perspective lines by you before I repaint?

Thanks for your tips and the Hyung-Tae Kim example! I was looking for a crowd pic that worked well, and I barely seem to find any. It looks like he put sharper contrasts around the main character's figure too. All good points to keep in mind. :3

Btw, it's alright if you don't redline right away, I understand how busy rl can be. X3  

[The Syndra]

Yamiko

Is it alright if I try running the fixed perspective lines by you before I repaint?

Thanks for your tips and the Hyung-Tae Kim example! I was looking for a crowd pic that worked well, and I barely seem to find any. It looks like he put sharper contrasts around the main character's figure too. All good points to keep in mind. :3

Guess so. It may take a while till I do it, however, but no more than a week.

Glad the example worked out, as soon as I saw your pic I recalled that Hyung-Tae's artwork, seemed to fit like a glove to your needs (at least that was my idea).

- - - - -
I'll be moving this thread to a more public place in a few posts, however, here I don't have neither the reach or the audience I want to. The whole idea is pretty nice, but having a special requirement (join the guild) for a project as big as mine (help as many as I can develop simple yet solid draw skills) where my success depends on my viewers is not good at all.
Add to that the fact that I can't check if someone posted here from the "My topics" menu and then we have serious drawbacks.
I'll keep this active till the other thread is completely setup. As soon as I am ready doing the other thread I'll post a link here and tell the guild's staff to erase this one.  

[Yamiko]

After fiddling around with the perspective lines, I just realized I don't know whether to make it two-point perspective or single point perspective. It's confusing me.

So if the horizon= the eye-level, I should the ground's level up too? I tried to hang the crowd in the background to the eye level of the blond character in the center.

I read that it's possible for different objects to have differing vanishing points, but with 2-point perspective I'm having trouble deciding where to put the vanishing points. The shooting stand to the left should have two point perspective, and everything else should conform to it? I'm at a loss on what to do about the stand, tent, and fence in the distance.

-----------
It's wonderful you're setting up a public thread to help others with drawing!
The way you write your in-depth critiques is very helpful and didactic.
I look forward to you posting the link.