Vena -- Open Redline/Critique Thread

[.[ Cheesecube ].]

Dunno if you check this often but I want to do a mural in my room and I did a preliminary of what I wanted to do here:

http://cheesecube.deviantart.com/art/Preliminary-109315346

I'm going to change a couple of things as far as composition, but what do you think of the colors?  

[CariRae]

Hi, I'm Cari. would you take me as a mentee.
I'm 17. Here is my gallery.  

[Maricrism]

I really need a mentor please...
I just want to know how to color my sketches...
Do you have YM? We can chat there while you teach me...
Here you can see my journal.. there are arts finish by me hehe
My Journal

 

[Vena]

re-opened.  

[Syrella]

Hi Vena,

Could I become your mentee? smile I was reading over your list of qualifications and I think it's exactly what I need help with right now. I love drawing people too, but I feel like I've been at a standstill for awhile. I can't take classes because my schedule is already way too busy (even though I'd love to get into a life drawing class if I could T.T). But a drawing a week I could certainly manage.

My devart is:
http://syrellium.deviantart.com/ [new]
http://jibrienne.deviantart.com/ [old]

I think I'd consider myself "intermediate", though that leaves much room for me to muck up the piece if desired. wink Issues that need work include anatomy, composition, and colors. My main "goal" for my art at the moment is to become decent enough so that I can illustrate a small fantasy-style RP I'm working on. I'd really like to bring some of the characters to life. Or even make a comic. That'd be really neat.

Anyhow, thanks for reading. XD If you need to contact me outside of gaia, I can send my msn name or something.  

[Vena]

Hi Syrella, sure thang! =P *gives mentee badge*

Basically for classes like life drawing or similar you are pretty much doing 1 good drawing a week and in class lots of gestures and warm up drawings. I'd encourage you to just doodle people you see around, park yourself in the park, library or cafe somewhere and just people watch and do quick drawings. Post whatever drawing(s) you are working on each week and if you can't think of anything just do a bunch of quick drawings of yourself, a friend, or a pose from posemaniacs.com =) I'll do my best to critique them, include an answer to the questions I have on the front.  

[bakanatorz]

I'm kind of so-so about posting here to be a mentee since I'm new here and don't know how things really work , but I'll try nonetheless.

First off, I am more inclined of having you as my mentor since ,just like you , my passion is drawing people. And I still need help in that I'm quite young in both age and experience , but I learn relatively fast. So I should not be such a big burden...
As for what I want to learn, I'd say I need a little anatomy polishment and definitely some color/contrast/shading lessons as it appears to me that I am slightly colorblind.
This is my gallery
More recent stuff/WIP's( DA is obsolete)

(hope it's not too long/tl:dr)

EDIT: I would like to specify that , up until now , I have not posted any piece that would represent a feeling or whatnot( I think) ; most of them are illustrations and simply gaian avatars or whatnot.  

[Vena]

I'd be happy to take you as a mentee! When I ask what the goal of the picture is, it doesnt have to be something very conceptual or meaningful, but even just something simple as "I want this to look sexy, I want this to be neutral, I want this color to be prominent." I just want to be on board so I can help better =)

With anatomy it's always good to get practice in as much as you can, just simple drawings (like 30-seconds to a minute) to get the gesture down. Posemaniacs or just doodling friends or yourself in a little bit of free time is valuable.

With shading personally I think it's best to start in grayscale first. Try doing a couple of still lifes with just greys (if you have a black and white conte I find those are great for doing excercises with) and reserve using your darkest dark and your lightest light for the tiny part of the picture that has that value. With tonage everything is relative, so if you have a big expanse that is bright white say, you don't see the range of values in the rest of the picture as much and it flattens it.

You can post one or two pictures you are working on and answer the questions i have on the front about them, and I'll critique them to the best of my ability =)  

[bakanatorz]

Hurrah for me! Oh I get it ; sorry I took it more as a conceptual meaning.

I know, I have tried but it turns out i'm a very lousy observator, I'd rather tell it to myself in my head, is there some way to go from that point? ( I meant as in ; you tell me to draw this guy with a square chin a crooked nose and greasy hair , I will look at him and will not be able to reproduce him on paper , but If you tell me ; crooked nose , square chin greasy hair, I will automatically have a mental image in my head and I will be able to draw it , does it make sense? )

Ah great tip i'll try it. I have l already tried shading with only one colour and all my traditional drawing are in grayscale, but I can't seem to create the same effect with a larger amount of colours, I get lost , if you may say it like that.

Thanks, I will.  

[Vena]

Well, the different with drawing from life and from the head is that when you draw something from the head, you have a pre-concieved notion of what the shapes that make up the person look like, but it hinders development because it makes it easy to forget how the 'true' angles of people are. Drawing from life helps because instead of using preconcieved shapes, you end up breaking down the body into more complex lines and curves. I think the hardest part of drawing from life is getting over that preconception and drawing what you actually see in front of your face - even if it's something you don't expect. That is my 2 cents about it anyways.

Color can get really complex but it's a really fascinating thing to study. I have trouble myself getting good tones with color (I tend to desaturate my colors too much). Are you having trouble shading with a color or getting good color harmony in the whole picture?  

[Syrella]

Hi again. smile

*puts on mentee badge*

Here's the latest sketch I need help with.... there are probably anatomy flaws and the like, but this was just supposed to be a quick present for a friend.

It's Ariel and Eric from the Little Mermaid in my own style, but every time I try to color the image, it makes me see all of the little flaws and/or I can't trace the thing properly or accurately. sad I've already tried like 2-3 times, once with the pen/vector tool, another with just the regular paintbrush, and I dunno... it just hasn't started to look good at all. I've tried changing the color of the lines to see if that doesn't help, but it's still kinda bad.




At this point I'm tempted to just get out my colored pencils and say screw it to the CG. sad I think I prefer traditional style anyhow.

What are you trying to achieve with the work? I want it to have a nice soft, happy feel to it.
What are you uncertain about? How to go about coloring it without it looking like utter crap ;(
What are you happy with? I'm happy with the original sketch, but I seem to be failing as far as everything else goes, including the line quality. D: Help?  

[Vena]

What program are you using? If it's photoshop you can put set the layer your lineart is on to "multiply, which will help coloring undernearth it so it melds with your color better. Try using a light sepia tone ( I notice you are using brown I think? which is pretty much the same)

Are you using a tablet? If you have the correct drivers and settings on your program you can get great line quality from just using the paintbrush tool. If you want to use the pen tool I suggest tapering the end of the line so that it doesnt have that rectangular sort of end to the line.

Personally I think the colors are nice that you have in, stick to nice light pastels, maybe lighten that pink used for the lip and apply it around the edge of the face for some depth. I don't know what color you want for the background but try out some different things, it will dramatically change how the whole image looks once you manipulate the background.  

[Syrella]

Thanks for the tips.

I wish I had a tablet, but it's something I need to save up for still. It's next in line after I get a working scanner. :/ Been just using my webcam lately... XD

I think my main issue is that my line-art is a bit messy which in term, when I trace it, makes the colored image look funky. That said, I'm gonna give your suggestions a try when I have a bit more time. I'm gonna see if I can't get this image up to snuff!

smile  

[Murkytea]

Are you still taking mentees? If so I would like to apply!

I usually draw humans, though on occasion I draw animals as well. I have no limitation with mediums and I'm always willing to try new things with art.

I have trouble with light source, shading and putting colour theory into practice. I also have a lot problems with anatomy and proportion, especially with faces, and composition. I feel that with your experiences/ qualifications you may be able to help me!

You can find some examples of my work here  

[Vena]

sure =P

I will just max myself at 3 mentees haha xD

Just post specific picture(s) you are working on, and answer the questions at the front.