WARNING! Massive Art Dump! [ New Art! 1/18/09 p.5]

[Taelune]

I haven't posted anything in a while, and have been in a good mood, here is an entry for a contest I'm entering that a friend is hosting. It is my character Raeyu (dragon/tiger god hybrid) and her character Lynn a female saiyan. I'm not done coloring, but I'd like to post at least something.

 

[Errol McGillivray]

I'm having trouble figuring what's going on in this one. Unfortunately, that means it's a very weak illustration. Let us know what you're trying to do so we can help you do it more effectively.  

[Taelune]

Here is the finished work, and it is not an illustration, just a drawing, so it has no need of portraying a single feeling, that is to be left up to the audience, but if you want to know what my perspective of this drawing is as the Artist, it seems the dragon girl is trying to get the Saiyan girl to take a bath with her in a hot spring.  

[Taelune]

I've been studying my favorite manga styles, because I want to make my own after I finish writing my book. This picture was referenced from InuYasha, and I really like how her eyes and hair color turned out. Simplistic hair is hard for me for some reason, so I'm trying.  

[Taelune]

 

[Vena]

Aww, she is really cute heart One thing I notice right away is she is slightly leaning, if you have your feet together like that, they need to be completely in the center to maintain balance.  

[Taelune]

Vena

Aww, she is really cute heart One thing I notice right away is she is slightly leaning, if you have your feet together like that, they need to be completely in the center to maintain balance.

yeah I noticed it too sweatdrop I have trouble drawing characters with good posture, for some reason no matter what I do my art seems to "tilt" any advise?  

[Syrella]

The best advice I can offer would be to ground your character somehow. How you can go about doing that...

Learn how to draw poses that are balanced. Try to figure out where your character's center of mass is by drawing a line vertical towards the ground. What you can then do is eyeball it to make sure that there is equal amount of weight on both sides.

Here is a good tutorial to have a look at:
http://www.lunixmonster.org/hosted/coil/tuts/poses.html
http://www.elfwood.com/farp/figure/williamlibodyconstruction.html
<< And another one, scroll down to the part about balance if you're feeling lazy

Other tips for learning how to balance your character is to understand basic physics and try to internalize a few concepts. Imagine trying to balance a thin pole of some sorts (or even worse, the tip of a triangle). It's kind of hard, right? If not impossible? Next look at a normal cardboard box and notice how stable it is. The same principle also goes with people. Try to stand on a pole and you'll probably fall off. Stand on a nice box and you'll probably be okay (given you don't crush it wink ).

Anyhow, the point is that most of the time people don't have to worry about such things. We balance ourselves without even thinking about it via our muscles and bones. Examples would be sitting down to lower our center of gravity, widening our stance, or leaning on something. If it helps, think of the bone structure of people as you would a system of connected poles and boxes (probably a horrible analogy T.T). But if you do that, then you can then ask yourself the question of whether you that setup would be stable or not. If it looks unstable, chances are it probably is.

The TLDR answer: Widen her stance. wink

 

[Taelune]

Thank you! that was very helpful! I hope to post her again soon with weapons and maybe a background :3  

[Errol McGillivray]

Raeyu Itami

Here is the finished work, and it is not an illustration, just a drawing, so it has no need of portraying a single feeling, that is to be left up to the audience, but if you want to know what my perspective of this drawing is as the Artist, it seems the dragon girl is trying to get the Saiyan girl to take a bath with her in a hot spring.

Is something happening? Are you showing people that something is happening, be it physical, emotional, an idea? Are you communicating something with visuals?

If you answered yes to any of those, it's an illustration.  

[Taelune]

Errol McGillivray

Raeyu Itami

Here is the finished work, and it is not an illustration, just a drawing, so it has no need of portraying a single feeling, that is to be left up to the audience, but if you want to know what my perspective of this drawing is as the Artist, it seems the dragon girl is trying to get the Saiyan girl to take a bath with her in a hot spring.

Is something happening? Are you showing people that something is happening, be it physical, emotional, an idea? Are you communicating something with visuals?

If you answered yes to any of those, it's an illustration.

And this is why I do art as a hobby, not a profession 3nodding I just draw, nothing in particular, I just let my hand do what it feels like doing.  

[Taelune]

This is a WIP, as you can see from lots of stuff missing (Like Raeyu's hair), I just want to know what you guys think so far, to let you know I'm still a part of the guild, and to ask for help.

Xiao, the kitsune (fox lady), I want to make her fur strawberry blond, and maybe her hair too, any advice? I keep playing with the colors, but they aren't turning out right.  

[Vena]

Hey, I did a little red line for you just for some little anatomical mistakes.



-On the fox lady, the ear should be behind the head at that angle, to match the other ear
- the breast should fall a little bit more, the natural way it falls should be pear or teardrop shaped
-her eyes are not aligned, one is lower than the other

- On Raeyu, her ear should point a bit further up to match the other ear
- her head stops a bit short, it should extend more in the back
- one of her eyes is slightly smaller than the other
- her chin should extend out a bit more to contain the mouth
- her arm should be a bit rounder at the top, and as it goes down should curve inward (like a slight S curve).

if her hair and her fur is both strawberry blond, that is a lot of color profile similarity, I think it would make it a bit hard to distinguish between the fur and the hair? Maybe if you used either a darker or lighter tone of the strawberry blond if you want to keep the color similar, but just enough to show the shape of the hair vs. the shape of the fur/body.  

[Taelune]

thanks, I redid Xiao's hair to make the ear behind the head, and I drew the eyes different to show a bit of perspective, they are in a 3/4 view, but a few things I can't alter, but till try, like Raeyu's hair, I'll fix it when I add hair ^^;  

[Taelune]

Long time no see, I was working 12 hr shifts during the holidays, at Amazon.com's Warehouse X_x but the seasonal job ended, and for a while my husband gave me a surprise visit, but now he's back in Iraq crying

Well tell me what you guys think about the anatomy, and such, I'll try to get the finished product of the other picture soon, just being lazy for now!