Sy's Arts :) [updated 12/13]

[Syrella]

Hi, my name is Syrella (or Sy for short). I've been drawing most of my life and consider it to be one of my favorite hobbies. Although I'm not currently taking any serious art classes or anything, I am constantly looking for ways to improve.

My devart is:
http://syrellium.deviantart.com/ [new one]
http://jibrienne.deviantart.com/ [old one]
http://s228.photobucket.com/albums/ee320/jibrienne/Art/ [photobucket]

Any feedback is very much loved. I would prefer if I didn't get too many "that's cool" or "that sucks" comments though. wink I'd much rather know why something isn't up to snuff so I can fix it later.

Thank you kindly.

Edit: You can still critique the pirate guy if you want, but I just wanted to post my entire gallery in hopes that someone finds something to critique me on. *halo*  

[Folken_Schezar]

very nice i really like it. there isn't much for me to say but i do like the less is more approach you took with it  

[Syrella]

Thank you for the comment. smile I guess maybe I've got a minimalist style...maybe?

I've already been told that the back of his head/hair looks like it's been buzzed a bit. smile Which was unintentional, but I was feeling lazy and just shaded the whole thing in one big mass. And the lack of arm on one side is bothering me so I think I may try to continue it at least until he's got an arm.

Anything else that you can see that needs work?  

[lalamariana]

I am a pretty lame artist but I'll give this critiquing thing a shot.

http://syrellium.deviantart.com/art/Freebie-for-Gaia-139588289

First of all, How can someone say a freebie sucks? I have paid for horrible art and I wouldn't say anything sucks!

The left arm is a little wide and is worsened by the details on the right arm. I can tell you just didn't want to draw the hand but you should still be consistent.
The angle of the right leg and foot is a bit hard to figure out. I can't figure out where it is in relation to the left leg. (I mean like: Is it on the tips of the toes?, is it lying on one edge?) The left leg makes this very clear. It isn't anatomy so much as Can you sit the way you have it drawn?

I do love her from her shoulders up ^_^ she is indeed very cute and her expression makes me smile. You have drawn this part very nicely. Work on the bottom 2/3 as much as you worked on the top 1/3.  

[Syrella]

Yay! Feedback. XD Thank you.

So I was looking over the parts you mentioned and you've definitely got a point. @.@ It's been a month or two since I drew this, so it's got me wonder... what was I thinking??

That wrist is really off, like you said. I probably -was- trying to hide the hand, a habit that I'm trying to break, actually. I need to get over my fear of hands and actually start drawing them for a change. Can't just shove something under a rug forever.

Um.. about the sitting position, I see your point too. It's something I've been wondering about a bit myself. She looks slightly unbalanced. Well, more than slightly... I had been referencing a pose from posemaniacs and for me sometimes that leads to more awkwardness than need be. The figures there are kinda floating in space, something that all my images suffer from. XD I fail at backgrounds. I feel like I made two mistakes there-- not add a background to help "ground" her and also, not making her sitting position more believable. I'll keep that in mind for the future.

Thanks again for the feedback. <3  

[Syrella]

Hi all, I was wondering if I couldn't get some feedback on my most recent pencil sketch...

http://fav.me/d2coijr [DA version]

Things that apparently look off, but I'm not sure how to fix:
The mouth
The bridge of the nose
The overall "alignment" of the face
Anything else that I can't see...

What I do like:
The hair (though it's very sketchy)
The eyes (though I'm not sure why)
The eyebrows (I think it helps the expression...)

It's not meant to be a "finished" work at the moment, but I would like to do more with it than just leave it as is. Anatomy is probably off, as I did not reference anything. As a very "visual" artist, not referencing is often a recipe for disaster for me... but it's good practice all the same. It'd be nice to not always have to look at something when I draw...

Anyhow, thanks ahead of time! <3  

[Syrella]

Okay, here's my latest work. It's Sailor Uranus from, well, Sailor Moon! XD I drew her for a contest, though I don't think I'll win anything. I'd be surprised if I do, for sure.

Things I'd like to hear about are the anatomy, the overall flow of the piece, and also, how the shading went. What can improve on? XD I know there's something funky about the arm and also the hand, but I haven't been able to fix it properly. I suck at hands still. D:

It's basically one of my first times coloring on the computer (in any serious manner), and also one of my first times with "cell shading" style. I ended up looking up a bunch of tutorials on lineart and also coloring. It took way longer than I'm willing to admit. T.T I should've been studying for classes more.

http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/ee320/jibrienne/sailor_uranus_colored.png  

[Syrella]

So it's been like forever since i posted anything in here. D:

lunchbox
Anyhow, I'm looking for some help on this piece. So the basic idea is that the character is supposed to have dropped her lunchbox and needs to be reacting to it. Disregarding anatomy flaws and the like, what can I do to improve this? I was supposed to make it humorous and silly somehow, but I can't seem to get the expression and/or pose to fit. I'm tempted to just scratch the entire thing and start again. To make her look less puzzled and more spontaneous and surprised. But... yeah. xD Help?  

[Errol McGillivray]

Exaggeration is the key.

Make the box more chaotic in how it's laying. Sure it fell, but did it fall open and spill her food? Turn it on it's side or turn it upside down. Draw the entire lunch everywhere. Dismantle the sandwich. Scrunch the juice box. Scatter and break the cookie. Let us know that there is no salvaging this lunch. Also, show us it's a lunch in that box. An apple isn't a lunch and if nothing else fell out, she can just brush off the apple and go on her merry way to eat her lunch with no problems.

I wonder if you don't really know how she feels in this, because you're not really giving us any information on how she feels. Is she sad? Play it up. Drop the shoulders. Drop both arms. Make her stance a bit more awkward. Tilt the head downwards.

These things may make it so that you don't have to change her expression at all, because you're saying it with body language.

I would also pull out the shot, to give the food more room to scatter and she will seem smaller and more helpless.

If you want her to be surprised, then this isn't the situation for it. Now if she's tripping, then that would work. You can show some food hitting the ground and the box being flung from her hands and at the same time, show her tripping. It tells you what happened a moment ago (she tripped) what is happening now (she's surprised by the trip) and the result (the food spills).  

[Syrella]

Thanks for the feedback. C: I think I'm gonna just scratch it and start over again. I think she's cute, but I had the concept wrong when I first sketched it. So when I showed it to the person who it's for, that's when I got the "it needs to be more silly and more upset" comment. Which is true, because I didn't capture it like I was supposed to. I think right now it reads more like "Aww, somebody wasted food." >.>

Anyhow, I'll try a few more attempts later when I wake up more fully and see if I can't get something that reads better. The completely ruined lunch suggestion is good. I just need to get her expression and body to be a bit more accurate. xD Alright, well I'll think up something in a little.

Thanks again for the suggestions!  

[Syrella]

ice cream drop
OK, here's the newest version. I tried to follow most of the suggestions, though I didn't include all of them. For one, I decided to change the "lunch" into an ice cream cone. I figured that one, it's easier to draw... but two, I was also hoping to connect her a bit more to the food on the ground. Rather than just sort of passively walking in on a dropped lunch, it's now specifically her ice cream cone... and it's ruined now.

I also tried fixing up the expression a bit. To me she definitely looks upset now, which is better than last time. Maybe not quite as expressive as I'd like quite yet, though. The person requesting this doesn't want huge anime eyes, so I'm trying to steer away from that at least. Anything else I could do to improve it?

For the body language, I'm thinking I might droop the ice cream cone in her hand a bit more and also droop the shoulders just a wee bit more.

Can anyone think of anything else? xD  

[Syrella]

http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/ee320/jibrienne/Art/foxxy.jpg
Another set of small sketches xD I dunno, was having fun with expressions and the like. I like this character's simple design so far. It doesn't require much work on my part. *lazy*

I still fail at arms and hands and other stuff, but I'm working on it. xD Really. Any crits welcome, as always.  

[Syrella]

Newest piece... <3 I added in a light color as a placeholder. I plan on adding a better color job as I can. Speaking of which... anyone have any tips on picking out color schemes? Or figuring out where to start with the lighting? xD

Also, I didn't use a pose reference or anything. It's a good example of how well I do or do not know anatomy. xP If it sucks, please let me know.  

[lea florens]

Heya Syrella! smile

I'd be touching a teensy bit on color schemes...

Have you heard of the color wheel? It's what I refer to to pick out what I need....

Color theory Crash Course
Color Theory
Color Theory + App

It's just a matter of using diffrent colors to show 'light' and 'dark' areas, as opposed to different shades of grey in a black an white picture.

Analogous/Monochromatic are probably the easiest to use, and are easy on the eyes.
If you want a look with really high contrast, you can opt for a split complimentary scheme.
Haven't experiemented much with other color schemes yet...so can't say much about it how the application works.

Hope it helps!  

[Syrella]

Yay, a reply! And thanks for all of the links. xD

I just went through and looked at each of them. I think I have a better idea of what to do now. We shall see... x-x Adding color is always the most difficult for me.

Maybe I'll post this one again when I do more of the coloring...