Want advice / critique on your art?

[NumiTuziNeru]

ooh i see

yeah sadly where i live is a conservative butt and doesn't let art students draw naked people at all ever and blocks any useful sites and is generally a dumb dumb

idk i thin i'm getting better at that
maybe
or i'm being hopeful one way or the other

thanks for that though, plenty useful!

[Arkillian]

You can do it outside of school, right? Depends on what sites are blocked. Is Deviantart blocked? There's lots of referances there. Posemaniacs is good too. Just googling 'sitting woman' comes up with useful stuff on the odd time. Otherwise, you can get pose referance books from book stores and not use the net at all. I have a few pose books myself. Otherwise, drawing clothed humans is fine. I think you could still get alot off that. If referances are hard to get, the how to draw book I linked is good. It's a bit old school, but if you get past that it has useful tips on proportion.

The big thing though that I REALLY am stressing is draw from reality without stylisation. Learn how the form looks, and then stylise it. You'll find that when you do stylise it that it will look right, and 3D, and it will look the way it should no matter what way you draw it. My life drawing classes were at an animation school. Those guys do HOURS of life drawing a year in their school before they hit animation studios. IT's essential to have a clear idea of 3D form before you cartoon it. If you're serious about improving, I stronger suggest it, cause it's your greatest weakness right now. Anything you draw from life will help so please don't let being in a conservative area stop you. Knowing how to dra characters unclothed is more useful, but doing anything will be a big improvement.

I hope you take my advice I'd love to see how it helps to improve your art. IT's already lovely. I feel it can be just that much more beautiful with correct form in your humans/ humanoids.

[SparklersOasis]

I'm new to customizing, and I was wondering what people seal their ponies with.  Thanks!

[Arkillian]

Go to the customs thread for that I think the answer however is modpodge the customs thread will give you a TRUCK tone of great advice on it though

[ZennaBug]

I'm new to customizing, and I was wondering what people seal their ponies with.  Thanks!

A lot of us use mod podge, you might ask that in the customs forum for more opinions 

[rayechu]

Yeah- that's why I was reluctant to start this thread MLP doesn't feel like the area of fandom where it feels right to be negative in any way. There is some room for it though.


For future note- preferences is for NEW art not old. Should I update the first post with that? If I critique you on art you've since improved on, then that's not much help, right?

Let's do starlight cause she's one of my oldest things. I feel like often my characters look "flat".

Check out my previous critique for Zennabug for this. Yours is less of an issue because you have larger areas of shading, but you don't have a light source... or 1 light source. Sometimes drawing a circle for where the light source is helps. Remember that if light hits something, the other side will be a shadow. Like with the neck. You can have 2 light sources, but this has to be consistent. I'd suggest looking at photos of an actual horse for hints on lighting. She where the light hits the horse, how it's coat glosses in the light, and where it has certain shaped shadows.

I'm thinking maybe the blue pencil technique at the sketch stage might help me, but I'm not sure.

You mean photocopy blue pencil? Some people swear by them. They only work if you scan them as black and white, and even then, you need a light hand to use them- unlike my monkey grip I don't know what use you mean otherwise. Do you just mean as a blue pencil? That's not their intended use, but whatever works, right? They're a harder pencil than coloured pencils are so I can see the appeal.

Anything in general that you notice

I'd rather not actually. See, one thing I learnt from my friend Nani, my sorce of all godly art advice, is that art is made to fit a purpose. If the purpose is to put a smile on someone's face then it doesn't have to be fleshed out. If you want a comic, you need more panels and a certain page size. IF it's a teeshirt design you need to consider the amount of colours and if it's something someone would wear, if you want it to be a work of art you need to consider your mediums, and layouts, composition of the image in general (everything generally). What you have here looks like it was meant to bring a smile to someone's face. It's made that purpose well. If you wish to as specific things you can do to improve it, I'll answer, but as far as I can tell, this picture is doing what you want it to do. It doesn't have to have a background. Having a shadow underneath it helps, but don't stress over small stuff. If you feel that you have come to a rut then just try something new. Challenge yourself. Don't make a sweet picture into something it doesn't need to be. Everything in art should have a purpose, even if it' sa small one. Backgrounds are needed when it's use is right.

Oh Also I never know what to do with backgrounds! I like ponies in nature, but I'm not really sure what to do with it!

Go find references on the net. ANYTHING you need inspiration for? The net. It doesn't make you less of an artist if you do that. If you take from an artist  of any sort you should credit the source by linking it. That's the only catch. There's nothing I can advise on that till I see it in action. Just try it. You'll be surprised what determination and a reference can do.


Remember the key- learn correctly. If you pretend you know what something looks like all the time, you'll likely never fully get it right. Learn it correctly and the process is faster, and stronger

Sorry to quote the huge block. Actually Starlight is older, but not that old! And she's actually the only recent full sized pony art I have done in the last few months.
Thank you muchly! I should have time to sit and read the whole thread tomorrow!

[Sonata]

Would you help me on this one?

http://thedarkwithin.deviantart.com/art/ORIGINAL-TheTraveler-281507004

I would like to know what you think of the anatomy and shading in general. I am quite pleased with this one, but I feel I am not quite there yet, if you know what I mean... What could I have done to make it more dynamic, also?

Thanks in advance and sorry for so many questions lol

[Arkillian]

No- questions are fine. I just answer as many as I can. Unfortunatly I can't give you advice specific to this picture on shading as the linearts  are a little off. I did a red line crit. I hope this shows my thoughts. I'm not an expert on anatomy, but this is how I'd see how the anatomy is laid out. where the pants bunched up was really tight, and the crotch level was too high. If her pelvis was tilted back she would have that shape but the lines on her abdominals suggested it was pointing down so I went with that. I'm not entirely happy with my crit as she looks like she's leaning to the side, but if I wanted to fix that, I think I'd have to redraw the whole picture cause I'm not sure what's throwing me off yet.


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I hope this helps steer you in a better direction though


I think it's already pretty dynamic. Angles are what makes a picture dynamic. And foreshortening. I think if the bird looked like it was coming towards us it's be dynamic, but it might be overboard, you know? The bird isnt' going anywhere, and it looks like it should be an energetic picture, which it is.


Don't panic over dynamic in pictures. People rave on about it, but not all pictures need it. Dynamic elements should be used when they're needed, I'm frankly SICK of seeing pro artists that use dynamics in ALL their art to make it edgy. It just takes the impact of it away when you do use it. To me, it's a secret weapon. Besides, there's tones of other things you can do to give your picture more energy. A background would do this picture WONDERS for energy. A fun slightly forested field with fun flowers and bushes or something would add FAR more to this than a dynamic angle.  I think that might be what's bugging you the most to be honest. The proportion issues are only noticeable due to the lack of background. If the background was all you updated, you could almost get away with anything on this character

[Sonata]

No- questions are fine. I just answer as many as I can. Unfortunatly I can't give you advice specific to this picture on shading as the linearts  are a little off. I did a red line crit. I hope this shows my thoughts. I'm not an expert on anatomy, but this is how I'd see how the anatomy is laid out. where the pants bunched up was really tight, and the crotch level was too high. If her pelvis was tilted back she would have that shape but the lines on her abdominals suggested it was pointing down so I went with that. I'm not entirely happy with my crit as she looks like she's leaning to the side, but if I wanted to fix that, I think I'd have to redraw the whole picture cause I'm not sure what's throwing me off yet.


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I hope this helps steer you in a better direction though


I think it's already pretty dynamic. Angles are what makes a picture dynamic. And foreshortening. I think if the bird looked like it was coming towards us it's be dynamic, but it might be overboard, you know? The bird isnt' going anywhere, and it looks like it should be an energetic picture, which it is.


Don't panic over dynamic in pictures. People rave on about it, but not all pictures need it. Dynamic elements should be used when they're needed, I'm frankly SICK of seeing pro artists that use dynamics in ALL their art to make it edgy. It just takes the impact of it away when you do use it. To me, it's a secret weapon. Besides, there's tones of other things you can do to give your picture more energy. A background would do this picture WONDERS for energy. A fun slightly forested field with fun flowers and bushes or something would add FAR more to this than a dynamic angle.  I think that might be what's bugging you the most to be honest. The proportion issues are only noticeable due to the lack of background. If the background was all you updated, you could almost get away with anything on this character

Wow, this was quite helpful ! Thank you SO SO SO much for the help !

And yes, the fact that I suck at backgrounds does bug me xD I have to work extra hard on that from now on ( I should've already lol), but yes, that's it, I suppose. Also, the lines over the drawing just confirmed what I was suspicious about, so thanks

And the dynamic thing, yeah, I totally agree with you, but I was wanted to know what you had to say about it

Once again, thank you so much for the help !

[NumiTuziNeru]

whooaaa HOW DID I NOT KNOW OF THAT SITE BEFORE

ahaha sorry to be a pain, but i did some...sketches/drawings/sorta from photos and stuff, trying to do what you said, and i just wanted to see what you thought..

(spoilered for boobs)

Spoiler

[img2]http://www.tumblr.com/photo/1280/numituzineru/17155671758/1/tumblr_lyzaq0n1KQ1qid19a[/img2]
[img2]http://www.tumblr.com/photo/1280/numituzineru/17155671758/2/tumblr_lyzaq0n1KQ1qid19a[/img2]
[img2]http://www.tumblr.com/photo/1280/numituzineru/17155671758/3/tumblr_lyzaq0n1KQ1qid19a[/img2]

[ZennaBug]

whooaaa HOW DID I NOT KNOW OF THAT SITE BEFORE

ahaha sorry to be a pain, but i did some...sketches/drawings/sorta from photos and stuff, trying to do what you said, and i just wanted to see what you thought..

(spoilered for boobs)

Spoiler

[img2]http://www.tumblr.com/photo/1280/numituzineru/17155671758/1/tumblr_lyzaq0n1KQ1qid19a[/img2]
[img2]http://www.tumblr.com/photo/1280/numituzineru/17155671758/2/tumblr_lyzaq0n1KQ1qid19a[/img2]
[img2]http://www.tumblr.com/photo/1280/numituzineru/17155671758/3/tumblr_lyzaq0n1KQ1qid19a[/img2]

Her overall proportions look good to me, but I think that the hips are a little narrow on the first girl.

[Arkillian]

Hmmm... I disagree with Zennabug there. I don't want to sound like I'm running over a critique, but hips can be very boy like on some countries. Asians for instance have little shape. I'd have to see the original model before I'd make a call like that. I think that you have an effect that I use to have have, where the bodies are very stretched. The hips to me look good width wise to me, but she's been stretched length wise, which makes them seem to narrow. ALL my art when I was a teenager was like this.

Do you draw on an angle? Or have a high perscription? This may be the cause. My high perscription turns squares into oblongs, but drawing on a 45 degree angle to your work will make it stretched even though it's normal when you're drawing. You know the side walk art that's all stretched, but looks like it's standing upright when you look at it on the perfect angle? That in reverse I now lean right over my art to draw to compensate for this angle problem. You can also get drawing boards that sit upright. Either method will fix this. Nothing will fix bad eyesight besides learning to draw things chubby or getting surgery though sadly T.T (FML)

One tip I should point out though, there's a few golden rules in realism you should know. Humans are around 7 - 8 heads high. I use 8 cause it's easier to work out the proportions. With 1:8, you get kind of these nice guidelines if the body doesn't bend where the nipple line is a head down, then the belly button, then the groin, the thigh is 2 heads long, and the last 2 heads is the calf and feet. If you hug your knees, then they go up to your shoulders. Your hands touch mid thighs when standing, and the elbow is belly button in height.

These are VERY generalised measurements, but if you keep them in mind as a guide, it'll make lining everything up alot easier. Humans vitually never line up to the generalised rules perfectly, but if you want to make an average human, it's somewhere to start

You're doing very well here! Keep up the great work! I'm loving the gestures- very relaxed and flowing. You look like you've done alot of them before ^^


And apologies to Zenna- please don't be discouraged from critique :< There was a problem there, it just wasn't the width of the hips that was the issue, that's all

[ZennaBug]

And apologies to Zenna- please don't be discouraged from critique :< There was a problem there, it just wasn't the width of the hips that was the issue, that's all

It's ok!  It was more of a passing observation.  Looking closer, I think you are right about her being stretched.  I'm also used to seeing more curves 

[Arkillian]

Life drawing is actually very hard. When I went to life drawing, everyone thought I'd walk in as a natural when I had just as much ifnot MORE difficulty than they did. Cause my vision is so poor, I have trouble focusing on 3D aspects, and my over active imagination makes up alot on the way to make sense of the world, but with the models and how far away they were, I had alot of trouble flattening them out than if they were closer to me.

My first drawings from pictures lacked curve too. It's a stiffness thing. Once you do enough hours of life drawing though, the stiffness lets up. After 32 hours of life drawing over 2 terms (8 lessons once a week for 2 hours a lesson) I finally had art that let go, but it's not easy for someone that struggles with 3D. Once I did let go though, I was amazed how much easier foreshortening was. IT's a hard hurdle, but when you do it, SO rewarding. Guys have it easier than girls too- they're naturally better at 3D visualisation than girls are. They do this with 30 second gestures, and spending up to 1 hour on drawing a pose. The idea of the 30 second ones is that you don't have time to think about what you're drawing. You just DRAW it. You think about the pose and the time will be up. It's stressful at first, btu then you let go and it's very relaxing. The 1 hour ones are about capturing the shapes, and form.

Spoiler

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Something like this would take about an hour (<edit> or more? I can't tell that medium...</edit>) faster or slower depending on your skill level.

Um, yeah. Drawing from life is art at it's hardest so try to be lenient with it Once you get it, you're set, but till then, it's like bush bashing through a rain forest. Drawing from memory or a photo in some ways is alot easier because the image is already flattened to a 2D perspective.

[Added spoiler for mature content    ZennaBug]

[NumiTuziNeru]

yeah, i realised she was a bit noodly the second it was up on tumblr
ISN'T THAT HOW IT ALWAYS GOES

also, i do actually have prescription, but i don't think it's very high. like, minus 1 or something. not sure whether that would have an effect or not.

thank you so much though!