FistHombre: @Armored-Struggle-Wagon Thank you very much! I basically haven't drawn anything for a good 6 years or so, but Iv'e always had this nagging voice in the back of my head telling me to do it. I just on a whim last week decided to make it a point to draw at least one page worth of stuff per day
AMKitsune: You say that you're learning to draw, yet here you have an example of what many artists actually aspire to. Sure, it's a cartoony style (not a bad thing by any means), but the pose works nicely, the anatomic proportions look good and in general, it all just works really well.
The only critical feedback that I could really offer here would be that her left arm (the right one as we see it) could hang a little closer to her body as it looks like she's standing quite stiffly as she currently is. Her hands don't seem to match the overall level of quality as the rest of the image, but most people have difficulty drawing hands and that's just something that you'll develop over time with practice. And finally, the angling of her nostrils don't seem to line up with the direction that the rest of her head's facing. That could be a stylistic choice, but in case it isn't, it's something that you might want to have another look at in your next drawings.
These few and relatively minor points aside though, it's a fantasticly fun, cartoony image that takes a clearly recognisable character and puts her a unique style that I hope we'll be seeing more of in the future :)
Strawberry-Jamasaur: If you're learning to draw' the only good advice I can give is to just keep drawing and do it often. You have to kind of get a feel for it. Look at other peoples art and observe the figure. Always look for ways to improve, the little things that are easy to implement. It'll be slow, nut worth it in the long run. Drawing from observation might also help, though it's an idea I'm still getting used to myself.
FistHombre: @AMKitsune: Thank you truly for the well-written critique! I do feel like her left arm ended up being really stubby and awkward and honestly just looking at this image is making me cringe something immense, although I'm certain that is to be expected of anyone starting out and I'm trying to let it slide.
@Strawberry-Jamasaur: ''Never stop drawing'' is something I'm really trying to stick with. I feel like I need to seriously work on hands and legs(among many other things), so that's something I'm going to be focusing a lot of energy on although I'm going to try to not let it get in the way of drawing things I want to draw either, such as the above picture. On a side note, it means a lot to get advice from you as your level of skill is something that I consider almost godly, so thanks!
Radian: Well, year ago I was the same drawing level. Practice more and don't be lazy butt like me :) It's really working.
I also recommend watch tutorial videos, ctrl paint for example (most of them useful for both digital and traditional drawing, I think).
As said one cool artist: "You learn from pretty much everything".
Good luck.
FistHombre: @Salamanakis: Thanks for the advice, on one hand I do feel like obsessing over every little anatomic error/other inaccuracies can be very discouraging, but on the other hand I feel like you need to be harsh on yourself in order to improve. I may be wrong on this, and I guess it varies for any given individual but hey. As you mentioned, I am for the moment trying to actually draw things I want to draw, I come up with scenes I perceive to be out of my leauge and try to challenge myself to make them.
Armored-Struggle-Wagon: @FistHombre: Music may help set the mood too! Try drawing a picture to some music, and put the original music in the source! for example; [url=www.prequeladventure.com/fanartbooru/post/view/2469]this[/url] was inspired by this music!
AMKitsune: @Salamanakis: This is very true. Above all else, draw for fun, not because you feel you have to. As long as you're enjoying yourself, improvement will come without you even realising it. The day the whole thing becomes a chore, that's when you'll feel less inclined to keep at it and that's when you'll stop improving. Just think of it as drawing for your own benefit, but with the added bonus of being able to share your work with others whenever you want. Different people have different views on which outlooks are better. It all depends on how you operate as a person. There are no definitive right or wrong ways to push yourself forward. Just go about it whichever way feels the best to you and you can't go wrong.
Olaffson: Yup, what was said above is the most important thing, draw for fun and don't force yourself to, that's the best way to lose all the interest.
Even if you're at the beginning, I'd also suggest to push yourself out of your "comfort zone" too. Always experiment with new techniques, coloring and stuff, even if at the beginning they might seem uncomfortable, the results will be twice as rewarding! (and you might find a medium that you particularly love).
Olaffson: Oh, one more thing! When drawing a body, be it cartoony or not, once you decide the proportions, try to sketch every body part as a set of geometric figures and build some kind of "base dummy" with them. This will be the base of the actual drawing and helps keeping a much greater control of anatomy and proportions.
Since I always explain myself as crap, I mean something like this :P http://img06.deviantart.net/750a/i/2008/035/2/6/body__s_tutorial_3_by_calizaa.jpg
FistHombre: @Olaffson: Ah, thanks! I did sketch a crude skeleton to serve as a reference as seen here(apologies for the abysmal camera quality) http://s21.postimg.org/jf4gqnc86/DSC01917.jpg
I never thought about making a body out of a series of shapes though, somewhat like a mannequin but it's making a lot of sense. Thanks again for the advice, I will definitely be trying that out!
Armored-Struggle-Wagon: here's some 'progression' pics of my artstyle, it started out as a basic trace, and color, right here, That was my 2nd Piece of artwork I did for prequel, it's very crude, and rough :p this is my second artstyle, as you can see, it's not a trace anymore, I modified my body artstyle to sort of fit the 'cartoony' look of Prequel. The 3rd and final artstyle, is still being modified, as seen here, I'm working on more ways to make Katia appear more cuter.
FistHombre: @Armored-Struggle-Wagon: Oh wow, I really like the coloring on the first one! The thing that I am noticing more than anything else when observing other peoples art is that shading plays a damn big role in making something look convincing. That's obviously a fundamental concept, though it's something I haven't explored very deeply yet so it's something I'm going to be experimenting with a lot in the coming days.
Strawberry-Jamasaur: Yeah, the shape method is what I used to find my style. Mow I use the same idea in a different way, but it's still the same idea at the base. One last thing I can say from experience is, the less you try the better the outcome usually is. It's strange, but it usually ends up being true, at least for me. When you start, don't worry about making straight clean lines. Be loose, scribble, just get a basic idea down. If you're using pencil then you can refine it all later. Shading is something that takes some experimenting, definately something I have to work on, especially from different light angles. There's a lot of good advice in this comment section. Know that we are all behind you in your art-making endeavors.
FistHombre: @Strawberry-Jamasaur: Yeah, thanks a lot, admittedly I was very hesitant about uploading this in the first place but I'm glad I did since it ended up generating some very insightful discussion
FistHombre: @Armored-Struggle-Wagon: Oh, on a semi-related note, I think your Megaman-Prequel crossovers is the most kickass stuff ever(among with all of your claymodels really, they're all really impressive!), so I'd love to try drawing something inspired by that at some point
Mayrasiili: @FistHombre: Gonna give my two cents here as well, because I adore people who are ready, able and willing to learn. Of all the things that makes an artist, I think willingness to improve is one of the major traits. That might only be me, though.
First off, regarding the drawing itself: for someone who's just recently begun drawing (I presume?), you have a very clear way of drawing. It looks as if though you just mastered this on one go. Something that I can say that I totally can't do. It's awesome to see clear lines like that, but don't be afraid to doodle as well. As has been pointed out before, the proportions, angle and all the little things work for all intents and purposes. Sure, it's always nice to try some dramatic angles or weird poses or such, but honestly, what you have here, works. And that's all it needs to do. The little details like the hands and the belt clasp will work themselves out in due time, if you just take fifteen minutes out of a day to look up some pictures of hands and belts.
As for practicing drawing, I've got a few things to say. I'm hardly an expert myself (and I certainly have no mentionable education in art), but from my experience there are few things as important as having fun with drawing. I can totally relate to your wish to improve in certain aspects, but neglecting one's satisfaction and amusement over practice only works for some people, and requires an amazing amount of motivation. I'd really recommend what others have already recommended: work on what you want, otherwise you will work on something you -have- to. And such mentality can be crippling for an aspiring artist. Most of the time, anyway. I mean, I totally couldn't have pulled that off when I first started. I'm weak like that.
Anyway, what I wanted to say was to incorporate the practice you have to do to the things you want to draw. For example, you said you needed to work on hands and legs. When next time you draw something, be it whatever, just casually have a look at the hands and the feet, and give them some extra care. At least for me it has worked, since I get to work on what I want, but I also give that one extra thought to the thing I need to practice on.
Sorry about the massive wall of text, I am such a blabbermouth. Anyway, with a will to learn like yours, you're already well on your way to becoming quite the masterful artist!
FistHombre: @Mayrasiili: Thank you so much, don't worry about the text wall, I'm very grateful for any and all advice I can get! One thing I'm starting to realize is that it sounds pretty redundant to keep saying oh I need to work on this and that, anatomy/hands/shading/angles/etc because really I need to work on everything. Sure, I guess you could say I feel more confident making X than Y, so I'll focus more on Y but really at the end of the day I'm just going to try and focus on the whole thing. Not sure if what I'm saying is making sense, but either way, I really appreciate the feedback
Mayrasiili: @FistHombre: You're welcome, I'm glad if you managed to pick up something you could use from that horribly mangled pile of thoughts.
It does make sense, trust me. Keeping the whole of the picture in mind (in several ways) is always a good thing to keep at the very least at the back of your head.
And yeah, well... Sure it sounds redundant to keep saying things like "I need to improve on X because Y", but there's nothing wrong with it, I think. I mean, after almost six years, I still do that. If you're anything like me, it's kind of motivating to keep saying what you want to improve at.
FistHombre: @Tahrey: I can see the similarities now that you mention it, yeah. I do want to practice making more dynamic and actiony poses so I don't develop Family Guy syndrome or something where everyone is always on a stiff unmoving angle
FistHombre: @Strawberry-Jamasaur: Well, Iv'e been trying to draw some poses from imagination but on a smaller scale and with more realistic proportions, using the method suggested by Olaffson, and I gotta say it is surprisingly helpful. Well, maybe it isn't surprising, I just didn't expect to feel so much more in control using it. If anyone is finding themselves in the same position as me, I'd strongly recommend trying out this method
Describe This Image As Dramatically As Possible
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(was clueless about that belt knot(and hands))
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The only critical feedback that I could really offer here would be that her left arm (the right one as we see it) could hang a little closer to her body as it looks like she's standing quite stiffly as she currently is. Her hands don't seem to match the overall level of quality as the rest of the image, but most people have difficulty drawing hands and that's just something that you'll develop over time with practice. And finally, the angling of her nostrils don't seem to line up with the direction that the rest of her head's facing. That could be a stylistic choice, but in case it isn't, it's something that you might want to have another look at in your next drawings.
These few and relatively minor points aside though, it's a fantasticly fun, cartoony image that takes a clearly recognisable character and puts her a unique style that I hope we'll be seeing more of in the future :)
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@Strawberry-Jamasaur: ''Never stop drawing'' is something I'm really trying to stick with. I feel like I need to seriously work on hands and legs(among many other things), so that's something I'm going to be focusing a lot of energy on although I'm going to try to not let it get in the way of drawing things I want to draw either, such as the above picture. On a side note, it means a lot to get advice from you as your level of skill is something that I consider almost godly, so thanks!
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I also recommend watch tutorial videos, ctrl paint for example (most of them useful for both digital and traditional drawing, I think).
As said one cool artist: "You learn from pretty much everything".
Good luck.
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(this also helps if you need to unpick a difficult one...)
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Even if you're at the beginning, I'd also suggest to push yourself out of your "comfort zone" too. Always experiment with new techniques, coloring and stuff, even if at the beginning they might seem uncomfortable, the results will be twice as rewarding! (and you might find a medium that you particularly love).
Eagerly waiting for more works! :D
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Since I always explain myself as crap, I mean something like this :P http://img06.deviantart.net/750a/i/2008/035/2/6/body__s_tutorial_3_by_calizaa.jpg
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I never thought about making a body out of a series of shapes though, somewhat like a mannequin but it's making a lot of sense. Thanks again for the advice, I will definitely be trying that out!
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First off, regarding the drawing itself: for someone who's just recently begun drawing (I presume?), you have a very clear way of drawing. It looks as if though you just mastered this on one go. Something that I can say that I totally can't do. It's awesome to see clear lines like that, but don't be afraid to doodle as well. As has been pointed out before, the proportions, angle and all the little things work for all intents and purposes. Sure, it's always nice to try some dramatic angles or weird poses or such, but honestly, what you have here, works. And that's all it needs to do. The little details like the hands and the belt clasp will work themselves out in due time, if you just take fifteen minutes out of a day to look up some pictures of hands and belts.
As for practicing drawing, I've got a few things to say. I'm hardly an expert myself (and I certainly have no mentionable education in art), but from my experience there are few things as important as having fun with drawing. I can totally relate to your wish to improve in certain aspects, but neglecting one's satisfaction and amusement over practice only works for some people, and requires an amazing amount of motivation. I'd really recommend what others have already recommended: work on what you want, otherwise you will work on something you -have- to. And such mentality can be crippling for an aspiring artist. Most of the time, anyway. I mean, I totally couldn't have pulled that off when I first started. I'm weak like that.
Anyway, what I wanted to say was to incorporate the practice you have to do to the things you want to draw. For example, you said you needed to work on hands and legs. When next time you draw something, be it whatever, just casually have a look at the hands and the feet, and give them some extra care. At least for me it has worked, since I get to work on what I want, but I also give that one extra thought to the thing I need to practice on.
Sorry about the massive wall of text, I am such a blabbermouth. Anyway, with a will to learn like yours, you're already well on your way to becoming quite the masterful artist!
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(yay differences in stylising)
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It does make sense, trust me. Keeping the whole of the picture in mind (in several ways) is always a good thing to keep at the very least at the back of your head.
And yeah, well... Sure it sounds redundant to keep saying things like "I need to improve on X because Y", but there's nothing wrong with it, I think. I mean, after almost six years, I still do that. If you're anything like me, it's kind of motivating to keep saying what you want to improve at.
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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v139/Greyfox159/DEntry_zps067b4e94.png