Ching's Art Dump - Request Something...? []Open [x]Closed

[merdeamour]

Er, hi (: I'm Ching. So, I'm not an artist--I just really like doodling/drawing/sketching. I've recently bought a second-hand tablet (I had one a year before, but I gave it to my sister... long story there), so now I'm experimenting with drawing with it.

I guess I'm putting my stuff here because I want people to tell me how I can get better. I'd really love to improve, and since there are a lot of great artists in here, I'd love to get some tips on how to improve. Maybe this is also a place I can post my stuff so I can see how far I've gotten (improvement-wise).

Well, that's all~! Here are some fail drawings of mine. WARNING: They really are ugly D: Esp the colored one. Ugh. >,<

[Talann]

To be honest, I wouldn't call myself an artist - but I do draw, so I won't really be a help on giving you any advice on improving.
But, your art is just amazing, even though it's doodles and all that, I got drawn into it <3
I fell in love with it at first sight hehe.
Anyways, here are some tips that might help you, which helped me when I used to draw

1) The most important things in art is practicing. I mean, practice makes everything perfect. Although you can't reach "perfect" in art, but just to practice drawing everyday, it will help your skills loads. Even if you think you're the worst artist in history, with a lot of hard work and determination you'll get better and better, and soon a professional XD

2) Try using a model when you draw. Whether it's a picture or a bowl of fruit, it's good practice and it'll help you improve a lot.

3) Take a few moments each day to study your surroundings. Look at the face of the person you're talking to and you will notice how the light affects where all the shadow goes, and the shape of their features. Try to observe colors and shadows around you, and take a look at textures or how clothing wrinkles. These things will eventually become handy when drawing.

Also, just keep doing what you're doing and eventually, you will get better and better.
Unfortunately, that's all I could give you, even though you might have already heard of these tips but oh well XD
Hope I've helped anyways.
Keep it up! :3

Talan <3

[o v e n]

item one: DON'T BE SO DOWN ON YOURSELF. That castle image alone is way more detail than I've ever been able to apply to a scenic piece. Instead of saying things like 'suckish' and 'ugly' you could simply admit that you haven't been drawing a lot and these are early examples of your skill - which you plan to improve.

item two: Forget everything you've ever learned about drawing. The human eye is trained from childhood to recognize simple shapes and break everything down into simple shapes in order to 'translate' the images. This is why we draw outlines even if we mean to simply paint a thing more realistically. Take a good, critical look at the world and the people in it, and study not the shapes but the lines and negative space of a subject. (Your colored bedroom bit is actually a VERY good example of this! The lines were getting painted over in favor of light and color, and it's nearly impressionist in its early stages.)

item three: cheat! In the early stages of learning how to draw, it's important to like what you're doing in order to keep on trying and improving, and nobody can do that when they're worried about doing things wrong. My method of confidence cheating was to add detail to everything - this is actually improvement in disguise, since I was working past the initial lack of proportion and going on to develop aspects of lighting, line weight and color at an even pace. Learning to draw is an individual exploration of how we see the world and how best to translate that to paper. You really do have to learn all the boring realism before taking the next step to stylizing (cartoon/anime faces and illustrated castles and whatnot), but there's no strict rule that you can't have fun by drawing and painting what you like.

Some methods of 'cheating' were to draw a grid over a picture of a real face, then duplicate the grid on paper and fill in the face details square by square. Or by taking a nude stock photo and tracing the lines of the body to train the eye to recognize what shadows go where. This is only a BAD thing to do if it's used for anything but practice - no publishing your training images, even on the internet. I used the overlay cheat to learn how to draw clothing folds and the way hats and shirts settle on a human frame at different poses. There are many photos to be found in magazines and online that you can do this with, but again, only to train your eye to start recognizing the proportions and placement!

The human eye, for example, is never just the pointed oval of egyptian wall paintings or the oblong overlashed sort of anime shape - there are different curves depending on which way the head is turning, how the eye looks when it is open and closed, and the fact that the iris is concave and this gives the pupil render a much different position than one would think! I haven't any tutorials to link you to, mostly because you ought to STAY FAR AWAY from the ones that turn the human figure into circles for joints and sticks for limbs. This is only reinforcing the bad eye-training, and your figures will look just as blocky as result.

Draw from life! Draw for the heart! And then, later, you'll be able to draw for the SKILL of it, and apply it to a project that will make you proud. (As it stands, actually, I would recommend making a game on your art merits already. Even a 'sucky' illustrated game, if given time and care and detail, is leagues above a game that isn't being illustrated at all! Like how even the slowest runner is still miles ahead of the person on the couch.)

[merdeamour]

Talann, thanks for your tips! xD I really appreciate them, and the fact that you took some time to comment on this (: Thanks for the compliment (although I really don't think I deserve that...)

And, o v e n, thank you! I'm actually studying a bit of anatomy, because the method you mentioned (the sticks and balls thing for joints and limbs), isn't working for me because, yeah, I make the figures too blocky. I describe my stuff as suckish because I don't think they're any good at all, but I DO have to think positively, and thank you for the encouragement! (:

[ViRiX Dreamcore]

My first thought when I scrolled down your post was "wow those are some nice backgrounds." I actually said this outloud. Yes, they're sketches, but with the magic of photoshop and the like, you can really make these shine and look very nice. Layers are your friend. I know that may not sound like much, but take a look at some tutorials and you'll be good.

[merdeamour]

My first thought when I scrolled down your post was "wow those are some nice backgrounds." I actually said this outloud. Yes, they're sketches, but with the magic of photoshop and the like, you can really make these shine and look very nice. Layers are your friend. I know that may not sound like much, but take a look at some tutorials and you'll be good.

Ah, thank you so much O: I can't believe that you think they're good at all. Yeah, I've just started learning about Photoshop, so I really hope I can improve (:

Here's an old drawing I did when I got my first tablet.... I just copied it from something I saw online. The laptop just looks like a piece of paper (with the perspective off), and her hand is just a finger and a thumb <--umm, weird.

[Itwasneveradream]

Wahaha, those are some wicked backgrounds.

(So YOU'RE CHING! BTW, it'sh me, Toya)

You should totally try making more. All I do is trace over some 3D models I make in sketchup :/
I'm not very good at that though.

Once again, WAHAHAHA

And, based on a drawing you sent me a while back, you must never. NEVER. NEVER EVER HALF-ASS THE HAIR!

Well that's all from me Ching~

[Pencey]

Guess who finally decided to post? HAHA
I still really love the castle sketch. You should try finishing it!

[Relimount]

Your drawing in color don't have enough dark ton, I think. But, in an other way, It look like I's from a sympathic child anime.

[merdeamour]

Wahaha, those are some wicked backgrounds.

(So YOU'RE CHING! BTW, it'sh me, Toya)

You should totally try making more. All I do is trace over some 3D models I make in sketchup :/
I'm not very good at that though.

Once again, WAHAHAHA

And, based on a drawing you sent me a while back, you must never. NEVER. NEVER EVER HALF-ASS THE HAIR!

Well that's all from me Ching~

HELLO, TOYA! ((: I've always known who you were here, and I was (kinda) surprised that you didn't know me ahaha!

Thank you so much xD I try to do my best on BGs, but they're really frustrating to do sometimes, what with finding the right perspective, colors....

Roger that! (Hair is my nightmare Dx )

Again, thank you, Toya! xD

Guess who finally decided to post? HAHA
I still really love the castle sketch. You should try finishing it!

I know I've already welcomed you here, but again.... Welcome, my good buddy! And thanks for looking at my stuff ((: Not as good as yours tho <_<

Ah, thanks! I'm experimenting around with coloring, so it may take some time to finish it. I kinda like it, too xD

Your drawing in color don't have enough dark ton, I think. But, in an other way, It look like I's from a sympathic child anime.

Er, if by 'dark ton' you mean shadowing, no they don't because they're WiPs xD I haven't even colored them in. If you mean the fully-colored one... It was my first time drawing in color, so apologies for the glaring colors and not enough shadowing.

A... 'sympathic child anime'...? I'm not really sure if what you were saying is that you think my stuff look like (pathetic?) sympathetic anime-ish art drawn by a child, but if so, I'm sorry you think so /: I DO try to improve my stuff, though...

Working on some fan art-- This one is Morpheus, from Neil Gaiman's [/i]Sandman[/i]! I'm ashamed to say that I didn't do justice to his darkness, but I hope to improve this sketch (since this is just a WiP).

I need to put more...substance... into that cape...

And I hope Toya doesn't find the air half-assed ((: I wanted to create the effect of his hair being something like smoke, or shadow, or both, and I tried doing it with a charcoal effect. Er.

[Relimount]

Sorry, I mean "The color make the drawing coming from a sympathetic anime for child".

[merdeamour]

Sorry, I mean "The color make the drawing coming from a sympathetic anime for child".

Ah... so you mean it's really bad, like something a kid who only knows anime would color? (Does 'sympathetic' = 'pathetic' in this case?)

[Relimount]

Hm... I am french so sympathetic mean euphoric for me..
And no, I say the drawing is really lively, colored like an book for kid.

[unknown5]

looks cool. =D colors remind me of van gogh or gauguin maybe? i dunno much about art.

[merdeamour]

looks cool. =D colors remind me of van gogh or gauguin maybe? i dunno much about art.

Ah, thank you! Perhaps Cezanne? As someone already noted, my coloring style is a bit impressionistic.

And I'm really very flattered that you visited this because I love your art O.o