chocojax's Art Thread [Critique always appreciated!]

[Applegate]

still waiting for Cruhteo to cleanse your heart of filth Slaine

[chocojax]

I'm working pretty slowly on this one, but I'd really appreciate any critique/comments on this. (The very back looks pretty empty, but I'm planning on putting some sort of gazebo or somethin' there. :P)

@Applegate: cruhteo

[sendo]

I'm working pretty slowly on this one

I really encourage you to just take your time to finish it. I found that spending time to figure out how to render things, using perspective guides, looking at references, etc really helped me get better. Speed just comes with experience : )

Looking good so far but there are a few perspective issues mainly scale. As noted on the redline, scale your objects according to distance from the viewer — nearer objects are larger, farther objects are smaller. Red2.jpg is a quick tweak and a few paintover, a bit different from the original but it's for demonstration purposes.

[chocojax]

I'm working pretty slowly on this one

I really encourage you to just take your time to finish it. I found that spending time to figure out how to render things, using perspective guides, looking at references, etc really helped me get better. Speed just comes with experience : )

Looking good so far but there are a few perspective issues mainly scale. As noted on the redline, scale your objects according to distance from the viewer — nearer objects are larger, farther objects are smaller. Red2.jpg is a quick tweak and a few paintover, a bit different from the original but it's for demonstration purposes.

Yeah, I really gotta work on slowing myself down when drawing. I usually get so engaged with drawing that I wanna finish at that very moment, which causes me to work too fast, eheh...

I remember Railgun telling me the same thing, but I suppose I forgot that again. (About scale.) Thanks for pointing it out! I'll fix that up and force myself to remember that. And, thanks for the redline and paintover as well! I'll use it as a quick guide and reminder when I work on it more. :3

[chocojax]

Here are a bunch of stuff from the last time I've posted. :D

[Applegate]

I love that coastal picture.

[hiko27]

I don't think I post that much in others' threads (mostly because I feel as though I'm barging in, don't think I'm good enough to critique you all) but I just have to for yours.

I love that piece of the girl with scissors (which is also your avatar). Love how you drew her expression. It's not stiff, it looks natural, for me that is. Also love how you rendered her hair. It's something that I only learned a year or so ago, but the fact that you used a different, darker color as shadow shows just how much you know your colors. But aside from that, I do feel that the arm holding her bangs is a little iffy. I would redline it but I feel as though I'll be messing up the pretty piece you made.

[chocojax]

@Applegate: Thanx, I just googled beach or somethin', and it was one of the first few pictures I saw. :D

@hiko27: Thanks! Yeah, the arms are definitely wonky. And man, any kind of redline is helpful! You definitely shouldn't feel like you'd be messing it up, since, well, you'd be helping me. :P

[hiko27]

Omg I finally managed to get the time to redline.

Two ways I can think of for the hand: First one is the foreshortened version, and the other is where the arm is to the side. Also, I think another reason why it felt like the arm was being presented in two different perspectives is because you drew the upper arm supposedly to the side of her body, but then you suddenly changed it for the lower arm, making it on top of the upper arm (that is, the fold is just straight down). When the arm is to the side (that is, both the upper and lower arm are on the same plane), the fold between the two is towards the elbow, diagonally. I didn't draw that in but yeah.

Also, another is because your shoulder is way off. Since you're raising the arm towards her head, her clavicle is going to follow since it's connected to the top of her arm. And because it's going to follow, the skin is going to bunch up over there so I raised that up a bit in the second one. Also, the deltoids (the muscles on her shoulders) are supposed to be above the biceps (muscles on her upper arm) in my second redline, just forgot to add it in, since the skin is bunching up. I didn't add much details since it's not really needed. Also, for the first one, the biceps are going to be above the deltoids this time since it's being foreshortened. Don't need to add that in, but it helps figuring out things.

The foreshortened one might be a little hard to get, but you could use the coil technique mentioned in this video. As for me, I usually just draw the sausages since I can visualize easily, so you could do it that way as well. Also, for the legs, your limbs as a whole can bend, but them in parts (meaning the thighs and the legs; upper arm and lower arm) can't bend on their own, so your thighs need to be straight. Or if there's space between her legs, show it, and then her left leg can go to the right more.

I'm pretty sure I forgot to say a few things orz Hope that helps. If you get stuck with anatomy, usually, going down to the bare essentials -- guides and the sausages and all that -- helps a whole lot.

[chocojax]

@hiko27:
(I'm so amazed that you managed to post this a day before I checked in on LSF again, lol.)
Aaaaaaaaaaaaa, thanks for this! I really appreciate you taking the time to redline my art, hahahah.

- I did notice something strange about that raised arm, but couldn't quite pin it down myself. Do you mean diagonal as in... making it appear as if one doesn't overlap the other?

- Yaaa, I usually just draw sausages too, with plane lines on them, hahahah.

Uhhh, my reply is super empty, but I read everything you wrote, and definitely agree with everything said. Really, thanks! ;;

[hiko27]

I've got psychic powers, that's what (and was checking out threads and answering messages on here). And I meant perpendicular to the elbow. Something like this. Not exactly this pronounced of a fold. And it's fine, I tend to talk too much when talking about art. I'm somewhat of an art otaku, I guess.

Well, mostly, it was your clavicle and shoulder that was off. You can try taking art classes, mostly life drawing classes, or look up some muscle studies, to study up on your anatomy. Knowing where the muscles and bones are will help you visualize and correct your anatomy better. You can draw the muscles beneath along with the sausages to help. I sometimes do that, mostly because I like drawing muscles out. Those helped me a lot, but if not, you can try looking at art anatomy books.

And you're welcome! Anything to help out a fellow artist.

[chocojax]

Oooh, I see what you mean. (Also, I've always loved that fold between the arms for some reason.)

I've been trying to do more figure drawings and muscle/bone studies, but I definitely need to step up my game. I'm usually too lazy to do it (aaaa), but I'll try to do that more often (muscles on sausages). (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧

[hiko27]

I like looking at that fold, I hate it when I draw it because it doesn't look as awesome.

Haha, I know how that feels. I haven't drawn much life drawing the past few months,probably because I have no models, but mostly because class ended for me. So advice would be to take a life drawing class, that will totally help you with taking the time out of your schedule to do those muscle studies. Pretty much, just set aside time in your week to dedicate to anatomy studies. Looking at others' muscle studies help as well. I don't freaking know where the heck it is, but since it says you live in California, there might be a few uninstructed life/figure drawing workshops around you. I had a list of some places like those somewhere on my laptop where you could just pay to sit in and draw the model, no lessons or anything. If you live near LA, there's this. I actually took my life drawing class at LAAFA, which was hella amazing, so just in case you're near there or something (though they do have online classes as well), you can try looking at those. I'm pretty sure there are some in NorCal as well.

But aside from that, if you don't want to spend, then pretty much just sheer dedication at taking the time to do your studies. For me, I usually get myself motivated to draw. Maybe we could probably have an anatomy studies thread here in the art forum. Ogle at skeletons and muscles, totally fun.

[chocojax]

YEAH, EXACTLY! It's really interesting to look at (since... well, it's cool that you know it's fat that's hanging off/being squished between two objects), but then when I try to draw it, it sux.

Mmm... maybe I will. I took a beginner's drawing class in freshman year, and I remember that they advertised free fig drawing models too. (I also really like looking at other people's studies, since sometimes it's hard to clearly distinguish things in your mind from a photo/irl object, but other people's studies tend to be clear-cut. :D)

Yeaaah, at the moment I'm trying that (though not sheer dedication... haha). I think an anatomy studies thread would be really cool! I usually try to focus on a certain muscle/bone/object for a week or somethin', so it'd be awesome to study alongside everyone else on here. *v* (Maybe I'll set one up if you're not gonna set one up!!)

[hiko27]

Haha, it's like with every other drawing I try and do. I try and do it, comes out ugly orz

Ooooh. I signed up for drawing 1 at my college, it pretty much sucked so I dropped it. I barely learned anything, and I'm one of those that learn more when I'm actually doing it. I firmly believe the best way to learn how to draw is by actually drawing, not cramming my head with book knowledge. Well, that's just me, might be different with others. What do you mean distinguish? You mean anatomy-wise or just everything?

I'll barge in the thread if you want to set it up. I'm bad at setting up stuff like this lol.