Looking for Feedback

[Phyro]

I'm new to this forum, so you probably haven't heard of me before. I've been drawing for about nine years now, and most of that time was spent flailing around endlessly and making absolutely terrible drawings. However, I've been improving a bit recently and I was hoping to get some feedback on my work. It feels like people don't comment on deviantArt anymore, unless it's to say something like "lol cool."

Critique is definitely welcome, and I don't mind if you're harsh. Some of these are older than others.

For more of my stuff, you can see my deviantArt. But most of the stuff on there is a little old now.

Thank you for your time. ~

[MaiMai]

I took a quick glance at your DA. You have improved quite a bit since 2009 and that's good! If you want to know where to go from there, one of the first things I can give advice about is to start practicing drawing real life body proportions instead of anime body proportions. It feels like a lot of the torsos you draw are rather short and the chests on the female characters are not really up to snuff; a lot of your anatomical issues can simply be solved by practicing drawing bodies without clothes on them. (Have you taken a life drawing class yet? I see that you drew a still life for university work, so I'm wondering if you're taking other foundation art classes).

Other things you need to refine is your lineart and coloring technique. I think you should look up and read tutorials of anime/manga style coloring which there are plenty of on DA. I have plenty on hand, so depending on what digital software you use, I'm happy to link any if you have an idea of where you want your coloring and drawing to go.

[sendo]

To add to MaiMai's advice, a good book to start with studying anatomy and proportions is Andrew Loomis' "Figure Drawing for all its worth". I haven't finished it yet but I can already tell you that it's really good.

If you really want to take your drawing to another level, learn your Core Fundamentals. Why? Because once you understand this, you can draw anything (yes anything from a human body to a cool creature to a spaceship ad infinitum) from any angle, any pose. Actually, there's a video explaining just this, so I might as well link you to it:

Link (relevant parts start at 16:30 but I suggest watching the whole thing because it is such an eye-opener)

[Phyro]

I took a quick glance at your DA. You have improved quite a bit since 2009 and that's good! If you want to know where to go from there, one of the first things I can give advice about is to start practicing drawing real life body proportions instead of anime body proportions. It feels like a lot of the torsos you draw are rather short and the chests on the female characters are not really up to snuff; a lot of your anatomical issues can simply be solved by practicing drawing bodies without clothes on them. (Have you taken a life drawing class yet? I see that you drew a still life for university work, so I'm wondering if you're taking other foundation art classes).

Other things you need to refine is your lineart and coloring technique. I think you should look up and read tutorials of anime/manga style coloring which there are plenty of on DA. I have plenty on hand, so depending on what digital software you use, I'm happy to link any if you have an idea of where you want your coloring and drawing to go.

I've definitely come a long way from 2009; back then I really had no idea what I was doing at all. I usually try to draw the character's figure before drawing the clothes, but I haven't really done any detailed drawings of nude figures before. That might be something good to practice. I haven't had a human figure class in university yet, but I'll be taking one next semester, so that should be a good opportunity for me to improve in that area. I guess doing some anatomical studies on my own wouldn't hurt either.

I've tried to read /watch a few tutorials on anime/manga coloring and lineart, but it seems like everyone has a slightly different way of doing it, and many methods I've found are hard for me to reproduce correctly. I have SAI, Photoshop, and Flash, and I know the basics of using all three of them, but I'm not so great at the finer points of Photoshop. I've read a few tutorials, but I probably haven't seen the best ones.
As for coloring, I feel that one problem I have is that I'm afraid to go too dark and my colors always end up looking overly vibrant and saturated.

To add to MaiMai's advice, a good book to start with studying anatomy and proportions is Andrew Loomis' "Figure Drawing for all its worth". I haven't finished it yet but I can already tell you that it's really good.

If you really want to take your drawing to another level, learn your Core Fundamentals. Why? Because once you understand this, you can draw anything (yes anything from a human body to a cool creature to a spaceship ad infinitum) from any angle, any pose...[/url]

I know it's important to learn fundamentals, and I've started doing this a little. (mostly through university) I'm having some trouble grasping certain topics though, (perspective and color theory really give me a headache for some reason) and I still do anime art a lot because I enjoy it. You're definitely right that learning art fundamentals will help with any kind of drawing, and I intend to continue to try and learn them. I'll see about the book / video you mentioned as well, they look interesting.

Thank you both for your advice.

[MaiMai]

I've definitely come a long way from 2009; back then I really had no idea what I was doing at all. I usually try to draw the character's figure before drawing the clothes, but I haven't really done any detailed drawings of nude figures before. That might be something good to practice. I haven't had a human figure class in university yet, but I'll be taking one next semester, so that should be a good opportunity for me to improve in that area. I guess doing some anatomical studies on my own wouldn't hurt either.

I've tried to read /watch a few tutorials on anime/manga coloring and lineart, but it seems like everyone has a slightly different way of doing it, and many methods I've found are hard for me to reproduce correctly. I have SAI, Photoshop, and Flash, and I know the basics of using all three of them, but I'm not so great at the finer points of Photoshop. I've read a few tutorials, but I probably haven't seen the best ones.
As for coloring, I feel that one problem I have is that I'm afraid to go too dark and my colors always end up looking overly vibrant and saturated.

I know it's important to learn fundamentals, and I've started doing this a little. (mostly through university) I'm having some trouble grasping certain topics though, (perspective and color theory really give me a headache for some reason) and I still do anime art a lot because I enjoy it. You're definitely right that learning art fundamentals will help with any kind of drawing, and I intend to continue to try and learn them. I'll see about the book / video you mentioned as well, they look interesting.

Thank you both for your advice.

For coloring in SAI and Photoshop, the best advice I can give you is to really sit down and read those tutorials and keep practicing. Repetition is the name of the game. Everyone colors differently because it's simply their style, but I find that I end up synthesizing techniques that I glean from reading tutorials and eventually you'll end up doing something that's your own thing.

As for colors, the ones you've chosen for some of your images are actually pretty dull, aside from bright anime hair. A good way to choose palettes is to look at a complete image you like with a range of values and colors and use the eye drop tool in SAI or Photoshop and see how many colors are being used in the image. That or look at this:

How I See Color by purplekecleon

This is a good color theory lecture in Flash that explains some digital coloring as well as traditional. Mixing and blending in digital is different from the latter after all.

Hopefully your university studies will really hammer in those fundamentals. Life drawing class really changed the game for me and if yours is any good, you'll be drawing anywhere from 50 to 100 figures within the class session. There's a channel on Youtube called Proko that covers a lot of figure drawing basics and one I think you'll benefit from this:

How to Draw Gesture.

Basics of basic. Also, I didn't mention it yet, but I really dislike that braid of the purple hair girl since braids aren't huge circles. If you're trying to draw a thick braid, they're more like huge tear drops that droop down instead of being upright bubbles:

Braids by MistyTang.

[Phyro]

For coloring in SAI and Photoshop, the best advice I can give you is to really sit down and read those tutorials and keep practicing. Repetition is the name of the game. Everyone colors differently because it's simply their style, but I find that I end up synthesizing techniques that I glean from reading tutorials and eventually you'll end up doing something that's your own thing.

As for colors, the ones you've chosen for some of your images are actually pretty dull, aside from bright anime hair. A good way to choose palettes is to look at a complete image you like with a range of values and colors and use the eye drop tool in SAI or Photoshop and see how many colors are being used in the image. That or look at this:

How I See Color by purplekecleon

This is a good color theory lecture in Flash that explains some digital coloring as well as traditional. Mixing and blending in digital is different from the latter after all.

Hopefully your university studies will really hammer in those fundamentals. Life drawing class really changed the game for me and if yours is any good, you'll be drawing anywhere from 50 to 100 figures within the class session. There's a channel on Youtube called Proko that covers a lot of figure drawing basics and one I think you'll benefit from this:

How to Draw Gesture.

Basics of basic. Also, I didn't mention it yet, but I really dislike that braid of the purple hair girl since braids aren't huge circles. If you're trying to draw a thick braid, they're more like huge tear drops that droop down instead of being upright bubbles:

Braids by MistyTang.

I agree that the braids look really weak in my drawing. I do need to practice drawing those correctly. Thank you also for the link to the color tutorial, it was quite helpful.

I've started trying to teach myself figure drawing in earnest, so hopefully I will improve in that area in the future.

[giA]

you should dabble in creating more of those dynamic compositions you've got going on there. it works well to keep illustrations interesting. the first attachment and the last grab attention better than just any old flat backed anime character. so continue exercising your skill in that! even if it's just a sketch every once in a while that you keep to yourself. it'll keep things fresh for you.

[Phyro]

you should dabble in creating more of those dynamic compositions you've got going on there. it works well to keep illustrations interesting. the first attachment and the last grab attention better than just any old flat backed anime character. so continue exercising your skill in that! even if it's just a sketch every once in a while that you keep to yourself. it'll keep things fresh for you.

Dynamic compositions are a lot harder to pull off, but they definitely do look a lot better. I'll try and keep doing those. =)

[Happysmily]

Lmao, Phyro?
Funny seeing you here haha, you've definitely come a long way since we first met. I'm pretty impressed!

Anyway, I guess feedback is what you're looking for. As every one said, your anatomy's getting there but it would really benefit from life studies. It's good that you're exploring more dynamic shots, those are certainly tough to pull off but you learn a lot.

For colouring, your shading is a little weak; as in they seem light and cloudy. Be sure to define where your shadows will be and don't be afraid to get dark with your shadows, keep your light source in mind. Likewise, you don't need to shy away from highlights either since they'll really give your image a 'pop'

Keep up the good work!