Shino's Art Thread (Offering free sketches?)

[Shinoki]

Well, recently, I guess I've been drawing a lot.
I thought that maybe I should make an art thread. *whew, nearly wrote threat*
Somehow, I tend to draw fanart a lot more than OC though.
And... I tend not to color my drawings.

I'd be glad if you'd point out a few of my problems~
I don't have that many examples of hands though... *realizes*

A few examples (Mainly AnR stuff just because):

[Shinoki]

A few scribbles in papermate? pens... (people, never use them to draw if your drawings are at a small scale....like.... small. But, that might just be me~ Drawing big is a good thing after all~ Though I guess I didn't this time. Well, I'm still studying.)

*btw, these kiddos are based off of SKE48's Niidoi Sayaka, Suga Nanako, and Furuhata Nao... except I didn't really use a reference so they kind of turned out a lil diff. than planned XD

[Shinoki]

I tried coloring :v ....maybe....it didn't work out too well. I'm gonna go look at some tutorials-probably.

[kisa]

You mentioned you wanted people to point out a few of your problems... So... Allow me to accidentall rip into INSPECT your stuff.

Proportions
Shading
Hair

And aside from those, you may want to let your style develop a bit more while you're studying how to improve the other three.
Your hands are actually pretty good for the level of experience you seem to have with the rest of the image. You should be proud of them.

With proportions: I think you could stand to study the more realistic styles of anime (Which you seem to base your art on) and try to mimic them a few times to see if you can find a good level of detail you like.

With shading: Do it. Just... do it. It helps almost everything.

With hair: You actually have a fairly good grasp on it.. I would suggest keeping that grasp and volume as you develop the rest of it.

[Shinoki]

Thank you very much! :v (for rippi-inspecting my stuff)

I have confidence in my ability to not completely slaughter hands as much as everything else. Though I'm very bad at drawing the back of hands. Thank you.

Yea, at the moment I don't really have much of a style and I'm going around and seeing.

Proportions, I do have trouble with... nod nod. It might be on the more realistic side mainly because of the fact that I do most of my drawing in public where I'm 'peacefully' watching people around me for a reference. Okey~ References are always good to take a look at though I'm not too sure which is which, could ya give a few recommendations?
Shading... Yups, I'll do my best.... yea. I'm really inexperienced in that.
Hair, fairly good grasp, I'll do my best to get an even better grasp.

[kisa]

For references...
For variety, you can go from as realistic as Deathnote or DMC down to as stylized as Lucky Star (I think I got the name right)

I don't mean to rip into overly inspect your art... it's just kind of how I'm wired... I'm trying to do better. 8u8b

as for picking a style... Find what kind of style is the most fun for you to draw and you actually like looking at, it worked for me and I ended up drawing like my icon with a tablet and by hand... (HoFco. is drawn by mouse... Don't look at it...)

[Shinoki]

Okey~
It's okay. I don't mind when the ripping into my art? I'm wired in the way that I'm absolutely terrified knowing people have something to say, but I have no problem when actually reading it. :v it's always helpful to learn more.
Nod nod. :v yea~ I think I'm slowly developing something(a style)~

[Shinoki]

:v I ended up sketching something.....and well, neatening it. First digitally drawn thingy in a while.
Looks off since i haven't gotten much practice drawing with le tablet....
OTL ....well, time to go stare at cute girls my age wearing hoodies look at references for clothing and people.

[Shinoki]

Ah...i ended up drawing something. I was trying to translate stuff... and learn Japanese...Kinchan is an alien... etc that type of thing... but now, Shinya-pro???? What? I wasn't trying to draw a producer....This is a bodyguard? Or maybe one of those high school yankee characters~ Well, AnR AU, I guess

[Shinoki]

The variations between my doodles is amazing in a bad way sometimes :v I need to un-crooked the head and....a lot of things....

[Shinoki]

Such sketches. Very Wowe. :v Such Variation. In only 1.5 hours~
It's really easy to tell which type of character is easiest for me to draw....

From the wish in the bottom of my heart to create a GxG game.... :v random characters have been created. Except...I don't have a main character... Anyways, somehow, a bunch of character sketches have happened.
:v Foxley who I didn't edit or spend much time on... somehow turned out the nicest looking. I got a little lazy on Houka and Wolf though. Please do tell if there's something wrong with the glasses~

[Shinoki]

I'm getting somewhere, I think~ :v
The wrinkles in the clothes are becoming random lines because of my editing though

[DesertSkald]

This looks like a good art thread for me to crit on. Aaah, you sketch like I do, all scribbly short lines.
That last one shows improvement, though it's a little flat. I think it would look even better with bold colors like in western cartoons, as well as some varied line weight to make it pop.

A theme I'm noticing in your artwork is straight lines- even the curves are straight, they're just broken down into a line of short straight lines Like me XD. You can see it especially in the jaw lines- jaws rarely go straight back from the chin to the ear, they curve a bit (tho each face is different). Not everything is straight lines and not everything is curves. Suggestion: try putting more curves in the shoulders, jacket, skirt hem, jaw, hair tips, etc. It will make your artwork look more organic and less stiff.

Shading tips: look up tutorials on shading using colors instead of black or gray (such as this one http://fav.me/d5bi80o) Also, try either shading or coloring most of the things you draw (or both. Both is better) It'll take longer to get better at something you rarely do.

Vary your line weight: your lines should show the 'weight' of what you're drawing and how it fits into the rest of the image. I'll write down a few tips how about I link another tutorial instead? XD http://fav.me/d6axkrj

When you're stalk- looking at people for reference, remember to look at how their clothes are fitting on them. What types of fabrics make what folds, where folds often are, what elbow folds look like compared to knee folds, etc.

... I just really like that duck union picture, I'm not entirely sure why.

Keep practicing.

[Shinoki]

Thank you very much for the crit.
Scribbly lines~ I find it amazing, the people who make awesomely nice, non-scribbly lines.
*so bright, the pro-ness!* :3 I'll try to make the curves more curvy-less tiny lines. And I look to trying to add a few curves to those places. Thanks for the tutorials. I'll try to observe people's clothes and folds too~ Though, well, I probably won't be creepily staring during the summer unfortunately-to Google then I guess!
lol, the Duck Union picture. It might just be because it's weird and comedic? And there's a kawaii, yet extremely distorted duck.
I'll keep practicing!

[Sharm]

The key is to be bold with your strokes and not afraid to get it wrong. Sometimes you can get it right too, and it's a lot easier to find lines that you really like if those long strokes are there to begin with. It'll get better as you get used to drawing that way. If you're having troubles breaking yourself of the short stroke habit, there are a few different things you can try doing for practice. One is to do short timed sketches. That way if you start making short lines you won't have time to draw anything. Or you could draw without allowing yourself to lift your drawing implement, or disallow the eraser.