Mae's art thread (Taking requests and seeking critique.)

[maetropa]

I've been drawing a bit more recently, hoping to get Christmas presents done for friends and maybe even some personal drawings.

Anyway, just drawing similar things repeatedly isn't going to help, especially if I'm just reinforcing the mistakes, so I though perhaps I could post some of my pieces on here and get critiques and do some requests so I'm not stuck drawing the same characters and emotions over and over.

I suppose this'll be a bit of give and take! Good critique will probably make me put your request at a higher priority and dedicated time, since I want to show my appreciation.

e: I don't mind harsh critique at all, and often actually prefer, though any comments regarding my pictures and what looks right / wrong / etc is helpful, even if it's something small.

[MaiMai]

What do you want critique on specifically? There's a lot I can see you need to do, but I'd rather know what you'd like to improve on first before I give advice.

[maetropa]

Hm, I'm not certain either, but I think general structure is probably my weakest point, as well as miniscule details, which I'm never certain whether I should gloss over as to not steal attention or not.

I have lots of issues drawing the actual head build as well, either making the chin and cheeks way too chubby or way too spikey, but always rather stocky, which doesn't work well when I try to draw not-boys.

[MaiMai]

So basically, you're lacking fundamentals, especially in terms of anatomy? And it doesn't seem like you know what kind of style you want to draw in, but aside from that, the best course of action is to look up some basic anatomy lessons and Andrew Loomis is usually the source people point to for beginners. You can download one of his many books here (get the PDFs on figure drawing and drawing heads and hands) : http://alexhays.com/loomis/

It's a lot of information, but at the very least you should glean over the Loomis works. Miniscule details are the least of your problems right now. As you said yourself, you have trouble with general structure in terms of the body and head build and that's due to the lack of knowledge of how those forms actually look.

[maetropa]

I remember reading through Loomis' books about a year back, but that was when I was less interested in all around drawing and more into animal arts. It's about time I went through them again, thanks!

Yeah, I have no idea whatsoever what kind of 'style' I want, and I figured I'd fight that battle when I'm a bit more experienced in the fundamentals.

[maetropa]

Did some faces after going through one of Loomis' books, and then played around with colours because those are fun.

[maetropa]

I don't even know anymore? Cute girls, hum.

[JumpJump]

Are you still open for requests?

[maetropa]

Yes, I am!

[JumpJump]

I would pick something, but I'm stumped. I'm afraid that I'm going to be mean and say that you have the choice of any of my characters from my folder dump.

[maetropa]

I would pick something, but I'm stumped. I'm afraid that I'm going to be mean and say that you have the choice of any of my characters from my folder dump.

[JumpJump]

Thank you. Is there anyway I could repay you?

[maetropa]

Just tell me what seems off and what seems good, so I know what to improve.

[JumpJump]

I don't really think that I could give criticism. It'll be long winded and boring if I tried to explain my reasons. But. I'll try and say what comes to my mind when I look at the request you did for me.

To me, there is nothing "wrong" that I can see with the outlines. I can understand where others might come from when they talk about outlines and the need to have clean line-art. But when you are still gaining confidence in you own abilities, hitting the standards that others have is a near impossible task. I can "see" who it was you drew and that is the point. As long as you can show what It is you are trying to show, then you did a good job. I remember reading a comic once and the style was so messy. Not to say that it was bad, but, I just couldn't focus on anything in any comic panels. The outlines worked against it sadly. On the other hand, I've never had my work published, so what can I say.

With the form and shape of the head and neck. I think It looks realistic, again, nothing wrong. It took me years to do things like adding a nose and ears, so you are ahead of me in that department.