Art thread

[DRMARIO]

Bio, faultless as always.

--

Her eyes and cheeks are doing my pissing head in :




Still working on absolutely everything on this. Hell of a lot to do, still need to finish the hair (T'ank you again, Emma).

But...yeah..I think I've finally sorted her nose, and her lips are much better (though could still be much, much better).

I hate her eyes.

...and sorry for the rubbish iSight photo.

[Deanis]

Ahhh pull her cheeks up man!

Youve given her old woman jowls.

And she needs more chin, her face looks too droopy.

[Bio]

Thanks, DR.MARIO. =D

Faultless, eh? Well, I think I could work on her face a bit. Gotta make sure she's actually looking like a girl.

As for your picture, the face doesn't look bad so far. All the proportions seem to be there. I think you need to continue shading her entire face. The cheek muscles look awkward partially because the bottom of her face has no shading on them. If you have a uniform base tone, the detail of the cheek muscles will look more natural.

I think after the whole face is shaded, you may wanna adjust how strong you make those cheek muscle details. They could also be too pronounced for what you have rendered on the paper.

Eyes don't look bad to me. The bottom contours of each eye are very dark and thick, though, which is giving me that old woman vibe. I think for now the eyes are the least of your worries. You should work on the rest of the face and then go back and play with the shading of the eyes. Hair is also drawn accurately, though the shading isn't making sense.

Anyway, it's looking promising so far. Keep us updated on the progress! And lol @ the room taking up half of the photo.

[DRMARIO]

I agree with the chin thing - but I'm afraid there's no more chin I can put on her before it becomes inaccurate.

Problem with the eyes is, they are in fact incredibly dark underneath. Also, Dean, the problem with the cheeks isn't the position, but instead the shading like Bio just pointed out. I see what you mean, though.

I'll continue working on it, thanks for the feedback Bio.

(Sorry about the photo - the paper's fixed to my wardrobe door, and it's much easier to juse use iSight, and turn the whole iMac round:P)

[Sixty]

Originally Posted by DRMARIO

Bio, faultless as always.

--

Her eyes and cheeks are doing my pissing head in :




Still working on absolutely everything on this. Hell of a lot to do, still need to finish the hair (T'ank you again, Emma).

But...yeah..I think I've finally sorted her nose, and her lips are much better (though could still be much, much better).

I hate her eyes.

...and sorry for the rubbish iSight photo.

Do you have a reference photo you're using? It'll be much more helpful for us to critique you. Have you tried lining everything with a REALLY light pencil? I still see evident outlines in the hair and on the chin (which I'm going to assume is because it isn't finished and you want to make it darker?) but uh, yeah, people don't have outlines in real life. I'm sure you already know that.

Are you drawing from a black and white picture? (You seem traditionally old fashioned to do so). That will help you pick out the shades a lot better, but I don't even use this method, so either way is fine. It's just if you can't see it on the cheeks and whatnot. Actually, I wouldn't worry about making the cheeks so prominent, no one really bothers about that. Just get all the main components down and then work on the detail. Go to another area and see if you feel more confident on doing that. I'll just move to a different place if I get frustrated with a picture.

You're attacking detail much to early on in this stage, like the strands of hair. Just make sure you've mapped out the whole picture beforehand and it should turn out fairly well. The hair also needs a few more layers of B pencils. I'm going to assume she has jet black hair?

I'm just rambling here. Hope you take that in. Dx

[DRMARIO]

Originally Posted by Sixty

Do you have a reference photo you're using? It'll be much more helpful for us to critique you. Have you tried lining everything with a REALLY light pencil? I still see evident outlines in the hair and on the chin (which I'm going to assume is because it isn't finished and you want to make it darker?) but uh, yeah, people don't have outlines in real life. I'm sure you already know that.

Are you drawing from a black and white picture? (You seem traditionally old fashioned to do so). That will help you pick out the shades a lot better, but I don't even use this method, so either way is fine. It's just if you can't see it on the cheeks and whatnot. Actually, I wouldn't worry about making the cheeks so prominent, no one really bothers about that. Just get all the main components down and then work on the detail. Go to another area and see if you feel more confident on doing that. I'll just move to a different place if I get frustrated with a picture.

You're attacking detail much to early on in this stage, like the strands of hair. Just make sure you've mapped out the whole picture beforehand and it should turn out fairly well. The hair also needs a few more layers of B pencils. I'm going to assume she has jet black hair?

I'm just rambling here. Hope you take that in. Dx

Any outlines are there so that I can see what I'm doing. There's still so much that I need to do.
As for the hair, yes, that does need a lot extra work, like I've already stated.

I understand that people don't like to go into detail early, but I always begin to focus on detail in one space, when I've gotten proportions correct. I like to see it progress in this way.

I think I will keep away from the cheeks for a while, and focus on other areas.

I'll post the picture I'm working from in a moment...

EDIT:


Hopefully this can help any of you...help me:P
It's those defining features that I need to incorporate, because currently it just looks like a horibbly bland version of her face. I'm struggling particularly with the darkness under her eyes.

[Sixty]

Wow. You picked a horrible picture to work with. You should have chosen one where she has softer facial features.

And, do you plan on using up the whole area of the paper? Because she's looking kinda small.

[DRMARIO]

Of course I'm not filling up the paper.

Her head would be horribly disproportionate if I did.

[Sixty]

I would have made it bigger. It looks like you're going to have to invent new details that aren't shown in the reference picture. I personally like filling up the paper because of this.

[DRMARIO]

I feel it's big enough...
It's almost as big as my own head.

[Bio]

If you have a reference picture, it's better to always post your picture alongside it if your goal is to reproduce it.

Anyway, that picture is beautiful. It is a REALLY challenging one, though, requiring advanced sense of what the light/shade is doing, facial perspective, hair physics, etc...so if you can't wrap your mind around it, don't feel bad.

Currently there's a bunch of fundamental things going wrong in your picture that would cause you to end up with a completely new face if you kept going. To cover a major one, her face isn't drawn in the right perspective. The picture has her face slightly at an overhead view while yours is in a level view. A couple ways to correct this is to make her forehead taller and make the contour of her left side of her face more vertical. Also, her mouth need to be bigger. Make sure you pay attention to her lower lip; more of it is seen in this perspective. The nose is also wider at the base.

For images like these at your skill level, I strongly suggest using the grid approach.

[DRMARIO]

I've never really studied art (well, studied to a useful level, anyway), so this is all just down to me learning from experience. I'm no Leonardo Da Vinci, but I'm sure you'd agree that I certainly have a somewhat natural flare. I know I'd improve a lot, if I do decide to study it...but I shan't be.

My point being.

Grid approach?

[DRMARIO]

I just read your post thoroughly, Bio, and you've got it spot on.

Her forehead was much taller originally...I made the mistake of shortening it, as I felt it simply looked too long. I can try and put this back...

First thing I thought this morning when I got up, and had a fresh look at the image, was the lips. I totally agree. I'm currently working on that. She looks like she's sucking a wasp, in my drawing.

EDIT:

I've roughly changed the size of the lips (obviously just an outline of where they should be), and I've made the forehead taller - and it already seems much better.

Thanks so much for this, Bio. I owe you one.

[Bio]

Originally Posted by DRMARIO

Grid approach?

Yeah. It's used so that people who aren't skilled enough with drawing out of direct observation can make an accurate initial sketch.

Basically, you would use a ruler to divide your paper and photo into a grid format, each with the same amount of squares, allowing you to render your picture with correct proportion. It's a little bit tedious to prepare, but the reward you get out of using it makes it worth doing for someone in your skill level.

I wrote up a step-by-step version below (spoiler'd for length)...divided into four major steps.

Spoiler Alert!

Grid Approach Step-By-Step

Preparation

• The goal is to divide your photo and drawing paper into the same amount of rows and columns (grids with the same amount of squares).
• So first, get a workable printout of your photo, the real photo, and paper.
• Measure your workable photo so you can either draw on paper of the same size or a proportionately larger size (use a calculator to figure out larger size dimensions of your paper).

  (Example: If your workable photo is 8 x 10, you want to work with a proportionate size for your paper, such as the same size or a larger, proportionate size like 16 x 20.)

• Get a piece of paper big enough for your desired size.

  (Example: if you want larger with the 16 x 20 paper, buy 18 x 24 paper and use a ruler to make boundary lines indicating your workspace)

• Find a number of inches you can use for the photo and another for the paper that will produce the same number of rows and columns.

  (Example: Based on the example dimensions, 1 inch will give you an 8 x 10 grid for an 8 x 10 size, and 2 inches will give you an 8 x 10 grid for a 16 x 20 size.)

• The more squares, the less chance you'll mess up.

Photo

• Have a workable copy of your photo.
• Use a ruler to make horizontal and vertical lines on it to make a grid using your desired length for each row/column (ex: 0.5 inches, or whatever you chose).
• Number each row at the top of the paper
• Start another series of numbers for each column on the left or right side of the paper.
• The numbers are there so that you can easily locate a corresponding square between your paper and workable photo.

Look at those sexy grid lines! Unlike this person, though, it would be numbered at the top and on a side.


Paper

• Make a grid that has the same amount of rows and colums as your photo. (Recall the math you made earlier)
• Number your rows and columns in the same way you did your photo.
• Make your lines and numbers with light pressure so you can erase them later.

Unlike this person, make your lines straight. Also, in this case, your paper would be numbered at the top and a side, and the paper will probably be larger.

Drawing

• When you start your initial sketch, work within each corresponding square or set of squares, always trying to draw accurate to the reference square.
• By the time you finish the sketch, your outlines will be proportionate to the photo.
• Apply the same approach for the following stages until you don't need the lines anymore (just erase them) when approaching completion. Once you stop using the grid, you can refer to your real photo that has no lines on it.

End result example. She may not have much skill with shading, coloring, and other things, but her proportions are very close to the photo. Why? Because she used the grid approach.

[TehFerret]

If you can put the cheeks a little higher, it will be fine. Not that I can do that good though.

[DRMARIO]

I don't know what to make of the grid method..

I mean, I was taught to do that as a child - and I'm more than sure I've progressed from then:P

I'm happy tweaking proportions...it always seems to end up okay.
So there were a few issues this time, I think I'll sort it as I go along..

I think my biggest challenge is shading.


I nabbed my mother's camera, here's a better image:

Spoiler Alert!

I'VE SUSSED WHAT I NEED TO DO TO THOSE HORRENDOUS EYES.

[Bio]

Much better, sir.

There is slight overhead perspective now (like there should have been), her nose is beautifully rendered, and the lips are the right size. Now you're getting somewhere.

Now you gotta deal with the heavy dark areas of the face to make the dark parts of the eyes look right.

[Frogger]

Jaack. Why did you pick such a horrible picture to draw? No wonder those cheeks are impossible for you to do.

I wondered how Ayumi was doing gathering dust. I'm not making much progress on her at all. :|



Uh, yeah. The left side of the face isn't anywhere near finished. Hence why it appears lighter than the right. I still haven't touched her other eye. I attempted to, but it went wrong. Though I'm pretty happy with it. I don't want that much critique on it, however. I'm not a pencil artist.

[DRMARIO]

Well I'm hardly going to choose an easy picture, now am I!?
I want it to be more of a challenge, then anything:P The sort of challenge that makes you want to burn the thing.

I'll post an updated image in a minute..

And are you actually going to finish this Ayumi one?

(Having said I like a challenge...I may actually try drawing Ayumi some time. The fact that she's almost always photoshopped to an inch of her life, would mean there'd be little shadow to actually bother with..)

Update:
Waiiting for the pigging image to upload.

[Frogger]

Yeah, but she has bitchin' long hair.