keyk | (no subject)

Now that I've gotten a rather lengthy crit from a high school friend, and now that I've started using guidelines but am still incapable of applying sense to my drawings, I'm going to start drawing real people for awhile (although I'll sink back into the anime style because I'm fond of it). Muscles, fat, skin, anatomy, angles, lighting, sizes, positions--I need to know what makes sense and what doesn't. It's a bit difficult since I'm so used to my disproportionate drawing anime style, but I really want to become a decent artist.

Aside from people, I need animal and object practice, too, so I'll have to grab random things and doodle them. I've gotta prepare to see a world of WHAT THE HECK DID I JUST DRAW D8 for awhile. Art class would probably have really helped me, but I'm waaay too self conscious to survive drawing in groups and with a teacher, and it'd probably make me give up on art instead. Maybe when I get more confident...maybe in college. Maybe.

I love crits, and it's been a looong time since I've gotten one, so the one she gave me was really awesome. I'm still a self conscious twit, but I want to improve, so I'll just stuff it and deal with it. I'm going to hammer that idea of "I'm a horrible artist" out of my mind. I've got a lot of work ahead of me in order to do so.

Gut is still not happy. I've gotta bunch of stuff to reply to and want to reply to and overdue sketching and designing stuff, but I'm sleepy. I've been finishing some of my overdue sketch meme stuff, who are all subjected to being involved in my coloring experiments.

Not sure if you'll see this, but,

sakalayaan, I finally did your sketch request.. I'll poke you properly later.

Neglecting summer reading, tra-la-la-la-la!
I'd love to have a paintchat where people can crit each other. I really need crits, especially since I don't have a teacher.

Current Mood: pain
Current Music: school food punishment - Futuristic Imagination

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

jamuko.livejournal.com

I was never any good at using guidelines or stick figures to form the base of my drawings. XD So many people tell you to use them, but it just doesn't "click" for me. It ends up feeling like I'm forcing things out of the way I envision just to make it work the way it's "supposed" to, and then it comes out looking very awkward. I dunno, I just do much better studying the way things look in art that I like, and using my learned eye and intuition that way. (not that I'm really any good still, but XD I just need to keep working at it and refining that "eye"!)

I think the same is true for a lot of manga-type artists. It seems more like Western-influenced art has more "form" based on fleshed-out stick figure plans and all that.

Not that you shouldn't try that kind of thing or anything, everyone's different in what works for them =)

Drawing from life, I've noticed, helps to learn about lighting, and maybe teaches you some patience to really study what you're looking at, but other than that it didn't really help me in my lineart skills or anything. It might give you some confidence, though, when you surprise yourself with how good you can make a realistic picture look :D

Oh! There's also this thing someone showed me before... I haven't used it a whole lot because I don't really enjoy actually doing it that much, ^^;; but it really is a helpful tool for improving your ability to make fluid poses and all that. I should do it more for that reason. Here's the link: http://www.posemaniacs.com/pose/thirtysecond.html

Basically, it just shows you a 3D model in a random pose, and you only have 30 seconds to sketch it out. Then it goes to the next one, and etc. It helps to just kinda do gesture drawings, blurt out the pose on paper to try to get experience being fast and fluid with a lot of variety, and it improves your versatility a lot with poses and angles and all that.

Going that fast also doesn't give you the time to be so judgmental on yourself. =) You don't have much time to draw, and if it turns out bad, ohwellwhocareshere'sthenextone!! XD

We should have a paintchat like that sometime. ^-^ I could use the crits too.

From:

keyk.livejournal.com

It took a long time before guidelines really clicked for me. I can't visualize well at all, so I had difficulty knowing where to place things on the body, and then the sizes of the head, for example, kept varying from piece to piece. I had no idea what the body looked like under those clothes, or outside of them for that matter.

It was then I decided to use guidelines. It wasn't a shortcut or anything, and my sizes are still kinda wonky, but it's lessened the varying sizes, and allowed me to draw more complex things because I know, better, where things are. My guidelines are really lax compared to other people's (I rarely use the stick figure base for guidelines ^^;) since I don't follow it strictly because their not rules, their guides. It helps give a sense of depth to what I draw since I don't have it naturally.

I think it's fine if you don't use guidelines! I mean, from what I see, you have enough sense to draw something that doesn't look all disproportionate and bleh. I really, honestly think your art is good! I almost never look at it and go, "ooh, that looks off;" I honestly think it's good. The usage of guidelines also depends on the style. Some art looks really stiff because people follow guidelines TOO much even though their styles seem to ask for a more fluid look. I think that's why I like the manga style a lot better--it's more...free.

I guess I'm starting to draw from life because I really, really don't know what things look like. I can't see something and memorize it--even minor details such as color. I can have a close friend and suddenly forget her face--it's pretty bad. @_@;; I've only recently realized that I'm not a visual person. In order to really get something, I have to toss it around my mind for minutes or even hours.

I have sense enough to change certain parts of my art if they look extremely wonky, but there comes a point where I go, "Huh? How does THAT look off?" Backgrounds and perspective are beyond me though! @_@; No depth perception, aaahh! If it helps with lighting, I think I'd be satisfied. I'm hoping it'll help me understand how to color surfaces for common objects and establish certain textures, too.

I've heard of that posemaniacs thing. XD I have it bookmarked somewhere, but it just...doesn't seem like something I'd like doing. I might do it one day though, but I think it might be fun if I had another person to do it with. The "oh, man!"'s and all. XD;;

I'd really love a pchat! We should get...get...what's his name, Realmz? XD;;; And happy critiquing time! Hopefully I won't get caught with my wonky LINE GOES ACROSS THE PAGE WHAT NOW mouse. XDD;;;

...
WANNA REQUEST SOMETHING FROM THAT POST UP THERE?

From:

sakalayaan.livejournal.com

I seeeeein--er... sawwww. Well looking at it right now. XD;; But eeeeeee, Luc art loving on his wind. Thank yeeeee! :3

From:

jamuko.livejournal.com

Sowwy for not replying 'til now~

Visualizing for me is kind of a weird thing. Like.. I can sorta visualize, but it's really "vague" in my mind, and even if I think I am thinking clearly, I'm really not. XD So if I try to put that on paper, it's difficult because the image in my mind is so fuzzy and made up more of the way it "feels" rather than exactly how it looks, and I have to figure out how to replicate that feeling in the drawing. That's what's difficult @.@;

I started drawing bodies without thinking about clothes, so I could focus on getting that right, but my problem is that I spend a long time making the body look good, and then I hate to cover up all that hard work with clothes on top XD; so then it ends up staying as an unfinished nakie picture, XD or I end up making the clothing really skimpy or something which looks very questionable ^^;;; argh!

I still do have trouble with proportion, though. Like.. I can make it look okay on a case by case basis by working at it until it looks good, but I'm not very consistent. XD That makes it hard to have multiple chatracters in the same picture because they end up different sizes. >.> If I try to draw out both heads the same size before adding the details, then I try to put details, it looks wonky and so I fix it bit by bit, and by the end, they're not the same size anymore. XD

That's a good point about the depth, too. I struggle with that as well. I notice all my older drawings were extremely flat, XD and I realized my characters always looked stiff because I didn't have much of a sense for 3D space. I've improved that somewhat since back then, but I'm still kinda stuck in it. ^^;

Thanks for the compliments about my art. ^-^;; The problem, though, I think is that I'm not versatile enough. XD I can make a few specific things look decent, but if I branch out of that comfort zone at all, it's a whole new ballgame. (You'll notice my characters are almost always facing exactly the same way, standing in a pretty static pose, etc. XD ) So I really want to improve my versatility.

Drawing from life definitely helps you learn about how light hits things and textures and all that. It also teaches you to be really patient and observe those objects in great detail. In normal life, you just kinda look at something and go "uh, it's a chair" and your left brain identifies it like that, and you see it as a "symbol" that is known to you as a chair. You might have one more layer of depth to it in that mode, like "it's a board laid on top of four posts, with a backing and a cushion." But that's still not enough. When you stop and focus on a life drawing of it, it makes you see it in a new way.. instead of those "identified" objects that you labeled on the chair, you instead focus on abstract shapes made by the colors and lighting/shadows on the subtle shapes of every inch of that chair. I dunno if I'm explaining this very well, but.. .-.

Hm, Realmz.. XDD he can definitely be.. "intense" XD maybe he'd be of help, hahah. Nestor/Rim/Miruku/Eden/whatever might be able to help us too :D

I think John is putting the pchat back up soon, so hopefully we can do it! ^-^

From:

keyk.livejournal.com

I totally understand! When I visualize, I can remember main colors and the feeling, but when I try to think harder about it, I don't remember anything else. Getting out of your comfort zone is difficult, but I think you should just go for it. You may see some weird things at first, but eventually, you'll get there! It's irritating having to erase something that's taken hours (it still is @_@;;), but I try to push that out of my mind by having my goal making the end picture look good and not the little details.

I'd be excited to have a pchat like that. XD I find Realmz's harshness kind of amusing though. XDD;; Other people are more than welcome! It should just be a fun pchat where it's okay to crit each other. Wow, Miruku sure has a lot of names...

From:

keyk.livejournal.com

Hahaha, it's fine. |D You're welcome! Lyon's so cute in your icon. DD:

From:

jamuko.livejournal.com

I'll try! ^-^ I think the more you draw bodies, the less annoying it is to erase/cover up with clothing, since you get good (and fast) at it and it's not such a big accomplishment to have to cover up anymore. So I guess I'll keep trying!

Pchat is back up and running!! We haven't had a session yet but it's up for the taking :3 Here's the link: http://kanoneziel.mine.nu/paintchat

I'll see if we can get Realmz in there sometime. XD He's hard to catch sorta, haven't talked much lately. But we'll see!!