Bleed no disrespect, but isn't there already a sticky for this kind of thing?

This is more 1on 1 / specific for each person.

If you don't want to look over that entire thread, just ask straight away here.

If someone is stuck on a certain part of a drawing, they can post it here for a critique and some tips to get around the problem.

or not, whatever...

you tell yourself your not a good artist bah at least you draw better than i do and this might come in handy thanks

This is a good idea.

It doesn't need to be added to the sticky, because it's a 1 on 1 thing, as Bleed said.
If, however, it dies or something, I'll gel it into one post and put it in my thread.
Until then, I have to ask, Bleed, have you ever tried a mirror effect on your drawings to see inaccuracies?

Wow! Awesome job!

Thanks for the info. The only thing I REALLY have problems with is the hands. God I suck with hands, while I can draw good or so-so hands watching a drawing of hands, I cant draw them with no guide or using my imagination. I just suck at that.

The mouth is a bit tricky but I can do it right. The eyes, there are many styles, I mainly use the human style OR the anime style, but NOT that stupid BIG-HUGE eyes from anime shows. I use the style JAX007 uses for his pics.

Thanks again bleed!

I use the mirror from time to time.

Usually I just do it in Photoshop = Flip image.

I have a quick key set for it. (I made an action script for it)

If you don’t know how to make an action script, let me know.



I don't flip my drawings all the time, only when I remember and if I feel like it.

For example, if I’m just making a rough sketch, I usually don't bother to flip it.

But....
I recommend to use the mirror, or flip every time you draw something.
It’s very important do check your image that way.


A great tool for fixing errors when you flip an image in Photoshop is the Liquify filter.

Filters > Liquify

It makes a mesh behind your drawing and it lets you bend lines without blurring them.

You can do other stuff too.

It’s not a normal filter, It’s actually an extra set of tools.

If anybody has Photoshop and that filter, check it out.

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Another more detailed hands tutorial.


When drawing the hands, always be thinking about the end result, instead of just going step by step.

Also look at your own hands.

Keep perspective in mind and remember that not all the fingers are the same length.

With this method I use, It takes less than 1 minute to draw a hand in any position.

I use small stick figures to think up action poses. It's a bit quicker than making a full size stick figure, and I can fit a lot more on a page.


For roughing out the mass of the body, I use a mix of...

lines
boxes
and Ovals

I draw the part you see and the part you don't see, so I get a better shape. "Look at Raiden's hat in the picture below"

It's just a quick oval for the base and a triangle on top.

for the face, I like to rough out the bone structure with balls.

If I'm having trouble with the angle, I draw a + sign to show where the face is.

If I'm having even more trouble, I make the head in to a box and work from that.


I almost always draw the nude body, then add clothes on top of that.

Another sketch I made a few minutes ago.

For this one I was trying to do the pose from my head, but it wasn't looking right.

The way to solve this problem was to use reference material.

I turned on Tekken 5 and put the game on pause.


I used the actual character as a rough model for the pose. I wasn't trying to get him to look just like in the game, I just used the game to get the pose to look more like what I wanted.



Using reference material is a great way to get around problems like this.

Bleed, how do I create links to my drawings in this thread like you do? I want to ask you for some tips on my "works in progress" before I post them.

Just upload the image to a host site, and copy and paste the URL here.

If you want to do the html code, go to this site.

Funky chickens HTML help

Or just follow this.



You can change the size.
after .jpg and before >
put
HEIGHT =# WIDTH=#

Where the # is, you put how many pixels you want it to be.
HEIGHT = 400 WIDTH= 400
That's a size that will fit here.

This is the drawing Ninja_Arts requested me to draw. The concept is his but I added a couple of things. The darkened lines are the ones I want to keep. Have any tips?
I also want to put these symbols onto his loincloth. they mean "spider" Thanks for the link help.

This is a Motaro vs Sabrewulf drawing someone requested me to draw. I really want to add more to it.

You're a good artist, so with your stuff it's more nit picking little things here and there.


On the first drawing...

1 = Add wrinkles to the loin cloth. Even if it's a thick material like leather, add something so it doesn't look like it's so hard. Unless it's supposed to be metal which I don't think it is.

2 = Round out the top of the hood a little so it looks like there is a skull under it.

This is a maybe though, because you have a very stylized way of drawing.

3 = I see some anatomy issues on the left arm. (Check out some real anatomy and compare)

4 = Add some wrinkles on his shirt where it bends. Like at the arm pit. ( Look at your own shirt for an example)

5 = Define his side from his back muscles. = the large muscles you put as his ribs. Those are Back muscles that spread out like that. The side should be more flat.

You could just make a simple curved vertical line or some shadow along the side of the ribs or the serratus muscle to fix that.

6 = The highest knuckle on his Right hand needs to be curved downward a little.

7 = Add the skin folds and muscles above the eyebrows. When you do a pose like that with your eyes, you can see some facial muscles appear.

8 = There should be a line under his eye, that runs along the bottom of the Skull's eye socket opening. (Define the Skull under the skin) Just look in the mirror and you'll see it.

9 = His head is too small for his body.

10 = Are his Lower legs supposed to be metal? If not, you can hint at the bones of the knee and the shin bone. Also his calves. If it's metal, don't define all the muscles, but do give something to make it look 3D. Like there is something inside it. I looks flat right now.


11 = I would try and draw the fingers more realistically and less like stumps or claws. I'd also add some nails if he's not covering them.

especially on his Left Thumb. The tip of the thumb should be more round and less pointy.

12 = Overall, tone down the muscles. For example, you made his calves as thick as his baggy pants. (This is a style change though)


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On the motaro Drawing



1 = Fix the anatomy on Saber Wolf's Thighs

2 = There is a muscle missing from Motaro's Abs. = The very top ab muscles that run over the ribs, not inside the hole. You made the rib muscle next to it, but not the actual abs.

3 = Draw the serratus muscles on Motaro's rib Cage. = The muscles that look like a saw that run along the side of his ribs.

4 = The lower part of the eye socket bone is missing from Motaro's face.

5 = Motaro could have a more fearsome eye. = Wide open like a psycho. His mouth too.

6 = Motaro's pectorals are drawn incorrectly. The muscles don't flow like that. ( Look up some anatomy reference for that )

7 = I can't tell where saber Wolf's pants end. He's supposed to have shorts on, but I can't tell in your drawing that he's wearing shorts.

8 = Maybe you could draw Veins on Motaro's horse half.

9 = Add more muscle definition to Motaro's horse half = look at a real horse and notice all the muscles that show up.

10 = The inside part of Motaro's right palm is missing. It could have gotten erased when you cleaned it up.




One of the main things I see in your work is the anatomy being off.

Study real anatomy, draw from boxers, body builders, corpses, bones, whatever to make your anatomy look right.


If you have a digital art program like Photoshop, you can make all those changes right in the computer. Just use separate layers so you don't mess up your original drawing.


For any artist that works on the computer, an awesome thing to have for digital art is a Wacom Tablet. It's like using a pencil to draw in the computer.

A trick for bending limbs in perspective and orthographic views.

Orthographic = flat view, not in perspective.


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A way to keep your drawing clean is to sketch on another piece of paper.

Like if you are stuck and can't figure out how to draw something.

Instead of drawing, erasing, drawing, erasing on the same drawing.

Just do all that on another paper and when you get it to look right, just look at that while you redraw it on your main drawing.

Thanks for the tips Bleed. I never use a reference, I just draw from my mind. These drawings are not finished yet, but they will be soon thanks to you. I don't have Photoshop or anything Hi-Tech, I just draw with a .7mm mechanical pencil and draw on regular printer paper or a notebook. I really need to up my game, so I'm considering going to the Joe Kubert School of Cartooning & Graphic Art in Dover, New Jersey. I just need to save up some money first. Thanks for all the help!

No problem

I suck at drawing cloth or fabric on characters, whenever I try to draw them they dont look natural. Any tips?

The best thing you can do is look at real cloth.

The next best thing is to think about folds radiating away from bending points and hanging points.

Like a Paper fan.

Cloth bunches up in some areas too, like at the waist if you have a belt on. A the bottom of the pant legs and at the wrists.

Then you need to think about gravity effecting those folds and make them hang a little, so they look more realistic.

Wrinkles look different depending on the material too. A thick material will have less wrinkles than a thin material.

(I just thought of this right now)

Don't do this when people are looking at you cause you'll look weird.


If you want a quick visual, open your hand and put it where a bending point would be.

Like for the shoulder, put your open right hand on your left shoulder's bending point.

Then your fingers will give you a clue as to where the folds need to be.

Or just visualize the character in front of you and you can just put your hand in the air.

(Perspective shots and dynamic angles.)
I have a hard time doing weird poses with extreme perspective.
When I want to do something like that, I always get some reference material.
This can be a number of things, but my favorites are: Real people, Action figures and 3D studio max's Biped bones.
Since I use 3d programs, I can take advantage of the Bone models which resemble wooden drawing dolls.
For this sketch, I used 2 biped characters. I posed them how I wanted, then I moved the camera to an angle I liked.
The result is that I had a very easy time drawing something that otherwise would have given me some trouble.

Cool stuff Bleed! I actually ran across a pretty interesting clothing tutorial that has some similar ideas to yours, and it seemed like a pretty good read to me. There are plenty more tuts from them (hair, hands, expressions, body, etc) linked in the article and at the top of the screen. Hell they even link a book on amazon called dynamic wrinkles and drapery! lol but if you're serious about learning this stuff check it out!

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Now, i've got a question for ya... I've been thinking about the comments you gave me about shading and using different styles. What's your preferred way of coloring/shading?

First off I think my biggest hindrance is my mouse, and i'm seriously considering getting a tablet! Do you use one?

A few popular methods I've come across are...
Choose a palette of say, 5 colors for skin tones, and just brush all the highlights/shades manually...

Or using the base color on other layers with multiply & screen blending modes for the light/shade effects.

The kind of effect I would eventually like to achieve is that of this aculeus piece. I'd love to know how he gets almost a gradient effect. Is that actually a gradient, or is it multiple selections and shaded areas?

Heh sorry to go off on such a tangent... I think the answer to most of my questions is to just keep practicing. Basically if you could offer any insight on shading/highlighting that would be greatly appreciated.

peace

I suck at drawing facial features. Do you have any advice bleed?

Yeah, I have a Wacom tablet and it's the only thing I use to draw on the comp.



My favorite style is this...


If I want to just do something quick, I use around 5 tones.
50% gray as the back ground color, but it can vary.

dark gray

Darker gray

Light gray

white

This would be the base for something like the drawing above, or just a quick paint job, like the Kintaro VS Kitana drawing Aculeus did. Or that Sub-Zero VS Scorpion sketch I posted above.

You can practice this with paper and pencil. Just draw something and shade it. It works almost the same way on the computer.



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If I'm working with line art, I put that drawing at the top of the layers stack.
Then I set it to multiply.

For coloring, I like to put the base colors on the bottom layers.

I do my shading with however many shades I want on the layers above that.
the shade layers are set to, multiply, overlay, soft light.........whatever looks good.

I also play with the opacity on them for different shades.

Above the shading layers, I put color variation layers.
these are set to different styles depending on how I want it to look. the opacity on them is changed also.

From then on, it's tweaking here and there.

I like to use the Liquify filter to tighten blurry lines.


I always keep extra copy layers when I go to flatten my layers.
(always have a back up, so you can go back if you need to.)

I use folders in the layers to organize all that stuff.
---------------------------------------------------------


I just made this, so you can see the steps I take to do my stuff.


As I work, I keep adding layers, up, and up and up.............

Sometimes I experiment and switch some of them around to see what happens as I change layer styles.

(How to draw a head)

Bleed, you're obviously a great artist, but I haven't seen you give tips on drawing women. I read WIZARD, a magazine about comic books, movies, and games. There is also a Basic Training section that teaches you the fundamentals of drawing. Here are some tips Micheal Turner gave on drawing women if anyone needs them: