[Art] Spooks' Art Thread

[Lore]

Alright, I figure it's time I finally make an art thread, get some criticism! I can't possibly link everything I've drawn here, so I'll just add what I've done in the past week or two, and a few choice others, and a link to my FurAffinity. Please feel free to give me criticism on anything in my gallery!

Spooks' FurAffinity


October 9, 2010
No.
Playful Fox NSFW
Aden
Snowfall
Cheshire Cat
Carry Me to Bed

Pink and Spooks (kinda NSFW)
Sketching on the Bed
Hips
Zombies!
Off to Work


October 12, 2010
How to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse

October 14, 2010
Carry Me to Bed [colored]
Another Lick Pic NSFW!

October 17, 2010
Mao-fu
Parry!

October 18, 2010
Shower Time NSFW!

October 19. 2010
Oh god realism
Taste of victory [flat color] NSFW

October 24, 2010
Mao Plushie

October 26, 2010
Afterglow NSFW
When Mao's away... NSFW
Good morning~ NSFW

October 27, 2010
Monk Mao
Spooks and Elemental
Zar
Aden and Zar
Rogue

November 5, 2010
Evelyn
Mao Portrait

November 7, 2010
Wuff of War
Another Evelyn doodle

November 11, 2010
Lean
Drathorin

November 17, 2010
Gunslinger [flat color]
[Lounge [flat color] very mildly NSFW

[Arroyo Milori]

Sweet jesus you've been working hard lately. Keep up the good work

[bradypodidae]

Excellent work, Spooks! I'm looking forward to see more wonderful art!

[Lore]

Thanks, Arroyo and Brady!

Newest little doodle... http://www.furaffinity.net/view/4619270/

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

"Get to high ground" *snerk*

Lovely art, there, Spooks. A touch large on the large image to actually see it on-screen, though.

[Lore]

"Get to high ground" *snerk*

Lovely art, there, Spooks. A touch large on the large image to actually see it on-screen, though.

Yeah, normally FA resizes the images when you upload them. I'm not quite sure what happened with this one.

[WhiteFox]

It appeared really large to me, too. There's an option for "Full View" in the FA account profile settings, under "user page and appearance," that disables the automatic resizing. That might be it.

HtSaZA:
There's a nice balance between detail and simplicity. Things like rumples of cloth or fur frizz give a strong impression of the materials, but the shapes overall stay very simplified. It's like saying more with less. In this case, saying a lot with very little.

The proportions seem odd in a lot of places: The shoulder on the left in panel 1 seems tall, the overall size of Mao's arms in panel two (and the length of the arm on the right), the length of Spooks body vs. the width of her shoulders in panel two, etc. (Flips through FA gallery) Since your proportions are normally... how to say this... pretty frickin' awesome, I would hazard a wild guess that the cartoony larger-than-normal head- size is throwing off the overall proportions in weird ways.

Some of the poses seem really stiff; the left arm in the first panel is locked, and Spooks back in the second panel is straight. It does give the comic a sort of airplane-manual-illustration feel. The expressions in the first two panels work perfectly for it, too.

The foreshortening on the hand in the first panel looks incongruous with the rest of the figure: the shoulders, hips, and head don't seem to be in perspective. I'm not really sure if the pov is supposed to be at eye level or below it, but in either case something doesn't feel like it's at the right angle.

The length of Maos body is the same as the length of Spooks body. It looks like Mao either has super long legs, or he's floating. Given his monk-ish nature, both possibilities sound viable (Remember "Dhalsim Kick?" I do).

[Lore]

Whitefox, thanks so much for the critique. Perspective and anatomy aren't my strong points, and it's great to have someone tell me specifically what seems off. I've been playing around with different angles and such, and hopefully there will be some real progress in my work soon. Again, thank you, the crit is muchly appreciated.

[Lore]

Finally finished coloring the Carry Me to Bed picture... Took a while, for some reason.

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/4629693

His legs are kind of long, but all in all, I'm fairly pleased with it.

[Mao]

It looks great, sweetie.

Looking at it (and I'm sorry for not seeing this sooner) but something seems off with his left knee/thigh (our right).  This might be an effect of the leg being too long as you've mentioned, I'm not sure.

[Inumo]

As far as I can tell, the knee thing comes from his stance; if the feet match the knees, then his feet are probably pointing out 45 degrees in each direction. Maybe it's just my marching band experience, but that actually seems normal to me.

On a side note, I had no idea Spooks was so small...

[Lore]

It looks great, sweetie.

Looking at it (and I'm sorry for not seeing this sooner) but something seems off with his left knee/thigh (our right).  This might be an effect of the leg being too long as you've mentioned, I'm not sure.

I think part of it is that the legs are a bit too long, and part of it is that the calf seems to be rotated to the left (our right) slightly more than the knee.

As far as I can tell, the knee thing comes from his stance; if the feet match the knees, then his feet are probably pointing out 45 degrees in each direction. Maybe it's just my marching band experience, but that actually seems normal to me.

On a side note, I had no idea Spooks was so small...

That's the position I was going for, though I don't think I quite got it... Ah well, practice. And yes. I am tiny.


EDIT: New pic! http://www.furaffinity.net/view/4633920/ NSFW!!

[WhiteFox]

I like the pose; it shows weight.

The shadows are all very, very soft. Bolder shadows would add some visual contrast, and add depth in a few places. Some on Spooks' abdomen, for example, would make her arm and tail stand out more. Mao's abdomen and Spooks tail under the legs, too.

I like the fabric rumples on Mao's pants. I'd rather not stare a that area too long, though, so thats as far as my comments go there.

Since Mao is mostly white (or... more then half,  at least), he kind of drops into the solid white background. A colour field would make him stand out more.

[Lore]

Yes, my shading is pretty faint... Might need to recalibrate my monitor, I've been having some issues with it.

And, yeah, lack of background because I'm a lazy artist. XD Thanks for the feedback!

And, two new sketches:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/4649180/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/4649014/

I'm awful with poses and action. Ah well, practice and all that jazz.

[bradypodidae]

Not that awful IMHO.... and tell Mao to keep his eyes open during strikes... 

[Mao]

Mao doesn't use his eyes to see, so them being open has no bearing.

[Lore]

And today's drawing: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/4654612/ NSFW!!

This... didn't start out as porn. I don't know what happened there. But it was at least good practice for more difficult poses. And yes, he's lifting her off the ground.

EDIT: Oh man, I tried a portrait for the first time in I don't even know how long. Drew this in about an hour with limited art supplies and a crappy scanner...

10 points to anyone who can figure out who this is...

EDIT EDIT: I reworked some of the shading, it looks a little better now.
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/4655670/

TRIPLE EDIT: A new pic... A work in progress. There's some serious issues that I need to fix before I go any further, including, but not limited to: Mao's left arm, the hilt of Spooks' dagger, Mao's pants/sash, and Spooks' eyes.

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/4660038

[WhiteFox]

In the Parry! and Mao-fu pics the spine looks stiff. It takes a lot of energy out of the pose. Mao doesn't seem to have trapezius muscles either... I think it's doing something to the distance between his neck and his shoulder.

I love the pose of the legs in Parry! Very dynamic.

In Taste, Mao is tilting to one side but his shoulders are level. I suppose he could be lifting the shoulder on the left while slumping the shoulder on the right, though.

The thumb of the hand holding the stick looks short at the base. The knuckle of the pinky holding the blade looks thin.

...Dangit, I really have to finish that tutorial on hands I started way back. 

[Lore]

The latest bit of work. Not art, but a plushie! I'm very happy with how this turned out.

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/4682363

[bradypodidae]

The latest bit of work. Not art, but a plushie! I'm very happy with how this turned out.

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/4682363

Looks like art to me... Nice!

[Mao]

Have I ever told you that you're amazing?  I have, haven't I? <3

[Merlin]

Ohh, that plushie is adorable! The markings look amazing, and the shape is great! Looks like it might be a little bit overstuffed,  but that sort of thing is probably a matter of taste.

[Lore]

Looks like art to me... Nice!

Thanks, Brady!

Have I ever told you that you're amazing?  I have, haven't I? <3

Maybe once or twice.

Ohh, that plushie is adorable! The markings look amazing, and the shape is great! Looks like it might be a little bit overstuffed,  but that sort of thing is probably a matter of taste.

Thanks! I'm pretty pleased with it myself. I overstuffed it intentionally- I've been using it as a pillow and they tend to flatten out over time.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Mao needs more stuffing, anyway. ;-]

[Lore]

And today, a whole batch of porn... XP

Afterglow NSFW
When Mao's away... NSFW
Good morning~ NSFW

[Mao]

In "When Mao is away..."  I can't say much.  Batsy expressed my only concern about it, though I don't think it's too far off from what I think you were going for.

Ah Afterglow... the joy of cuddling with my sweetie. <3  I do think something feels off with the shape/position of the breast on this one (I'm going on memory, can't actually look at it at the moment).  It's too far off to the side I think, though not enough to be unrealistic.  Also.. where did Mao's arm go?  Is it underneath you completely?  This isn't a beef, more that I just don't quite understand the pose and how it would work. (clearly we need to experiment with this).

I absolutely love the expression and pose in "Good Morning".  I know I already discussed this with you (and you mentioned it in the FA description) but the foreshortening is off on the limbs in it, particularly the one you mentioned, but also a bit on the hand on that side as well.  This might be simply due to the position (which I know you mentioned was a real tough one) making it look odd due to where the leg is being held but it just feels off to me.  I should also point out that Mao's right arm looks like it's at an odd angle when compared to where his hand is.  Regardless, I always love the wake ups you give me. <3

[Lore]

A slew of stuff...

Monk Mao
Spooks and Elemental
Zar
Aden and Zar
Rogue

[bradypodidae]

... a slew of really nice stuff!

[WhiteFox]

Looking at the shoulder lines of the figures, seems like the front neck muscles  (sternocleidomastoids) and the collarbone (Clavicle) got pinched together. It takes out the space where the trapezius muscles would normally be, and scrunches the shoulders up and inward. 

When a figure is standing up straight, the collarbone is almost flat across. It's not until a figure leans forward that the collarbone makes a pronounced V.

Trapezius muscles spread out from the spine, and the ones that go from the neck to the scapula make a slope from the shoulder to the base of the skull (muscles on the back that are visible from the front. Kinda funky when you think about it).

Did a quick redline of Monk Mao with some suggestions;

(With two little diagrams showing the collar bone in different poses)

In the Aden and Zar pic, it actually looks good because he would have his shoulders hunched up in that pose. In the Rogue pic, the hunched shoulders make her look tense and ready for action, but they seem a little too hunched.

I love the colour pallet for Rogue, by the way.

[Lore]

A couple things...

Evelyn
Fooling around with a new style, and some concept character art for a potential comic... but I've said too much!

Mao Portrait
I wanted to do a quick sketch, something realism, so I decided to redo the Mao portrait. This one came out better- he looks angrier. Sketched very quickly, took maybe a half hour.