[Art] Feline Sorcerer- In Progress 12/31/2011

[justacritic]

I just had this idea for a picture that struck me in the head and strangely enough spurred by the desire for more practice with a tablet finished this
"Honor her, fear her, respect her
our beloved Keaton Jyraneth
All the pitiful being souls are for her to devour"
So Sunblink, this is for you, a picture of your character Keaton as Vanika Conchita (I'll probably do something nice for anyone who recognizes this name). So comments, questions or anything else?

[KumikoTsumi]

This is pretty Although the eyes could use some work the lineart needs to be neater

[Sunblink]

Aaa, I love this! Thank you so much dude, it's an awesome picture and this was a wonderful surprise.

I'm not familiar with the character you mentioned but the dialogue sounds very Jyraneth Clan-like.

[justacritic]

The old year is coming to an end and to celebrate this, Cain invited Simeon and Daryil to stay the entire New Year's Eve up with him. As a present Cain gave them some new clothing he brought. As they wait in their own way Simeon eating, Cain drinking plum wine and Daryil amused that people partake in incense smelling as a hobby. They spend New Year's Eve together.

In the Eastern mode of thought, due to all the plants withering except three, the Pine, the Bamboo and the Plum Blossom. These three plants became known as "The Three Friends of Winter"

Merry Christmas Tapewolf and everyone at Project Future and a Happy New Year
Daryil and Simeon are Tapewolf's
Cain is mine

[Tapewolf]

Thanks, that is much appreciated!

[Kipiru]

Spending the night with Simeon and Daryil- Cain is one brave man    Great picture, I love how you did the clouds!

[justacritic]

The lonely man on the brink of despair,
split himself for his own reasons.

The first born was Soma who is closest to what the man was.
What lies in his heart is "yearning"

What is yearned for and why are unknown to even himself
This is a story that will happen one day.
This was a story that happened once upon a time.


When I was watching Nyil's livestream someone asked if how many fursona's I had, I answered at least five, but I was unable to fully bring them to life at that point. Well now looking at myself and wandering the halls of what could be considered property that could need a little fixing up I came up with this. Part of a group though Soma is the eldest. Comments please so I may know how my efforts came out, I sketched this out and colored it in without lineart. I think it gives the pic a nice rough feeling but I don't know if it's effective

Edit:12/29/2011- I cleaned up most of the dark lines and bits that lingered and Kipiru, you're right they did make the colors look dirty. Also fixed up some problem areas but I still would like more advice, thank you very much.

[Kipiru]

Anatomy aside, this kind of coloring has several problems- I'd know, I used to do it the same way. Coloring directly on the sketch leaves too much artifacts in the colors and they just look dirty. Don't know if you sought this effect or not, but it's usually not a good sight. The facial expression and body language are well done though, so if you just place some more effort into anatomy and smoothing out your lines, you could bring out something amazing.

[Turnsky]

Anatomy aside, this kind of coloring has several problems- I'd know, I used to do it the same way. Coloring directly on the sketch leaves too much artifacts in the colors and they just look dirty. Don't know if you sought this effect or not, but it's usually not a good sight. The facial expression and body language are well done though, so if you just place some more effort into anatomy and smoothing out your lines, you could bring out something amazing.

usually setting the sketch layer as 'multiply' and coloring in a layer underneath alleviates this issue. Flood filling on a sketch is hardly a good way to go, zoom right in and find out why.

if you'd like any insight on how you could work on your anatomy, feel free to ask.

[justacritic]

usually setting the sketch layer as 'multiply' and coloring in a layer underneath alleviates this issue. Flood filling on a sketch is hardly a good way to go, zoom right in and find out why.

if you'd like any insight on how you could work on your anatomy, feel free to ask.

Turnsky what image editing program do you use? I use Paint.net but I've haven't explored all the options in it so I'm not sure if there is a multiply function and yes flood filling does have it's problems. When I started out there was always the little highlights that were left behind. I got rid of most of them by meddling with the tolerance. As for anatomy, I try my best and I do know quite a few rules but I can't never seem to get heads correctly, I always seem to make them too small.

[Turnsky]

usually setting the sketch layer as 'multiply' and coloring in a layer underneath alleviates this issue. Flood filling on a sketch is hardly a good way to go, zoom right in and find out why.

if you'd like any insight on how you could work on your anatomy, feel free to ask.

Turnsky what image editing program do you use? I use Paint.net but I've haven't explored all the options in it so I'm not sure if there is a multiply function and yes flood filling does have it's problems. When I started out there was always the little highlights that were left behind. I got rid of most of them by meddling with the tolerance. As for anatomy, I try my best and I do know quite a few rules but I can't never seem to get heads correctly, I always seem to make them too small.

Well since you're using Paint.net i'll assume you're working on a budget made entirely out of pocket lint.  in which case for art i'd use the Gimp: http://www.gimp.org/ as with most of its functions, it can sorta replicate photoshop fairly effectively enough for your needs.

now for proportions? that's gonna be the tricky part for you. I'm gonna go over some stuff that you may or may not have seen/heard before, but for the sake of simplicity, i'll just go on as if you've heard none of it to assist proper explanation.

Okay, generally speaking, you kick things off with the circle for the head, then lines for neck, spine, shoulders, arms, legs, feet, hands, etc. the head and spine are generally the most important things to start with first as they are what help define the pose of the character. Essentially, a complex stick figure. like thus, eventually
Now, folks will tell you to set scale according to the height of the head, blah blah blah. this mostly tends to throw off most artists and everything ends up samey in terms of providing actual build. general rules of thumb are mostly that the elbow is usually at waist level (or just below the ribcage).
structure is still a fundamental part of everybody's processes, it's always the setup that helps things along

Now if you're like me and learn via practical means, you could post a base pencil sketch so not only i can gauge your process, but show you what you need to work on precisely. (this process is called redlining, and it's quite common in the art community)

[justacritic]

Very well then I'll try using Gimp, but I'll probably ask a large amount of questions because I've read that Gimp at first isn't very user-friendly. Also there's several functions in Paint.net that I rather like, one in particular the Cloud render, so I would like to know if Gimp would have any substitutes and such forth. Another factor is how much processing power Gimp would take up, if it makes my computer slower than Paint.net I probably wouldn't use it. As for the stick figure set up I've followed that but I've always made my heads as an oval.

[Nyil]

I generally don't like to get involved in art instruction type conversations, but I do feel I have a little to say about this sort of thing that people often leave out - especially within the furry fandom.

The thing that helped me get a solid grasp of human anatomy was going out and drawing from life - I liked to go sit in coffee shops and just draw people. In the absence of any sort of coffee shop, though, another substitute would be an online figure drawing website, such as http://www.pixelovely.com/gesture/index.php - warning, lots of naked people. They have lots of different positions with people, so you'll learn things aside from standard poses and how cloth interacts with people and all that stuff.

You could either draw on your computer, or use pen and paper. If you're doing a lot of this for warmups and using paper, I'd suggest you go our and buy a pad of newsprint since you get a lot for very cheap. Don't forget to use the whole page - that way, if you make a mistake, it will be very clear and easier to fix.

I would suggest you 'take a class' for 30 minutes to 1 hour - and spend that entire time working on that one figure. I know a lot of people think this sorta thing sounds boring, working on just one figure for a whole thirty minutes, but each person has so much detail that really, it's hard to capture it all in 30 minutes, and you could really spend all that time just refining things and making sure they're just right. This website also has figures from extremely thin to extremely fat to very muscular, of both genders, so you really get a wide variety to work with and learn from.

The process as I like to do it, for figure drawing, is first trying to capture the 'gestalt' of the pose, not worrying too much over form or small details. Most of the figures are skinny, so a few quick fluid lines really do the trick. From there it's just a process of refining what you already have - if something is a little off, erase it and redraw it. Those fluid lines will soon become the curves of the body, and those curves can quickly turn into recognizable parts and details.

I think being able to draw humans at this point would be a useful skill, since with humans you always have something to compare with (just look in the mirror) - with furries, since they're a fantasy creature, you don't really have anything to compare with, so, as nice as it is to have the freedom to distort whatever you want, if you're not really sure of what you're doing, then things will look odd. I'm not trying to say 'stop drawing furries' - it's just that human figures would be easier to learn from.

Drawing from a stick figure is a very standard technique and I used to use it myself, but in my opinion it can get a little rigid, especially with figure drawings from life. Although if it works for you, by all means use it. You're a unique individual whose artistic needs and tastes will be different from mine or Turnsky's or anyone else's in here.

As for things like the cloud render, honestly, I think things like that tend to look very fake unless you know how to layer them properly. In my opinion, you can get a lot more interesting shapes if you just take the brush tool, set it to a lower opacity (which I'm pretty sure you can do in GIMP) and just go nuts - you can get a lot more than just a uniform mass of puffy puffy clouds. If you draw in your own clouds or trees or whathave you, you'll also come out with something more uniform to your own style. The major problem I have with shortcut tools such as 'cloud render' is that it creates a clash between styles - you get something that looks like it came from a picture against something hand drawn, and in my opinion, it always makes the hand drawn thing stand out and look worse.

Although I'm personally not a huge fan of GIMP, I know it has a lot of features that you can play around with. Layer blending options are always fun - if  you double click the layer, a menu should pop up and give you lots of little choices. Don't be afraid to play around - you might make some great discoveries.

Oh, gosh, huge wall of text. Sorry! I hope I've helped a little!

[Turnsky]

Very well then I'll try using Gimp, but I'll probably ask a large amount of questions because I've read that Gimp at first isn't very user-friendly. Also there's several functions in Paint.net that I rather like, one in particular the Cloud render, so I would like to know if Gimp would have any substitutes and such forth. Another factor is how much processing power Gimp would take up, if it makes my computer slower than Paint.net I probably wouldn't use it. As for the stick figure set up I've followed that but I've always made my heads as an oval.

gimp shouldn't take up much in terms of processing power, and there's nothing really stopping you using paint.net and gimp in tandem, either... that and i'm fairly sure that every photo editing program that exists has a 'cloud render' of some sort in its filters.

as for the head oval thing? that one's largely by choice, circle provides an easier base for one to work from, whereas ovals can be closer to normal human head shapes, the thing i like about using a circle is that you can find it easier to add stuff to, such as jawlines, muzzles, and so on. Again, this is largely by preference, though i do suggest you try both ways, and see what works best for you.
Nyil up there has some excellent advice, especially with the drawing from life bit, and when i started out all i used with a big ol' clipboard, a ream of xerox paper, mechanical pencil, and eraser, too.

[WhiteFox]

The thing that helped me get a solid grasp of human anatomy was going out and drawing from life...

Quoted for truth. So much truth.

I think being able to draw humans at this point would be a useful skill, since with humans you always have something to compare with (just look in the mirror) - with furries, since they're a fantasy creature, you don't really have anything to compare with, so, as nice as it is to have the freedom to distort whatever you want, if you're not really sure of what you're doing, then things will look odd. I'm not trying to say 'stop drawing furries' - it's just that human figures would be easier to learn from.

I've always thought that it was worth studying both animal and human anatomy, since a furry is generally some sorta combination of the two.

Drawing from a stick figure is a very standard technique and I used to use it myself, but in my opinion it can get a little rigid, especially with figure drawings from life.

Also quoted for truth.

I usually sketch in a shape for the head, use that as a basis for marking off general proportions, and flesh things out from there. Marking things off makes less mess to clean up later than drawing sticks and ovals.

As for things like the cloud render, honestly, I think things like that tend to look very fake unless you know how to layer them properly.

That's the funny thing about shortcuts... they generally take longer in the end.

If you draw in your own clouds or trees or whathave you, you'll also come out with something more uniform to your own style.

Another good reason for life drawing. I find that after I've spent enough time doing studies of something (trees, clouds, rocks, shrubs, crowds, etc), it gets easier to draw it in fast and loose while still giving a good impression of what it is. Very handy for filling in backgrounds.

Although I'm personally not a huge fan of GIMP, I know it has a lot of features that you can play around with.

As far as I can make out, it mostly depends on what you get used to.

gimp shouldn't take up much in terms of processing power...

I use GIMP on my lowest-of-the-low-end netbook, and it runs fairly well. I haven't found anything that Photoshop will do that GIMP won't... at least, anything I need it to do... though Photoshop will do it more smoothly. Especially anything to do with layers.

as for the head oval thing? that one's largely by choice, circle provides an easier base for one to work from, whereas ovals can be closer to normal human head shapes, the thing i like about using a circle is that you can find it easier to add stuff to, such as jawlines, muzzles, and so on. Again, this is largely by preference, though i do suggest you try both ways, and see what works best for you.

I draw heads from the side with a circle and from the front with an oval. It is, as Turnsky said, mostly a matter of preference though.

...when i started out all i used with a big ol' clipboard, a ream of xerox paper, mechanical pencil, and eraser, too.

Quoted for truth: that's all you need. I carry an assortment of drawing tools, but most of them are perks rather than necessities.

I think a decent sketchbook is worth a few bucks... bond paper has a  surface to work on... but even then, paper only makes an actual difference when I'm inking something, and a small one at that. Kneaded erases are nice too, and don't cost much more than a white one.

[justacritic]

Okay then here's a Feline Sorcerer fresh from the pencil. However he has a lot of problems, the most prominent I believe is the leg and hip work. Also I'm not sure on the perspective of the arms. Any advice on how I may edit this or is this a hopeless cause that I shouldn't mess with and just color as best as I can? 

[VAE]

Hmm, main thing i'd have trouble with - he doesn't look very feline.
You seem quite decent when you have something to use as a source, say, Keaton's pic above
I'd suggest googling cat pictures and seeing what you can fix up with head and perhaps limb shape.

[Turnsky]

you've raised a few points there, but the main thing justacritic needs to work on is his base structure, which i've gone over before. but for the sake of it, here's a nice redline to kick things off:


what you honestly need is to work on overall figure structure, and practice like hell at it. i'm not offering solutions to any conundrum that you might have, but more "food for thought" to get you to practice further and enhance your skillset along the way.
Draw from life, reference photos, whatever you can lay your hands on..

also this might help you some, too: http://alexhays.com/loomis/

also: don't feel too bad about not getting hands quite right at the moment, i've yet to meet an artist who hasn't raged about hands at some point or another.