[Art] The Panther's Art Station (6/26--Two Holiday Cards and an Aisha Comic)

[WhiteFox]

You're right about improvement. A lot of the poses are much more natural, and there's a better sense of movement and depth to the characters. It looks like you're paying more attention to anatomy too.

The lighting could really use some work, though. A lot of the shading and highlights don't really imply a sense of volume. The light doesn't fall on the object, and doesn't conform to the objects shape or surface. Other then that, it looks like the eyes are drawn all the same way despite the direction we see them from, what the character is looking at, or what the characters facial expression is.

The line work is clean, and I like the coloring.

Heh... Kilik. I have fond memories of beating his (my brothers) butt with Hwang in SC1.

[Aisha deCabre]

You're right about improvement. A lot of the poses are much more natural, and there's a better sense of movement and depth to the characters. It looks like you're paying more attention to anatomy too.

The lighting could really use some work, though. A lot of the shading and highlights don't really imply a sense of volume. The light doesn't fall on the object, and doesn't conform to the objects shape or surface. Other then that, it looks like the eyes are drawn all the same way despite the direction we see them from, what the character is looking at, or what the characters facial expression is.

The line work is clean, and I like the coloring.

Heh... Kilik. I have fond memories of beating his (my brothers) butt with Hwang in SC1.

Thanks for the feedback.   Yeah, maybe I do need to pay a bit more attention to shading.  That's the fun part of coloring the picture, and I guess I keep forgetting about where the light source (sources) are coming from.  Gotta do that better next time.

As for the eyes...I never really noticed. ^^;  Nor did anyone ever tell me.  I always thought that was just my style, though at least I try not to make the facial expressions neutral or inexpressive all around.  I do know how eyes are supposed to look though.  Depressed little orbs in the face instead of generic cartoonish eyes.  I'll practice that more too.

I can honestly say though that I'll probably never be professional.    I just do this mostly for fun.  And for other people's fun, if they so want to take me up on any requests.

But again I do appreciate the constructive feedback.  ^^

[WhiteFox]

I have to update my sig now. 

I'll tell you a little secret. Most professionals are people who did this stuff for fun so much that people started paying them for it.

I should note, I'm better at commenting on work then making it. As you can see from my art thread.

[Aisha deCabre]

I have to update my sig now. 

I'll tell you a little secret. Most professionals are people who did this stuff for fun so much that people started paying them for it.

I should note, I'm better at commenting on work then making it. As you can see from my art thread.

Heh, well, so long as you know what to look for.   I like the criticism to just not be everything's-wrong-extreme-nitpick mode. x3

Anyway, to help get this thing a little more active again, here's a few sketches from my sketchbook (and one on notebook paper) for everybody that I figure were better off not colored:

The Monk.  Just a random character for posing practice, though really need to figure out a name for this guy. x3

The Leap of Faith.  I honestly ought to practice doing feral critters more too I think.

All for the Booty.  Yes, weird title; one of my own comic characters dressing as a pirate for the Talk Like A Pirate Day that was two years ago.

I'll have another costume pic up soon as I can too.

[Aisha deCabre]

Sorry to double-post...but then again, I don't think that's my fault.

Anyway, in the grand tradition of my offering requests here, I put the sketch up before the colored picture to see if it's okay.  Here:

Gareeku's pic, uncolored

The colored version'll be added soon, if this version's liked.

Enjoy.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Nice pic, Aisha.

Pity the digicam makes it a bit blurry, but even so, most impressive.

[Aisha deCabre]

Thank you Llearch ^^  Yeah, sometimes I hate my digital camera, but at least it gets the job done.

Plus it makes it easy for me to get it on the computer and colored right away.  And thus I give you all the second and final costume picture request: linearted, colored, and shaded, the whole shabang.

Gareeku's pic, finished.  Hope you like it, hon. ^^

Hope everyone else does, too.

[Tezkat]

Nice costume.

The proportions look off to me, though. His lower legs seem much too short.

[Aisha deCabre]

Thanks for the comment, Tezkat.

I don't really see how his legs are too short though...maybe the position the knees seem to be in?  The pants ought to be baggy enough not to know where the knees are. x3

[Tezkat]

Well... his proportions look normal until about the knee joint, then a full head of height goes missing. Most adults have 3-4 heads worth of leg from the crotch to the foot. He's got 2. It gives him a somewhat midget-like appearance, especially given the thickness of his torso.

[Aisha deCabre]

Are you measuring that by -his- head?

Hm, well at any rate, I'm still trying to work on proportions, yeah.  I sketch all this freehand. x3  Anyway I forgot to say that I appreciate the comments, even if they're more critical than anything.

I'm the kind of person who never seems to get told anything until it's far too late. 

[Tezkat]

Yeah, but you don't have to use the head itself. It's just the most convenient metric. You can also measure "1head" using other lengths, such as neck to nipples (I often use the top of the neck to the base of the pecs) or nipples to navel. So long the rest of the body follows normal proportions, you can make the head smaller (looks stronger) or larger (looks cuter) relative to the body. You've already got a good handle on upper body proportions, but the distance from crotch to the feet should be at least the distance from the neck to the crotch.

[Aisha deCabre]

Ohhhh, I getcha now. x3  Thanks, I'll try and remember that. 

[WhiteFox]

Another useful measure is that the legs make up half the total height of your body, measuring from your groin.

I just find it easier to measure the torso and head, and double it, then to count out a half dozen head heights every time I draw a figure.

[Aisha deCabre]

K, I measured the proportions of the picture out of curiosity, it looks as if his legs -do- make up half his body.  In fact they're longer than the length from the neck to the crotch.

'Course I just wonder if I made the right arm too long...? x3

[Tezkat]

I'm not sure you're using the right groin position to measure that. Hmm... this would probably work better with visuals...

Given the similarity in poses, I couldn't help comparing your drawing to the works of certain artist who's known for classical figures. David stands about 7.5 heads tall, which is average for an adult male. Gareeku's upper body proportions match perfectly, but he's missing a head or so worth of leg. The center of gravity should be a few inches below the navel.

[Aisha deCabre]

It's probably just hard to find the groin position given the clothes he's wearing.  And y'know, after looking at that, maybe the best thing I can do to correct that example is to simply elongate the picture.  It could just be more the size of the picture itself, than my apparent lack of skill... 

Anyway, it's just my style, I'm not working on complete perfection just yet, and I do know that can't be achieved anyway.  I am still working on it.  But thanks anyway for the helpful advice. x3  Anyway, I'm gonna color a new picture today, so hopefully people won't get bored out of their minds looking at text.

And maybe that'll be better.

[WhiteFox]

Hmm... this would probably work better with visuals...

I did a proportions tutorial a while back, (Final drawing with guidelines ghosted) (NSFW, male nudity) and the second step is where I doubled the height of the figure for the legs.

It looks like you're measuring the half way point at the belt, rather then the groin. The leg muscles may root at the hip bone, but the socket and ball for the thighbone is much lower then that.

But I'm belaboring the issue now. Begging your pardon.

[Aisha deCabre]

New picture.  It's Laan from the anthro-dragon comics I sometimes draw for DeviantArt, practicing his fire magic.

No, he's not angry, just concentrating.  But you don't wanna catch him in the former anyway. 

I figure a bajillion things are wrong with this picture, but if I started to get afraid to post anything, I'd rather I just slept the whole day.   

[Eagle0600]

The fire is very good, if a little smooth when in the column form (though that may be intentional).

The dragon is pretty well done, if not as good as the fire, but the eyes seem a little wonky.

All in all, pretty good stuff.

[Aisha deCabre]

The fire is very good, if a little smooth when in the column form (though that may be intentional).

The dragon is pretty well done, if not as good as the fire, but the eyes seem a little wonky.

All in all, pretty good stuff.

Thanks, glad to hear it was liked. ^^

It was intentional, yeah.  I may not draw fire all that much, but if you have a mage that can control it, fire may take any kinda shape you want it, which is neat (Artistic license FTW x3).  As for the eyes, yeah, probably because I rushed this drawing a bit. ^^;  I wanted to draw something, but at the same time I was starting to lose the energy for it.

I wonder why.   

[Eagle0600]

I suppose that makes sense. It's just not as visually appealing, is all. To me, anyway.

[Aisha deCabre]

Well, to keep this thing alive (perhaps against better judgment) while I try to think of something else to draw, I'll take a break from showing characters I drew (so people can't pick them right apart and discourage further comments ) for the moment and show something else.

Anyone remember the Terragen landscapes I did way back when?

Here's a whole gallery of 'em.

Enjoy. x3  I don't do these often, but when I do they're generally pretty fun.  There's more there than the ones I drew as well.

[Aisha deCabre]

...Well, I hope everyone liked the Terragen pieces...

I want to say I'm sorry for making my posts sound disgruntled.  With recent things that happened, and observing, I'm starting to feel discouraged with how my art is received here, when there used to be more activity when this started.  Granted I still like drawing for my own sake, but it's lost a bit of the fun people-wise.  I also want to open up requests again soon, permitting that people aren't discouraged from that.

To the people that have requested something from me before and never gotten it (I figure that's part of the reason the Halloween costumes were ignored), there are a few reasons: my losing Photobucket, your changing of characters so I don't know what to draw, or your never giving me your references in the first place.  Sorry. ^^;  I may try you again, though I doubt I'd be called on.

That said, I thought I'd keep this thing up by putting up another hopefully-to-be-colored sketch:

Aisha with an experimental outfit.  Normally I don't do clothing design, but earlier I just had this urge to design a practical and yet cool-looking adventuring outfit.

And Aisha, being my fursona, is again a guinea pig.  x3  I know it doesn't look quite like one, as the cloth of the jacket and the pants seemed to be getting looser as I drew them.

My apologies for the hideousness of the picture once again due to the digital camera, but you can get the picture well anyway, and once it's colored it won't look so convoluted.  I'll do so once I can fix her right arm too.

Enjoy.

[Nikki]

I know exactly how you feel, Aisha. I feel bad for not coming in here as much as I should instead of lurking all the time. I'd jump at a chance to request from you =3

As for the pic, wow, not bad. i like the pose -and- the outfit!

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Stylish, Aisha.

I'm not sure I'd choose to wear something like that, but practicality-wise, it fits the bill.

And you'd want something slightly loose so that if you get dinged, you've got space to reach in and sort the problem out; skin-tight outfits would give you some grief with that.

Mind you, they'd also give you problems with fur, ingrown... ;-]

[WhiteFox]

...Well, I hope everyone liked the Terragen pieces...

I did. I just... I dunno, didn't have much to say about them. They look pretty, anyway.

I like the Aisha pic. Very dynamic.

[Aisha deCabre]

Thanks for the comments, guys. ^^  Also I guess there's never too much to say about nearly-pre-rendered backgrounds that you can manipulate.  Still it's fun to do. x3

Also I'm glad people like the outfit, and thank you especially Llearch for the input...it isn't entirely skintight for those exact reasons, yeah. x3

Also, I changed the image a little bit.  The arm looks longer and is set higher on her body so it doesn't look like it's coming out of her rib...also adjusted the size of a breast just a tad.  I hate drawing those things. x3

And Xze, thanks.    I believe you were one of the ones who originally asked for a request.  If you'd point me to a good picture to use as a reference at one point, I'd like to have a go at it.

EDIT: The colored version.  As I said on the description, she's dressed in the somewhat-fancier yet still-practical outfit, with the trusty boomerang at her side and a hidden dagger just in case.  I hope I also got the red camouflage pattern effect on her vest top there pretty well.

Enjoy guys. ^^

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

camouflage? In red? Er...

I don't know about you, but I'm not aware of any major areas in which red camouflage could hide...Is it for autumn use, or something? ;-]

I will admit that the colours make it easier to see what's what, and it's an interesting design.

[Aisha deCabre]

camouflage? In red? Er...

I don't know about you, but I'm not aware of any major areas in which red camouflage could hide...Is it for autumn use, or something? ;-]

I will admit that the colours make it easier to see what's what, and it's an interesting design.

You DO realize it's just the style, and that it's not really meant to hide anything.    I told you I'm not a clothing designer, I just do what comes to mind.

Thanks though. x3