[Art] Fuzzyslippers! (Update: Random drawings added 10/12)

[kawaiitoboe]

Hi everybody. Since I'm homeschooled I have plenty of time for doodling, and I have been drawing like crazy since... well, forever. I have been working really hard to improve my art, and my goal is to get my art good enough to make a pretty good-looking webcomic. That may take a while...


Anyway, without further ado, I shall unveil my latest "art" (which has nothing to do with the first paragraph):

Chibi Dan! 



I'm fairly pleased with how it came out, considering I almost never draw chibis. I think it would've been better with a different colored outline, but too lazy to change it now. Comment and crits are welcome.

Hopefully in the near future I'll have some bigger stuff to show you guys, if you're interested.

[WhiteFox]

That is holy crap kinds of cute. That's what I call chibi.

Anyway... The eyes are wonderfully over the top. You've got some lines that look faded gray. Either make sure there's color underneath so it looks like shading rather then a gray line, or just go with black. The hair could use some stronger darks, too. Also, I would have placed the hip higher up on the body, to maintain vertical proportions.

Adorable.

(I was homeschooled, way back in the day... I loved it.)

[kawaiitoboe]

That is holy crap kinds of cute. That's what I call chibi.

Anyway... The eyes are wonderfully over the top. You've got some lines that look faded gray. Either make sure there's color underneath so it looks like shading rather then a gray line, or just go with black. The hair could use some stronger darks, too. Also, I would have placed the hip higher up on the body, to maintain vertical proportions.

Adorable.

(I was homeschooled, way back in the day... I loved it.)

Thanks for the comments, Fox NaBan. I'll have to agree with you on the criticism. I had actually purposely faded the lines on his paws and feet because they looked too strong, but I didn't like the effect of the lighter lines, either. So why did I keep them? I don't know...  '

And yeah, homeschooling rocks. *thumbs up*

[WhiteFox]

Thanks for the comments, Fox NaBan.

You're welcome. Imma gonna have to update my sig. 

[Jairus]

Thanks for the comments, Fox NaBan.

You're welcome. Imma gonna have to update my sig. 

You've never brutally savagely raked my art over the coals. I feel unloved.

Um... right. FuzzySlippers' art. On topic post. Um... very cute Chibi-Dan, FuzzySlipper... too cute. I've just gotten my mouth drilled into, I don't need more drilling for more cavities. Keep drawing!

[WhiteFox]

Jairus: How soon we forget? Well, that's not savage or brutal, but it's an assessment and you did thank me for it.  By the time you learn from those comments, I'll have more for you. And trust me, it escalates. Just wait till I get into anatomy, readability, and emoting. Heaven help you if you get into inking, let alone coloring.
This is as about as "Savage" as I get. Heck, he asked me to. But then, there were more things in that picture for me to comment on. When I say savage, I don't really think of it as mean. I get right down into the nitty gritty technical details. Which is what people need to progress. Which people so rarely get.

I will note that I try to remain objective: I think of it as neutral commentary rather then harsh criticism. Another thing to note is that I *always* comment on what was done well along with what could be improved. There's good in every picture.

But I'm ranting now, and off topic.

(Actually, I just noticed, I didn't say anything about your line quality, J. Well, I call em when I see em.)

Um... right. FuzzySlippers' art. On topic post. Um... very cute Chibi-Dan, FuzzySlipper... too cute. I've just gotten my mouth drilled into, I don't need more drilling for more cavities.

I know! I think that pic made me diabetic. Again. Does that make me double-diabetic? Hrm.

[Jairus]

Jairus: How soon we forget? Well, that's not savage or brutal, but it's an assessment and you did thank me for it.  By the time you learn from those comments, I'll have more for you. And trust me, it escalates. Just wait till I get into anatomy, readability, and emoting. Heaven help you if you get into inking, let alone coloring.

*snip*

Right, forgot about that. Idiot me.

Um... right. FuzzySlippers' art. On topic post. Um... very cute Chibi-Dan, FuzzySlipper... too cute. I've just gotten my mouth drilled into, I don't need more drilling for more cavities.

I know! I think that pic made me diabetic. Again. Does that make me double-diabetic? Hrm.

I think the term for double-diabetic is "dead," though I'm not sure.

I'm actually reminded of a chibi drawing of Janus, though for the life of me I can't remember where I saved it. It had a chibi version of his character, and the caption said something like "I'm not cute. No really" or something like that. If I find it I'll link to it. It's that same sugary sweetness and absolutely adorable cuteness that makes you go "awwwww."

[Ren Gaulen]

How comes I haven't seen it earlier?! It's absolutely awwwdorable! ..Though chibi Abel would have been even better.

[kawaiitoboe]

How comes I haven't seen it earlier?! It's absolutely awwwdorable! ..Though chibi Abel would have been even better.

I know, right? Abel's actually my #1 favorite character, and I draw him a lot. I drew a chibi of him too, but didn't think it looked good enough to color. :\

I'm glad you guys like little Dannie, hope the cuteness didn't injure anybody, lol. ><

Fyi, right now I'm working on a pic of Abel and Jyrras (not chibi). Yay for Jyrabel! XD

[Ren Gaulen]

Yay for Jyrabel! XD

Amen, brother (sister).

[Tapewolf]

I'm glad you guys like little Dannie, hope the cuteness didn't injure anybody, lol. ><

I'm afraid it did.  On a technical level it was pretty good.  But chibis and me don't really mix, and that one exceeded the point where 'cute' starts to turn into 'sickly' 

Fyi, right now I'm working on a pic of Abel and Jyrras (not chibi). Yay for Jyrabel! XD

That should be interesting.  Subject matter aside, I'm keen to see what a non-chibi drawing from you looks like.

[kawaiitoboe]

Hi, guys... I finally got around to finishing my Abel/Jyrras sketch, but then... I conveniently lost it in the sea of drawings that are flooding my room right now. ><'

So instead, I bring you some random sketches.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3006/2935533373_a31bdecf69.jpg

Ok, I don't know when I drew this one, It must've been in January or something. Anyway, I came across it recently and thought it looked ok, so I scanned it in. Not much to say about this one...


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3036/2935533345_308ec0bc05_o.jpg

And this one I'm pretty sure I drew about a week or two ago. It's just a random, bland, DMFA-esque character.  I know, the wings suck- I should have spent more time on them, used a model, something... but I didn't. 

I know my anatomy is a little questionable, I still haven't fully grasped the concept of it yet, but in my defense I have vastly improved since I first started drawing... ' I just have to keep practicing. But just looking at this drawing, all I can think of is "Ahhhh there's like a million things wrong with his body!", but I figured I should just break down and share it anyway. You can go ahead and tear this one apart, I'll appreciate anything that could help me improve, but I doubt I'll go and fix anything.  I'm the kind of person that doesn't like to go back and correct stuff, but learns from their mistakes, you know?

So, um, wether you guys like it or not, there you go.   If I find it, I'll post the Jyrabel drawing, too, except there might be some delay since I'm going to the beach. So yeah.

Thanks for all the comments so far, guys. *starts packing for the beach*

[Tapewolf]

You certainly seem to know what you're doing.  The warp-aci came out well.
I was going to ask if the character with it is an Angel, 'Cubi or whatever, but it sounds like that's deliberately ambiguous.  The only thing I find a little questionable about them is whether they are female, or an effeminate-looking male character.  My guess is 'female'.

[kawaiitoboe]

You certainly seem to know what you're doing.  The warp-aci came out well.
I was going to ask if the character with it is an Angel, 'Cubi or whatever, but it sounds like that's deliberately ambiguous.  The only thing I find a little questionable about them is whether they are female, or an effeminate-looking male character.  My guess is 'female'.

Thanks.

I did sort of mean for it to be ambiguous, although the warp aci kind of suggests that he is a cubi who's hiding his head wings (I tried drawing them but they looked awkward with the hat...).

And I'm afraid that your guess is wrong, although I can't blame you for thinking he's female. The origional pose I planned for him looked.... very flamboyant but I changed it last minute.  I have a tendency to draw androgynous people since I think they're really neat, plus it's fun to confuse people. That, and since I was semi-mimicking Amber's style in this one, I noticed that her males tended to look a tad girly, so... yeah. XD

Also, I'd like to ask you guys something: Do you think my art is good enough to do a webcomic? I want you to be honest here. Personally, I'm not sure. I think I'm close, but my art ('specially anatomy and coloring) needs some refining. At the same time, the urge to make a web comic is getting kind of overbearing. I don't want to just start cold turkey with art that will leave me disappointed in the end, and hinder my story. If I don't have enough examples posted to judge, let me know. I really can't decide what to do.   

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

For writing a webcomic, being able to draw is secondary. Seriously.

For two reasons - at least. One, if you start drawing a webcomic on a regular basis, your art WILL improve. Even BDK has improved over the years, and that's _deliberately_ poor art - Badly Drawn Kitties is called that for a reason. Secondly, the story takes forefront to the art.

If you don't have a story, you won't have anything to draw. If you have several years of story, you can draw it out however you like. You need the story to draw to, though - and in some detail. I'd suggest figuring out what story you're going to tell, roughing out a years worth of plot, then filling in the details to make three months of specific updates - like, down to specifically what story you want to tell, who says what, when, to whom, etc etc. Then start figuring out how long it takes you to draw each strip, what level of detail you want in the strip, and from that, you can figure out if you can manage a weekly update, mon/wed/fri, or whatever.

Don't forget to take into account your other commitments - study/work, food, sleep to start with, but also time to go outside and look at the sun, to do other art, to talk to people, read emails, the forum, everything. Everything that takes time, you need to put in it's place, and the comic comes after bringing in the money to stay alive and keep a roof over your head.

[kawaiitoboe]

Thank you, that's good advice. I have had a few stories floating around in my head, but they are all serious and I figured they'd require artwork that would be able to convey the atmosphere and emotions that I wanted in my story. But maybe I should just stop seeking reassurance and just start the darned thing already. I know that a lot of webcomics out there do have vast art improvement as time goes by. I'll have to disagree with you on the art being secondary, though, as the first thing I judge a webcomic by is wether or not the art appeals to me, and if it doesn't I don't usually give it a chance unless I've heard it's good. That, however, is just my opinion/weirdness and probably doesn't apply to a lot of people.

Right now I'm in a situation where I have an opportunity to make my art and a webcomic priority. As a 14-year-old, I am still dependent on my parents for food, shelter, etc, so that isn't a concern to me. And since I'm homeschooled, I have a very flexible schedule and can include making a webcomic as part of my curriculum. So maybe I should just break down and start.... it's funny, I think that subconsciously I already knew the answer to my question, but just needed someone to make it surface for me. Thanks, Llearch.

And sorry for that little rant, everyone. I tend to get overly wordy about things that nobody really cares about... lol.

To stay on topic, here's some art:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3068/2306276564_ed39ce839f_o.jpg

It's a little old, but I still like it. It's the illustration for the first page of my children's book, Ferrex the Fox. It's actually for sale at some website, if anyone;s curious about it I could dig up the link. 

I know he looks a little too wolfy, but oh well. I tried. 

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Don't get me wrong - I'm not saying "don't do it", I'm not saying "you don't need art" - I'm saying "art is secondary". That means it's still important, but if you've got art and no story, people won't stay, just the same as if you have story and no art, you won't hook people in as easily.

There are exceptions to both, but they are few and far between.

[Tapewolf]

I know he looks a little too wolfy, but oh well. I tried. 

What you're missing here is the white mask on the muzzle.

As for the webcomic thing, I don't feel comfortable answering that myself, because I don't actually draw mine.  Well, not the characters, anyway.
In terms of art quality?  Yes, I think you probably are.  But as llearch says, there's other things to consider as well.  I don't think I can add much on top of his reply.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Oooo!

Have a look in Jigsaw's blog. She has a fairly good entry about doing webcomics, and she has a number of excellent entries about making a profit from it.

Short answer: Don't. Only one in several hundred thousand webcomics make a profit. Don't bet on yours being that one. If it happens, neat, but don't expect it, and there's a whole lot of work first...

But I digress.

[WhiteFox]

If you're worried about measurements, I put together a proportions tutorial in my art thread for female and male humans. If your guys look too much like girls, it might help. I'm working on an anatomy one too.

On the first random sketch, he's either effeminate or really young. But, damn, that's a nice nose. Nice mouth too, especially for that angle. The ears look good too, they have a real silky feel. The ends of the hair look okay, but the hair on the top of his head is kinda flat.

As for the random rabbit, it looks like a lot of shmutz from the page made it into the scan. You can fix this with a B+W scan, rather then full color. You can usually tweak the mid-point between black/white too, if it picks up anything you don't like. Also, if you erase a lot, use a softer pencil and press more lightly. And get a kneaded eraser (they're gray. Orange ones, called gum erasers, are completely different, even though the kneaded erasers are more like chewing gum). They're great for "nuke and pave" erasing.

I like the fox. The eyes pop right out at you cause they're so sharp, compared to the rest of the image.

As for a web-comic, story and Art are equally important (though a good story will make up for bad art, and good art will not make up for a good story), but all you need for a successful comic is to be able to update on time. That's it. As long as you update reliably, somebody on the internet will read it.

I started a DMFA fancomic, actually, the archive is linked to in the first post in my art thread (same place as the tutorial I linked above, but it's back on page one). I think still DSOF looks like crap, but it's better now then when I started. It's a great way to practice, even if I'm not going to be making money off of it.

Best piece of advice I ever read about being an artist, well, it's about writing for a living, actually, but it still applies, is (paraphrased): Don't. If you can do anything else, do that. Art is a hard and cruel mistress. But if all there is in you is to write and draw, do it.

If you never start anything, you will never do anything Let alone finish anything.