Vector, I don't understand why you're down on yourself? Aside from the lack of tonal values, the new faces are better proportioned than the old? Just practice grayscales for a day or two (preferably with HB lead, something softer than 2H) and you'll be better than you were before. Seriously.
I. . . didn't go buy myself pencils yet because I thought it would be a waste. I'll go get some in the next few days, I guess? Everything's been drawn with the same .5 mechanical pencil or a Bic (though I think some of the stuff up there was done with .7, which would account for the tonal value change).
Wow that's seriously good stuff near the end. You can definitely structure heads.
If this is what your family members were criticizing... I'm sorry, they're all twats.
Well. . . thanks. Yeah, they hate it. Dunno.
...I'm wondering if you've a personal technique you use in doing all that.
Uh. . . I dunno. Probably shouldn't be talking about this: I've never taken a class and at this point I haven't even really bothered to follow any tutorials or done any formal exercises
because I'm scared, so it's hard to explain what's "technique." Or whatever. I don't know, it's making me anxious just thinking about it.
But in general, I guess. . . if I'm having a hard time figuring out where to put the nose, I give the character a simple pair of glasses, something that's really easy to draw from any angle at all, and then it's easy to put the eyes and nose and ears in the right spot as long as you draw the glasses first. Or something like that. . . it's like a "guideline" but it's harder to screw up, though obviously you still can (maybe I do this because I know what guidelines are, but not exactly what you're supposed to learn from them). And it motivates you to get really good at drawing different styles of glasses. If you can't figure out where a girl's breasts are, then give her blouse darts and stuff. It becomes easier to orient the figure.
Something I spent hours practicing back in middle school was shading by drawing a lot of parallel lines all drawn the same direction, rather than scribbling back and forth like they usually tell you to. This is better for something like hair, because when you're doing animoo and you color in the blocks following the direction the hair you're symbolizing would fall, it looks more natural. Also, if you flick your wrist while you're doing it, you can get tapered lines that help create shines and gleams or whatever.
If I've scribbled something and there's lots of stray lines, I don't get overly excited about "choosing which one is the real line." I just fill things in a little and let the outline be a little heavier, or let that decide the light source. Often don't have a preconceived idea of just what I'm drawing before I finish drawing it. I realize that this may not always look good, but it's fun to draw things with different kinds of outlines, or go without erasing. Er. . . to be honest, I very rarely use an eraser when I'm just doodling around, mostly just to get rid of other pictures that are in the way of something I'm drawing that I prefer. I guess it's a stupid practice, but I find drawing more relaxing that way, and it's easier to find the way something should actually look within the averaged-out outlines than it is to try to draw the right line straight off all the time. You can draw the right line later.
If things go really really wrong with something I
did have preconceived opinions on and I'm feeling frustrated, I just make a monster or something out of it. Attach random parts and things. Why not. The last drawing up there, I was really bored with the picture and adding more shadows and detail and eyebrow fuzz and crap so I practiced "drawing the right line without scribbling" for his hair for a while, and then I added an extra eye because there was space.
Anyway. . . did a dark-haired character today. One on the left first, then the one on the right. I messed up on Miss Right because I was so intimidated by how nicely Miss Left had turned out, so I couldn't calmly draw what I wanted--but she went well enough that I couldn't erase her either. Mostly I'm upset that Miss Right didn't look as coldly elegant as Miss Left. This sheepish look would never suit Miss Left! Perhaps I drew her lip-line a little bit too well today.
In any case I need more practice with different views than front, so maybe I'll draw everyone exclusively from the side or 3/4 view for the next week or two.
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Topic: Sanctuary for Awful Artists and Those With Scarce Self-Esteem :I (Read 12284 times)