"Phallic" is about the best term I can use on that nose. :p
Sorry.Even reading this thread does wonders for me. It, in particular the posts of lordnincompoop, is an ideal tool to humble yourself.
I have been flipping through the latest sketchbook I recently filled. All the faces, they look the same. There are exceptions, but... few. And the shading's pretty atrocious on the drawing I like the most of the bunch.
I am going to need some serious reflection, to avoid drawing the same thing over and over again. Although I got a bit better in general anatomy and posture at least.
Let us have the "good picture" as an example to thoroughly dissect. Best medicine.
Here's my list of ten flaws. I'm interested whether your flaw list and mine match up (or if yours is significantly longer - likely enough), so please look for flaws before opening this spoiler if you wish to critique. Please, critique me, help me to get better.
- Shading's sketchy and inconsistent.
- The left hand's position isn't that natural.
- Eyes are way too dark. The rubber was wearing out the paper, so I couldn't revise more.
- I am pretty sure sheathes are not supposed to look like that. I am not sore how sheathes are even supposed to look in the first place.
- The pauldrons seem to be drawn from different perspectives. Jarring.
- Swords should be straight. This one is not.
- Left elbow is poking out too much, perhaps the whole arm section is too long.
- Face's missing some minor features, like fully-drawn lips, good cheeks etc. Symbols at work.
- Cloaks cannot billow like this one does. It billows either too harshly or starts billowing at a far too low place.
- The hair is exceptionally voluminous and opaque. This, most likely - like MANY of my flaws - can be traced back to learning to draw from manga. Not a method I'd recommend.
tldr kids if you want to learn how to draw don't start with manga style.
It's not awful.
My issues with your piece, and methods for improvement:
---> Too many messy, rough, "sketchy" lines. Tighten up when you draw, because this is not something that should be in a final piece (in my opinion).
---> Composition is uninteresting and needs thorough improvement. This is difficult to fix through modification, as there'd be too much to change. I'd suggest you read up on the subject and redraw this with a setting and other missing elements in mind.
---> There is no background.
---> Posture is stiff and slightly unbalanced.
---> Cape is... :|
To fix: Grasp proper shading and lighting. Study drapery and cloth in wind.
---> Everything is incredibly flat. To fix, see below.
---> All the tones are severely washed out, and the light seems to be coming from no specific place at all. Additionally, shading (I'm kinda getting sick of that word) is messily and lazily done, mostly looking like scratchmarks (not on the armour - from the artist).
To fix:
Practice proper shading and don't be a lazy ass. It's incredibly easy to just Google shading tutorials now, and the first important order of business is gaining the ability to make even, gradual and subtle tones, so most things will do.
Get a better grip on the shapes that are in your drawing. I'm disagreement between lighting and shapes in several places here, and objects not quite being able to decide what shape they are is distracting.
Decide on the position of the light source in space, light intensity, the specularity, tone and texture of your objects, and render the lighting using that information. I'd suggest you practice this by making still life studies or simpler drawings, noting presence and position of light.
I'm going to make a request I haven't made before: Taking my and others' advice into account, and reading the subjects suggested, I would like you to remake this piece, with changes as significant as you feel are needed. This way, you'll hopefully see yourself improving and you'll be able to more readily apply and understand the advice given to you.
I've had to do this a few times, and I've always gotten better from them. You don't have to do it if you don't want to; just a small suggestion that would be nice to see done.
and yes kids don't start with them mangas