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[stickadtroja]

why the perfect circular head? i think it looks pretty cool but it stands out quite a bit.
also no pelvis or hip bone, or shoulder blades. and the arms and legs could look more like bones.

anyway, keep it up!

[lordnincompoop]

[spoiler=Attempt 2]

I've no idea what this is supposed to represent, so maybe it's some alien or something with a strange skeletal structure. I don't know.

But if it's of this earth, then there's a certain skeletal template that animals conform to - when you get as specific as four legged animals, then it gets even more similar. For starters, you've attached those thigh bones straight to the spine. Not only does that look wrong, there isn't really anything out there that has uneven legs. Nor do most land-bound animals have wire-bones like the ones you drew.

Look up the skeletal structure of an animal similar to what you want to draw. Not just to copy off of, but just to have as a reference. If you don't, your work will end up looking clumsy and child-like; not just because of "realism" or "anatomy" or what people tout, but because the concept is flawed/incomplete/incoherent/incohesive.

If you want to get serious about art, you won't progress by drawing things from your head that you think are cool if you're only just starting - that generally ends badly, because people's ideas of things are very vague and expansive. Draw from life until your idea of, say, people improves (and is not just a variation on a stickman).

[Slayerhero90]

Spoiler: Attempt 2 (click to show/hide)

Thanks! Alright, made a quick one to test it out, and I think it looks pretty good. So, any comments or improvements to be made?

WHERE IS PELVIS

[Askot Bokbondeler]

also scapulas. and humeruses and femurs don't have ulnas and fibulas, only the tibias and the radiuses.

[stickadtroja]

^whaaaaaaat.......?

anyways, new sketch. potmaker

[Solifuge]

Playing around with a borrowed Bamboo Tablet, and trying to learn GIMP.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Fun with solid black shapes + the Blur Tool.

[Bauglir]

I'm trying to get the surface of a planet for the background of a map I'm working on. The surface in question is molten, surrounded by a cloud of steam. The clouds are giving me trouble. There does need to be hazy layers of them, but because this is world-sized, I need a layer or two of clouds to look like weather. Storm clouds, in particular, are what I'm looking for. What I have so far. I can't get any to look properly dense or fluffy - all I can manage are these hazy things. Any tips for getting well-defined cloud systems?

I also need to add in convection cells and stuff, but that's a different thing.

Also, here's a bunch of tutorials for anyone interested in maps.

[Solifuge]

Honestly, for the sake of clarity, you probably want to go with just a dense blanket of clouds. Peeking through to the magma below is making it look thin and wispy... much less dense than it seems would keep landmasses aloft. If this is for the project I think it is.

Spoiler: Some handy references (click to show/hide)

Notice how the light and dark areas work. They're not a haze, but actual nodular masses of white, with milky grey edges around dense, shadowed areas, and they break up into little isolated motes and puffs which fade into hazy transparency around the edges. Note that the clouds would probably transmit some red light around the edges (instead of the silvery-blue we see in clouds overhead), if the core below stays perpetually molten. So that might create the feeling without making the clouds look thin.

Also, if you're going for semi-realism, the steam cushion would probably be very dense and compressed between the mantle and continents above... and it would also wisp up around the edges of the continents, driving serious convective forces, and cooling into rain. You'd basically have walls of steam and wind between continents, and violent storms, up until you reached a certain altitude (where normal clouds would radiate out from).

[Bauglir]

You're spot on with the nature of the project. I'll add additional cloud density and some actual dark areas. It's fine if most to all of the lava is occluded, really. It was fun to make, either way. Any tips on how to make the nodularity happen? If not, I'll continue to mess around, and may wind up just using references as textures. Where'd you get that first reference from, by the way? I've been having a really hard time finding photos from that steep an angle.

And yes, wisps around the continents are something I hope to make happen. I'll see how I can make that happen when I get there. Steam walls will be interesting to try and make happen - I'm not sure how I'd make it clear from above what you're looking at. All part of the fun, I suppose.

I've just remembered I have found a planet-making tutorial as well.

Thanks for the response!

[lordnincompoop]

You can't do proper lighting and edge-defining (a must for clouds where there are a huge variety of shapes and towering masses but only a handful of shades of white and light grey) without a light source. Place a light source on your map and work from that. You can make that the sun and orient it however you want; it doesn't have to be visible. Just a point somewhere off to the side or something to keep in mind while drawing should work.

[Bauglir]

That is a damn fine point. I'd started getting the shapes and opacity looking decent, so now that I mostly need textures I had better do that.

[Askot Bokbondeler]

so, i was asked to do an illustration for a children music school's recital, and decided to try my hand at vector art. i got this

[Askot Bokbondeler]

and also this

[Siquo]

Those look really nifty and professional, Askot!

[miauw62]

Those look really nifty and professional, Askot!