Monkfish Acc. post=18.72805.782767 said:
NewClassic, your comic book-type style is astounding. I love the way you do shadowing, and I'd like to know if you have any sort of technique that I may shamelessly copy. Again, like I said to Ares Tyr, I probably won't have a chance with it, but my brother is quite good at art, and the pointers would be a lot of help.
Uh, the way I shade? It's all hatching work, which is using thin lines in a set pattern to produce shading. Assuming I'm shading a whole piece, I just designate an area that will be darker, line it off, and re-hatch with darker lines.
It takes some getting used to, but it's highly effective. Although if you really want someone to mimic, look at my dad's work [http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a395/NewClassic/JerrfreyTree.jpg]. It's hard as hell, and incredibly meticulous and times-taking, but the result is near-perfect.
Note that each line shows a direction of hatching, and careful but consistent shade and darkness of the lines. It's really hard to describe, just know that the style is hatching, and that the work is very detail-oriented and slow.
Very slow.
To
Ares Tyr, my Triumvirate Buddy:
Your style is nice, but a bit sketchy. The musculature, as said, it really good. The only thing I can think of is anatomy overall. You seem to miss some of the junction of bones and joints. The body-parts individually look right, but combined they seem... disjointed. As if they've been placed wrong. Think about the entire skeleton when drawing, and the pose-work helps if you mimic the pose yourself. You have a lot to learn from references, so don't be afraid to look them up when drawing. Also, when you don't reference, feel free to shade. It really helps in giving the pieces depth. Also, action, although we talked about that in length already.
To
RAKtheUndead:
It's not an offense so much as it is civil disobedience. Not sure if art is anything other than a hobby, so I hesitate in really saying as much as I could. The pieces show a certain attention to detail, but a lack of practice. The only thing that tells me is you think hard on what you're drawing, but still haven't learned how to draw. It's a practiced trait, just like any other, so you can really get a lot from it by practicing. My suggestion is simply drawing things you see. Don't get so hung-up on details at first. Go sit somewhere and draw what you see. A tree, a ball, a swingset-set, a serial rapist. Maybe a houseplant, or a refrigerator.
Look at what shapes make up this object, and how they're assembled. Draw the basic shapes, without worrying about too much detail. Once that's done, do they look similar? Different? How? Think about these things, and draw them again with more detail. Try getting the surface details down. When you've done it enough times, it becomes second nature. Keep going, keep observing, and keep drawing. They'll start looking better with time.
Also, another point I'd like to really drive home: Draw what you see. Don't draw what you think is there. Pretend this object is completely foreign to you. Draw it exactly as you see it. Don't draw what you think it is, draw it
exactly as you observe it. It helps, trust me.
To
FeNinja, my other Triumvirate Member:
Lots of Norse mythology to go around. That's some very angular stuff you've got going there. Very sharp, lots of hard lines. Don't think there's much else to say. That far back you can't see much detail. Maybe if the third dimension was represented a little more clearly, I could say more. You could learn a lot from both observation and from the things I've said to
RAK. It's all questions of polish.
TO EVERYONE:
Don't take these as insults. I've been critical of art-work (therefore, an art critic) for most of my life, both as a child and an adult. So I come out really hitting home on the negative. My apologies, but it's something I can't hardly help. Still you all do good work, and none of you stop drawing, ever.