Tauren's art

[Taurenthefirst]

here\'s my first pic, i kinda work at a slow rate though lol, this took about 2 hours. it\'ll be my sig now too:)

[DepthBlade]

Its a nice picture but you should shorten it up if you want it to be your sig! *looks at his watch* you should be getting a PM from moogie shortly to shorten it up 500 x 140 pixels i think is the limit?

[Moogie]

Nice pic, but...

it\'ll be my sig now too

Heh, no it won\'t.

At least, not untill you read the rules  on signatures.

[Monketh]

Now for the criticism:
-I would prefer to see thicker lines as opposed to thin ones with a blur.
-Eyes done with an anime-esque style drawing usually have very well defined pupils, iris\'s, and glare. I recommend drawing those on paper first.

...and a few tips:
-Get \"the GIMP\" (GNU Image Manipulation Program)
-Read the tutorial on \"GIMP\'ing\" an image.
-Try drawing a line to define a sword, then filling it in.  This method tends to make many objects straighter.
-Try using shapes to define the body before putting clothing, details, etc on the image.
-There are many drawing tutorials out there on the net.  I considerably improved my skill just by reading a few!
( http://www.polykarbon.com/tutorials/index.htm has some good ones.)
-Practice is a good thing.  I need plenty of it.

That said, good job!  ) It took me a while to understand how to better draw --and much longer, color-- an image.

[Kintall]

it is a nice job and its very good indeed for a first try

Monkeths,  pretty much, spot on
All I\'m going to add is PHOTOSHOP FOREVER!!!1
, ehem.....       and also, remember to plan ahead when your drawing, some of this is layering your image in photoshop/gimp some is before that, tweaking the scetch. Even if it takes ages get the scetch to a point where you feel it looks \"right\", keep all three dimensions in mind, and do your shading relative to a light source and dont just go on colour regions use your mind to make a 3d lightmap on the character so when you light it it looks right. all this rambling all boils down to practice practice...  and yes...   sausage...no wait its practice.


but yeah, good job all the same

[Taurenthefirst]

ok, sorry about huge sig, didnt know there were size limits, but i fixed to 100 pix high.
thnx for all the comments, ill try to work on them. monketh about the straight line for the sword, i didnt really want it to be straight, i wanted to be kind of rounded for both the handle and the sheath.  it still doesnt look right though b/c the 2 sides arent really the same shape, but oh well, like kintall said, sausage:). also, how thick should my lines be? i made them 3 pixels, and i thought that was kinda big. should i go 4 or 5 pixels?
oh, and one thing i noticed i think you guys missed, was that there is no strap for the sword sheath. as far as i know, thats really the only way to attatch a sheath to your back:). thanks again for all the suggestions.

[Taurenthefirst]

here it is with the strap, i also did some work on the eyes and the lighting.

[Kithplana]

I\'m really no expert at this (heck, I don\'t really count myself as \"good\" ), so I can\'t offer much advice, but one thing I notice right away is that the strap appears to be slapped on -- I can\'t detect any sort of bend in the leather where the strap would wrap over his shoulder.

Other than that, it\'s a pretty nice piece of work

[Taurenthefirst]

the strap doesnt really go behind the shoulder, it just bends slightly to go to the sheath where its kind of sowed on with leather or something. i tried to show that it bent with a few curves and some shading, but i guess it isnt obvious enough. thanx for the reply.
oh, and kintall, can i quote you in my sig, i wanna put practice, practice, and sausage lol.

[Icefalcon]

I think the strap could look better if you dont show where it connects to the sheath...that will give it a more realistic look of wrapping around the shoulder

[Taurenthefirst]

yeah i agree icefalcon, but i didnt think about that till after i was almost finished, and now im working on a new pic anyway, so ill just let this one be. its not like it was amazing to begin with lol.

[Taurenthefirst]

ill post my newest pick soon, though it wont be finished. it will just have the basic coloring, with no shading. even though there is no shading yet, i think it looks pretty good:)

[Taurenthefirst]

here it is. plz comment and tell me what you think and what i need to fix b4 final version...
pic

edit: i orginally posted an unfinished pic here but this is all i get now... still not the final version though

[Monketh]

I have a few questions.

What do you draw first?
How do you align parts of your picture?
...and finally, \"le crayon ou le stylo?\" (pencil or pen?)

Now the coloring of this pic is fantastic.
But, you what needs fixing, not what you did well.
I\'m warning you, as an amateur artist myself, I see more flaws than most.
*Gets really picky*

• Nose is off-center.
• Left side of hair doesn\'t quite seem to bend out enough.
• Left shoulder pad shouldn\'t bend inward.
• Left Hand...
• Right elbow\'s joint-bone-thingy comes too soon.
• Similarly, outer right elbow doesn\'t bend sharply enough.

note: When I say left, I mean his right, of course.

Remember practice makes the artist.  If you look at the helmet in my thread, you can clearly see it leans rightwards and is too small for his head.

You\'re getting better!

Tip: When drawing that \'pummel\' or whatever it\'s called at the end of the sword, you could use a series of circle selects to more clearly define it\'s shape and edges.

[Taurenthefirst]

thanks monketh, im still getting used to photoshop, so that acounts for problemslike the pummel thing, and, im not really that great of an artist to begin with. a couple of the things you said i think i can fix, like the nose.
i think its too late for me to fix the arm things like the hand and the elbows, and i guess the shoulder armor thing is just a design flaw.
i think i may be able to fix the hair, it will just take some time.

about your questions,
i really dont make the basic shape things most people do, like the circle for the head and stuff. i dont know why, but i just cant do that. ive tried it many times, but my pics always end up with the character either looking really fat or really skinny. but, i guess i pay for not doing it too, because alot of times the arms arent the same length and stuff, and like you said, the facial features get in the wrong spot.
so, really i just start with the jaw, then work my way up to the hair. then, i do basic features of the head. then, i work my way down to the feet. after that, i add in alot of detail. so yeah, my artistic process basically sucks.

pencil or pen:
pencil first. then i scan it onto my comp, and print out a copy. then, i trace over that copy in pen, because i can barely see the lines when i scan in just the pencil, and i dont want to put pen on my original, incase i mess up or something. then, for the details i cant see well, on the copy, i use the orginal as a reference. then i scan the semi-inked (the pen isn\'t really thick enough to be used as my inked version) copy back into my comp and then ink it super-zoomed in on photoshop.
whew, thats more complicated than i thought.

thanks for the help monketh:)