Pixelation
Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: lollige on March 19, 2009, 09:20:37 am
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I have realized that I actually want to be able to draw females properly too.. Which are for me way harder than males, probably because I have almost no experience with them.
Any great anatomy resources you guys use, and can you unleash all your critique on this piece?
(http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/2720/loor01.png)(http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/4471/loor02.png)
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There isn't much to critique, keep working on it, giving the girl an actual face would help, also legs are a tad short.
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Hey Lollige,
I am going to assume you are trying to draw realistically, because you said this was anatomy practice. I will try and put these complaints in their order of importance, in my opinion.
Her right arm is way too short. The upper arm should come to around the mid-stomach area. Then the finger tips come to around the mid thigh area.
The general shape of the appendages seem too undefined. The left arm is just a noodle, and the legs just get thicker as they go towards the torso, with no thought to the shape of each part of the leg.
Heads are not just ovals! Not sure if you just had that on there temporarily, but try and get a better shape up there.
The neck and shoulders are too simplified. Look into some reference material for a better shape all around here.
Not bad overall, just put some more care into the form.
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Thanks for your replies!
As for the right arm, it is supposed to bend to behind, which gives the illusion it is shorter. However, of course you should not even be able to notice that. I hope I sort of improved it in this version, but not much.
For the left arm and the legs, I do not fully understand what you mean I think. Could you provide me an edit?
I hope I have fixed the face here too.
I was trying to see if I could give her a green cap, blue pants, brown vest and red gloves AND STILL use 8 colors. What do you guys think. Is it possible to create something really nice that way, or should I better put my hands on a 16 color version?
(http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/4471/loor02.png)
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I have realized that I actually want to be able to draw females properly too.
Start with one without obfuscating baggy clothes on.
You've done good though, don't get me wrong. But I fear that if you did a high res sketch of a female body you'd fine a lot more problems than you would in this little piece. Right now the biggest problem is that the feet are short as compared to the torso.
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I second what Helm said and also wanna say that the red and green clash pretty badly here.
The blue against the brown are not very nice either. Those 2 could work tho you have pretty blobby clusters which could be defined better.
As for the red, you have 2 fairly desaturated colour with the green and brown and then you buffen inbetween with a colour which is way more saturated. This generally wont work in most cases.
I think you should mainly study how light affects simple geometrical shapes for a while, and then up the complexity and go for human bodies and combined shapes. Atm I see no real understanding of forms and perhaps pixelart is not the best thing to study these. I don't mean to say stop pixelling, but try to pick up a pencil more and do some fundamental practises. It will help you greatly.
Keep on pushing.
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<<...CRITIQUE UNLEASHMENT INITIALIZATION...>> I'm not understanding the palette here. The first thing my eyes picked out when I opened this was the red and green. I can't imagine making those choices, seems to be an obvious attempt at "color mixing" in order to infuse some interest, but ends up distracting, to me anyway, but 'E' for effort. I kinda like the blue/brown combo, though. More red dots in the shoes! gaaaaahhhhh
Dude, you have some off-the-wall tendencies when it comes to color don't you? That a turtle neck sweater? - her neck should be skin tones if not I'd think. The arms seem to be different lengths - if her right upper arm is at an angle that causes it to be foreshortened then shouldn't it overlap her right breast, not vice versa? Face bugs me, too. It's too basic, using black pixels to represent the features, should rely on light to define the face, it's too round, seems more cartoony than the rest of 'er. Why the black outline?
Like the guys above motioned, why practice female anat on a chick in full winter garb? - doesn't make sense. Draw some figure blanks perhaps, just generic human forms, focus on that, not characters and clothing, etc.
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I had her clothing design in mind for quite much a longer period, and I will redo it with 16 colors.
However, I am also starting on a new one. Less, summer styled clothes instead of a girl packed in winter.
Without drawing traditionally before, and using my (male, silly -_-) body as reference for the pose I made this
(http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/4576/smile02.png)
As for pencils, yes I should indeed. However, my fine motor skills really limit me in quite a lot of things, and so I will never become a proper pencil artist. However, it still enables me to more quickly draw poses and figures, so ill have more tries on it :).
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Not sure how valid this is, but I would say don't try to complicate things with any specific, tense, pose just yet. Draw her in her most loose pose, and preferably one in which different pieces/limbs don't overlap each other. For extra practice, draw the same pose from multiple angles.
I also suggest you draw her nude, I mean you can omit somethings if you really can't or don't want to draw them, and you know what I'm talking about. I don't see a reason to add clothes to drawing a girl for anatomy practice. I mean, if you're going to draw clothes anyway, you'd usually draw the (nude) base first, and then add the clothes.
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if you really can't
That problem is hard to explain, but in the end it always comes down to that I will have to draw a line 50 times before having the perfect one in it. And if you are drawing realistically, you need those perfect lines.
But even though I might not be able to produce something nice, it is a good practise.
Now as I said in the beginning of this topic: I would just like to be able to draw female characters. Preferably the same way as I draw males: Without much thinking, without anatomy studies, but just by doing the best I can without.
However, I understand you take things more seriously here on these forums, and so I will try my best on it. Also I understand that having someone in winter clothes is not the best way to learn this :)
About the pose you are right as well, but I have the intuative need to make everything I draw as interesting as possible ;). Ill get started with these two things, and maybe add a third in a more neutral position, maybe even rotating. I will of course include such things in my sketches as well :)
As for the nude thing: With the first I drew her cloth contours, with the second I drew the body contours. Would it really add if I add some volume to the whole thing before start adding those cloths? If you believe so, ill have a try on that, otherwise ill continue as I had in mind :). I do know what you are talking about, yes ;)
Keep posting your wise words guys, ill keep on drawing!
Thanks
MrLollige
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Well first off, the reason for the lines problem is you aren't defining volume first. Use solid shades to define the shape, do the outline after you have a good solid shape and the volume feels right.
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Now as I said in the beginning of this topic: I would just like to be able to draw female characters. Preferably the same way as I draw males: Without much thinking, without anatomy studies, but just by doing the best I can without.
I strongly urge you NOT to rely on your imagination as a source of anatomical advice. Anatomy is complex and nuanced, and memory is prone to excluding and distorting things. You can't learn French unless you learn the grammar, structure, and pronunciation, and you can't learn to draw a female without a reference! I drew superheroes for years before putting genuine effort into anatomy study, and I had to unlearn a lot of things I got plain wrong.
That problem is hard to explain, but in the end it always comes down to that I will have to draw a line 50 times before having the perfect one in it. And if you are drawing realistically, you need those perfect lines.
But even though I might not be able to produce something nice, it is a good practice.
This is true, at first. But, you know the saying, "Practice makes perfect." Drawing does get faster and easier as your brain, eyes, and hands learn to work with each other in unison.
So, there's some good news, and some bad news. The good news is: there is no secret to drawing. There is no wise old sage meditating atop a mountain who holds the inner secrets of art. If you study and practice, you get better. The bad news is: there is no secret to drawing! The only way to better yourself is to dedicate yourself to what you do, constantly. You only get out as much as you put in.
Drawing isn't easy, nor is it hard. It's a skill; a muscle that you must exercise like any other. Drawing is also fun, expressive, and popular with kittens and cute girls! So, um. Draw!
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Relying on my imagination is the easiest (which is not the same as the fastest or the best) way to learn to draw just what I want to draw. But yes, you are right. I learned English without that grammar, structure and pronunciation. The result of that is that there were tiny mistakes everywere (and still) which I just did not know off, and had stayed for much longer time as needed. However, this also enabled me to never think about English, and never having to bother myself with learning English in a way I did not like.
I think the same goes up with this anatomy thing, my preferred (but slow) way would be to first have my memory collect loose parts of information, and once I am a few steps further connect those things with proper and relyable knowledge. Yes, this might also include unlearning. But is the aim to have fun or is the aim to do things perfect? ;)
Anyway, now that I have came here already, ill try my best as long as I am working on this to also develop my anatomy knowledge by sketching and whatnot.
Than about the practise makes perfect thing: I really am limited in my fine motoric skill in a way I can not explain. Of course, I am able to improve, but not able to get perfect. For the same reasons no one will ever be able to read my hand writing.
But excuses wont get me any further in life, so I will keep on trying, practising and drawing :)
And there are secrets to drawing, I find new ones every day :). But knowing them does not automatically improve things ::)
Back to the artwork, thats what we are here for :)
I took your advice, daemon, to create volumes instead of lines. I am quite used to lines, but in the past few months I am realizing more and more what you can do by creating shapes of colors instead of loose lines :)
I drew over the original with some bigger brushes, and came to this.
(http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/3849/smile03.png)
Am I heading in the right direction? Of course nothing is cleaned, but maybe there are now already things to be point out :)
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Face too square! Face too square! :'(
I think this may be your style, since I see it often in your work, but the masculine chin is reallly hurting the piece.
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ChooChoo train.
There's a real lack of any definition here Lollige! I know it's in early stages, but it's hard to make out what's going on at all.
I can't really see what's she's supossed to be doing with her hands. And just her whole body looks sort of blob-ish.
That's not the only problem though: Anatomy is another big issue here.
Her head seems to be kind of strange and too big, her legs are too short, and what's going on with her breasts?
They kind of seem grown together or something.
There's just a real lack of definition everywhere which really obscures the anatomy. I really would suggest drawing a more sollid base when you draw anatomy.
Anyway, I made an edit for you:
(http://img410.imageshack.us/img410/7769/edit112.gif)
I changed alot, as you can see. I added more definition to her body, and I corrected most anatomy flaws.
I also added more definition to her face and tried to make her look feminine. Also made her hair looks somewhat more interesting.
I made her legs longer. Or well, I shortened her body a bit. I also made her head smaller.
Hope it helps.
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Ah, the anatomy issues, finally :)
Yes, it helps!
I really hate the fact I can not make skin tones by myself properly without having an example :/. This time I used your edit as example, and it turned out ok. but thats it.
Anyway
I used yours a lot as referrence, and tried to understand what I was doing while copying. It surely improved, also because I cleaned up a lot of things.
I decided the hands are bust, and probably both arms will have to be redone.
I made the legs longer, the face a lot smaller (I really did not see the problem until after 20 minutes of drawing legs or so..? xD)
Tried to define as much things as possible (which I find very difficult, just as getting the volume right everywhere).
Any anatomy problems left here?
Anything else you want to share?
(http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/3849/smile03.png)(http://i39.tinypic.com/2jdj4i1.png)
Trying the outlines opacus had used:
(http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/685/smile05.png)
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the face seems to have no clarity, maybe because your trying to fit too much detal there? I'd simplify it so its much more readable.
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Not entirely certain what you were going for here (lazy, lazy me - I didn't even read the topic description as my brain barely functions tonight), but here's my edit.
(http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg158/darkfalzx/Sprites/nudegirl1.gif)
I changed her quite a bit
- Shortened her midsection as it looked unreasonably long to me.
- Decreased the chest height.
- Changed the face - her eyes are closed... are they supposed to be closed?
- Slightly changed the leg position - again - not sure if this is the pose you were going for.
- Slightly altered her hands. I wasn't certain what was she doing before.
- Reshaded some parts.
- Sorry for giving her panties: )
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Yes, the face. Thats quite much a problem.
The eyes were supposed to look closed yes, but that can still change.
Anyway:
Thanks a lot for your edit Falz!
I had just started on the cloths, but thanks to this I will rethink and redo quite a few body parts too. I quickly gave the stance on one leg a try but that seemed harder then I guessed.
You have also done some beautiful things with the arms and hands I will surely use!
I find it quite funny, that while Opacus made a quite skinny girl from it, you have added some volume :p
The second is where I got just playing quickly with the legs. But ill work on it more soon!
(http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/1258/smile06.png)(http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/9006/smile07.png)
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Some critique.
What bugs me most is that those jeans look like they are made from rubber...well if you want them to be from rubber than its ok. Left leg is moved backward so you should change the jean according to it. Her face looks like it was a man... and should she hold her forearm like that? It looks like she wants to stop blood recirculation.
Otherwise you made some major progress and its looking good...keep up the good work and it will turn out really pretty.
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Yes, the face. Thats quite much a problem.
The eyes were supposed to look closed yes, but that can still change.
Anyway:
Thanks a lot for your edit Falz!
I had just started on the cloths, but thanks to this I will rethink and redo quite a few body parts too. I quickly gave the stance on one leg a try but that seemed harder then I guessed.
You have also done some beautiful things with the arms and hands I will surely use!
I find it quite funny, that while Opacus made a quite skinny girl from it, you have added some volume :p
The second is where I got just playing quickly with the legs. But ill work on it more soon!
(http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/1258/smile06.png)(http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/9006/smile07.png)
Hehe guess it's a matter of preference. You should do whatever you prefer though ;)
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It's looking much better I must say.
The overall shape of her body is much more feminine than before, though the face needs a little reshaping and some detail.
For the leg you should definitely consider DarkFalzX's edit to get a good feel of the shape of the calf and foot. Also, notice how when he added an ear her head became more naturally shaped.
Keep it up.