Spent all day yesterday on this sketch.

Jesus · 01-16-2008, 06:02 AM

Drew it by hand. Any comments or critique? I spent a good chunk of yesterday on this seeing as how I just had one class at 8:30 in the morning.

***Ace Mercury*** · 01-16-2008, 08:42 AM

Not bad. I assume you're using this as a reference (the one of Ritz), flipped horizontally (which is fine, by the way). You'll need to work on your lines, as they're not as smooth as they could be. This is particularly noticeable at the end of her staff. Try drawing each line in one continuous stroke instead of several smaller ones; you'll get less of a jagged look that way. There's that portion of learning to draw which is all mechanical; drawing curves and so forth needs practise.

Some other things to study:

You've tried to imitate the shading, and it's hard to do in pencil without proper cross-hatching or smudging with that paper-stick-thing.
Not too sure of the folding in the clothes. The reference is already a bit stylized, so it doesn't translate well to pencil.
Texture on the hair is a bit slapdash. There is a bit at the tips of her hair that's questionable.
Also, her left eyebrow looks kind of wonky, for some reason.

I think a lot of the problems are due to the level of detail you're not accustomed to. If you're doing character drawings, it's nice to build a framework for the pose before you fill in the details (I didn't see any evidence you drew anything else but the finished linework). There's lots of references on the interweb about drawing in the manga/anime style, so I suggest you do some more reading if you're interested drawing.

Jesus · 01-16-2008, 12:01 PM

^I'll keep that in mind next time. At least an 83 is better than a D or F. She's tricky to draw with that thing on her arm.

***Cosmonautical*** · 01-17-2008, 03:23 AM

It's good, wvsw. I started off drawing by freehand-copying Megaman, Wolverine, and TMNT art, so I can appreciate the effort you put into it, especially mirroring the image. I know it's hard to copy the shading if you don't understand it, but you'll get it eventually. I find that using various shades of pencil and applying pressure control is the best way to shade with a pencil. Crosshatching and line-shading are more for ink, as they can smear easily with pencil.

I will say that your lines are very rigid, but that's also something that you'll grow out of with practice. Try using straight, back-and-forth movements for shading, and try to press lightly. The orb part of the staff is what I'm looking at when I tell you this, because I assume you were mostly trying to make it a solid tone.

Also, it looks like you might have used mechanical pencil? It's okay for lines, but you won't learn how to shade in the manner I'm telling you until you start using a regular pencil.

01-16-2008, 06:02 AM	#1
Jesus Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2000 Gender: Posts: 5,617 Thanks: 104 Thanked 139 Times in 101 Posts Blog Entries: 3	Spent all day yesterday on this sketch. Drew it by hand. Any comments or critique? I spent a good chunk of yesterday on this seeing as how I just had one class at 8:30 in the morning.

01-16-2008, 08:42 AM	#2
*Ace Mercury* Marshmallow Knight ☆ Supermod Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Southern Ontario Gender: Posts: 23,274 Thanks: 568 Thanked 3,297 Times in 1,582 Posts Blog Entries: 1	It's worth 83 points in Scrabble. Not bad. I assume you're using this as a reference (the one of Ritz), flipped horizontally (which is fine, by the way). You'll need to work on your lines, as they're not as smooth as they could be. This is particularly noticeable at the end of her staff. Try drawing each line in one continuous stroke instead of several smaller ones; you'll get less of a jagged look that way. There's that portion of learning to draw which is all mechanical; drawing curves and so forth needs practise. Some other things to study: You've tried to imitate the shading, and it's hard to do in pencil without proper cross-hatching or smudging with that paper-stick-thing. Not too sure of the folding in the clothes. The reference is already a bit stylized, so it doesn't translate well to pencil. Texture on the hair is a bit slapdash. There is a bit at the tips of her hair that's questionable. Also, her left eyebrow looks kind of wonky, for some reason. I think a lot of the problems are due to the level of detail you're not accustomed to. If you're doing character drawings, it's nice to build a framework for the pose before you fill in the details (I didn't see any evidence you drew anything else but the finished linework). There's lots of references on the interweb about drawing in the manga/anime style, so I suggest you do some more reading if you're interested drawing.

01-17-2008, 03:23 AM	#4
*Cosmonautical* Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: I rub my tilde all over your asterisk Gender: Posts: 28,100 Thanks: 2,151 Thanked 5,338 Times in 2,433 Posts	It's good, wvsw. I started off drawing by freehand-copying Megaman, Wolverine, and TMNT art, so I can appreciate the effort you put into it, especially mirroring the image. I know it's hard to copy the shading if you don't understand it, but you'll get it eventually. I find that using various shades of pencil and applying pressure control is the best way to shade with a pencil. Crosshatching and line-shading are more for ink, as they can smear easily with pencil. I will say that your lines are very rigid, but that's also something that you'll grow out of with practice. Try using straight, back-and-forth movements for shading, and try to press lightly. The orb part of the staff is what I'm looking at when I tell you this, because I assume you were mostly trying to make it a solid tone. Also, it looks like you might have used mechanical pencil? It's okay for lines, but you won't learn how to shade in the manner I'm telling you until you start using a regular pencil. Last edited by Cosmonautical; 01-17-2008 at 03:33 AM.

01-16-2008, 12:01 PM	#3
Jesus Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2000 Gender: Posts: 5,617 Thanks: 104 Thanked 139 Times in 101 Posts Blog Entries: 3	^I'll keep that in mind next time. At least an 83 is better than a D or F. She's tricky to draw with that thing on her arm.