Hello all.
I've realized that what I really want to do, is to be able to visually represent my ideas and stories, and be able to share them with the world.
It it an up hill battle. I constantly fight my laziness and procrastination. My inner fears and self doubts and the struggles of life in general.
But I believe persistence and dedication is what I truly need to prevail.

Originally I was going to write only, but since finding an artist to work with is nearly impossible, I decided take it upon myself to pick up drawing again, even though I've always thought of my self as being pretty mediocre at best.

I plan to upload a new drawing or two at least everyday.
I'll let you know whether a drawing is old or recently drawn.

The purpose of this thread is to track my progress throughout each post.
It would be very helpful if I could be able to get critiques from other artist, possibly telling my what to focus on or what books they'd recommend.
I apologize in advance if it's too much to ask, or whatever.

Thanks.

January 5.

I took a shot at drawing Daffy Duck from Looney Tunes today.
Guidelines were obviously used here, as you can see from the lighter line weight in the picture.

January 5

"Stressed? Who's stressed? I'm not stressed. You're stressed! Get off my back! Jeez!"

This is my first successful attempt at drawing a female. Trust me, I failed drawing females several times before.
I'm also experimenting with a different art style. The current art style in the picture is inspired by by sharpie91.
The only big difference here is that I did not give her a nose. Why? Because I wanted to! Get off my back! Jeez!

January 6

A hollow box with a sphere inside, from a book of drawing activities.
I want to move on to drawing bodies soon. It's something I have never been able to do.

Date Unknown

You seem distressed, ma'am.

This was my first official drawing of anything furry or anthro,
If I suppose you count anthro females in my list of successfully drawn females characters. She would be the 1st. But as you can see it's not hair that is the problem here.

>>5 I'd TRY to critique this piece in particular, since I'm myself a quite mediocre artist.
The baselines are quite good, maybe they're still a bit dirty but this can be easily fixed once you'll have a neater technique in tracing lines.
I think you can improve shadows: they look (to my modest eyes) a bit static, maybe you should try to trace shadow-lines with different directions (vertical, diagonal, crossing the lines of different directions) to give the idea of the perspective: the lines must be neat but the final result should show naturally faded shadows with lights. Also the sphere: the light zone seems a bit too wide.
If you want to practice on shadows and lights you should try to draw an apple.
Put a real apple in front of you (it has to be the most imperfect apple you can fine) and be sure it's shiny enough. Like this, you'll be forced to practice to draw an imperfect round object which still reflects light.
Mine are just suggestions. :D
(feel free to correct my English)

>>7 Awesome! Thanks for the advice, I'll try to put what you told me in future drawings. If it isn't too much to ask, may you possibly post an image or link of shading techniques so I can get a better idea.
I also previously drew a picture of an apple before. But I only used a picture as a reference. It looks very sketchy at best.
I'll make another one using a real apple as a reference.
Thanks again.

>>8 These are (maybe a lot of) link leading to tutorials of quick guides for shading with pencil. The last one is a picture showing pencil studies, just to get an idea. :3
(all from deviantart, some of them have bigger guides in the description!)

http://ccrask.deviantart.com/art/Illusion-of-Space-Shading-282801192

http://ccrask.deviantart.com/art/Shading-Basic-Forms-282802473

http://snigom.deviantart.com/art/Basic-Pencil-Shading-42276998

http://snigom.deviantart.com/art/Adanced-Shading-Techniques-43158629

http://ccrask.deviantart.com/art/Drawing-Texture-282803268

http://ftourini.deviantart.com/art/Pencil-studies-55577277

January 7

a treasure chest also from a drawing activities book, drawn really early in the morning.

January 7

Stacking tables. Using the shading methods recommended by CoffeeCream.
>>9 Thanks for the links by the way. I'll check em out!

I forget...

The very first drawing. Of my character, Michael McKullin, "Mikey" for short.
He is the main character and hero of an action/comedy I'm trying to start called Woodsdale Community College
The main story isn't quite down, but If your interested in what I have so far, I'd be glad to tell you, but in the mean time, I'm still trying get things together like character design and plot.

I'd figure I'd work more on the comedy aspect and make short comic strips until I'm ready enough to tell the whole story.
Until then, I'm still designing character. The art style is also subject to change.
You'll see in a later post.

A couple days after the last one?

This is the first drawing of Dennis Sebastian Dumont the third.
This is Mikey's best friend and roommate. He's a pretty popular DJ and let's his popularity go over his head. He's kind of a smug character, and comes off as ladies man. His pampered narcissistic attitude makes him seem like he only cares about himself. But when it comes down to it, he's a pretty intelligent guy, and a trustworthy friend to have.

January 7

This is a quick drawing of Casey Simons. There is more of a drastic change in art style here. This is kind of the art style I want to go for.
Casey (Who's name is subject to change) is best friends and roommates with Mikey's ex-girlfriend. She's a pretty upbeat and strange character.

I would watch Woodsdale Community College.

Also interested in where you're going with it.

Also, also Cursive is a good band.

January 8
A drawing of an old man using an upside down reference, recommended by an artist I met in a Google Hangout. It's very sketch.

>>15
Thanks, man. Yeah, I've been brainstorming and writing a few ideas down. I hope to get some better headway soon. I've been talking to some really helpful people.
And yeah Cursive is pretty good. /o/

January 9

Cat using reference.

January 9

Skeletal mannequin drawings.

January 10

A set of eyes drawn today, compared to a set of eyes drawn in early 2013.
Guess which one I think is better.

>>18 I'm on my task of criticizing again! *CritiqueCoffee strikes again*

Only a little mistake, this time. On the larger skeleton, i think the knees are a bit too low: the human leg should be divided in two sections with the same length. Also the arms are a bit too long. I don't realize how could you make these little but silly mistakes when you did all right in the smaller skeleton. ^^ You can totally do it all right next time: my suggestion is only to keep in mind these little rules as your own credo, 'cause learning well the bases of a correct anatomy are everything, even for a cartoonic style!

>>20 Thank again!

January 10

Screw you, man.

Another drawing for Woodsdale Community College.

January 11
A bit wonky. But I must upload everything I make. As promised.
Critiques are much welcome again.

In relation to my last photo, (>>21) this one has a much better filter, emphasizing a lot of the lines.

>>22 I gotta hand it to you man, intentional or not, this is a pretty menacing sketch....I like it

^

>>24 Yeah, it is pretty menacing now that you mention it.

January 12

Practicing such things as 3/4th view, art style, line confidence, and emotion here.
One art style is more cartoony and less detailed while the other is a bit more anime or manga inspired and more detailed. I like them both for different reasons.


I also wanted to see if Mikey looked cool with bangs in front of his eyes...I don't know if I like it.

>>26 Can i give an honest opinion this time?

Personally I think the lack of pupils in the eyes makes the characters emotions harder to read.
Also: since he's a rabbit (he's a "he" right? IS A RABBIT, RIGHT?), maybe the ears shouldn't start from the same attachment of the head or maybe they shouldn't be so "stick-like": but in the end, since *he's a cartoon character, you can do whatever you want with him, you don't have to follow anatomy strictly.
Mine are just suggestions. ^^ (I'll stop if they annoy you or if you think they are not useful, it isn't like I'm the best artist in the world either...)

>>27 A change to the eyes have been something that I have been questioning for a long time. I had literally kept me up at night. I feel conflicted on adding more detail to them or not. I like them the way they are but still open for a change.
I think the emotions can be read fairly well, it's just that I still need work on facial expressions.

The ears I agree with 100% I want them to not look like sticks but not look too detailed either, so it's something I also need to work on.

Thanks.

January 13
Work takes a lot out of me. I almost missed a day.

This is just a quick character design.
Incase you are wondering...No, I don't like it.

January 14

"Have you read my erotic fan-fiction yet?!

Another piece of character design. I guess you can consider this a shot at fangirling or whatever. Either way, I like this one a lot.

I made the line work here somewhat squiggly to emphasize just how jittery the character is. I don't know how well it turned out.

January 15

Detailed apple vs less detailed apple.

January 16

Still life of an eaten apple.




P.S. It's the same apple.

January 16

Kangaroo.

Xissx watches the apple. Xissx draws the apple. Xissx improves, thanks to apple. Xissx thanks apple by eating it. Circle of the artist's life.

>>33 However, this creature still looks unrealistic, even for a cartoonic style.
Always remember: watch things and people. WATCH THEM HARD.

>>35 Forgive me Coffee! Twas a very bad reference. It'll be better next time, I promise!


January 18
I'm having some serious deja vu with this one.

Photo Reference
http://gallery.mailchimp.com/2e349b1b8c645d8603340d547/images/old_man.jpg

January 19 of last Year

Drawn one year ago today.

Shit it's 12!

January 12

Elsa The Snow Queen from the movie Frozen.
I didn't see the movie.
I blame Deviantart.
Fuck Deviantart.

>>38 January 20

Fuck.

>>39 Looks like you are getting better ^_^ keep it up.

>>37 summoned me

also cute art

style wise I think you should focus on making stuff more detailed, even for a comic-y style some more detail would be nice

>>40 Thank you!

>>41 Lol and thanks for the tip bread

January 21
Determined Mikey. I'm also testing new ear styles.

Full body.

January 22
Requested drawing. I think It turned our like shit, but I like the shading here for the most part.
Progress is progress.

January 23
Hands x fist.

----

>>45 Those are good! (maybe the base of the index finger of the hand on the left is slightly thinner than the "normal standard" and the thumb of the hand in the centre looks a bit too short...but this little little mistakes are nothing. :3 you really are improving!)

I noticed that all the draws of your cartoon characters are sided, and mostly standing if I'm correct...
My next advice is: try to draw also the front and back of them! [seems like Mikey is the one you're putting more efforts into so maybe take him as your model!]
The next step will be working on dinamic poses.
What's a cartoon without action? :D

C'mon, i can't wait to see you get better.

----

January 26

I apologize for missing days. Work has taken most of my time, and also shifting focus to my band for the upcoming performances. But I'll keep trying to be consistent and getting back on track.

>>47 Thanks again for your tips Coffee. I will get started drawing different posses for my characters.

I just recently received the book Figure Drawing for All It's Worth by Andrew Loomis, and I'll get started on reading it soon.
These are some studies and drawings inspired by the book.

January 27

Shiiiiiiit.
First proportional study. I made him a bit bulky, but it's okay.

January 28

More proportional study, this time in a side view.
I made this one taller so their was more room to work with. I think it tuned out a lot better. :)

January 28

"You are the hero this institution has been waiting for."

Mikey with the Stylus blade. It's not the good. :T

*That

Fuck, It's late.

January 29

Meh. Practicing styles and lines

you're actually improving! :D That's really great, and i think you're artwork is getting better, I can definitely tell. :)

>>55 Thank you! /o/

January 30

There is something very menacing about this one.
Dat booty doe.

Early Birthday present.

"Starting is the easy part, the tenacity to do it is the real challenge"
This is heavily relevant to all practices especially Digital art, you've improved a lot since you've started and I commend for that, a lot of people give up quite easy during the anatomy study, keep it up it's looking great, although try reducing the size of the body as it can become a habit.

>>56 Dat booty fo real
>>57 Is that a tablet? Mmhh? '^'

>>58 Thank you very much!
>>59 Yes it is. Shits hard!

January 31
First tablet painting.

February 1
First tablet drawings from a few things I saw.

>>61 Ehi ehi ehi EHI.
Slow down, kid.

Receiving a tablet, even more if it is the FIRST tablet, is always the joy of an artist.
I still suggest that you should continue first on working on your manual skills: it's evident that you improved but you still have to learn a lot. No one ever stops to learn, but take things one step at a time!

>>62 Oh no. I will be doing digital drawings, but by no means will I stop doing my traditional drawings. I was just simply breaking into it is all.

A little bit of image critiquing from another artist.

February 1

More proportional studies. I think this one turned out pretty well.

February 2
A trace of Mikey using the tablet.

whooo you should expect tons of improvement after getting your tabby

February 3

Some progress on another tablet drawing of Mikey From my project Woodsdale Community College.

This is completely done with my tablet so I didn't trace any of my traditional drawing this time.

I'l Upload again when it's finished.

The post above is a birthday card I wanted to finish by my birthday on February 8, However I did not factor how much time it would take to get it finished entirely. Tablet drawing is very different.

February 11
Female proportional studies.

February 13
More Female Proportional study.

February 14
Work so far.

Critique!Cream is here again!

Let's take a look at >>70.

First of all: when you are working on an anatomical study, WHATEVER is your reference picture, you should NEVER add too much details that can modify the visive structure of the human body.
So, no covering clothes at all and no shoes, ESPECIALLY if they are heeled shoes: they change the visive impact of the feet and also the height of the figure!

Second point: shoulders.
I judge the ones you drew too wide and big for a normo-sized woman: take as a reference the hips, 'cause shoulder should be wide as them.

Third point: waist and hips.
The main difference between men and women are the lines of their bodies. Men are more "angular" shaped, while women have, yup, curves. Lots of them.

In your draw, the waist is a bit edgy, just try to make sweeter curvy lines.
Regarding the hips, well, they /are/ correct, but i you notice you put more fat on her thights: unless you wanted to draw a woman with slight cellulite fat problems i still suggest to practice on the classical "hourglass" shape. X3

Fourth: Head.
I see you drew all the proportional guidelines to seize the figure into 8 zones. Let me ask: do you usually start from the head in order to draw all the rest of the figure?
If the answer is "no", i suggest to start from the head.
The size of the head gives you almost ALL the other measures. In your frontal draw, the head appears really smaller compared to the rest of the body.

All these consideration where made on the frontal image: the side one is almost perfect.
Only two thing on the sided anatomic figure; first, the shoes. SHOOOES-
Second one. It's an impression, but maybe the upper chest zone, the one between neck and breasts, looks a bit unnatural but not excessively. Maybe, instead of a straight line, a curvy line tending slightly toward the inside would look more natural. But this last one is only and impression, not totally sure!

>>71 On this one, same: shoes, shoulders size, suggesting a more prominent hips (just a lil' bit). And there's something odd about the left arm, but i can't tell specifically what. Maybe the lack of shadows doesn't give justice at the perspective. When I'll figure out the eventual problem, I'll let you know. :U

Critique!Coffee out!

^

truthfully
hips != shoulder in width. especially if your drawing skinny girls

Notes taken.

February 21
This is done, by the way.

>>76 I like this

Oh and I just sent a email to you, hope you receive it

----

I just went through thi from the start and I must say I'm rather impressed you were able to improve so much in such little time.
Interested in this 'Woodsdale Community College' project, mind shedding some light on it as I dont know what it is?

>>77 I got it, Sorry it took so long. I'll reply to it soon.

>>79 Thanks and Sure. I'm working on character reference sheets when I finish my first one for Mikey I'll post I brief description on what it's about.

Just to let you guys know I haven't stopped drawing, I just stopped uploading. I've been really cracking down on designing characters for Woodsdale, and launching it soon. I'm currently outlining the first stage. So right now, I'll post some my latest two works with bits of information about the characters.

Here is a quick reference sheet of Mikey McCullin It's not quite a turnaround yet, but I'm working on it. It's quite a joy to see how far he has come. From the first sketch of him from >>12 to Now.
As promised I'll post a brief explanation of the plot.

Woodsdale Community College is about Mikey elitist nerd/fanboy who unwillingly attends a Community College that isn't exactly as it seems.
Michel McCullin, or "Mikey" for short. Sets to attends the Woodsdale because his parents have become quite annoyed with him doing nothing with his life after High School.
When he isn't at his "sucky" retail job, he tends to be cooped up in his room playing retro video games, watching cult classic movies, or classic episodes of Star Trek. He is nothing like his well loved, older Brother Owen, Who was popular all throughout High School, as a Football Star, and now a police officer with a loving family of his own.
His parent often brag about him rather than Mikey.

Faced with an ultimatum, Mikey either goes to Woodsdale and live on campus or stay home and get kicked out of his house.
Scared and without a place for him to go, Mikey chooses to go to Woodsdale, and lies that he going for a major in computer technologies to make his parents proud, when he is actually going for General arts unknowing that the general arts department of the school is treated like crap and is losing it's funding.



Further down his drive changes when he discovers his Ex-Girlfrind is also attending Woodsdale, Mikey believes that the best way from them to get back together is to prove to her that he is no longer the lazy sack sack of crap that he used to be. But he isn't only doing it to prove her wrong, he's doing it to prove to his Manager, his parents, co-workers and and everyone else who has doubted him wrong.

WCC is my first official project. I have previously written a failed webseries pilot and a few comedy sketches in with friends. But this is the first one I am taking seriously and going all out on.

I aim to make Woodsdale a bit silly, having over the top fantasy sequences, Parodies of retro video games, anime, king fu movies, 80's cliche tropes and much more.
Please bear with me, here folks, thanks.

Here is a bust of Patrick Goodman.

Patrick has been Mikey's best friend since elementary school. Growing up together, both of them share similar opinions and interest, except Patrick uses a lot more profanity in his speech, and is much tougher than Mikey is, Making him capable of defending himself incase of a fight. Besides, "No one wants to fuck with a dude who has antlers." He's kind of the reason Mikey didn't get his ass kicked all throughout High School.

Patrick works at a Dollar Mania as a sales associate but aims to get a position as assistant manger. He's a pretty intelligent guy, with a mix both academic smarts, and street smarts. He has the grades to go right into a university of his choice. No one knows why he's working there.
He helps Mikey with a sales associate position at Dollar Mania However, Mikey gives him the news that he's leaving town to attend Woodsdale and they go separate ways.

Sorry, I fucked up on the description in >>82 I'll try again.

Here is a quick reference sheet of Mikey McCullin It's not quite a turnaround yet, but I'm working on it. It's quite a joy to see how far he has come. From the first sketch of him from >>12 to Now.
As promised I'll post a brief explanation of the plot.

Woodsdale Community College is about Mikey elitist nerd/fanboy who unwillingly attends a Community College that isn't exactly as it seems.
Michel McCullin, or "Mikey" for short. Sets to attends the Woodsdale because his parents have become quite annoyed with him doing nothing with his life after High School.
When he isn't at his "sucky" retail job, he tends to be cooped up in his room playing retro video games, watching cult classic movies, or classic episodes of Star Trek. He is nothing like his well loved, older Brother Owen, Who was popular all throughout High School, as a Football Star, and now a police officer with a loving family of his own.
His parent often brag about him rather than Mikey.

Faced with an ultimatum, Mikey either goes to Woodsdale and live on campus or stay home and get kicked out of his house.
Scared and without a place for him to go, Mikey chooses to go to Woodsdale, and lies that he going for a major in computer technologies to make his parents proud, when he is actually going for General arts, unknowing that the general arts department of the school is treated like crap and is losing it's funding, Leading him to be the one to save it.

WCC is my first official project. I have previously written a failed webseries pilot and a few comedy sketches in with friends. But this is the first one I am taking seriously and going all out on.

I aim to make Woodsdale a bit silly, having over the top fantasy sequences, Parodies of retro video games, anime, king fu movies, 80's cliche tropes and much more.
Please bear with me, here folks, thanks.

Right now, I'm busy writing Stage 1, but I'm going going back to school soon So it might be delayed. I guess I'll upload school work and such.

Some progress on another drawing.

Half-assed taco I did for a friend.

Progress doe.

OHHHH that's not a dick, it's a tail...
uh
still pretty good, man.

i like the taco

>>89 ...Yes Yukio, it's a tail. And thanks.

>>90 Thanks, it was very half-assed I didn't spend too much time on it. It does look quite delectable though. Either that, or I'm just craving tacos.

Hey cats. Xissx, again.
I don't think I need to say much, because the caption said it all, but yeah I haven't been making any progress on my comic project, because I simply just stopped working on it, and I have no one to blame but myself. I don't get me wrong I am FAR from quitting on this entirely. This is the first project that I have worked on and I will finish it. I used to wake up at 6 am to get some outlines done and write a few pages, however, working 28 hours a week has beaten me down, and watching funny videos on youtube is a lot easier.
I'm going to get into the habit of being constantly being productive and filling my news feed with updates on not only Woodsdale but for my band as well.
I feel as if I keep posting updates and progress I will be a form of checking in on myself to make sure I'm doing the things I should be.
I'll get finished writing the first chapter, but there is much to be done my band and I plan on getting it done first.
Thanks.

There is an overabundance of anime/manga art styles on this board. I'm not saying it's bad, but I would like to see some variety.

Anyway here is some progress on another drawing!

I almost never come to the Art Board but damn Xissx, you've improved since the start of this thread. A lot. WCC sounds really cool too. Hope you find the time and motivation to put your all into it.

brosupport /o/

>>94 Thanks bro! It means a lot!

A character design I did while waiting for a friend at the coffee shop.

And here's a wip

Damn I've almost reach 100 post? Anyway here's a painting for a friend.

>>98 It's Cait Sith from FF7

Here's something I made for the season. I was pretty must just testing some brushed I bought. A lot of people thought I was illustrating a children's book, I wasn't.

Wip of the night. I'm gonna go do other stuff for now.

Mikey is about a year old now. And the birth of Mikey is also around the same time I started drawing. So I guess that's a track of my progress.

Quick Mikey sketch.

He's a wip.
(((I've legit been up for 13 hours)))

I'm gonna go take a nap...

Sorry for the absence.
Critique!Coffee with a new cellphone wants to give you some somewhat-technical advice.

I'll take as example this. >>91
It has a great visual impact both in energy and balance of the figure. Maybe the colours are somewhat "off" for a cartoon, as we usually see bright coloured and standoff-ish character, but in the end that's the artist's choice which sets the rules.
Then, in almost all of the following drawings you made, I noticed that you have the tendency to cut away part of the character, mostly the feets and part of the legs and sometimes the hands.
Also, you have chosen to draw mostly rigid positions.
You have made some progress, for example in characterization of facial emotions and that's pretty good, but you have to make loads of other improvement to be "technically-speaking perfect". I suggest an exercise in drawing what seems the most difficult for you: full character images. Try picturing your character in the most unusual poses, practicing with full body pictures and energization: those are meant to be living and animated creatures, not pretty statues!
There is a motto which says "First of all, do what is easy for you; then, try what seems difficult for you. Once you succeed, you'll realize that even what seemed impossible for you is, actually, possible."

Critique!Coffee out!

>>106
Hey. Thanks for coming back!
I just wanted to say I'm very thankful for your continuous critiques. It gives me an idea on what to focus on, art wise, and I wouldn't be able to improve as well without them. So I'm really happy to hear from you.

For starters the one in >>91 is not an original character of mine. It is Frog Raccoon Strawberry, a character by Kyle A. Carrozza. I know I've mentioned this in other boards, but I totally forgot to mention it in this one, and that's my fault.
I wanted to study Kyle's work for his very lively poses and line work. So I started with that. Initially I just copied what I saw. But during, I felt really guilty about it, so I quit. And left the file in limbo on my computer.

But as for my original characters, though the anatomy has somewhat improved. (Like Mikey's for example.) The way I approached drawing the bodies has remained relatively the same, just building with shapes and blocks, I'm fairly certain that's one of the reasons they seem so stiff.
I've been studying gesture drawings and poses, but I leave most of them on separate board, because some of them could be NSFW. But yeah This is a problem I have notice and are taking steps to fix. I'm also taking figure drawing classes next year, so it should help as well.

I'm definitely going to start challenging myself more, I doubt I'll get anywhere if I don't. I'm also gonna try to get a collection of several artist who inspire me. And see what I can learn from the pictures I collect.

This is a fished painting of Valerie at work, She works at a video rental store. She hates It and she's very blunt about how much she hates it, Yet she has yet to get fired.
I drew her a few times with different brushes. You'll probably see a lot of drawings in different styles until I find the one that speaks to me the most. This is a blend of Watercolor and gouache it's very texture heavy compared to other pieces I've made, since texture is another on the long list of things I want to study.

So I took some time to study gestures today! Some gestures are really good. Some are really bad. This one I made a character out of. I don't usually do studies digitally, but I'm kinda getting into the habit. I'll upload some more traditional and digitals soon

Holy crap I just went though this entire thread and I'm quite overwhelmed. I have to keep moving!

Hi! It's 5am.
One of the artist I've decided to study include Redblooper. He has excellent gestures and expression in line weight. Here's a wip of one of his original characters Shelby,

I'm gonna take a break from my wips to do traditional studies, and other projects.

Here's a wip of an actual original character.
I'm having much trouble in a variety of places such as the hands, cloak, ect. But that's good since this is a channeling drawing, and I need to challenge myself to get better!

Hey everyone. Me again. This is Bea.
For a while now, I kinda wanted to create a lamb/sheep character to present some of my inner thoughts or feelings, in this modern world.
She's pretty much me, record collector, Sonic Youth/Thurston Moore fan, and closet Anime and Comics Nerd.

She wen't through a few changes but her head shape has stayed relatively the same.

I'm feeling little depressed today actually, either that or I'm getting sick from all the coffee I've been drinking to pull the all nighters to study this craft.
Maybe I can treat myself to a nice breakfast, Maybe a Netflix marathon? Maybe if someone could throw some sweet jams my way. I'd highly appreciate it. Thanks <3

Heavy Metal Bea.

Hi.
It's 3 am. I just work up and now ready to work. I took a break from 3am all nighters yesterday, because after about a week doing it I felt I was beginning to get sick. I don't think that was the case, however it was just my body adapting to the new sleep schedule I have formed...I feel as if I have formed a habit around drawing ever since I quit my job, now i just do it subconsciously, to the point that a day without a doodle almost feels incomplete. I know I'm not updating the thread everyday, but a lot of the shit I have a WIPs and in between doing those wips, I'm doing studies, so there progression is really slow. This current wip actually came from a study, and I'm having trouble with that damned other hand!
I guess I'm pretty much making the face at >>114.
Some critique would be nice. Thanks! :3

sad bot.

>>115 that sounds alot like me I never really slept at night I always stayed up to draw

>>117 It definitely has it's advantages and disadvantages. For example; I get A LOT done. I kinda feel like Stan Smith in that one episode of American Dad. But the big problem is that all that working from night to day takes it's toll on me, and I usually tend to crash somewhere around 9am to the afternoon and would sleep for hours. Then wake up usually around 4/5pm.
This is a problem because I feel like I'm missing a lot of the day. This is even more of a problem if I happen to need to do something around those hours. For example; I have a date at 2 pm tomorrow and I'm literally terrified that I might over sleep and miss it. I'll figure something out, That's for sure...

Anyway here's a wip, Bea is getting ready for winter!
I hope you guys like Bea, Because I love her.

>>118 It's abundantly clear that I'am having trouble with hands and feet but I'm working on it! :3

Line art yo!

Half assed coloring. What do you think of the current colors?

Here's to a safe and happy holiday season! ❤

Oh My GOsh!!!! So Beautifu!!!!

lolwut

>>123 Thanks!
I'm getting pretty good at drawing anatomy without reference, but I'm still having trouble with hands. Here's a character design from a bunch of sketches and scribbles.

6am feeling kinda sick, again I think it's the coffee. I haven't technically slept at night for the past two days. So I'm pretty much staying up until I crash.
Mezzlie looks horrid so I'm going through a few character changes, while listening to some Fleetwood Mac.

Isn't it great how better drawing turn out with a bit of inspiration and focus. Yeesh. This Coffee is kicking in...

Tonal/Thumbnail Study.

CritiqueCoffee has been summoned (not really, I summoned myself but whatever)
Some advice is needed. I'm really happy seeing you somewhat enthusiastic while getting on work. It's just my impression, but that's the spirit that should move every artist: enthusiasm. Good job on the moral point of view!

However, I have to (sadly) realize that you aren't quite improving in quality: the good news is that it's only matter of practice and time, so don't worry.

I'll take as reference Bea. The concept idea is very well done: Bea inspires cuteness and cheerfullness (I hope this is a word which has sense) and her outfit /general style is quite original, yet simple. BUT: the quality of the draw itself its still too rudimental. You still have a tendency of making a loooot of sketchy lines: which is not actually bad, as long as it doesn't influence too much the final result (and the final result here IS influenced by the inaccuracy of the base sketch).
The privileges of digital drawing is that you can erase lines a billion plus one times without worrying about ruining any paper: do not have fear of working for endless minutes on a single line to be sure to make it PERFECT.
For example, look at her left arm: it's thinner than the right arm because the lines are, if you notice it, slightly wrongly curved on the inside (a pair of concave lines!).
Learn also how thinness and thickness, speaking of lines, makes a difference: you'll prefer to use thicker and/or darker lines to outline main lines to deepen the draw (it's the same concept of shadows!) and you'll use thin and precise lines to outline smaller "details" such as eyes, details of hair, details of clothes etc...

Let's now focus on dynamics, that is "how an object or a body moves in a define space and under a precise perspective".
Speaking of Bea's, there's something off. Of course anatomy doesn't have to be 100% precise in a cartoon styled draw: but muscles, bones, meats and cartilaginous tissues are always subjected as the same physics rules.
Her lifted leg, probably more because a matter of perspective, cannot bend like that: it's waaaay too much bended. Also the foot has an unnatural angle (but let's close an eye this time since you openly admitted that you find more problems on hands and feet. Practice is always the answer~)
Then, chest zone. I know it's rude to stare at a woman's chest, but that's exactly what artists do for a living. You drew Bea picturing her in a slightly oblique angle, and that's ok: she is facing slightly on her right. The problem is,her chest zone has been drawn has if seen in a frontal perspective. I hope I've been clear enough with this passage.
Then, I don't really understand how her hears work. I don't know if you bended them like that on purpose or if they're supposed to be subjected at deformation (=flying) because of the jump. If it is because the jump, then flappy hears shouldn't bend in a sharply angled curve. Try to look how long human hair (or canine hears such ones from a Spaniel dog) work while jumping: it may help.

Then, you have to "study" how materials work. What am I talking about?
The scarf. The part of the scarf around Bea's neck is, on my opinion, too static: generally a soft scarf would flop on itself, creating a soft ring around one person neck unless it's really tightly knotted around it: in your draw it looks more like a collar, do you see that it looks too rigid to be made of wool (or any other tissue)? So my advice is to look a A LOT at people to see how body parts can move and on which limits they are subjected, and also to see how clothes, accessories and different materials works.

I have not much to say about colour: it's still very simple and plain, there's not much to say.
I hope this critique will help you. ^__^

I repeat it again: don't worry about mistakes. Learn from them and keep on experimenting and challenging yourself, don't loose your enthusiams because it's the greatest source of power that you can preserve to grow better and better day after day.

(I'm also very happy that you allow me to criticise you because I'm exercizing on my English. Thank you!)

Please excuse me for not reading the full thread, but I think I might have some basic advice for you. CoffeeCream has written lots of detailed critic on your art so far, so my two cents will be more about improving your art style in general.

First, decide which level you want to reach because the amount of effort you'll put into this project depends on your goal:

- Do you want to draw as realistically/ naturalistically as possible or are you fine with a cartoony style?

- If you aim for the latter, how cartoony do you wnat it to be? Are you satisfied with funny sketches to illustrate your story or do you want to tell the plot visually like in a manga? Do you want there to be some naturalistic base underneath your more abstract style? And how much naturalistic groundwork do you want there to be?

- If you're going for a manga-like visual narration, are you fine with the average Shounen/ Shoujo/ Seinen/ Josei style where you've got the basics of panelling, camera angles/ positions, portrait (+ body language), landscape/ backgrounds and items covered, or are you going for a personal style with an emphasis on one of these aspects? This point also depends on which kind of setting your plot's set in.

-------

So assuming that you're aiming for the hardest level of all (coloured, abstract drawing style developed on a base of meticulous, naturalistic groundwork + further study of solely visual narration), you'll need to cover everything classically trained painters are experienced in plus more stuff that borders on the line of cinematography.
I'll try to write down whatever I can think of, so feel free to ignore some of the later steps, but please do me a favour and don't skip the following basics:

1. observing everything as well as you can. Not limited to your eyes but to all of your senses. You can only master this craft through observing and copying to the best of your ability. And that includes the texture and sound (sometimes even smell) of your subjects to make them as naturalistic as possible.
2. basic study of lines and what they can express. Depending on which pens/ pencils, angles, forms you use and how much pressure you apply, a line can express a wide range of emotions and intentions
3. same as above for colours and how they mix and match and how the human eye perceives them
4. same as the first two for (free) room and space. How does the position/ form/ size of a white/ unused space in a picture affect the viewer's sight?

You may have realised that the first few point aren't about techniques at all but about getting a feeling for art itself. Feel free to experiment a bit, have fun and explore the basics in a playful manner. This is the homework most hobby artists trying to get more professional miss out on. But this will make your understanding and ability to absorb artsy knowledge further down the road a lot easier.

-------

Now, on to the more tedious and technical stuff. You'll have to work on the following points:

- perspective: creating the illusion of 3D on a 2D medium. Regardless if you do want to narrate your story visually or not, you'll need this, be it portrait, landscapes or items. And I don't mean the exercise of drawing a cube but the ability to construct the illusion of a room with a pencil, a ruler and maybe an eraser. The stuff DaVinci and co. rediscovered for us.
This is important because the perspective influences the viewer'd opinion on how meaningful, positive/ negative, interesting etc. the depicted subject/ object is. Basic to panelling, the other bif part of it being visual narration.
Look up vanishing point perspective and camera shots/ angles on the internet and you'll get what I mean with plenty instructions/ explanations.

- light, shadow and reflections: closely related to the one above but I think you know how important lightening is. CoffeeCream has said some good things about this

- simplifying and abstracting, maybe distorting: The first two are indispensible in order to be able to draw something at all, but you know that already. If you're trying cartoons, you have more abstracting and distorting to do to develop your own style

- items: combine the three skills above and just draw until you feel more secure. Be aware of the different materials objects are made of and of your perception of them. Glass is not only hard and transparent but also mostly cold, smooth, odourless, sharp when broken and it makes a distinctive sound when colliding with something else. Try to incorporate these qualities into your drawing.
As for textiles, you'll probably use them a lot on characters. They can be very tricky to pin down, especially wrinkled cloth, but check out fashion designers' way of drawing them efficiently.

- landscapes/ background: almost the same as with items, just that there are more items and (partially) transitioning elements like the weather you'll have to put up with.

- portrait: anatomy, facial expressions and body language. Anatomy helps a great deal to avoid disproportioned limbs and bodies and knowing where which muscles go into action as a person moves will make your drawing of body language more foolproof than anything else.
Either buy/ borrow a anatomy book for artists or try videos and animated sites like zygotebody.com for a first impression. Once you've got the basics you can just observe how different people have a different build and combine it with your anatomical knowledge.
As for body language and facial expressions examine your own and your family's and/or friends' reactions in detail to get a feeling for them. They're culturally influenced anyway. Oh, and don't forget to look at perspectives and profiles for portraits.

- visual narration: How to show changes in time or things simultaneously even though the viewer can't look at them in the same time? Take a look at the Silent Manga Audition and you'll get a small insight into the possibilities of this aspect. Big part of good panelling. Related to perspective.

There's still more, I think this should be sufficient for an overview of what you can do. You don't have to master all of that, but it definitely helps to know what's out there. I hope that you don't feel too overwhelmed or even discouraged and that I could help you a little bit.

Good luck and don't give up!

Yours,
Litair

P.S.: You may find it difficult to keep your mind clear, especially since there are all the different drawing materials I've left out to study, don't loose hope! Concentrate on one thing at a time and you will definitely improve!

Here's a current wip. Thank you for your post I haven't read them yet but I'll do so in a bit. Thank you.

Hey everyone back again and happy new year! This year I was greeted with a pleasant surprise, and artist I look up to followed me back! So this is what I made to acknowledge him!
It's a great way to light a fire under my belt for this year, I plan on working even harder then the last!

>>130 My style is most definitely cartoons, It's what I like doing and it's what I tend on sticking to, but the thing is, I would definitely like to do other styles, like realistic or Manga, But cartoons are my main.
My current projects are Woodsdale Community College, and The Life and Times of Bea The Lamb. Both will be in the style of cartoons.

My project Woodsdale Community College, though I've been quite vague about it, is meant to be a parody of Manga, anime, and action films. Sort of poking fun at common cliches or topes. So I can definitely learn a thing or two from manga to help with the action scenes.

Bea comics, which I'll be starting this year. Will be much more simpler since it's more of a slice of life comic strip idea, and not a fleshed out story from beginning to end, I'll do that as I go along. The basics are, she was raised by a suburban human family, currently lives with her roommate, goes to community collage, has a band, struggles with her art, and overall self-esteem ect. Much like me, and that's kind of the idea. (except I'm not an anthropomorphized lamb)
The comic strips are either between observations on things, inner thoughts or short jokes. I plan on making them deep at times but nothing over the top. I want to keep it simple, since it will be my first comic.

The drawing you see above is probably how I intend it to look like, except I'll be adding color in the strips. I got a comment about my lines, about them being to fuzzy but for Bea comics, they are not meant to be solid lines, I want them to have a bit of fuzziness to them, I can't really explain why. It just seems nice. Woodsdale, However, I tend to make it much different.

I'm going back to the fundamentals, studying basic shape and form, as well as a head start on shading. In about a week I'll be begging my classes, Figure Drawing, and Space and form! I'm nervous, but exited! I want to start braking things down and get the hang of things. I'm really hoping that 2015 will be a great year for me! But one can only find out.

I'll probably stop posting wips here though, I'm not sure yet.
See ya soon! :3

I feel like I have no place here, but Coffee used to post here a lot and I've been worried about her. Though Xissx, I do like a lot of the work here. Keep practicing and improving, don't stop!

Hey guys. It’s actually my birthday today…Sorry I didn’t say anything till now. I don’t celebrate my birthday, I never really did. It used to be because our financial situation used to be pretty bad, so birthdays we just treated like every other day, but maybe with a different greeting, and a pat on the back.
I never got exited for my birthday. It always makes me sad, but just because I’m a little bit sad, doesn’t mean that I can’t make art that makes me happy! I’ve been drawing and doing stuff all day. I would love to show you but I’m really on the fence about posting my WIPS here but more finished works, and studies. I dunno.

Okay so here's the plan; I'll be posting more of my studies on this thread and I'll try to do them daily. As for my WIP I'll only upload them then I reach the line art phase or whatever. I'm still trying to figure it out. Anyway here's a wip now. :D

not the best but eh

>>135 Hey! Happy SuperLateBirthday anyway!
>>134 I'm very feeble and i'm going through various illnesses, but whenever I can I enjoy wandering here on the BBS. You summoned me and here I am. ^-^
>>136 Sounds good plan to me! And this WIP already shows some improvement. (Keep a look out the pelvic zone, it should be centered with the bellybutton: bodies are the simmetrical miracle of evolution~)
Keep going, we're here for you. ^-^

New to this thread, but wanted to say, you're doing great! There's a HUGE difference from your first drawings to this one. Keep going!

>>138 I hope things get better, friend. I hope you get better soon. Is there anything I can do to help you feel better?

Hey all, me again!

>>139 Thank you very much, friend
>>138 I just want to say thank you, again for all your critiques, I know it must be kinda a hassle since you're the only one doing so. But I'm thankful for all of it. I wouldn't be improving without you, I hope you fell better soon!

The pelvic zone and hips are something, I have noticed and have been trying to improve on. I've noticed that in my studies all my hips looked the same, and If I want to give my characters variety in body types, this needs to be stopped.

It's like how an artist would draw all their female characters with large breast, because he made a habit out of it. I don't want to do that. my classes have definitely helped with this, but occasionally I go back to the same habits when I'm on my own, gotta keep pushing.

As for my studies, they are all done traditionally, so I'll post them when I buy an easel with my tax return money, or figure out somewhere to stand. I can't wait to show you!

Here's some color, I don't think it's very good, I feel like I can benefit from color theory and shadow studies.

x

bump

Due to some interest and request on the interwebs and chats here's a fursona. With a little perspective studies thrown in.
I'm quite proud of this, since I did it fairly quickly, and only used about 2 to 3 layers. I guess I really am learning from these classes. I'll be posting my studies soon!

YOU SHALL RISE FROM YOUR GRAVE! (as i just did)
>>144 This is fairly good. Two objections though:
-Arms are both too short (at least they're correctly simmetrical)
-Left leg should cover part of right leg, in order to be a correct perspective study.

Post your studies, NOW! Coffee feels less ill and She'd like to see your works.

Hi. I'm back. Last year went by pretty fast. I just recently go accepted into an art university, and compleated my fall semester with straight As. I'm still unsure about my major though. It's been harder to upload to my traditional studies, but I have a few digital ones to share.
>>145 I'm sorry I haven't been to active the last half of the year. I hope you're doing alright.

Hey guys, back again. Finals week is quickly approaching and summer vacation will soon begin. I'll probably be updating more often with studies and stuff then! For now, here's a sketch for a parody animation I'm working on for my final.

Wow!I started reading this thread (I also persue an artistic carreer) and I must say that im impressed. 2 years of posting in this thread made you what you are today. I also noticed that you went half of 2015 without posting. I wonder if coffee will ever come back. She looks like a very lovely person.