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If you want to draw digitally, they're extremely worth it. If you don't, then it's not. Simple as that.

Thanks for the compliments!

Looking at it now, there's quite a few problems with the anatomy, specifically the collar bone, shoulders, and neck. The rest almost compensates for that but not quite, so it has a strange look.

I'll just have to try harder next time.

At 3/8/14 02:25 PM, maficmelody wrote: I don't know the rules of anime, but these were a few things that immediately drew my attention.

At 3/8/14 02:07 AM, ProbablySinged wrote: It's been a long time since I've actually finished a drawing, let alone colored one, so I'm looking for as much feedback as possible.

Please, let me know what you think, what looks good, what could be improved, anything that might help me get better. It sounds weird to say but I've got a bit of a clock ticking against me.

I agree that there's too much volume to the hair, but the placement of the ears is accurate. What you've done makes them look more like cat ears.

http://puu.sh/7nMle.jpg

The anatomy of the ear, instead of growing straight upwards, would grow more at an outwards angle depending on the musculature of the head itself.

It's also this character: http://junipersknot.dischan.org/images/2.jpg

I'd say that the location itself is fine, but they might be a little too far out.

Still, glad I wasn't the only one that thought there were problems with the hair. It was something I only noticed after clicking upload.

Thanks for the redline!

At 3/8/14 07:53 AM, Damien wrote:

At 3/8/14 02:12 AM, ProbablySinged wrote: A lot of your stuff is pretty good for both telling a story and composition, but I think you'd benefit strongly from learning more about values.

Values? You lost me there.

Oh boy. Yeah, if you want to use any kinds of colors in your work it's something you should know. Every color has a natural value, which is basically it's shade in black and white. If you want to see if your values are close to accurate, just put a black and white filter over your drawing and it should be pretty obvious.

Learning and understanding values is what stops drawings from getting that plastic almost "clay" feel that you see in a lot of new artists.

Everything I could to go from this: http://www.newgrounds.com/art/view/probablysinged/snow-fields

to this: http://www.newgrounds.com/art/view/probablysinged/all-dried-out-juniper-s-knot

in a 5 month period.

Anatomy, gesture, form, values, light, you name it I've been picking at it as much as I can.

That said, I'm still pretty far from where I want to be. I'll probably be looking more into simple line work and figure drawing for a while.

A lot of your stuff is pretty good for both telling a story and composition, but I think you'd benefit strongly from learning more about values.

It's been a long time since I've actually finished a drawing, let alone colored one, so I'm looking for as much feedback as possible.

Please, let me know what you think, what looks good, what could be improved, anything that might help me get better. It sounds weird to say but I've got a bit of a clock ticking against me.

At 11/6/13 12:37 PM, Escapement wrote:
non scouted users can only post images on their page and on a form (like this one), if someone who is scouted likes your work, they can "invite" you (make you scouted) to start posting your images on the portal. until that happens, just keep posting your work here so that hopefully someone who is scouted likes it enough to "scout" you.

Alright, thanks for all the help and information guys. I think everything's been covered pretty well.

At 11/6/13 11:19 AM, Flowers10 wrote: Scouted users can scout other unscouted users from the unscouted portal, this is where your art is displayed at right now :)

Okay, that makes sense. And then scouting is just whether or not someone decides they like my work?

At 11/6/13 11:10 AM, Flowers10 wrote:

At 11/6/13 11:02 AM, ProbablySinged wrote: I guess I should also take this time to ask, what exactly is the difference between being scouted or not?

Could you post the ref?
Your art gets in the art portal, so it will get more views. also if its really gud it can get frontpaged

I didn't save the ref, so it might take a bit to find it.

Wait, how are some of my drawings already getting views if they're not showing up in the portal?

I guess I should also take this time to ask, what exactly is the difference between being scouted or not?

At 11/6/13 10:51 AM, Escapement wrote:

At 11/6/13 10:33 AM, ProbablySinged wrote: I decided to just throw in a generic background. In hindsight, I should have left the background grayscale as well. Woops.

i guess the point is kinda moot now, but gona post this anyways since i took the time to make it, if you cover the lighter or darker one and let your eyes adjust you can see differences in tone.

So the contrast really isn't that bad, it's just that the background took away from it because it was so bright. Thanks for that!

At 11/6/13 10:46 AM, Ahkihoun wrote: The contrast could always be pushed, but since its just a stand alone object with no real light source, I'd say that its just fine honestly. I'd be more interested in seeing you do a full piece with background. You have great technical skill though, and I applaud you for taking the time to really try and hone your skills. Best of luck to ya, and I hope to see more from you in the future.

Lol I've never heard I have good technical skill before, thank you very much for that.

I'd love to start drawing things and painting things that have awesome compositions, characters, and concepts, but I simply don't have the skills to execute things well enough. That's the main reason I've decided to really focus on the basics and foundations, and get things really refined so that I can really develop a style that's my own.

I have things in my current gallery, but they're all lacking in so many different ways that it only reinforces what I said about having to improve.

My goal is to keep getting better as quickly as I can so that I can finish the game I'm working on. Until I have the ability to really draw things from my mind, and use that to reinforce the story, I can't even get started.

At 11/6/13 10:29 AM, Escapement wrote: honestly, imo i don't think that contrast is a problem in your image, i think it is more of the excessive amounts of white negative space. having the skull surrounded by that much pure white will trick the eye and make the image appear much lighter, before you go and start punching in darker blacks in the sockets and nose, try cropping out some of the white, and toning it down.

I decided to just throw in a generic background. In hindsight, I should have left the background grayscale as well. Woops.

At 11/6/13 09:34 AM, Flowers10 wrote:

At 11/6/13 09:31 AM, ProbablySinged wrote: So, in essence, not enough contrast throughout the picture?

Aye

Lol thanks, I'll have to keep a closer eye on that then. I didn't realize that working on a grey background could make such a big difference, so that's something I never would have thought of while I was drawing. Thanks for the advice.

So, in essence, not enough contrast throughout the picture?

A lot of the problem stems from your understanding of light, shadow, and values. I'd recommend you look into those as much as you can.

The best thing you could do is practice with only black and white paintings, taking out the variables of color, and seeing how things look that way. Chances are, they'll look pretty similar to the first two. From there, you should look into understanding how light interacts.

Avoid using soft brushes too often. Shadows aren't always soft, and soft brushes, while useful, aren't always the best way to blend colors.

After drawing whatever I've felt like drawing over the past few months in the hopes that I could become a better artist, I decided that I have to take a look at actual foundations and basics, and start improving on them. So for the next few hours, for the next couple days, I'll be doing drawings of skulls from different angles with different lighting to help with both understanding value and acknowledging proper structure of the human head.

So before I push myself into doing more of these, I'd like to ask what I should focus on improving. How are the values? Is this even correct, or is there some obvious mistake that I didn't notice? Anything wrong or right with it, I'd like to have an opinion on. I've only been drawing for the past five months or so, and I have to keep getting better as quickly as possible. No matter how far above me you think something might be, let me know that it's there so that I can focus on improving it.

Thanks in advance.