Starting a new drawing project!

[daryl2158]

Hey all, I'm starting a new project, need some help with it. It's a drawing based on chinese dance, specifically a kind of fan dance. It's for a friend, so I'll probably colour it (somehow) when I'm done. Maybe watercolour? or perhaps just colour pencils if I'm not feeling particularly adventurous.

I need some ideas for the background, lighting and any other criticism on the pose is good. I wanna make sure I got the pose and anatomy okay most of all before I move on. Currently it's just a stylised giant asian carp in the background. Thought dragon motifs were kinda overdone, so I went with the carp. kinda like a wallpaper thing. I was also thinking of adding a graduated tint towards black downwards.

The costume isn't done yet of course, I have a lot more references to collect.

The look I'm trying to achieve is a kind of Asian fairy/goddess-like feel, (I'll be adding quite a lot of loose cloth later). That's why I'm wondering about the lighting...what kind of lighting would achieve that effect best?

TL/DR:
1) Anatomy okay?
2) Pose okay?
3) Ideas for background please
4) Ideas for achieving an Asian goddess/fairy feel with lighting please

Thanks in advance!

[bigjonny13]

At 12/20/09 12:08 PM, daryl2158 wrote: TL/DR:
1) Anatomy okay?
2) Pose okay?
3) Ideas for background please
4) Ideas for achieving an Asian goddess/fairy feel with lighting please

It looks pretty good so far.
I'm not an anatomical master, but I'd say that this is pretty damn good.
The pose is fine. Looks like somewhat in the middle of a leap-skip-hop or something.
The carp is a good idea, just give it some bold colours, and maybe some waves behind it.
As for the lighting, I'm not sure if I can help you there... yet. Get a bit more work on it done, and we may be able to set something up for it.

[CosmicDeath]

This looks pretty interesting! It might be cool to see whether you could get the fans to match up with the carp's pectoral fins, and merge the two objects, as if she is holding fans at the base, but they turn into the ends of the fins.. if that makes any sense?

As far as I can think.. an Asian Goddess or Fairy would be represented with very subtle, subdued tones and lighting, but carps are often vivid vermillion. So I guess maybe you could try and give her quite very soft/light peaches and cream complexion with light blue and tan garb, and a slight backshadow to seperate her enough from the carp behind?

Anyways, whatever you do with it, this looks really promising. I like your crosshatching for the rough base pose. ^_^

[Batto]

made a coupl'a edits - hope they're useful. Just be sure to watch the proportions and should be fine.
also boobs'll cast shadows but I forgot to add those in xP
http://tempupload.ngfiles.com/2355063_ed itionss.jpg

[daryl2158]

At 12/20/09 01:26 PM, CosmicDeath wrote: This looks pretty interesting! It might be cool to see whether you could get the fans to match up with the carp's pectoral fins, and merge the two objects, as if she is holding fans at the base, but they turn into the ends of the fins.. if that makes any sense?

I get what you mean, and I think it's a pretty cool effect too! (Saves me the trouble of drawing fins too, they can be a bitch :P) But the thing is the pose kind of makes it hard to use both fins. That's got to be a really twisted carp, or I'd have to use more than one carp...which would be smashing into one another or being of different sizes...sadly. Shoulda thought of this before I drew the pose, took a while so...anyone have any further ideas on this?

As far as I can think.. an Asian Goddess or Fairy would be represented with very subtle, subdued tones and lighting, but carps are often vivid vermillion. So I guess maybe you could try and give her quite very soft/light peaches and cream complexion with light blue and tan garb, and a slight backshadow to seperate her enough from the carp behind?

Great idea. I was planning to colour the carp just that, and yes she's getting that complexion too. The friend I'm modelling it after really has that kind of skin anyway :P. However, light blue is a little...I can't really pinpoint what the issue is, but I think it would just come across as weird. Perhaps I've never seen many light blue asian costumes before I suppose. I was planning to use purple. But I would use other colours of course. Complementary to vermillion I suppose. Backshadow is a good idea :)

At 12/20/09 01:50 PM, Batto wrote: made a coupl'a edits - hope they're useful. Just be sure to watch the proportions and should be fine.
also boobs'll cast shadows but I forgot to add those in xP

OMG THANKS BATTO! Tis real useful. I left out some details since the body would mostly be covered in loose cloth later, but I never thought of the need for armpit details before. Thanks for pointing that out. The anatomy correction is VERY WELL appreciated :).

I only noticed an issue with that issue with the calf that I was too lazy to fix, but I like how you edited the left foot.

However for the right foot I don't really get what you mean by those lines...If they're the new borders, isn't it a little too small? (The ball of the foot is okay)

Thanks for pointing out the hair too, it's just a placeholder hair for some traditional asian-style hair, but I never considered the hair movement. It looks so much nicer now that you've drawn a simple arc. damn! :D

The waist is quite a funny story. When in doubt, go a size smaller for the waist and a size larger for bewbies. Whoever you're modelling it on would be pleased. That's what I heard from an artist some time ago. heh. But I agree it's too sharp.

MORE PLEASE. I'll be starting costume research today. It really is a pain drawing free-flowing cloth. To make it dramatic, I can't even use realistic models since it's supposed to be ethereal. Draping it on the character is going to kill me. Not to mention lighting the many small folds and creases in such a light piece of cloth. Oh and did I mention translucency? :(

TL/DR:
1) Thanks guys! Great ideas!
2) Carp fin/fans not really working
3) Thanks Batto! Mostly great ideas! Very useful!
4) Costume DRAWING ideas! (How to draw light floaty translucent cloth with pencil easily?)

[Fifty-50]

Looks pretty good. The pose is just so wacky, in a good way. And that expression on her face just creeps me out. Nice style, it's very similar to mine.

[daryl2158]

At 12/20/09 10:08 PM, Fifty-50 wrote: Looks pretty good. The pose is just so wacky, in a good way. And that expression on her face just creeps me out. Nice style, it's very similar to mine.

Heh, well the face is a placeholder. Yes I suppose it's a little creepy, but the final drawing would be based on my friend's face. she has a nice non-creepy smile :D

The pose is actually quite common in Chinese Dance, and actually that very pose was what inspired me to start this project when I saw my friend practising her dance moves. Pity I don't have the photo, but here's a similar one I downloaded for reference online.

[daryl2158]

Okay I'm pretty much done with the costume research...most chinese dancers wear pants so as to show their legs, but it's not as nice as a skirt. So i decided to compromise and give her some stocking-esque stuff, and a robe open in the front.

Of course I had to add the pre-requisite loop of cloth, but then I decided to throw in some extra-long anti-grav loose ends from her waist belt just to add to that ethereal feel.

Don't mind the colours, they were randomly selected to contrast with each other so I can see better. Attached drawing is a very very rough sketch without any details yet. I plan to put peony prints on almost everything, once I confirm the rough design.

Did the rough work digitally so I could experiment with different styles of clothing, but I'm not very good at it. Prefer a traditional pencil ;).

Any suggestions on what else to add/modify?

TL/DR:

1) Very rough work for costume concept attached.
2) Suggestions pls!

[Batto]

At 12/20/09 09:45 PM, daryl2158 wrote:

However for the right foot I don't really get what you mean by those lines...If they're the new borders, isn't it a little too small? (The ball of the foot is okay)

glad it helped!
I felt that the arch of her foot was too big, but if a ref that you're using has it that size then you can ignore my lining there : )

Clothes are looking great too by the way

[daryl2158]

At 12/23/09 05:04 AM, Batto wrote: Clothes are looking great too by the way

Thanks! That's all the confirmation I need to start work on the actual drawing. :) First time drawing loose clothing though, hopefully I can get the folds and creases alright. Making the prints follow the folds is going to be a pain too, oh well.

[daryl2158]

uh oh, roadblock. I've just discovered that due to the wide pose of the figure, the character's face has to be...well, really really tiny. And I'm only working on a slightly-smaller than A3 sheet of paper.

It looked much larger on the computer...

If I wanted a decent sized face I'd probably need an A0 sheet of paper that's suitable for watercolour, something I've yet to see, actually.

Currently working with a .3 2B mechanical pencil...this is crazy. It's almost like precision surgery. Anybody got any ideas?

[daryl2158]

Hey all, sorry I left this thread to die, I was really sick for a week or so.

Finally got back to the drawing, and well, I pretty much left the face unfinished until I'm ready for the precision surgery.

I've finished with the fan and the sleeve though. Since I've NEVER done fabrics properly in my life, I don't know if they look right or not.

Anyone?

(Oh and pardon the really odd photo, I don't have an A3 scanner, and that was the best photo I can take at the moment.)

[daryl2158]

almost done but i screwed up the foot! it...doesn't even look like a foot. Forgot about Batto's excellent outlining edits, and tried to do it on my own. Apparently I really have major issues with feet.

Help please! Need someone to outline on top of this so I can see where to correct directly. Thanks!

[Batto]

mmk this is what i figure needs doing, glad my last outline helped so much ^^
little note - her thumb and index finger should be pushing against each other otherwise the fan would fall out of her hands, and remember there's another little semicircle thing past the joint where the flat stick things cross over.

love the pattern on her dress though! ^^

[daryl2158]

At 1/13/10 12:10 PM, Batto wrote: mmk this is what i figure needs doing, glad my last outline helped so much ^^
little note - her thumb and index finger should be pushing against each other otherwise the fan would fall out of her hands, and remember there's another little semicircle thing past the joint where the flat stick things cross over.

love the pattern on her dress though! ^^

Thanks Batto! This will help a lot once again. :D.

For the fingers, actually you can see a faint shadow of her other 3 fingers...the thumb is supposed to be pushing the fan against them and the index finger is simply aligned across the top edge.

As for the edges of the fan they're supposed to be dancing fans, so it's actually made of really light and soft cloth. But I get what you mean, and will extrude it a little to make it more 'wavy' instead of a clean arc.

As for the end bit sticking out of the fan...darn! Forgot all about it! not too sure how to fix it though...i'll sleep on it I suppose.

Once again thanks for your help! :D you're a lifesaver!

[Batto]

daryl haha anytime! Just be sure to post the final result; I want to see it ^^

[daryl2158]

@Batto sure thing, and I'll be sure to credit you once the final final product (maybe coloured!) goes up on the art portal!

I think I'm pretty much done with the drawing part I hope. Might make some last minute corrections after you guys critique it (if possible).

Image quality isn't awesome, given that my scanner has artifacts, and is way too small for this drawing. I had to scan it in parts, and stitch them together, AND try to match the contrast and brightness for all of them :(

I think I'm going to colour this digitally first, to get a rough idea of what colour scheme to use. Then I might colour the original...somehow. Might also add some backgrounds digitally. I think I'm gonna give up on the carp thing, the picture looks cluttered enough already.

Full-sized: http://www.newgrounds.com/dump/item/3b82 9ad357c6f441ba812e24e841cb26

[daryl2158]

At 1/14/10 10:31 AM, daryl2158 wrote: I think I'm going to colour this digitally first, to get a rough idea of what colour scheme to use.

Well, with Chinese New Year coming up and all, some of my friends suggested I should do a red-yellow colour scheme, so here it is! A concept piece, most likely. I'm thinking of putting a lakeside background in the final one, but I need a suitable colour scheme.

anyway, i'd like you guys to suggest alternate colour themes I can use! Each of the subobjects' colour can be adjusted independently btw, so it's no problem to experiment. :D

[daryl2158]

here's an example of a digital colouring I did, in which I actually liked the colour scheme :D. in this case the colour scheme is purple and pink and yellow, so yea.

[Batto]

At 1/17/10 03:21 AM, daryl2158 wrote:

anyway, i'd like you guys to suggest alternate colour themes I can use! Each of the subobjects' colour can be adjusted independently btw, so it's no problem to experiment. :D

wow! looking great ^^ I think the colour scheme is fine, you should leave it how it is : )

[daryl2158]

hi Batto! Actually I already did an alternate scheme. And actually I already finished it, it's up on the art portal...but I was still deliberating if I should notify you. Got pretty bad reviews, so I feel like I've let you down.

But I did take the negative reviews into account and am experimenting with blending techniques now. I started a thread about it, but I guess most people don't care about pencil. haven't gotten a reply yet.

[Batto]

At 1/21/10 10:56 AM, daryl2158 wrote: hi Batto! Actually I already did an alternate scheme. And actually I already finished it, it's up on the art portal...but I was still deliberating if I should notify you. Got pretty bad reviews, so I feel like I've let you down.

But I did take the negative reviews into account and am experimenting with blending techniques now. I started a thread about it, but I guess most people don't care about pencil. haven't gotten a reply yet.

Those reviews are just people's opinions. I think the skin looks really good and realistic personally. It's good that you've taken the negative parts into account though : ) Good luck with getting some good feedback with your new piece! ^^

[daryl2158]

At 1/21/10 11:41 AM, Batto wrote: Those reviews are just people's opinions. I think the skin looks really good and realistic personally. It's good that you've taken the negative parts into account though : ) Good luck with getting some good feedback with your new piece! ^^

Thanks! Will let you know when I'm done with the improvements!