Some advice please

[fizzlerr]

i want to know what improvements i should make to my art so that i might one day be in the art portal. this is one of my works but there are more on my account page( Fizzlerr's page ). please give me some advice worth reading.

[Re2deemer]

Two simple things that would improve the presentation of your drawings would be colouring them and strengthening the contrast. You can do both with a standard photo editing software (Photoshop, GIMP, Paint.NET...).
The first one will make your drawings easier to look as the lines are easier to see. Just look for a Levels or Curves tool (maybe Brightnes and Contrast) somewhere within the software and then fiddle around.
The second one is a bit more-time-consuming but tends to pay off more. Remember - you don't have to just colour whatever you depicted, you can make the whole image more interesting to look. One method is to make the otherwise grey/black lines colourful. Alternative is to add textures. For instance, this image combines colouring with textures in the background.

These two steps will only improve your presentation though. There is no shortcut to being awesome at art.

[Zombie-Eskimo]

That sir, is a badass looking umbreon =]

[Knocturne]

Kay, start off with a sketch, build a skeleton and work the anatomy around that. You have some neat ideas, as far as your characters and their clothes and concepts just need to be anatomically improved.

I think you should spend some time thinking about the character's positioning too, they are all kinda static (even this umbreon looking one). Shading and colouring can be improved, think about which way light is coming from and kinda press that into your drawings

[fizzlerr]

ok well here are some charactors... doing something... its probably not quite what you ment though. any advice for this pic?

[Little-Eise]

While I agree with Re2deemer's assessment, some things should be fixed before you add any color. The main problem I see is the picture's lack of depth, which can be fixed in this picture by shading and correcting the umbreon's perspective. You should probably fix the perspective before you add shading to avoid some headaches later on.

On perspective: things that are further away from the viewer should be smaller than things that are closer. For example: The back wing shouldn't be larger than the front, and the ears and arms shouldn't be the same length. Just do what you did with the feet.

For the first layer, the shading looks pretty good. My main complaint is that there is no variation in your shading, so the umbreon looks flat. Take for example the front wing and arm. Because there is no variation in your shading, you really can't tell where the body ends and the wing or arm begins. The same goes for the back ear, except in this instance it looks like the ear is come straight out of the top of the umbreon's head. Also, for something dark like an umbreon, you need to add more layers of shading.

As I'm finishing this up, I'd like to reiterate on Knocturne's point about static composition. Your umbreon really doesn't look like it's flying; it looks like it is standing on the ground with its wings stretched uncomfortably vertical. Look at this and this. Which one looks more interesting? The second one, of course. Unlike the first one, the second bat is seen from a more dynamic angle and is in the midst of a downward stroke of its wings.

I really hope this helps.

[smartesthere]

You'll need to tweak the perspective slightly- you've got the feet sorted, just adjust the wings and arms.
Also it's very flat- add some shading or cross-hatching to bring out the depth. Don't worry about colour too much, sometimes a B&W sketch can look a lot better.

but it's a nice attempt all the same- just keep trying

[fizzlerr]

anythig spicific about what kind of poses my charactors should be in?

[Little-Eise]

At 6/9/10 05:25 PM, fizzlerr wrote: anythig spicific about what kind of poses my charactors should be in?

Honestly that is completely up to you.

Create a back story for your character and keep his or her personality, mannerisms, and relationships in mind.