Well, truth be told I'm jealous of all the people who can draw so well! So, even though I'm bogus at this sort of stuff, I tried my hand at a portrait of Tzekelkan, a Celestine Trill.

What do you think? I'd really appreciate some constructive criticism (keep in mind I have rarely, if ever, attempted to draw a humanoid form!)

its nice, but why all the blue lines going this way and that making it look like the cheshire cat? (I tease)

It's because I'm a Cheshire cat in disguise!

Oooo, not bad at all! I can't draw all that well either, but you and I have the same problem-- our wings aren't realistic. There's the common fantasy wing that never ever could fly, which is what you and I end up both drawing, and then there are real, useable wings. I spent more time on Everiine's wings the first time I ever tried to draw him and it was a disaster even -with- pictures of real bird wings in front of me. It's something we'll both need to study and work on.

Could you please post a link to the image with the wings you drew? I'm not specifically aiming for realism, but I see how it could help.

Also, my gripe with it is that he's a bit... short. I tried my best, but I couldn't make him taller without making him look too thin... he looks somewhat like a dwarf. With fantasy wings. And how's my shading? I tried to be consistent, but I find it impossible to do folds in the robe so the lighter part (our right-hand side of the picture) doesn't look too bland.

You see, Trill wings are vestigal - they fly by distorting gravity around themselves. No need for that annoying lifting and gliding!

I'm positive I don't have the picture with me here at school, and if I did, I would still have to think long and hard before posting that piece of junk . The last portrait of Ev I did was done in such a way that only a small portion of his wings was shown, eliminating the need to work on them. But if I draw them again soon I'll let you see.

What??

I like it. I'll agree that the proportions aren't quite right. For the size of the head, your body is quite short and it's giving the image a bit of a squashed appearance. Also, you don't have enough contrast in your shading. You basicly have two tones for the entire drawing which makes it look kind of two-dimensional and washed out.

But it's still a decent sketch. Espeically if you don't do a lot of drawing. Keep working on it. Stretch the body out some and work on your shading. The wings do need work too, but really, if you're wanting to keep the slightly 'cartoony' look you've got with the rest of the drawing, then the wings don't have to be flight perfect and what you've got works nicely. It's just the shading and line-work that needs a bit more practice.

Alright then!

But what about colouring the drawing? I'm not sure how good I am at it (presumably not transcendently awesome, so I think there's a slight chance I might completely ruin it. And when I say colouring, I mean pencil-colouring it, I've no software for this kind of thing and I don't paint.

I used cheapie colored pencils for my last. Looks good on paper but when scanned it looked less than admirable. Not sure what would be better to use.

The thing about art is you have to be ready to completely ruin a peice if you want to try something new with it. One thing I'd suggest is to make a line drawing first, then get some tracing paper and use it to transfer the line drawing to a few blank sheets of paper. That way you can try out different techniques on each one without losing the original outline of your drawing.

So you're suggesting that I add more tones to the shading? That could be done, I suppose. And what about the places I shaded? Have I missed any or have I shaded too much? The sleeves gave me the biggest troubles.

I'll try and work on the dimensions, maybe narrow a bit the lower part of the robes, or just stretch the body a bit more (shouldn't be too much more than this, right? I usually tend to overestimate modifications) And yes, definitely going with the cartoony look. It helps a lot since I can't draw a face to save my life. Whenever I try it looks either evil or Asian.



I'll try and do that, just have to find the time. Actually was thinking of copying the outline once, without shades, scanning it and then printing it. That way I could have an endless supply of backup copies!

@Everiine: I'll check your artisanal entries then.

Heh, won't find any. I finally submitted one last month, the others were so bad I didn't want to submit them. Though right now I'm working on Hirarae art, so hopefully I'll start submitting things there too.

Nah, the places you shaded are fine. Really good and consistant even. It's just that it's all the same tone so it creates very little actual depth. Do the shading darker in the deeper parts (like inside the hood and rounding the edges of things, and lighter nearer the edge of the 'light' and in between in between. Shading is the hardest part of drawing really.

Yeah, I can see what you mean... gotta find a right pencil to do it then, since I won't make it with a mechanical pencil, eh?

And the contrast is low because I don't like pushing down when I draw... I'm very undecisive, so I tend to erase a lot. But the problem with this is that when I try and shade (I just draw straight lines and then rub my finger over them, dunno if there's any other method) the edges get even more blurry. I'm not sure if I should leave it like that or have clearly defined edges on the character (and I find that the wings are a nightmare to shade).

You just need practice. And actually a mechanical pencil can be really good for drawing because the led is so narrow you're guaranteed fine lines if you want them, just have to work a bit harder for dark lines. And smudge shading is alright for charcoals and dry pastels, but for pencil work you should really try to use it sparingly. The best method of shading is simply to push harder to create a darker line and ease the pressure to create a lighter line.

Of course, I'm channeling several of my art teachers with that advice! Really though, smudging ain't a bad way to smooth out your shading, but you do need to use darker and lighter pencil work as well.

I don't know where I got it or how long I've had it, but you can buy a shader pencil (no idea what they are actually called). Instead of using your finger you use it, and it blends the pencil quite nicely.

So you can use a mechanical pencil for shading? Seemed unnatural to me... but don't worry, I'll take your teachers' advice and adopt a more sparingly used smudge shading technique.




Well, I don't want to get that deep into the arts, you know. I'm more of a scientific nature to be honest, never had an arts class in my life (maybe when I was really young, but those hardly count). Just want to try the Artisanal contest!

Your character looks ridiculous, and thusly you too are ridiculous. Congratulations.

(don't take it personally, i'm spewing hate tonight)

Yay, the patch WORKED (at least temporarily).