Artist Army {old thread}

[Atomic Blue]

aide note; I really want to learn digital painting, I kind of want to stray away from line-art and hard edges. I want to get out of this comfort zone, but not really sure where to start...Any advice/tips anyone? D:[/size]

Sketch and just splat colour on that. (or go black and white and work up your light and shadows) Work on one layer and just keep building up. I don't know, for me it's just doing it and doing it again and again. It's not really different from working with lineart although rendering I suppose does take more effort (in my opinion)
I guess try not to expect it to look good when you're first starting out. Same principle for any art: work really big if you want lots of detail. Just my two cents, I guess. Keep experimenting and you'll find something you like sooner or later, right?

[kivr & fireflii]

aide note; I really want to learn digital painting, I kind of want to stray away from line-art and hard edges. I want to get out of this comfort zone, but not really sure where to start...Any advice/tips anyone? D:[/size]

Sketch and just splat colour on that. (or go black and white and work up your light and shadows) Work on one layer and just keep building up. I don't know, for me it's just doing it and doing it again and again. It's not really different from working with lineart although rendering I suppose does take more effort (in my opinion)
I guess try not to expect it to look good when you're first starting out. Same principle for any art: work really big if you want lots of detail. Just my two cents, I guess. Keep experimenting and you'll find something you like sooner or later, right?

this is how I also do it, I just sketch out first, then just start putting base colors above the sketch.
I gradually build up from that, putting the shadow first then the highlights.

[azalea]

Aza - ouo <33
Ahaha, that crit was actually really helpful. Cx
I don't draw big cats too often, so it made it a lot easier to see my mistakes. And pshaw, your wording was totally comprehensive. <3
I did notice that in your last design, the way the mane peaks makes the rest of the mane look... Awkward? I think it'd be helpful to make the rest of it a bit fluffier. Also, the cheeks look a little too puffy and the eyes look a little more canine than feline... Possibly because he doesn't have that dark "tearmark" thing that lions have. If that makes any sense. XD
But the expression is seriously adorable, and I absolutely love Tupaco! <3

You're welcome! c: <3
Mm yea, I agree. I tried to make it look like a tiny mohawk LOL like he gelled it or something cause he's a bad boy ///shot but it just came out a bit awkward eue...and the fluffy cheek thing xD toki told me about that but I forgot about it until I finished it. sadfais. :'c Agreed on the eyes too, definitely would have helped if I made the tear marks longer. Thanks again for the crit! :'D <3

aide note; I really want to learn digital painting, I kind of want to stray away from line-art and hard edges. I want to get out of this comfort zone, but not really sure where to start...Any advice/tips anyone? D:[/size]

Sketch and just splat colour on that. (or go black and white and work up your light and shadows) Work on one layer and just keep building up. I don't know, for me it's just doing it and doing it again and again. It's not really different from working with lineart although rendering I suppose does take more effort (in my opinion)
I guess try not to expect it to look good when you're first starting out. Same principle for any art: work really big if you want lots of detail. Just my two cents, I guess. Keep experimenting and you'll find something you like sooner or later, right?

That makes sense. I've actually tried painting before, and gotten it where I was happy with it, but I couldn't recreate that feeling very well, it just frustrated me a lot and I gave up for awhile xD; Thanks for the help! c:

[Harpalyce]

I'm not good at digital painting at all, but to be honest, my advice is "keep working on it".

Art's sort of like a pendulum. There will be many points during which it will look absolutely horrible. You just have to keep. on. going. I haven't done any digital painting without heavily referencing another picture as far as light source goes. Usually I do a quick sketch based on the photograph, then lay down general base colors underneath, then the first round of shadows and highlights to get the face shapes defined, then I hide the sketch later and work on many layers of shadows/highlights while looking every so often at the reference picture.

DON'T BE AFRAID TO USE COLOR, especially in skin tones and shadows of skin tones.

Here's some WIPs of my most recent attempt at digital painting if you'd like to see. Please take my advice with a grain of salt, though - I am VERY MUCH not an expert and I've only attempted such things a few times!





And this was my reference:


edited so they aren't so godawful huge, sorry!

[Ditzy Doo]

*Le sigh*

I want to make a book about humans, any advice? X3

Nice pictures everyone.

[Harpalyce]

I want to make a book about humans, any advice? X3

What sort of advice are you looking for? Writing or visual arts?

Really, my advice as far as writing goes is to start with strong, well-rounded, complex characters. Make them balanced. Then toss all those characters in somewhere and ask yourself what would happen. The best plot ideas arise organically from character interaction.

[Ditzy Doo]

Ah, It's going to be a fantasy-type thing. But it's like...a war. X3

[Harpalyce]

Advice is double applicable, then. Figure out who your characters are, what their motivations are, what kind of growth they're going to have throughout the story, what their strengths and weaknesses are, what they have to overcome.... and then set that in your story.

'Fantasy war-type thing' sounds like an easy plot, but as a writer it's going to be your rather tough job to get your readers to give 2 craps about what's going on. Writing dramatically about the elves and dwarves of whateveristan is all well and good but unless the readers feel like they're getting pulled in, and can root for someone (not even a specific side, but character(s) - see Zuko's character development in A:TLA before the end of book 3 for a good example of a 'villain we can root for').

[meveh]

Murr, I would comment on some one else's post, but everything has either already been covered, or asking for help on a topic I'm no good with. >.>

---

I've been secretly drawing humans recently, hehe. I decided I should probably learn my own kind's anatomy sooner or later. So, I'd really like help with what I've just sketched. I'm kind of surprised I managed to draw this without looking up any reference. xD
*boop*
Would you mind giving me some advice, someone? Perhaps a redline if you have time? :3

[Cannec]

Ok, I shortened his legs and fixed his ears a bit, also I colored it cause I was bored.