The Artist Army

[Ciriun]

@Crazyclaw+

The pose looks more like he's either landing or dancing to me. I think if you want him to be launching off the ground you'd probably want the shoulders lower and the heel of the foot he's pushing off with off the ground. But as mentioned, your best bet is to find references of the pose you're looking for and work from there.

@THEOrnithologist

What I notice most in the first one is the lack of a shadow being cast on the ground. The shading around the edge of your figure makes them pop, but doesn't make them look like they're part of the whole image. Ditto for the leaves. There's also something a little off about the forelegs, but I can't place what.

For your second one, it looks like more of a bust than a headshot except for the lack of arms. I would suggest either cropping it closer to the neck, or drawing the arms in.

The last one looks really good. I love the pose and expression on it.

--------------------------

Hey guys, I'm back and I am super proud of this one. Except the shading, because I still can't shade to save my life. As you can see it is a pudgy little doll type figure. So yeah, critique away and redlines are welcome, please pardon the watermark. The mitten hands are intentional so no fingers or feet this time. It's currently gender neutral, but I would love if anyone is willing to add breasts and/or pecs.

[MenheraCollie]

@SolarDæmon
I have to agree with @Ciriun on some of their points, however, I feel that the face looks fine seeing as it is stylized to a point. I'd like to add though, the white cat's tail looks a bit broken and a bit to highly placed on it's body (from what I can tell). I also feel that the grey cat was more of an after thought, meaning it was just placed there with small strands drawn over it with no thought. Overall the picture is great even with the small flaws. Hopefully myself and others were able to help you a bit.

[kristenn11]

@Fright
The only thing that I would like to focus on with your art is the hands. The character seems to be holding the bottle with two figures instead of the whole hand. A good way to correct this would to go get a water bottle, hold it, and use that as a ref to draw a character holding something.

Alright, so I'm new to this thread, so I sure hope I'm doing this right. I started getting into drawing about 5 days ago, so I am obviously a beginner. I'm going to post two pieces below. I'd love any critique because I hope to make my art better.

This first piece is Zuko and Aang from Avatar: The Last Avatar as cats (they are the first animal I am focusing on learning to draw). I already know the whole fire and air thing is pretty messed up, so any advice on how to make that better would be great.


Next is just an OC I decided to make yesterday. With this one, I know the head shape is odd and one thing I'd love to fix would be the eyes.

[NizoLuv]

ive been having trouble with sai and my tablet.
my tablet works fine on my laptop until i open sai. Then it won't respond unless i close it or minimize it.
I've already uninstalled and reinstalled the drivers countless times since last night and redownloaded sai. Still no luck.

Does anyone know of any way to fix this? Or any free art programs similar to sai that i can use instead?
I have a couple commissions and gifts i need to finish but cant and its stressing me out haha.

[gwanu]

ive been having trouble with sai and my tablet.
my tablet works fine on my laptop until i open sai. Then it won't respond unless i close it or minimize it.
I've already uninstalled and reinstalled the drivers countless times since last night and redownloaded sai. Still no luck.

Does anyone know of any way to fix this? Or any free art programs similar to sai that i can use instead?
I have a couple commissions and gifts i need to finish but cant and its stressing me out haha.

nothing too similar to SAI, but there's firealpaca, mypaint, krita and more.
personally i've not tried roughly half of them but i'm sure they're usable.

sometimes that happens to me with certain programs that i use. i also need to buy pen refills because this last fill is scratching my tablet.

[Silverhart]

Wow! I should've found this thread a long time ago! ^^

Anyway, awkward introduction, but hi! I'm Silverhart, and I'm an artist. XP I mainly dabble in pencil and charcoal, occasionally digital, pastel, and oil paint. I've been taking classes in classical techniques for almost a year now. My main interest lies in animals and caricature, but I'm challenging myself to learn the human figure, and I also enjoy doing still life studies. I doubt I'll post much of my own art, but I'm more then happy to discuss art in general, or offer advice or opinions. I can be pretty opinionated, but I believe everyone is capable of becoming a great artist if they have the patience and determination.

[emberonis]

Hey guys! Long time no see, I'm not here very often. I'm hoping to change that x3

@Silverhart: Hello! Welcome x3 I haven't played with half of those mediums, I need to get out more xD (or off the computer more?)
Anyways, I'm actually working on the human figure now too. Not very good at it yet, but... that's what practice is for, right? Best of luck to you!

@Kristen: Hey! It's great to hear that you've just started drawing, welcome to uh.. being an artist? idk xD but anyways, people drawing stuff always makes me happy x3

Your drawings are really great for just recently starting! The one thing I'd suggest is to look up a bunch of references for cats. Remember that it's not cheating to use references, it's a part of the learning process. ouo

Cats tend to have smaller noses, and smaller muzzles. Their faces are relatively flat compared to dogs and other animals. As for the eyes, your best bet is to go look up some references of cats in profile and study them, draw from them, etc.

I tend to go to deviantart for references, and look under resources and stock images. It's often pretty easy to find what you need there, for example, here are the results for cats. If you find a picture you'd like to use for a reference, make sure to check the owner's stock rules, and to credit them properly. :3

[Crazyclaww]

@fright
Oh thanks!! :0
That's a pretty good help dude


@SolarDæmon
ahh I think you misunderstood :{
The pose bouncy thing wasn't really the problem, just mostly the back.
And I had mentioned the 'clunky' bit was intentional.
I appreciate the help though, that's a nice pose sheet.

I love your colouring style to PIECES!!
The background's beautiful, I do suggest tidying it up, but otherwise it's really captivating :^D
The shading style you did on the fur is creative and fun to look at.
Though the snouts do look a bit off, I could see some practice in use there.
Maybe round them out and make the noses more prominent?
The poses are very unique and flow well with the environment!
Only one nitpick-- the paler cat's bottom legs seem to stem off from the body unnaturally.
Majorly just the leg farthest from the viewer.
Maybe sketch out a skeleton of the pose over your pic to check for anatomy errors?


@THEOrnithologist
Thanks for the help!

Really cute style :^]
The way you do paws/feet is interesting
and I really like the background work in the first example.
Maybe try doing some other angles of the face?


@Ciriun
Not really my aim, but yeah look at refs is a good idea.

Nice pose, really cute start <3
I did a little redline cause my ideas were hard to illustrate though words hehe


@Kristen
Hehe that was my pic, not Fright's.
I see though, I was just doodling around for that aspect of the pic :b
He'd have to have some some pretty hardcore fingers to hold a glass bottle like that.

I'm not sure how to help you out, but I love the colouring on your second pic a lot <3
One great exercise for understanding the faces isn't just in research and refs and stuff
But it also helps to draw from different angles and practice tons of expressions.

[Oddly Shaded]

Drew my character Faceless. She's kind of a representation of the light eaten by the dark (hense forth she becomes grey scale). The lines throughout the 'shading' nowadays have a 2nd meaning, but i'll leave it open for interpretation. I first drew Faceless in 2013 and went on from there. But yeah. I use her for my vent art because I seem to become epic at drawing people all of a sudden when I have to draw her... Weird right?? Anyway!! Thought I'd share since I haven't in a while...

[Caelus]

Drew my character Faceless. She's kind of a representation of the light eaten by the dark (hense forth she becomes grey scale). The lines throughout the 'shading' nowadays have a 2nd meaning, but i'll leave it open for interpretation. I first drew Faceless in 2013 and went on from there. But yeah. I use her for my vent art because I seem to become epic at drawing people all of a sudden when I have to draw her... Weird right?? Anyway!! Thought I'd share since I haven't in a while...

the way you did her hair is beautiful wow