I quite like how this turned out, although it's true the eyes could have been defined in a more subtle manner, as could some of the other outlining. Not very creative or original, but I'm still happy with it.
Had my last final exam of the semester this morning, so I whipped this up in my temporarily free time. Might get a couple more in as warm-up drawings before working on my thesis animation which will take up the rest of my winter break. Guh.... please let me graduate already... Anyway, this was Illustrator & Photoshop, and it got a little pixelated while uploading. Hmm... how does everyone upload vector stuff and keep it looking pretty? 'cause technically I guess mine was at some point before my computer pooped it out as a .png :[
Oooo~ thanks Lupr! This looks better than having a separate thread. I should've looked around first. Well, this is where I'll post my art from now on. Can that even include sketches? Not too rough, but collections. I'll have more time to work on stuff after my mock exams next week!
Anything at all. Sketches, WIPs, concepts, doodles, anything pony related belongs here. Any questions about art, any advice or critique is always welcome. As I said on your deviantART, looking forward to seeing your stuff. I really like that avatar, man. Not only is it Rarity, but it's actually got me d'awwing. Yeah, me. The one who can't stand chubbies and cute stuff yet loves the sickest kind of grimdark. What have you done to me?!
Strange, the same has happened to me... I seem to love your art, especially the grimdark stuff, and I'm not a big fan of that. May I also ask what program you use? Is it SAI or GIMP (im not familiar nor fond of both)? I use OpenCanvas because it's free. :derpe: Critique is welcomed, I love critique! I hate just getting "it looks really good" and that's it, because they don't justify why, nor do they supply me with any inspiration to carry on. Thank you for the compliment. Might do some sketches tonight.
SAI. I feel no need to upgrade to Photoshop, and I've not actually tried GIMP. Smae goes for OpenCanvas, I really should try these out. I'm with you on critique as well. Hearing things about what I could improve on and what I've done well are really important to me as I try to get better, and as nice is it is to hear compliments, I do prefer constructive criticism. Hopefully we can get all the artists together in this thread, get something of a niche going on.
Add ArtRage to the list of programs I'm not familiar with, as well as the sublist of ones I've never heard of. I can see improvement though, mainly in the structure of the face. How's it going with references and skeletons, and the like?
I drew that because I've seen Kyubeys and dogs sit in that position all the time, so it was etched into my memory. I'm getting there with skeletons, though I really should use them more. I'll use more references in the near future. Eyes STILL latch onto my sanity and rip it to pieces, though.
Eyes are a real pain. From what I've learned, they dictate the positioning of the whole face. It's best to start with them in my experience, although that may not work for you. As for skeletons and references, Virgil is simply amazing at working them. If you go on Everypony's YouTube channel, there's an interview with him in which he talks about things like that. Maybe worth a watch. Back to eyes though, this is a very early WIP that wouldn't mean much, but it's actually pretty important. After playing around with pony faces for a while, I think I've finally found a structure I'm happy with. Obviously the eyes are slightly warped due to the 3rd eye, but the general build is something I plan on using as something of a default.
Cheers Pixel, glad you like it. I'm at a stage where I keep pushing out a ton of WIPs, but I'm not finishing any of them. Where I haven't drawn in quite a while, I haven't been learning or developing enough, so it's actually probably for the best if I keep this up for now. You don't have to finish something to gain experience. Here are two WIPs. I did this round about the same time as the Applejack with 3 eyes. I've not even touched either since I shared them. The other way around. Which orientaton looks best? I figured upside down was more different, but some might think it looks stupid. It's hard to attach to upside down faces, it's just how the mind works. Anyway, something I started about half an hour ago or so, I'm not sure. It's Christmassy, isn't it? But yeah, this is what it looks like when I'm working on something. Not sure where I was going with this, I was just kind of going through the motions without thinking about what I was doing. Still, I hope to keep at it, and use what I've learned to turn it into something worthwhile.
Upside down looks better to me. Geez thats a lot of layers, I only ever use about 7. I still need to work on proportions and shading. Almost forgot the eyes. I hate eyes. So freaking annoying to do.
Yeah, I do use a lot of layers. It can become a bit confusing at times, but it does mean that I'll never worry about doing temporary lines and permanent lines on the same layer, i.e. realising you've done rough linework on the same layer as the final detail. That sucks. With you on the first two. Proportions and anatomy are my learning priority by far, I'm really not that strong on them. I'm better at shading, but being colourblind means I have to work extra hard on developing that skill. As for eyes, eyes are personal. If you try to draw a 'default' eye, you'll only end up getting it wrong most of the time. I know because I did this for ages. It was only when I did that Applejack piece (coincidentally) did I make my own guidelines for the face, and therefore eyes. If I was a vector artist and thus drew in the style of the show, it would be a different story. However, since I'm not, I can personalise the ponies' anatomy and structure to how I see fit. Same goes for eyes, try and find your own shape. What I did was literally just start drawing skulls. Not actual skulls, just shapes that represented ponies in some way. Started with a muzzle, then worked from there. I advise at least trying that. Build your own face, and see how that turns out. It also helps you develop a signature style. EDIT: How did I miss this? I don't even have anything to say on how amazing this is.
I did that once, but I never planned on finishing that one, so it was fine. Maybe I'll give that a try. Doing show eyes are just rage inducing. As for my shading, it's better then when I started, but I still feel that it's lacking. Practice makes perfect, guess I should practice more.
This, this so much. Oh my God this. Practice all the time. Even when your art is horrible and nothing you do is good, keep doing it. Keep doing stuff you can't do, as well. Push yourself. If you do something you'd usually think 'Oh that's way too difficult, if I try that it will be an embarrassment' keep doing it. You'll fail, and fail hard, but it's the only way you'll get experience. Don't feel every piece you have to do is to impress someone, it can exist just to serve your development as an artist. It doesn't have to be framable in anyway, just as long as you realise and discover things about your technique, it's all that matters. Awesome thing about art is there's no 'level' at which you're awesome. You just keep getting better and better. Don't be afraid to fail, that will limit and stagnate you.
Lupr, this is why I love you. Failure is the one thing I hate. I will avoid anyway possible. I slowly, I mean very slowly starting to get over it. I know the first time I touched my tablet I wasn't going to be draw like slugbox, crappyunicorn or sweatshirt. That is a goal of mine reach their level maybe even pass them. So I try to tell myself fail, fail a lot. I also need to stop trying to copy people. I see a style I like and try to mimick it 100%. Well hopefully in the next few days I'll put up some pics. -- Sent from my Palm Pre using Forums
