[Cogito]

[ July 28, 2002: Message edited by: Cogito ]

[Ian Jones]

There's not much to say really, this pic is at a very early stage. I would suggest that you work on your own for a while, dont show us until you think you are at a level where you are ready for critique and need help. Work on your own and figure out some of the basics yourself. At the moment I think you should restrain yourself from posting, even though I know that feeling where you want to just show someone your work no matter what, just restrain yourself for a while. Otherwise ppl will get angry at 'Newbie members posting thousands of Newbie pics'. I'm not trying to be mean, just trying to safeguard you from any agro.

I will give you some suggestions anyway. Bit of a pep talk really, I hope you learn something useful from this:

Work on your drawing a lot more before attempting any colouring or painting. Sketch with a real pencil and scan in drawings to start with until you get the hang of the tablet.

The hierarchy of painting goes 'Drawing > Values > Colour' in that order. Drawing is of most importance because without an accurate and well constructed basis, no amount of beautiful rendering is going to help fix a flaw in the underlying structure. Same thing goes for 'values', you need to get the tones correct before considering colour. Are you understanding all of that? Just ask if you want me to exlain any terminology.

If you are going to leave lines in your final pic (like you have here) then consider varying the 'line weight' to help describe the form.

'Line weight' means the thickness or boldness of a line. You would use a thick or thin line in a variety of situations. For example:

Light & Shade - Draw a thick line in an area of shadow, for example the underside of an arm would have a thick line if there was a light shining from above...and the upper side of the arm would have a thinner line, almost non existant line in a very intense light. This helps to suggest areas of light and shadow and ultimately the form of your object or character.

Bulk & Weight - You can use different thicknesses of lines to suggest an objects weight, or a part of its weight & bulk. for example you would draw a thick line for a big powerful thigh muscle and a thin delicate line for something smaller and delicate like a nose. This helps a viewer to figure out the scale of objects as they relate to each other and their apparent bulk & mass.

Depth & Perspective: You can also utilise different line thicknesses to suggest a sense of space and depth. For example, you would draw objects in the distance with thin lines because they are a distance away from the viewer and you would draw objects in the foreground with thicker lines because they are nearer to the viewer. This sticks to the rules of perspective.

Spatial relationships: You can also use different line thicknesses to suggest the distance between objects and spatial relationships, for example you would draw a thick line for an object that overlapped something in the background, not just because it is in the foreground like I explained above, but also to suggest the distance between the objects. This is very similar to what I said above about Depth & Perspective, except that you use a larger difference between the line thicknesses if your objects are a large distance apart. Kind of like contrast, the bigger the difference the more contrast. You would then use a similar line thickness if you had two objects that were close together. So this theory does infact fit within the Depth & Perspective idea, but you can break that rule a bit in the interests of emphasis and contrast if you like.

I kind of wrote more than I intended to then.. but I just got on a roll.

Hope that helps.

[B0b]

just do what most ppl do with a tablet.. draw anything and everything for a while til u get the hang of it.. then give yourself a simple project and build from there... no need to try and run b4 u can walk

[Cogito]

Thanks Ian, very helpful m8. Appreciate it alot!

I guess I'll keep practicing... Didnt know if it was okay to post my first drawing or not. I know not to until I atleast get 80% better haha. Thanks for the replies!

[Cillian]

Well I think for a wacom its like begining to relearn to draw. I agree with all the steps that were posted earlier, but the other thing that I've found is to look out for some tutorials, and looking at other peoples work really helps. Here are some cites to get you started.
http://www.epilogue.net/art/tech/
http://www.asurfael.net/tutorials/fur/
http://www.comiccolors.com/frame_tutorials.html
http://www.gameart.com/tutorials/
http://www.planetphotoshop.com/
http://www.howtodrawmanga.com
http://www.figma.com/soca/soca_topic.mv?topic=LIFDRW
http://www.sumaleth.com/links/
http://www.seegmiller-art.com/tutorial.htm
http://www.wetcanvas.com/ArtSchool/Digital/PhotoshopSuit/

thoose should keep you going. I'm only new to this aswell and keep going back to them, just for ideas tips things as such. Its all a learning experience, just keep at it.

[Loxley]

Gah, thats terrible!

[Asurfael]

Uhm, my tutorial was mentioned Anyway, if you do happen to find the tutorial to be of any help, remember, I don't post on sijun. I don't consider myself to be good enough. I've posted 4 drawings here, all on some speed painting threads where my horrible attempts won't be noticed that much.

I've been drawing digitally for around 6 months, of which 2 months with a tablet. I work hard, and try to keep my bad sketches/first drawings to myself. I think it'll take me at least 1 year (probably a lot more) to get to the level where I'd feel comfortable posting here.

The point I'm trying to make, even if your drawings suck, they should at least look like you've really put your effort to it. And if you do everything you can do about an image, and it still doesn't look like the other good art here, don't post it. I know that people have spent weeks on a drawing, and still haven't posted them because they felt the drawings weren't good enough. And those people are a lot better than I am, or than you are. Your 30 minutes of time just doesn't have the attention paid to it. Probably, 80% better won't be enough either (well, depending on how you judge the art). Go to http://www.goodbrush.com to see some art that's really good. Or visit http://www.jdillon.net . When you get to the level of Julie Dillon, start to consider about posting.

There are plenty of artforums that are suitable for newbie/intermediate artists to post art at (such as myself). You might want to try and search them through google or something. I know I've found plenty of good ones that way.

Anyhow, just practice, if you've got it in you you'll be intermediate after a short while, but becoming a good artist, that takes years or a lifetime.

[Cogito]

Thanks Cillian for all the Urls mate I'll find those very useful.

Loxley: 3 words eh? Think you can make it a little shoter next time?

Asurfael: I think I get the drift. This is a no-loser art forum. Hell, for my first wacom drawing, I consider it to be an "OK" job. But I wont post anymore, for I am not worthy. After all, whats an art forum where only masters of the art can gloat with themsevles eh? I find this place useful, I'll continue to watch, but I wont post anymore. Oh and here's a tip from me to you(Asurfael) - To shorten your whole post there...."Let's Make a Deal: The contestant is Cogito and the deal is, "Here's five bucks if you go away."


Thanks to those who actually posted useful comments. Extremely appreciated.

[Asurfael]

I didn't mean that go away... Just don't post that level art Heck, I hang around here and I can't draw. What would the forum be without any new people joining? Just that... You need selfcriticism, that's pretty much all. Unfortunately, some of the artists do just "gloat" about their art or let it be without bothering to reply to their own threads, but this is probably mainly due to the lack of level of art on this forum. Sijun is (was) a place for the art gods to discuss, and help each other improve (not claiming to be an art god myself ). And I, amongst others, wish it could stay that way.

[Ian Jones]

Hi again.

Ignore the three word fool. I hate shit stirrers like Loxley.

You can post more if you want, but it would be nice to see some more development work of a pic so that when you ask for critique we don't need to go over something you could have done yourself with a bit more time and effort. I don't mind writing out a whole schpiel like that occaisionally, but I would go mad if I did it for everyone.

I think you get the point, but don't run off! hang around, you seem like a nice guy.

[Loxley]

Im not interested in making personal attacks. I just call em as I see em. There are more than enough people to powder your ass as it is.

[Ian Jones]

Loxley: You've got it wrong. You came into this thread, he asked for constructive critique. It doesn't matter if it is good or bad, whatever the case you can say it like it is... but for god's sake tell him why! be constructive. Need I point out the word CONSTRUCTIVE, if I could change the font size so you would see that better...*sigh*

[Loxley]

Thats what youre there for.

[mannela]

I think Ian said it all.
Just keep it up. None is perfect in the beginning. Keep on practising, that's the way to learn.

Btw, those tutorials listed before are helpful but in case you're interested in drawing portraits (or just about any art with faces) you should definitely take a look at http://www.portrait-artist.org

[ July 29, 2002: Message edited by: mannela ]

[Cogito]

Thanks Ian I'll keep drawing and learning as I go along. I'm enjoying myself too much. When I think I have a well balanced piece, that I have worked on for a long time and that actually looks like real art, I'll post. Until then, I'll keep doing tutorials/drawing/reading etc.