[patrick]

Cool, I am totally stoked about how well this came out (to myamateur eyes anyways). I am so stoked, I'm going to show the three steps it took to get there. I dont normally do this, but I'm hopin some of you pro's can fill in some blanks for me to make my work even better.

Step 1. Get a cool sketch that doesnt blow chunks to start off with. I doodled this in about 5 minutes at a size of roughly 2 inches, then blew it up and changed it. It originally was just a long haired girl in a tank top, but a friend asked me to draw a sidekick for his Elf warrior in another thread, so i modified her to look like this.



Step 2. Blew it up even larger and cleaned it up and inked it, then scanned it into PS.



Step 3. Really took my time and tried to color it using all the helpful tips i have gotten from this and other great forums. And here she is!!! Yeahhh for me!!



As I said, any helpful extra steps or tips for future reference will be greatly appreciated and integrated.

Thanks in advance.

[Dryfire]

hmm looks pretty good.. although you should make the shadow gradient longer... fade the shadow out more on her arms/cleavage to make them both more three dimensional

good job :-)

[Keto]

i like the first step the best, because they eyes are smaller, i think eye lids would help cause i think she looks kinda alienly freakish.

as far as color i agree with dryfire, you used dodge/burn tool right? did you lay down the flat color then dodge/burn that? (casue that is what it looks like). dload and watch Bobo_the_seals vid tut it is beuatiful and clued me in to a lot of techniques. i would recommend starting with gray, dodge/burn that(make it smooth and gradient-like) then lay color over that on a new layer, for skin tone, try a little Bobo_the_seal style where you softlight air-brushed purples to blues to reds to oragnes (darkest places to lightest).

the first one is great and i see you have a good amount of skill, and she does look like an elf-warrior (looks nimble but also like she could kick your ass)

- Keto

PS- i think you did the cloth/fabric very well.

[ October 16, 2001: Message edited by: Keto ]

[patrick]

Hey, thanks guys for the comments.

Dryfire: Thats kind of funny that you mention the shadows, if you've seen my other post in the WIP "Bravely posting a finished work" You see I hardly used shadows at all and got commented, so the fact that you mentioned the shadows, means I must have done it better than last time. Thanks, I will certainly keep an eye on that.

Keto: Umm, actually, I dont even know what Dodge Burn means, I havent found that tool yet in PS. I simply used multiply and Screen over my colors. I actually keep forgetting to save my base colors as a flat before I start shading, which I KNOW is going to bite me in the butt one day.
Where can I find this booboo seals tuts, they sound intriguing. I'm always open for instruction and help.
Thanks for the comment on the cloth, I liked the way it ccame out too.

[Freddio]

Welldone on a nice artwork..

yea, the eyes seem a little funky, maby have a look at a few refernces to correct this..
anatomy looks rather tight, maby the area below her breasts needs some work..
the lighting could be more dynamic, eg more tonal range. The image sort of doesnt support the lightsource if you know what I mean
Also one other thing green and brown does not go, heh... I would change that around.. (but that is subjective)
All in all good job, don't be afraid to use references now and then (its the only way to learn how to draw things corectly) draw from life as much as possible..
Be sure to take a look at Spooges "lesson threads" this should help your lighting.

Well done... I really like it.

[ October 17, 2001: Message edited by: Freddio ]

[jeffery]

you picked a difficult angle to draw a head at, so i'd have to say i like the body best in your drawing. the breasts look like she's wearing a wonderbra, but men & women worldwide agree that's not bad.

back to the head: most of the facial features aren't in perspective. the nose looks like we're viewing it from below, while we're actually looking down from above. the eyes also don't look like you're viewing them from above. the mouth is on the side of the face, like it's a profile, while the rest of the head is at a 45-degree angle.

i think the reason for this is that you didn't lay out the basic shapes before starting to work on the details. it's important to understand the planes that make up a head, and the perspective involved. that's the very first step, and the most important. if you screw up the basic proportions of a drawing, no colouring in the world is gonna fix it.

if you're cool with repaints, i could try to illustrate what i mean.

[patrick]

Wow, my head is getting so big its gonna explode...
The skin tones are so light because she is supposed to be like an albino halfling, hence the white hair and ice blue eyes. I tried getting skin tones from photos, but i kept getting wierd results so i juts eyeballed it. I'm still relatively new to this and I bought a tablet, but then promptly lost the stupid pen.... so this was mouse done, which for me, is an awesome result. I keep seeing references to tutorials, but no links to go check them out....

[patrick]

Jeffrey: I have no qualms at all with a repaint. I learn more from seeing an example than trying to read about it.
Youre absolutely right. I didnt layout anything. I literally was just doodling one day trying to see if i could draw a head from an angle other that straight on or slightly turned. (I really do suck at it) and this one just came out semi decent. I might try to scan the original doodle so you can see. OK, I got it to scan enough so you can see it...


I totally agree with the nose thing, it didnt look that bad in the original and i just kept making it worse as I went along, and then didnt know how to fix it so I left it. I was stoked this one actually looked female, most times it looks like some queer weightlifter or something.

[ October 18, 2001: Message edited by: patrick ]