[UntalentedHack]

Drawover of Mira Furlan in costume as Delenn from the Babylon 5 series. Done with Photoshop driven with a 4x5 Wacom tablet.





Comments? Suggestions on how to improve my technique so my stuff sucks less?

[AndyT]

Yes. Try other approaches. Drawover ... you mean on a layer above a photo?
Don't 'fill' with lines. Get the lineart down as good as possible and for the shading use bigger brushes and different opacities. Try to get the values right.
If you want to improve you should probably learn the basics every artist should know. First about lines ... then tones / values and later color.
Perspective, composition, anatomy and so on are also important but not when you work from reference images.
If you are serious about art go to www.fineart.sk/anat
The books "Figure Drawing For All It's Worth" and "Creative Illustration" are available most of the time.
Tracing images is ok for practice but the result will not be accepted as a piece of art unless you manage to do anything really, really intriguing.
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http://www.conceptworld.org

[UntalentedHack]

Thanks for your comments.

I do not have the creative potential to draw realistic work from scratch so this is not one of my aspirations. I am mostly interested in more accurately duplicating reference images as that is something broadly within my capabilities.

This particular piece was intended as an exercise in lineart-with-shading rather than a serious attempt at realism.

[LoTekK]

Actually, i'll go ahead and disagree (to an extent) with andyt about 'filling with lines'. Crosshatching is a great shading method, depending on the overall look you're going for, but it's important to remember that the overall direction of the hatching is just as important as the resulting 'value' (lightness/darkness) of said hatching in clearly defining form.

Drawovers may or may not be useful, depending on the individual, but if you're at all serious about art, stay away from paintovers and drawovers, as they don't improve your 'eye' for value and hue.

[AndyT]

I meant it'd be ok if he used a pencil and a "normal way of shading". But the scribbling as seen above ... I just thought that's not necessary with a tablet.
I stand by my opinion unless the result should be a realistic looking digital sketch with a pencil drawing feel to it.