Character art

[auriond]

I'm working on a random picture of my character, Martin, as a sort of de-stressing thing. At the same time, I thought I might as well put it up for criticism and comment so I can try to improve my ultra weird poses.



The possible issue here is of course the foreshortening of his right arm; I'm not sure if that looks right.

[Sparky]

That looks pretty good so far. Are you working in Photoshop with a tablet? Foreshortening is kind of tricky, especially without a model. I tried to draw his forearm a couple of times- I don't think I really made much progress, but maybe my misguided efforts will be useful somehow...



I tried to look at my own elbow for lack of a good photo reference, but it wasn't cooperating. 

[auriond]

Wow...you've obviously spent more time studying figures than I have! ^^;

Yes, I'm using Photoshop and tablet. I'm trying to draw without a model, but I'm happy to use references when I can get them

I've tried to follow how you propped the back of his elbow instead of the side of it on the knee, but as you showed in your drawing, that would involve redrawing the hand altogether. I wasn't quite ready to try that yet, so I turned out the elbow a little more and sketched in the rest of the body; is it too stiff this way? If it is I'll redo the whole right arm according to your pose.

[Buckethead]

Auriond, on your version I have the feeling he's going to fall over. That's the main thing I can spot. For the rest it looks good to me.

[auriond]

Hmmmm. That's what my brother said too, but he couldn't put his finger on why. Would it help if I rotated the picture the other way? Or put it straight? (although my intention was to frame it from some other angle than dead-on straight)

On second look, I think I know the problem. Let me see if I can fix it.

edit: I've leaned the upper half of his body backwards and enlarged the legs from the knees downwards, as they're closer to the viewer. Does that look more stable?



I think the upper body could stand to be smaller to emphasise the down-up view, and possibly his torso could twist more to his left. But I don't want to overdo it, so does anyone else think it's an issue?


edit: started colouring.

[Sparky]

The lower leg adjustment looks good! He seems more balanced now, though until it was mentioned I didn't really find fault with his balance in the original picture.

I have a lot of trouble with proportions myself, and I find discussions like this helpful. I'm impressed that you pulled together something this good without a model! My humans tend to look all stiff and awkward when I try to do that.

[Sean]

Would just like to say.. damn good job

Really like the style you have here.. it's great!

He does look a little off-balance.. but I'm not sure why. It looks to me as if he's sitting, but just under his left leg (our right) there's an empty space. He's sitting on thin air, no wonder he looks a little unstable

Again, good job!

[auriond]

Thanks for the kind comments guys!

Sparky: I know just what you mean... my humans tend to look really stiff too I think it comes from learning to draw from magazine ads. XD

Sean: I've added some background, hope it makes him look less unstable

[Dualnames]

Awesome. I loved to see how that sketch came to life. Good job. 9/10 for me.

[Buckethead]

I love the end result. Wish I could make such cool stuff 

[Sparky]

Nice job with the lighting. It's very varied, and doesn't have the "same values everywhere" problem that a lot of paintings have. I really like the way you used colored shadows on the synthetic objects like the cloth on his left shoulder and the seat.

He looks great, you should be proud of him.

I guess my one gripe is that the white bits can look slightly chalky if you put them straight into the coloring. If you don't mind creating an extra layer, you can set the mode to "luminosity" and paint in the light... just a thought. I imagine there's also a brush mode that does the same thing, but it would probably be kind of fiddly to switch brush modes all the time.





White painted into the same layer (top). versus painted into a second layer set to luminosity (bottom).

[auriond]

Thanks guys. I know there's more to be tweaked though... I can already see some things that need doing

Sparky: Could be my screen, but I don't see much difference at all between the two strips that you posted. ... No, wait, on second look (after turning up the screen of my laptop to the max), the second strip looks slightly brighter in the yellows region. Is that what you mean?

I'll take your tip and try the luminosity The chalkiness, though, could be due to the fact that I'm not using true white in the picture. It's a slightly blue-tinted white, and it does result in a(n entirely unintended) chalkiness. I was wondering how to fix that.

edit: Ok, I've tried to bring back some of the definition of the wrist and knuckles, and brightened the whites and deepened the shadows. I think I'm pretty much done.

[Sparky]

the second strip looks slightly brighter in the yellows region.

Yeah that's what I was trying to communicate, sorry if my last post wasn't very clear. It's really just a fiddly detail, the picture was great even before the last edit.

[gypsysnail]

Wow auriond once again I see your beautiful talented work! I really like that drawing of the guy holding the model manequin. For some reason, I felt a calming relaxed sense when I looked at him, as though as he's taking time out from day to day stuff, even for just a few minutes and it just looks relaxing. U have done a beautiful job!! Here here to our talented auriond! Yes the adaptation you made to his leaning body backward looks better . Really keep up your art, I always enjoy looking at your work. Anyway guys, I am back on here for a bit, have been away doing 3 jobs which is sooo awful but have to earn the money so I can sit down and work on my games and all that (and my art as well! ). Again fantastic coming in and seeing the work