Bittersweet Candy Bowl Forums

Ok so I like to draw now and then...the urge just hits me sometimes. I'm not very good a drawing people because my concept of anatomy...well...it doesn't exist really. So the idea came to try out Taeshi's style slightly. I tried it out and made some random cat-person. It's not really a 'fancharacter' though...she has no name, no background, no personality. This may change, I might get bored again and make up some info on her...but as of now she's just some random drawing. I know I suck...but I thought would still put this out there. I personally am looking for how people think I'm doing in the art over all. Wanting to see what people think I could do better. Anyways here's my drawing. Also heads up this is just a picture of my picture, not a scanned version. I may take time later to redraw, scan and post if I get bored again. Meh...anyways!



Things I know suck:
~I can't draw hands or feet worth crap
~praportions are off
~Lines aren't defined/clean (but that's kind of a bit of my personal style ^^' the scratchy-sketchy look)
~hair is weird(to me). I drew it in pen so I couldn't correct it once it was done

anyways...so yeah. there you have it. She has nothing but a form. No info at all. So yeah...you can leave the fancharacter bashing and complaining out..seeing as she is not a fancharacter.

- Hands and feet are the most difficult things to draw, but they are the most essential to proper communication. Practise. For real.
- To help with proportions, you can invest in a mannequin, and draw base guidelines before you begin
- The "scratchy-sketchy look", while it is novel, is unprofessional. I suggest doing work in pencil, then inking it once all the lines are correct.
- Hair also takes practice, but you should always look at references.

I critique, that's my thing. I also do a fair amount of drawing on my own, so the observations do not go unsupported. Hope I don't come off as overbearing.

This post has been edited by Dr. Klaus: 18 March 2011 - 02:45 AM

Dr. Klaus, on 18 March 2011 - 02:42 AM, said:

First of all, thank you for the pointers. Second, thank you for giving me pointers in a mature manner. Third, you were in no way "overbearing." Trust me I pretty much knew what I sucked at, I just wanted others opinions on what they saw and thought.

Towards the hair, feet and hands bits I have heard the practise-makes-perfect line before, and I know good quality art takes tons and TONS of time to invest in. I guess I never spent to much time in practise because drawing was something I did on a whim, and usually it's abstract art rather than trying to draw 'people.' Starting with base guidelines and pencil I know will be helpful, but thanks for reminding me of that point as it probably wouldn't have crossed my mind otherwise. I just really picked up a pen and paper on pure insperational boredom and drew...as it is what I normally do. Next time though I will try pencil first, clean it up, and ink it to see how it comes out. I agree that the the look is unprofessional and if I were to try and be serious about drawing at any time I need to learn to clean up my art...thank you so much for your help, really it is so helpful to have at least one person give input! It means a bunch!

For the most part I agree with Dr. Klaus, but you are doing really well with shape and the face. The shape is very defined, and the perspective is clear, and doesn't seem to change throughout the drawing, even though the right (relative) arm kinda kills that. Like you said, your proportions are off, not length but thickness. Unlike what you said, in this picture your hands and feet are actually exemplary; it would take me hours of drawing and erasing to get feet like that. That is not to say they are without imperfection, again their thickness is off, but that's proportions. Keep at it, and like Klaus said, practice!

P.S. I like the scratchy-sketchy look; but it would look better without the colored in areas, just a heads up.

DritchJaul, on 18 March 2011 - 02:56 AM, said:

Thank you for the complament on the shape and how it's defined, it means a lot to hear something positive! I'm glad the perspective is clear though I agree completely that the right arm is off and kills it. I'm glad you think the hands and feet are at least somewhat good, though again the thickness-I agree-is off.

I'm glad I'm not the only one that does enjoy the scratchy-sketchy look from time to time! But I get what you mean on the colored in parts...I just felt weird not coloring them in...originally she wasn't going to have spots, but I just decided to try putting some on her. I liked the one spot and it just grew from there. I think one or two less would be good...I think my main one that I don't like is the giant one on her shoulder. If it was smaller it might be better...but I'm unsure of that.

Next time I'll draw multiple versions of her: without spots, with spots that aren't colored in, and with colored in spots. Maybe if the art is cleaned up the spots will look better! ^_^ Anyways thanks again for you're input, it means a bunch!

Oh God, it took me for ever to learn how to draw hands and feet from different angles (even now I still sometimes stuff up feet)
One of the best things you can use when drawing hands or poses is a mirror. It may sound or feel odd posing but it is actually really helpful. Pictures of whatever pose or body part your drawing help a lot to.

If I could remember the name of the site I'd leave a link to a site which had a really helpful bunch of charts and sketches relating to proportion and how, depending on what body type your drawing, different body parts should be a certain sizes compared to one another.

KAS Bat, on 18 March 2011 - 03:10 AM, said:

I'd definately love it if you could post that link sometime if you ever remember it! That would be awesome! I'll definately try giving the mirror a go sometime...it'll be weird but I'll try Thanks for the input/advice!

I love how he's watching this thread like a hawk, one update and BAM! He replies....Just wait....

LOL Does he really watch this place so closely? Nice! I'm hoping maybe, just maybe, Taeshi will take a look at this too and give me some pointers or comments...I'd be so happy and honored