Scythe Chick

[Dementist]

A shaded version of the Demi pic in the sketch dump! C+C on the shading/character concept is greatly appreciated!

http://mbnet.fi/zenbie/uploaded/deminew2.jpg
http://mbnet.fi/zenbie/uploaded/deminew2.jpg

[davi]

i'm not a big fan of anime...

the way you are shading things makes everything look alittle too 'thick' and heavy. I would suggest doing some anatomy studies because your stomach muscles look very guessed.

[Dementist]

*sigh*

I try, Devi, I try. I'm really not sure exactly what to do with line thickness, other than close to light=thin and far from light=thick, correct? If you could give me any tips or tutorial links, that'd be great! And the stomach muscles were an after-thought, but it IS just a cartoon, after all, so I can have a little slack, right? *nervous laughter* I really do need to stop doing anime stuff, though. Is it only the face that gives it away? If so, that shouldn't be very hard to remedy. I just hope the style isn't permanently embedded into me or something 0_O

[Lung_bug]

"I really do need to stop doing anime stuff, though" - you're on to something. you don't have to stop doing it completely. it's just that good anime is actually hard to do. hence the loads of crappy 'anime' artists on the net. if you have a solid basis in realism, you can adapt to anime (simplify). if you really want to do anime then study how the best do it. why that line? why there? why that thick? why that long? why that color? lots of why's and how's. when you get a feel try drawing from a reference and applying those 'rules'.

[Dementist]

Yes, but I don't really WANT to be a "great" anime artist, though I really hope I'm not one of those really crappy ones. I'd love to be a concept artist and use painter and whatnot (Hence hanging arround here) but alas, I keep being drawn back to comic-book style art, and even that isn't good. Oh, well, I guess I'll just take what advice I can get and work with it.

BUT..... well I'd really like to know. Is this REALLY that bad? I'd consider it a 6 or so on my personal ability level (Just a sketch, after all), but I'd really like to knwo if it's that horrible by REAL artist's standards, as a CHARACTER CONCEPT, if not as "fine art," technique-wise.

[Lung_bug]

"I don't really WANT to be a "great" anime artist" - why not?

concerning the pic as a character concept, objectively: everything is crammed into a single mass, making it hard to tell what belongs where. concepts should be clear and to the point. posture can help a lot to show all the details and make it appealing but a bad posture can also ruin it. the scythe doesn't look really usable (more like a decoration) and is way too heavy for handling by such a small girl (unless it's final fantasy style).

it's not that bad, i've seen much worse. it just needs more work.

[Big-Dave]

I think I'd rate this about a 5/6 too. It's not amazing, but it's definately better than a lot of the crappy anime on the internet. The fact you put so much detail on the scythe shows you enjoy what you're doing, otherwise you wouldn't bother ;) The stomach muscles are something I've seen quite a few times in art by people who don't practice with references. They see other artists doing it that way and copy it. Basically study some references and try and break the habit of anime styling (because it does become a habit eventually, that's why professional cartoonists for places like disney do life drawing regularly).

[Dementist]

Lung: Hm, everything is jammed together, huh? I can see what you mean. I'll try to fix that next time. And yes, it IS sort of the Final Fantasy "IMpossibly huge weapon" thing going on. Either that, or I'll make up some shit about telekenetic levetation :p

Dave: Damn it, you're RIGHT! I don't think I've EVER done a full-body life sketch. My portaits are decent, but I know I need some help with anatomy. What would you recommend for full-body realism practice?

[Big-Dave]

... you know, it took me a few seconds there to realise you weren't being sarcastic :p

I'd recommend you go to the references thread here and look in some of the references that people have posted. If you're under 18 here (http://www.fineart.sk/) and here (http://www.geocities.com/handsandhips/list.html) are fairly good for references without nudity. Don't close the pop-up for the first one, it gives sample galleries of references which are definately worth browsing. If your over 18 go to the nude reference thread in the references section, people have posted plenty of sites there with tasteful nudes that would do as reference. Andyway, good luck with the practice, hope the sites help out.

:chug: