i got bored...

[trendsandbends]

got bored so i drew shinji from evangelion and edited it in photoshop. i wanted to learn how to use photoshop better. i used a technique called video drawing or something like that where you freeze frame a dvd and draw from it.

i know my skillz at editing pictures on photoshop or illustrator pale in comparison to most people here...but this is what i have so far. please give me critiques of how i can improve this.

http://www.geocities.com/distorted_melody/shinji.jpg

[Mark_Li]

You can improve by drawing your own stuff instead of tracing from a screencap.

Sorry if thats harsh, but...damn, man.

[trendsandbends]

well, number one i didn't trace it.

and i don't really see a problem with copying other drawings if it helps you to improve in some way. it's not like i go around copying people's work all the time. all i wanted was some advice on improving it through illustrator or photoshop or the like.

[Mari]

I agree completely. Copying helped me a whole lot when I was trying to learn. I think that you did very well with this picture. I knew who it was the second the page loaded.

The only thing that I see in the picture is that his hand looks a little big, but that might be from the image you were looking at anyway.

The coloring is fantastic. I think it's great. :)

Mari

[AnarchyAo2]

Copying other people's work really doesn't help you. It only helps you temporarly. In the end it ends up killing your imagination because you've spent all this time copying everyone else and not drawing from whats inside your mind. It also kills your style.

[trendsandbends]

yes i agree it only helps temporarily. but at the time i felt like doing it. now i have a better understanding of photoshop. from there i can experiment more.

[Mark_Li]

Now, not trying to be an ass again, but Mari...

"I agree completely. Copying helped me a whole lot when I was trying to learn. I think that you did very well with this picture. I knew who it was the second the page loaded."


I browsed through your site, and I'm kind of disappointed, but not surprised. Being an advocate of this stuff shows in your work; its all standard cut-and-dry anime format. Thats exactly what AnarchyAo2 was trying to say over there.


Anyway, trendsandbends: mimicking someones style can be okay for learning purposes, but I think with anime styles its usually really destructive and unproductive...it teaches you that THIS is how you draw this, THIS is how you draw this, etc. When you mimic the technique and format without learning how to draw the foundation by yourself, you are sort of giving yourself a hollow art education.

Believe me, I did the same thing, albeit not with anime. I am still struggling to push past my comfort zone after drawing the same shit forever.

Sorry if I'm being a little harsh, but I'm trying to help...I know I'm not known by anyone here and I don't have any of my own work to show, but I think alot of the established pros here would agree.

[sone_one]

mark_li is right, as far as copying anime wont really improve your skills.

it isnt really any reference for antomy because its very stylized (and soooo much real junk in anime genre), and you wouldnt find your own way, drawing what you see or imagine. you wouldnt recognize the forms youve learned from anime stuff.

take some life drawing classes (the better the instructor, the more youll benefit), buy at least one good book on anatomy (george bridgman for example).... etc...

sure, its the hard way to some results you may like, but its the most rewarding one on the long run :)


[edit] looking at other artists is great off course. let yourself get inspired ... look how theyve down the things you like in their pieces, and try to combine it with what youve got yourself.

and for example... copying a piece of (to name one) frank frazetta wouldnt do any harm :p ... to me neither :D

[mushuhaha]

Er... I agree with all that shit about copying anime doesn't help you to improve, that's about it.

Trendsandbends, your picture is a decent copy, and a good start with cg. Next time, try useing layers in photoshop, so you won't cover up your lines.

I'm sorry this is totally off topic from your intention, but Japanese anime style is all shit, anime = sailor moon is a fucking idiot concept!

It's exactly true that this genre is flooded with commercial and immature crap, but there are specialists in this field who produce amazing art works. Anime is a style used by manga artists, who produce weekly issues, or animators. Both make livings by draw/paint excessively and extensively in the shortest period of time, so they prefer this style because it requires the minimum amount of lines/color to capture the most effective emotions. Amateurs prefer it because it looks so damn good and simple. On the other hand, people confuse the concept of animation with illustration. A single frame of an animation is meant to connect with gazillions of frames to flow as a 1 sec movement, and an illustration is the result of countless polish and rework…. you’ve got to be frigging kidding me to compare them on the same standard.

Great artists who specialize in anime style can do realistic rendering effortlessly, because they don’t limit themselves in one style, and being able to capture things realistically is the foundation of all. I’ve heard enough bullshit about anime is “destructive and unproductive”. It is a god damn cheap and awesome style for crying out loud. If you think it’s worth pursuing, by all means go for it but don’t limit yourself. If not move on to something new.

Great art is amazing by nature, regardless of its style.

[AnarchyAo2]

You really can't say that anime sucks (or the manga style) because, someone made up that style. It was someone's origional style. Some people liked it so they mimic'ed it, and they got good at it also. But, now, its sort of obsessed by younger artists. And, it wouldn't be so bad if they learned what all of the foreshorting mean't in manga. All the know is "Okay...a comma for a nose there...choppy hair up there...BIG EYES there...." and they are just ignorantly using this SAME forumla every time they draw. And they become so dependant on this formula and copying other animes that when they want to do something original, all they can think of is that same forumla.

[Mark_Li]

Well said, Anarchy.

Anyway, once again I'm not bashing anime/manga...I am saying that if you limit yourself to that style early on, you will have difficulty branching out and learning to render things more realistically.

Thats all.