Penciled character

[DayTripper]

http://www.trippedoutgraphix.a1whs.com/pencil1a.jpg

Please leave some c & c. The character's font foot looks off I cant tell if its just because its not inked and colored because it suppose to be almost out like a the way you would flex it during a sidekick.

[Kanji2000]

Did you do a thumbnail sketch before doing cleanups??? Did you draw the character using cylinders and cubes and any other simple 3D shape to give him roundness or mass??? Did you start with action lines to figure out his pose???

Or did you just doodle???

Redo the piece starting with your thumbnails...Sketch in action lines first, followed by providing simple 3D geometrical shapes to give him mass...Plan his pose carefully at this phase...Once the character is posed the way you want, and having thought through and solved any problems that are apparent, outline the piece and put in any other relevant detail...

[DayTripper]

This is what the original pencil looked like after all lines and aids were erased.
The muscles defination was off and the foreshortening of the front leg.
http://www.trippedoutgraphix.a1whs.com/pencil1.jpg

[Poohgee]

Sorry to say this ... but it tends to be true ... look at anatomy books ... topless guys for reference.

In my opinion you are drawing the lines way too strong.

Highly useful :
http://www.saveloomis.org/

& BTW welcome to CA :rendered:

[DayTripper]

Hey its np thanks for the crits. I need them in order to improve my drawing. I do tend to drift away on anatomy. I will try to give you guys an updated version by the end of the week. Also I might sound dumb, but I dont know what a thumbnail sketch is. I do usually start my drawing in phases and either stick figures or in the shapes before actually defining lines. Thanks again for the website and crits.

[ruzkin]

I seriously recommend you do some analysis of male anatomy, because at the moment it looks like you cpoied the torso out of DBZ (possibly the worst manga to use as a reference ever.

His eyes are also too far up his head, he has no ear, and he's just... floating.

I think you should start this one over. Start with a basic structure and balance line, post that up, and let us help you through step by step instead of jumping into anatomical details.

[IILooney]

There are a lot of problems with this and you have a lot of practice to do with anatomy and proportions. Also you rely to much on your linework to describe the form of the muscles, you should use minimal line just to suggest the presence of the muscles.

[ruzkin]

Okay, I just did a quick drawover to highlight basic construction issues. Note, when I said QUICK drawover, I meant it, this isn't perfect.

http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/3030/pencil1adrawover3ss.jpg

Now, what you can basically pick out from looking at the differences:

1) The head you drew was at a very uncomfortable angle, and too large. Eyes were too high, ears weren't there at all.

2) Abdominal muscles were misplaced, you didn't really give the torso form.

3) His right hand was placed impossibly close in, to have it where you drew it would have required the char to force his arm back uncomfortably

4) The right leg came out too low... feel around your own hips, you'll notice your legs actually come out quite high up.

5) His left leg was twisted uncomfortably... as it is, it still isn't perfect.

And regardless... he's still floating, and he sure isn't kicking.

Mebbe use my drawover lines to start from scratch?



Oh yeah, and what Loony said was spot on - muscles should never be defined by hard lines, just subtle shading.

[kinjark]

welcome day tripper,
i find it helpful to draw not only from books , but from life as well, if you draw too much from artists work, you'll end up just reproducing their style. its important to do independent life studies as well. read some of the tutorials right here on figure drawing.

[DayTripper]

Thanks everyone back to the old drawing board literally, ruzkin thanks for going out of your way to do the mock up constuction lines. Those and the loomis site have given me something to work on appreciate the feedback and going to rework this character.

[DayTripper]

I ended up trashing the whole concept keeping the character and making him more of a regular comic book style. A style I feel a little bit more comfortable with. This is kind of up close but I am working on a full body sketch as well. The image I was going for is he hears footsteps to his rear he grabs for his weapon behind him and the next scene spins around with it drawn.

http://www.trippedoutgraphix.a1whs.com/pencil2.jpg

[Poohgee]

"A style I feel a little bit more comfortable with."

-> I for example dont feel comfortable with doing pencil work .. I so much prefer scribbling along all day & manipulating in some prog .. but in order for me too learn more I have to do pencil stuff .. .

As long as u are not avoiding to learn something .

These words are so easy to write out compared to what a pain it can be to do the real thing :)
---------------------------
Background ???

Just IMO :)

P.S. : ruskin : "do some analysis of male anatomy" -> Did ye ?

If ye did then U are further on than me :)

[ruzkin]

Problem is, Daytripper, that we have the same issues as before. His muscles aren't all correctly placed, and you indicate muscles with hard lines instead of subtle shading. Also, his shoulders are impossibly wide... even in comics, you have to keep a sense of realism. You'll notice that people usually relate better to believable characters as opposed to hugely muscled ones.

[kinjark]

this is a great deal of imporvemnet from the first sketch. its good to see you working at it. but ruzkin is right, you still have a few problems with anatomy. his right side is much larger then his left (our right). his torso is uneven, plus his bicep is too large. why dont you post your process from thumbnail, to skematic skecth, to superficial anatomy. id like to see how you get to something like this. again great imporvemnet, but theres always room for more.

[DayTripper]

Thanks guys for your c &c. I have been following the loomis ananotmy guidelines. I think his width on his shoulders is close to spot on in my opinion and with utilizing references. His head on my paper is a bout 3 inches if you use the Loomis reference (http://www.saveloomis.org/FigureDrawing/28.htm) then 2 1/3 heads is idealistic. my figures width from shoulder to shoulder is roughly 6 inches or so.

His right side I tried to make look bigger because of foreshortening and playing to the camera view. If you reach around your back on the same side of your body that side will tend to flex out.

As far as the hardlines it is a bad habit I am trying to get out of I tried to only line out some of the muscles and then I was going to shade and color the rest.

Background I am working on it. Kinda still debating I was going to use speed lines at first. I am using speed lines on what would be the next scene where this character turns around and we get a back view with weapon drawn.

[ruzkin]

Yeah, Kinjark had a good idea. Why don't you block out the character, scan, add volume and mass, scan, and then define muscles, scan, and THEN post up all three pics at once? That would give us a far better idea of your thought processes when you draw and how to help out.

Poohgee, yeah, I've done quite a lot of anatomy studies and life drawing, but I admit that didn't really come through in my drawover, so fair comment :)

Daytripper, I'm really liking your attitude. A lot of people join these boards thinking that people will just stroke their egos, and then get a shock when people actually give them advice... but you're here with the right mindset, you want to learn and improve. You get ten points from me :)

[DayTripper]

Thanks ruzkin, I have another character that I have that I blocked it out smaller and underneath is the completed I will post that up and then work on redoing that las pic in the three views. Now to confuse you have to go to school so when I get back I will try to scan the new character along with its blocked out form. Wow now that I confused myself.

Oh about the attitude the only way I can get better is through schooling, practicing and getting honest crits. I am taking what everyone says seriously not in a bad way but in a way to improve my art and fundamentals. I have pretty much doodled and eyeballed drawings for years and now that I am trying to get fundamentals like perspective and blocking objects out I am getting a real learning experiance but I feel it is already starting to pay off. I love drawing and its pretty much all I think about at work and school and more work lol. Catch back with ya guys a little later.