Family Drawing

[Loccus]

A drawing I did for my wife at Christmas. Turned out pretty well, nothing too mind blowing like most of the art in here, but I'm happy with it. Please excuse the weird white lines, I took a digital photo instead of a scan. Is that what you guys are doing, or should I invest in a good scanner? http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a35/loccus/KristaNoah.jpg

[Azeira]

they have a look of ambiguous evil to them. its a nice drawing, thogh hardly finished i feel. the outlines are offly destinct, and a little rough with the anatomy. the the chin shadows a litle more destinctness perhaps, as well as work on those lines. I think its a great idea, and looks like you have quite the graphite skills beneath your sleeve.

Thanks and cheers,

Woodruff

[Loccus]

Thanks for the input. I'm not sure about your rough anatomy comment, I drew what my family looks like.

[sone_one]

then your wife got really small eyes :P ^^ ... id try to avoid such statements as "as they look like". if you want to show us they really look like that put up a photo you used as ref.

i agree with azeira... your lines are too bold compared to the rendering (which is just smudging = no good), so it ends up pretty flat.

the eyes of your wife are too small and too far apart .. and yes i doubt she looks like that from an objective pov. which doenst really matter imo cause its the artistic totally subjective pov that (at least for me) is interesting.

just stay away from statements like "it is that way".... wtf ... even then it can be interpreted and seen in 1000x1000 different ways (depending on relation, mood, etc)

[Loccus]

I appreciate some of your points, but this is a real drawing. I'm pretty new here, but so far, just like DeviantArt half the drawings in here are 60% talent, 40% awesome photoshop clean up work. For me, I don't have a problem saying this is what I'm capable of, or even this is ALL I'm capable of. It must be beyond my skill to do a pencil drawing, yet have no visible pencil marks or smudges when I post it on here. Sorry if this sounds bitter (bad day). On a side note, peoples stuff gets ripped apart in here, so why would I want to post the ref. pic of my wife to get bashed and degraded?

[gl0gg]

I don't think you will be bashed if you put up the photo you used as reference. The comments I see concerning your picture are not about your penmanship, it is rather that there might be some minor problems in the construction of your work. Have you tried flipping it horizontally in photoshop? That often makes you see the problems with stuff you made, it is easy to get blind when it comes to your own stuff, at least it's like that for me.
Btw, what is this "this is all I am capable of" crap? You get better by practising (is that correct spelling?), and that is all that is to it.

Good luck man, it's cool that you are posting. Remember that here in the crit section, people tend not to kiss ass, so pretty much everyone who posts here gets some real honest critique.

[Loccus]

I don't think you will be bashed if you put up the photo you used as reference. The comments I see concerning your picture are not about your penmanship, it is rather that there might be some minor problems in the construction of your work. Have you tried flipping it horizontally in photoshop? That often makes you see the problems with stuff you made, it is easy to get blind when it comes to your own stuff, at least it's like that for me.
Btw, what is this "this is all I am capable of" crap? You get better by practising (is that correct spelling?), and that is all that is to it.

Good luck man, it's cool that you are posting. Remember that here in the crit section, people tend not to kiss ass, so pretty much everyone who posts here gets some real honest critique.

I don't want anybody to kiss ass....heck I didn't even post my pic in the Critique section. A moderator or someone moved it into here. That horizontal flip is a good idea. Thanks for the suggestions. On a side note, assuming I get to the level where I could start doing commision work, does anyone in here have a guideline for what they charge? How do you decide what your art is worth? Any input anyone?

[-ThePenciler-]

Well there are many sources for artists looking for what to charge. I use the Illustrators market guide. It comes out every year and not only does it have fair market pricing but it also breaks down thousands of companies and how to submit to them.

[jubilee]

99.9% of the people who get bashed in this forum do so because they are presenting of an attitude. The other .01% is a bit iffy :)

however presenting a ref will not get you bashed it will get you help :)

by the by I happen to scan my pencil work. I find it easier than taking a photo of it unless its my 11 x 14 pad. Also some good info for keeping your pictures smudge free is to a) work with something under your hand. even a paper towel will help keep your hand oils from smudging your pencil work. b) a kneadable eraser is great for getting out smudges you thought you'd never get out. c) this little bugger : http://www.dickblick.com/zz173/20/ is great for getting your work clean as well should the unfortunate happen.

I only do a little 'levels' correction on my pencil stuff. Mostly I just try and keep it clean.

[sone_one]

ive not been talking about smudges that happen during the process... i ment that your shading looks smudged instead of hatched.

the biggest problem i see is the bold uniform outline as i said already, especially where the babies head is overlapping that of the mother.

but its a good effort so far. keep it up and dont get discouraged.

[BMunchausen]

No doubt, you're taking the crits even more personally because this is a picture of your wife and child - when you're that close to the subject matter, it's tough to have anyone point out things that are "wrong" with it. I think anatomy-wise, it's ok enough not to bother me. There IS something indefinably evil about them. Perhaps it's the high contrast that makes it sort of look like an old fashioned photo? Perhaps it's that it's weird that the mother has black eyebrows but white hair? I definitely think the outlining is a touch too strong, especially inside the faces, like around the mouths.

I think that line of shadow between the back of the baby's head and the mother's face is too regular the way it curves around the mother's face. Somehow I don't see it falling that way in life. I think it would help to extend the lines of the mother's hair down past the back of the baby's head because right now those lines are just hovering above the baby's head sort of oddly. I think the mother would benefit from just a hint more indication of a neck so her head's not floating in space.

I don't really think your comment about "60% talent, 40% Photoshop cleanup" is really accurate. A person has to know what they're doing in the first place, so they know HOW to clean something up, otherwise they just muck it up further in PS. It's only another tool and a skilled artist will always do more with it than an unskilled one. I personally think the quality of art here is leaps and bounds over what I see at Deviant art.

This is a good picture - could use a few tweaks, but it's shaping up to be very nice.