The Beauty of a Demon

[Hitsys]

Hello!!
Well I was very bored this afertoon at work and I decided to try something new :p
What do you think?
It is my firts time painting in this way with the computer :p
I like it but I think there is something wrong about the colours but I can't say what it is, :rolleyes:

http://comeol.hosteol.com/~thecragor/Careto-Jonathan.jpg

If you want to know something about this character, it is called Jonathan and it is like a demon. Is the main character from a one friend's story, "The sons of the Crystal".

I am waiting for your critics.:D

[krayz]

Hey. Not bad for your first attempt.

The main thing I can spot wrong is the lighting. I find it hard to pinpoint where the light is coming from. ie. you have a hilight going down the right (my right) side of his nose but the nose and chin shadows are going the same direction (to the right). Shadows always fall opposite to the direction the light is coming from.

His hair doesn't seem to be casting any shadow (except at the fringe). His jawbone would be quite dark as that's where most of the hair is blocking the light.

Also, the red in his eyes looks more like a lightsource than glowing eyes - maybe because you've left a bit of the pupil showing.

I would probably make his eyes (and the area surrounding) a lot darker and centralise the glow in each eye to make it look more like his eyes are glowing.

Think where the light is coming from (above or below can cause nice eery shadows).

Hope I helped.

[Hitsys]

Thank you very much!!!
Yes, you help me a lot. I will fix all the things you say.
Sometimes I forgot the basic things :D when I am very inside of the paint, I am very untidy person :D.

I will show you it when I finish.;)

PD: I am very sorry about my poor English:)

[Hitsys]

Well, I fixe all the things that you say before, Krayz.
It is something else that I have to care of?
Please tell me, and thank you very much for you hep.
http://comeol.hosteol.com/~thecragor/Careto-Jonathan02.jpg

[krayz]

yep looks a bit better.

Still seems a little too light in areas. If you're using Painter go to Effects menu, move mouse over Tonal Control, then select Adjust Colors. Then move the Value slider down a little (to -10 perhaps). Play around with it. If you're using Photoshop I can't help you, since I don't know Photoshop. :]

But it looks like Painter you're using.

The best thing you can do get a mirror and a desklamp. Have your room quite dark and put the desklamp in front and above you if you can. Study your reflection. Move the lamp around and notice where the light and shadows are falling on your face.

Being honest, I'd learn to draw faces properly before attempting the above. Light and shadow are quite an advanced subject. Go to http://www.fineart.sk .. plenty faces there for you to draw from.

If you want to learn light and shadow, then try drawing in black and white. That way you don't have to worry about colour. Just seems you're trying to tackle so many subjects before you've learned enough of one.

The main thing is that you keep trying. Don't worry about having to scrap pictures. You may not feel it but you'll have learned a lot from the scrapped pic. With every picture you do, you'll learn.

And of course, you're on the best forum that I know (and I've been on many). So learn from the quality artists on this board. Ask how people did certain things. You'll learn a lot. Don't be shy ;]

Don't worry about your english. You were clear enough to me. Hope I am to you.

As many artists have said before me, PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE!

[Hitsys]

Thank you very much, again :D
You are right about PRACTICE, PRACTICE,PRACTICE!!!
:D
Since I started to work I haven't enough time to draw properly, like I was doing when I was an student.
This picture I did to days ago, in only 3 hours, very quickly without any previous skech, directly in the computer, and looking around every time to hide it froma my bosses :D.
You are right about to use the mirros, I did many times before, is very usefull.
I think I have a very serious problem with my draws and all my work, I have losed a lot of my skills because I haven't use any real model since 3 or 4 years ago, and I almost forget all about light/shadows, and anatomy :(

Well I going to keep doing draws for improve thanks to this forum.
I have more stuff about this character, if you want to see it and gave to me a hand I will be very happy.

And thank you very much, again :D ;) I really, really want imporve.

[krayz]

No problem. Glad I haven't disheartened you.

You have the right attitude to go far. You're willing to take crits and learn from them. Not saying I know everything because I don't. I'm just a little more experienced than yourself.

The best advice I can give you is get some anatomy books. I'd recommend a couple of books. First one is "Atlas of Human Anatomy for the Artist" by Stephen Rogers Peck. The drawings are so clean and precise yet so simple. Then when you've mastered that, get "Dynamic Figure Drawing" by Burne Hogarth (this one is quite advanced hence why I recommend it AFTER Peck's book). Of course, any of the George Bridgman books MUST be in your collection (as I'm sure any artist on this board would agree). The drawings are very sketchy, but still highly detailed.

Just do a search on amazon for any of the above. You'll see they're quite cheap. They're well worth the money, believe me.

I got my first anatomy book about 5 months ago and I've noticed the improvement. I just don't have the time to study every night :/

Seriously though, dump colour for now. Learn to draw the figure first. You don't have to learn to draw the whole figure at once! Just break it down. Draw as many heads as you can in all the angles you can think of until it's second nature for you to draw a head. Then move onto other body parts. My mistake was to just jump straight into colour before I'd truly learned to draw. My biggest mistake ever.

Anyways, sorry for the looooooooooong reply. Was more of a novel than a reply really!

So get sketching! Fill a page with sketches and post here.

[Hitsys]

UFF!!!
A lot of things:D
Thank you, again, for you advice ;)
I actually have two books of anatomy by Burne Hogart
:D , I bought them a lot of years ago, when I was sutdy in the university :p

Anyway, I going to put other thead to show you my recent works. The problem with mw is that I don't have a very well difenited style, I jumping every time from the realistic one to the more cartoon :p .
I will very happy if you, an someone else can say something more about my pictures. I think I am now a little lost because the circunstancies in my life :(

And you are right Krayz, I have to draw pages and pages of heads, hands, arms... a lot of work to do ;)
Thank you again and I waiting for you in the new thread.