Sven the Pirate

[Halis_Aetrous]

This is fanart for a comic a friend of mine does. Sven is an overly-happy, very cool, and strangely adorable ship captain. Yes, if can't tell by the ear, he is not human. I probably should have mentioned that these guys are space pirates, not your usual ocean-going kind. Ah well, enough chit-chat.

Enjoy the pic, and C&C are welcome.

http://members.thegateway.net/jhinds/sven_final.jpg

[adien]

hmmm.. i like his expression, and the crazy hair.

I've been studying faces for a (very) little while now, and it looks like you don't quite have the proportions for a face down pat yet. (i just learned them myself, i have tons of trouble with faces :) )

so here goes... :)

ok one of the main things is that you've cut off the top of his head. if you look in the mirror and measure the distance between the bottom of your chin and your eyeline, then measure the distance between your eyeline and the top of your skull, it is about the same. that means that the eyes are about halfway up the head. in this picture the eyes are about 2/3s up from the bottom.

ok next thing. one of the most important rules in a believable face is that the eyes are about one eyewidth apart, or, put another way, the inner corner of each eye is about half an eyewidth from the vertical center line of the nose. even in concept designs of humanoids where the eyes are slightly exaggerated, there is usually an eyewidth between the eyes. Sven's eyes are just a little close together. (by eyewidth i mean the distance from the inner corner of the eye and the outter corner of the same eye, not the height. :) )

so ok, the last big thing is the planes of the face. if you draw straight lines connecting the major features on each side of the face, for example, a line through the eyes, a line through the high point of each cheekbone, a line through the corner of the nostrils along the base of the nose, a line following the plane of the mouth, etc....... all the lines should be sorta parallel, otherwise you can get slight deformities like this guys right cheek (his right our left). let me show you what i mean.


Sven with lines (http://members.shaw.ca/ohms123/sven_final_modified.jpg)

ok, so if you check out that link, you will see that the lines i have draw connect the major features as i've described, and the line of the eyes, nose and mouth are fairly close to parallel with each other, however the line connecting the high points of the cheeks is off from the others. Basically what i'm saying in a round-a-bout way is that the right cheek (his right) is too low on his face compared to the other cheek. :)

if you keep in mind these rules as you draw, you will see a drastic improvement in your faces in a vary short time. :)

there are some books available for free online that i've found helpful (as other people have said, and i agree, they are not the greatest books, but they are decent, and free!). they were written by Andrew Loomis, and can be found at: http://www.fineart.sk/anat.htm along with some other books. you certainly don't have to adopt his exact method for drawing heads, just take what you can use to improve your work. :)
and above all, draw more, more, more! :)

I hoped I helped, and didn't sound like a pompous ass in the process, after all i'm a very rank amateur myself still. :)

[zeroe]

apart from the crits that adrien mentioned it like to comment on the color. You mentioned that he wasnt human, but im not sure you quite intended to get that grayish face tone. try to add more saturation to it and change the hue abit into red, that should give it a more lifelike appearance. i also think the hair needs some more highlights and shadows.

good work nevertheless! keep it up