NSFW - Nudity Merciter's Strange Little World (Updated 01/24/10)

[DBZMerciter2005]

Hello everyone. I'm new to the site and figured I'd start off with uploading my sketchbook.

My artwork isn't nearly as good as most of the people here since it looks like most of you have taken more than one art class or majored in art . I'm mostly self taught outside of a semester in college, so bear with me as I don't have nearly as much experience.

A quick history of my work: I started mostly copying from anime (Dragonball Z especially) and slowly expanded to other anime. After taking my art class in college I found that realism can be just as fun, though my style inevitably reverts back to a more anime/manga touch. I'm trying to find that sweet spot where there's balance between manga style and realism while still expressing myself as an artist.

When I'm not drawing realism I'm drawing characters from my story. I don't draw a lot of anime/manga fan art because, if the drawing doesn't look exactly like the original artist, I find it to be a failure. (That's my personal standard.)

My favorite medium to draw in is charcoal, but the medium I draw the most often in is mechanical pencil, which, as any artist knows, absolutely sucks for anything beyond sketches. I've drawn in Photoshop before and I have colored a few pictures in it, but all in all I'm a Photoshop noob in terms of doing entirely digital art.

I have a horrible tendency to draw on lined paper. I have so much left over after uni I figured I might as well use it. The only downside this has is that some of my better pieces tend to be on the lined paper. I've been trying to rectify that by recognizing a good piece early and sketching it onto computer paper before I get too into it.

Let's get to the art, shall we?

[DBZMerciter2005]

I worked on drawing things from real life today. After I did a few sketches and observed a few people I decided to draw one of my own characters from scratch. This is Lorie Anderson.

I love the realistic look, but I absolutely hate drawing in this style. I only draw this way because I know it's good for me, but I really want to draw in my own style again.

Sorry about the poor coloring on the right version, I was just trying to see what she'd look like with color.

[Brewmaster]

Pretty good, although I'm noticing that a couple of times the heads of your characters are just a little bigger than they need to be, to cite specific examples, the one where the rainbow haired dude (that's his name now) is hugging the girl with the glasses, I've also noticed this in the sketches on the lined paper.
I've also noticed that you seem to use either parted hair, or hair with bangs as thick as hanging icicles, you might look up some reference photos and try some different hairstyles.
That aside, I do like some of the coloring you've done here, I look forward to seeing more.

[silvestri99]

keep working on those sketches and your poses. Some extra anatomy work may correct some of the proportion issues. But again, great start!

[DBZMerciter2005]

Originally Posted by Brewmaster

Pretty good, although I'm noticing that a couple of times the heads of your characters are just a little bigger than they need to be, to cite specific examples, the one where the rainbow haired dude (that's his name now) is hugging the girl with the glasses, I've also noticed this in the sketches on the lined paper.
I've also noticed that you seem to use either parted hair, or hair with bangs as thick as hanging icicles, you might look up some reference photos and try some different hairstyles.
That aside, I do like some of the coloring you've done here, I look forward to seeing more.

That dude is a girl. XD

I actually think my head sizes are okay. If they're any smaller they look too small and then I get really irritated with the drawing. I hate small heads because I feel that they end up getting lost to the body (read: the body takes up too much attention) and I tend to draw them on the big side for my own sanity, though I guess I could work on that.

I actually like drawing my bangs like that, they tend to look better like that in my opinion (I blame that on the fact that I really enjoy the way Akira Toriyama draws his hair). I don't like drawing really realistic hair since it seems to dampen the more fantasy like nature of my characters (especially the one with multi-colored hair, it'd be really difficult to pull off that look without it). However it's worth working on it if only for the sake of knowing how to draw it.

As for different hair styles, I don't like to draw things that don't pertain to my characters. I know I should, but if I can't imagine any of them wearing an outfit or having that look I don't feel compelled to draw it, though I may still do it against my own will.

Originally Posted by silvestri99

keep working on those sketches and your poses. Some extra anatomy work may correct some of the proportion issues. But again, great start!

Oh where are some of my issues? I'm finding that I'm hitting a big glass ceiling with my stuff and I can't figure out where to start. I mean I know what everything is supposed to look like but I can't seem to get it to look right.

Sorry if I come off slightly defensive, it's been a while since I've had a good critique. I know it's for my own good to take your advice, I'm just hating the fact that I've been drawing wrong for so long.

[DBZMerciter2005]

Following everyone's advice I went and pulled out an old pose book I had. I tediously drew the first eight or so poses, sometimes pausing to draw something more fun and interesting (see Avenlei's little pictures) but all in all it's not so bad.

I'm not sure what I've learned, I won't know that until I draw something without reference, but I feel my brain hurting from drawing all day.

The final picture is a little reward to myself. I drew a collage of Shirin Askari from Project Runway Season 6. I think she's absolutely, 100% drop dead gorgeous (it helps that her personality rocks), so drawing her always makes me smile.

Again, sorry about the lined/graph paper. On top of my excess notebook paper my dad has stacks paper he got from his previous employers (he's an architect) so I'm using them up. They fit very very well on a clipboard, which makes them incredibly mobile, allowing me to draw at dinner and while I'm out in general.

[DBZMerciter2005]

I studied some more. I actually went to the mall today and just drew random people. Those sketches will be uploaded later, today's is the aftermath of drawing for over two hours a day for a few days straight.

It's not the best drawn thing in the world, but I feel it's an improvement from what I've had.

There's Tessa (multi-colored hair), her wife Aihiiru (short with glasses), then Tessa's parents, Karen (blonde), and her wife Reve (short with purple dress).

Everyone in the picture is a woman, yes, even the two in the back.

[PublicSedeku]

You've got a cool style going- I can definitely see the manga influence (I started drawing in a similar way, so you're not alone, there!). You should try to sit down and do a detailed anatomy study or two- even if it's just of a specific body part. You're doing well, keep it up!

[DBZMerciter2005]

As promised, this was my sketch I drew at the mall. Not exactly super but not bad.



And below are sketches of feet. Gotta admit, I know feet better than I ever thought I would. Not sure if that's good or bad though.





I had fun drawing faces on the far right foot there. I couldn't help it.

[bad_painter]

There's nothing wrong with learning how to draw from anime (I learned from 70s & 80s superhero comics), everyone starts from somewhere and I'd say that you do rather well with that style. Unfortunately, some people get locked into a certain style and never grow as an artist... so it can become a bad habit. But, seems like you're at least trying other things and have an open mind about it all, so keep going with that.

Btw, there's also nothing wrong with drawing on lined paper... I'm sure everyone here can see past the lines and focus on the drawings... no biggie.

[DBZMerciter2005]

Originally Posted by bad_painter

There's nothing wrong with learning how to draw from anime (I learned from 70s & 80s superhero comics), everyone starts from somewhere and I'd say that you do rather well with that style. Unfortunately, some people get locked into a certain style and never grow as an artist... so it can become a bad habit. But, seems like you're at least trying other things and have an open mind about it all, so keep going with that.

Btw, there's also nothing wrong with drawing on lined paper... I'm sure everyone here can see past the lines and focus on the drawings... no biggie.

Thanks. I know how difficult it is to watch others get flack for drawing anime/manga style. I was told by a good friend of mine that artists these days laugh at you if you draw that way, but I can't help that the characters in my head look like anime/manga characters. o.o I can't imagine them being "real" unless they're based off of someone in real life.

[DBZMerciter2005]

Wow, it's been a while since I've posted anything, which means it's also been a while since I've drawn! I blame it on four straight days of 8-10 hour shifts at work (my McDonald's sucks, but that's beside the point), two days of "I'm too tired" then another three days of straight 8-10 hour shifts. So finally here are some more!

I started off today with this. I wanted to draw things quickly and well. At the time I thought I had it, until I realized that, once again, my heads were too large for my bodies.



I'm going to say this right now: I hate, loath, abhor having to work on head to body proportions. I've been drawing my heads "slightly too big" for years, and it pains me, quite literally (heart and head) to have to fix it. Whenever I find that I've drawn a head too big I immediately give up on the picture, that's how much I hate the head to body ratio.

Combine that with the fact that I felt like I should be able to draw things without references, I found myself in a drawing block. I felt like I was bashing my head against a concrete wall, literally. Why on earth can't I draw well without reference anymore? All the good artists can do it, why can't I?

Below are the images I drew during this time.







The last two have drawings I did from reference, both of which physically hurt me to work on because, as I said, I hate working on head to body ratios. I thought I had it down!

So after a good shower, I come back, turn on South Park the movie, and draw these:







Not the most productive way to work on head to body ratios. As I said, I abhor working on them. I don't know why but it physically hurts me to even try to work on it, even when I have a book in front of me telling me head to body ratios. I didn't draw any more pictures because it's late, but I was getting close and closer to just attacking my vice. Maybe another day.

Really, though, all I want to do is attack head to body ratios with a big, fat fying pan (Super Mario RPG style). I HATE working on them like you wouldn't believe. Small heads aren't appealing, but neither are big heads, and I thought I had hit that sweet spot, guess not.

Oh well, perhaps another day.

[DBZMerciter2005]

One more before the night is out. I drew this mostly for fun. I did it entirely from memory, which shows you just how much I have drawn and paid attention to DBZ.

Man I miss fun sketches like these.

[DBZMerciter2005]

Okay so it's been a while. I've been really busy with work and applying for the JET program. However I finally got some time to draw my characters again. There are some issues with both pieces that I'm aware of, but I feel that there's been a pretty stark improvement so far compared to even a few months ago.

My studies have mostly been with the bones and muscles of the body. Hands are what I'm working on first because I hate them so, however they don't get featured in the new pictures because I was drawing pictures as if my characters were getting ready for their "profiles."

Some of you may think the heads are too big, that's fine, but I think the heads are fine the way they are. I mean I'm not drawing the whole body and if I did I'd probably make the heads smaller. However I'm not a fan of small heads, and I'd rather they be on the slightly big side than slightly small.

The coloring in these pictures is meh at best. I do not photoshop color very well and I only finished coloring so that I could see the characters come alive a little bit.

So here is Yudai. He's half Snow Elf, quarter Sun Elf, and quarter Human. His hair cut has some issues, but all in all I love the cut, which, in my story, represents the noble, educated, elite elves. I'm aware of his body issues, but I didn't mind them because I was focusing mostly on his face and hair.



This is Tessa. You may have seen her in previous pictures that were uploaded. I tried to cut down on her "Icicle bangs" but I just cannot do it when she has those wild colors in her hair. I tried coloring her hair her natural color (her eyebrows) but it was very bland and boring for her. I wish there was a way to draw her hair anime-like with that coloring without making her look terribly absurd (or more so than she is).



So that's it for now. All of my concept and practice sketches won't be uploaded this time because there are too many of them and I have only so much time.

[DBZMerciter2005]

I was told I need to stop drawing with circles and start drawing with spheres. I philosophically do not believe that such a phenomenon is possible, we draw on 2d surfaces and as such we cannot be realistic, ever. However I drew some quick sketches with spheres instead of circles (basically I just drew my normal circles and then added the "sphere lines" afterwards). I admit they feel different, but I don't think it helped much.

The two pictures on the very bottom were photoshopped and rotated 180 to get them to match the rest of the picture. The strange, almost cat-like drawings are actually supposed to be Aki (Tessa's daughter and the one with the nice profile picture) as her "controlled werewolf" side. I haven't studied wolves, so I know that they suck. I don't mind, I'm not ready to draw her as a serious werewolf yet anyways.

The woman in the middle is Karen, Tessa's dad!mom (biological father, it's a long story), and Aki's dad!grandma. She's a soccer star and it's speculated that she's actually a man, until she strips down into a swimsuit. She's not particularly feminine and will only wear girly things around the house. Out in public she's either in her soccer uniform or in men's clothing.

All of the pictures here are women except for the arm and part torso in the lower left corner. I know that I seem to draw my females more masculine than most, but Karen and Tessa are drawn that way on purpose. They're very masculine, athletic women (Karen's a soccer star and Tessa loves to work out), and as such I define their arms and body more.

Speaking of arms, I have a thing for drawing muscular arms. It more than likely stems from Dragon Ball Z since I don't find muscular arms attractive in real life (especially not on women), but drawing tone, muscular arms are incredibly fun for me. I could draw arms all day, especially buff ones. Someday, if I'm ever lucky enough to have my own style, I want the way I draw arms to be a distinctive feature. Maybe that's why I draw even my petite women with arms of doom.

I did all of this from imagination. I would have done some from reference but I am dead tired and have been so for two hours. Bed time for moi!

[struve]

i think its cool you have worked in so much back story into your characters, i think that's something a lot of people have been missing these days.

i think the "sphere lines" helped with placement of the features. there's nothing wrong with drawing characters that are stylized, it's more about proportions, and seeing how far you can push them that makes it interesting.

[DBZMerciter2005]

Originally Posted by struve

i think its cool you have worked in so much back story into your characters, i think that's something a lot of people have been missing these days.

i think the "sphere lines" helped with placement of the features. there's nothing wrong with drawing characters that are stylized, it's more about proportions, and seeing how far you can push them that makes it interesting.

I do try to give my character's some background. I actually have the whole story written out in my mind, it's just getting them on paper that's tough.

I wish I could experiment with the proportions and stuff, but apparently I'm not skilled enough to do so, so I'm stuck doing (very boring) studies until I am good enough.

===================

I took a day off to fume, calm down, cry, rant, and overall just accept the criticism from the day before. Although I'm tired, I wanted to draw SOMETHING today, so I did. My reference was this, but it ended up slightly different.

Remember the rainbow haired girl from above? Yes, the girl that looks like a dude? Well this is her after using the above reference. I like to take references and throw my own characters on them, and Tessa is always willing to model for me.



I'm glad I finished it. It was like an itch, I couldn't stop thinking about drawing something, anything, just something to say I drew today. I'm particularly proud of the arms, but as I said before I have a thing for well developed arms. I'm not all that happy with the close ups, Tessa doesn't look like that all, but considering I wasn't focusing on making her look right but rather getting proportions right, I don't think it was all that bad. Someday I'll get her to be proportionally correct AND look like how she does in my mind.

After taking a shower I decided to redline the picture with what I saw were issues.



I can't draw a standing pose with my life. I can't draw a pose on a single sheet of paper for that matter, so the legs were clearly off. Perhaps the most obvious, and most annoying, part was the fact that her body wasn't entirely lined up. I know that it doesn't always have to line up straight, but since I wasn't doing any curves (or from my manga books, making an S out of the body), it needed to be lined up right. I even tweaked the legs a bit so that she didn't seem to be standing, however she can't fly so really she should be standing.

That's it for now.

[DBZMerciter2005]

Some drawings, this time male. I really enjoy drawing muscular men. Don't get me wrong, I love my women, but muscles are so incredibly interesting. I mentioned before I have a thing for arms, well here's my thing for muscles.

It's important to note that I used references in the first two pictures and drew the last one freehand.

==========

This is Felix. He is Benji and Fuyumi's second child and first son (I don't know how many kids they have). He, like his father, is incredibly buff and strong. His down to earth personality has kept him focused, resulting in him out-muscling his dad (which is a feat). He enjoys body building, racing go-carts, playing with fire magic, and hanging out with his family and friends.

The only picture that isn't of Felix is of Tsuyoi. He's in the lower right corner.



Yet another one of Felix, though this could be Benji without glasses.



This is Benji, Stardiac of Gemini, biological son of B.J. and Lorie (both women, long story), identical twin to Lynn, husband to Fuyumi, and father of Kira and Felix. He is buff, athletic, witty, and is said to be his mom (B.J.) as a man. The gloves on his hands provide him with the power of the Stardiac of Gemini, allowing him to do many supernatural things such as cloning, teleportation, and mimicking enemy attacks.

A normal outfit for him is an Underarmor, skin tight shirt, loose boxer-like shorts, and running shoes.

[Kaileighblue]

There's nothing wrong with trying to draw in a manga/anime influenced style as long as you make your own. That's one of the big problems with most new artists today. Trying to be Naoko Takeuchi without opening an anatomy book. (And even she is hoooorrible.)

As for your stuff. It seems a bit all over for me. Sometimes the anatomy is awesome. Sometimes it noodle limbs. Is that a difference in reffed and unreffed stuff? Try watching the length of the neck.

I get the whole androgyny thing, but I'd also try to work a bit on having more difference in males and females. Having to constantly explain that your women are women could be solved with a bit of tweaking. All of the characters in that "Yes these are all women" seem masculine to me.

I like the stuff in the latest post. Felix has a nice look.

[tschahri]

Originally Posted by DBZMerciter2005

Combine that with the fact that I felt like I should be able to draw things without references, I found myself in a drawing block. I felt like I was bashing my head against a concrete wall, literally. Why on earth can't I draw well without reference anymore? All the good artists can do it, why can't I?

No. No no no. All the good artists use reference. And those who don't need references have done so incredibly much studying from references that they've just learned them things with time (although it's impossible to learn everything, so). The reason you can't do that is because you're not a good artist. Yet.
I'm not trying to sound offensive, I'm sorry if I do, but this is one of the most violating patterns of thinking when it comes down to drawing. You should always rely on references, the world is so full of information it's impossible to expect your head to know it all without even studying something first. Keywords: you don't know how to draw something, look it up, don't make it up. That way you will improve, because you will learn from observation how things really are. It will make your drawings believable. The thing that will most hold you back from improving is trying to draw new things without reference - that way you'll just be walking a circle with the things you already know, but never discovering new things. You can't draw stuff from your head if you don't study that stuff in there first.

The thing that would be the most beneficial to you would be realistic studies. Apart from the few you have here that you've done in the mall, all of these are drawn in some sort of stylized, simplified way. (Though I see you've been doing muscle studies, that's really good and they look fine.) You can of course continue drawing your characters in the way you want to, I'm not saying abandon all you've got here, but the more you can do studies where you just try to forget everything you know and just draw from a reference as realistic as you can, the more you will grow as an artist. And the drawings you've done in the mall aren't really done from observation if you look at them, apart from the lady the two of them have nothing realistic in them. Don't get lazy here, I know it's hard to draw without that style you're the most comfortable in, but the more you do studies where you don't use it, the more you will improve. And that will improve the style you want to keep or develop, as I said it will make it more believable.
As my art teacher used to say, with studies it is always "draw what you see, not what you think you see". Not a simplified symbol of eye, but an eye that is a ball that is under layers of muscles in an eye socket that is made of bone. You get my drift.

Other than that, these aren't bad at all. They just show you haven't done enough realistic studies and that's the reason of all your frustration, believe me. Luckily that can be easily fixed.

[DBZMerciter2005]

Originally Posted by Kaileighblue

There's nothing wrong with trying to draw in a manga/anime influenced style as long as you make your own. That's one of the big problems with most new artists today. Trying to be Naoko Takeuchi without opening an anatomy book. (And even she is hoooorrible.)

As for your stuff. It seems a bit all over for me. Sometimes the anatomy is awesome. Sometimes it noodle limbs. Is that a difference in reffed and unreffed stuff? Try watching the length of the neck.

I get the whole androgyny thing, but I'd also try to work a bit on having more difference in males and females. Having to constantly explain that your women are women could be solved with a bit of tweaking. All of the characters in that "Yes these are all women" seem masculine to me.

I like the stuff in the latest post. Felix has a nice look.

I'm most definitely going to work on the androgyny stuff. I mean it's difficult enough as it is drawing someone in one gender, let alone to look like both.

Sadly Felix does not show up until the very end of the story. He's just my model, really.

Originally Posted by tschahri

No. No no no. All the good artists use reference. And those who don't need references have done so incredibly much studying from references that they've just learned them things with time (although it's impossible to learn everything, so). The reason you can't do that is because you're not a good artist. Yet.
I'm not trying to sound offensive, I'm sorry if I do, but this is one of the most violating patterns of thinking when it comes down to drawing. You should always rely on references, the world is so full of information it's impossible to expect your head to know it all without even studying something first. Keywords: you don't know how to draw something, look it up, don't make it up. That way you will improve, because you will learn from observation how things really are. It will make your drawings believable. The thing that will most hold you back from improving is trying to draw new things without reference - that way you'll just be walking a circle with the things you already know, but never discovering new things. You can't draw stuff from your head if you don't study that stuff in there first.

The thing that would be the most beneficial to you would be realistic studies. Apart from the few you have here that you've done in the mall, all of these are drawn in some sort of stylized, simplified way. (Though I see you've been doing muscle studies, that's really good and they look fine.) You can of course continue drawing your characters in the way you want to, I'm not saying abandon all you've got here, but the more you can do studies where you just try to forget everything you know and just draw from a reference as realistic as you can, the more you will grow as an artist. And the drawings you've done in the mall aren't really done from observation if you look at them, apart from the lady the two of them have nothing realistic in them. Don't get lazy here, I know it's hard to draw without that style you're the most comfortable in, but the more you do studies where you don't use it, the more you will improve. And that will improve the style you want to keep or develop, as I said it will make it more believable.
As my art teacher used to say, with studies it is always "draw what you see, not what you think you see". Not a simplified symbol of eye, but an eye that is a ball that is under layers of muscles in an eye socket that is made of bone. You get my drift.

Other than that, these aren't bad at all. They just show you haven't done enough realistic studies and that's the reason of all your frustration, believe me. Luckily that can be easily fixed.

When I first read your comment, I admit, I was pretty shaken up. However I've had time to digest everything and now it's all changed. It's like the glass ceiling I've been hitting has finally broken.

My art teacher used to say that all the time. She said it to me a lot when we got around to drawing people. I had been so used to drawing humans that by the time we got around to drawing each other I had to unlearn what I already learned. Sadly I didn't have enough time to unlearn everything (I only took a semester in college), so old habits didn't die away.

[DBZMerciter2005]

Today everything changed for me. I was at work, thinking about the things that Jason Rainville showed me in my critique thread. I did what I could with his advice. I drew on an egg just to try and get it down, but to no avail. I felt it wasn't making sense.

Then the glass ceiling broke.

At work today I was observing my coworkers, just sort of watching them since I had nothing to do. When one of them turned to the side I saw it. Jason had mentioned something about how the eyes are "carved" into the head. It was at that moment that I saw the carving. I saw the sphere, I saw the carving, I saw the square jaw and the lines. It was like a light switch turned on.

As soon as I got home I drew, and drew, and drew. I'm not uploading the sketches because they're not scanned. However I did re draw Tessa. You know, the "manly woman" with the multi colored hair.



I say it looks a lot better. It's just a sketch to prove a point, so I'm not fussed over the breasts, eyes, and pose as much as I would be. If I was doing this picture with any serious intent, I would have fixed those before uploading it.

I also know my coloring and shading is crap. I only colored it to make the comparison between the two pictures easier.

I feel strange, now. I can't see things the same way anymore. I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing.

[sKETCHii-MOP]

You've improved alot in just a month O_O

I like the background stories incorporated into your characters as well.

[DBZMerciter2005]

Originally Posted by sKETCHii-MOP

You've improved alot in just a month O_O

I like the background stories incorporated into your characters as well.

Thanks. When I get real critiques on my work and actually try to fix those things change is easy.

Thank you again. I love my characters, and I feel a little back story goes a long way. I mean it's one thing to have a picture, but if you can have a back story to go with it then the critiques can be all that more specific for that character.

Just wait. One day I'll draw the family tree and you'll see just how many characters I have, and how incredibly complex everything really is.

[DBZMerciter2005]

I felt inspired to draw some neglected characters. Comments on this picture copy/pasted from my Deviant Art.

====== General Comments =====

Since my picture of "new Tessa," I felt compelled to draw my other characters. A friend of mine mentioned that she was sick of seeing the characters I normally draw: Aki, Aihiiru, Tessa, Karen, Reve, B.J., and Lorie. I told her it's hard to figure out how to draw someone when I don't have a good inspiration for them.

While playing World of Warcraft I decided to draw. I began with a few warm up sketches with my lined egg, and then I began to draw random characters. I decided to try and find an inspiration for Lynn. She was the only major character I had that felt incredibly incomplete. While sifting through some of my random pictures (I have a file full of them) I found a beautiful, freckled red-head.

Then it dawned on me: Lynn's a red-head.

This caused me to finally break one of the final "WTF" things in Stardiac (my manga). Benji and Lynn are still twins, but they are no longer identical twins. It was stretching the limits of reality as it is to have one of their moms (B.J. & Lorie) turn into a guy, and it stretched it more to have them be identical but of different genders, so I dropped the idea.

I worked on this picture for god knows how long. I spent at least three hours drawing it and the last hour in coloring. I tried to make the characters pop a bit more, so I used references where I could. I learned that masculine features are sharp while feminine are round, which makes sense. Benji originally looked like a young boy, or even a feminine man, but I refused to let him sit that way. I broke down and looked at a Heath Ledger (10 Things I Hate About You, Brokeback Mountain, Batman) picture to get his face right.

Lynn's face is based off of Piper Perabo (Imagine Me & You, Coyote Ugly). I'm glad she turned out the way she did. She finally fits. I do love the freckles, it's a nice touch. I also have freckles, so it's not a totally random thought.

The picture was not meant to be a completely finished piece. I wanted something to display my new found toy (drawing in 3d) on my characters.

===== Content =====

Benji & Lynn, the twins and Stardiac of Gemini. They are polar opposites in nearly every area. Despite that fact, they are very loyal to each other and enjoy being together. They're so close they developed their own language and can even feel when the other is in pain.

In battle Benji is more physical and Lynn is more magical. They share the mind of a tactician, but their boredom and short attention span can get the best of them.

If they are apart, they can still fight, but they are very one sided and unbalanced.

They are part of Tessa's bands, Star-d-Rock and Star-d-Pop. Lynn is the bass guitarist and Benji is the drummer.

[DBZMerciter2005]

It's been a while, hasn't it?

The truth is I was overwhelmed. Not just from work, but from feeling the pressure to perform to a standard I couldn't reach. Each time I picked up the pencil to draw something I felt awful, there was no fun left in it for me.

That was when I decided to just take a break. I knew it might last days, months, or even years, but I had to take a step back. If it's not fun, then why bother doing it, right?

Well today I picked up my (digital) pencil again and drew. I didn't want it to be perfect, I just wanted to have fun. However I know that it'll be good for me if I do things right, so from this point on I'm going to spend more time on my drawings, trying to get things right. If I'm not having fun or if I'm at a block, I'll just stop. I can't force something to be learned/work when it doesn't want to me. I learned that with Japanese, and the same applies here.

I also know taking a break sometimes helps. It lets your brain process what you've learned, and when you go back to it everything seems to make more sense.

Anyways, this is what I began on. I was drawing a picture of my Night Elf, Avenlei, and I figured it'd be worth finishing. I do intend on making this my user ID when it's done.



Some issues I can see:

- Mouth's too long. I do plan on working on it.
- Pose is a bit iffy, but it's difficult to find a good, "I'm a hunter" pose with women, let alone from the side.
- Her eyes really could use some work. They don't seem to be sitting in the head like I want them to. That's probably because I haven't studied eyes well enough.
- Her breasts seem odd.
- Her ear is actually a little too short for a Night Elf. Easy fix.

I love how the drawing is turning out, regardless of the above. I've found I really, really enjoy drawing in really sketchy lineart and then erasing to get the lines right rather than adding. I was always a fan of subtractive work, and I can tell it works even in PS. I also love her intense expression. It's not quite like her to be that intense unless she's protecting her family, but Avenlei could pull it off.

Aside from the above picture, I've decided that when I do feel like drawing, I will draw a sphere, square, something along those lines every day. I have an egg on a bottle cap here in my room that's good for that for now. I know I don't have a strong concept of 3d, so I want to make sure I get that right.

[DBZMerciter2005]

Here are some practice sketches I did before working on Avenlei's picture again. I didn't use a reference for the eye, but I did for the lips. Unfortunately the lips were on a really, really small picture, so I couldn't see much.

I wanted to play around a bit with color because monotone is so dull. I threw in some purple to darken the blue and green/yellow to lighten the picture. The middle is an egg I have in my room that I try to sketch every other day. Unfortunately I drew lines on it so it's difficult to see the shadowing. The lines would be helpful if they were straight. Unfortunately I can't draw a straight line with a ruler, let alone on an egg.

I apologize for its size. I was drawing this at 50% original size, so it's really blurry when blown up. o.o



This is the new Avenlei sketch. I feel icky because I drew over the reference shot at first, so I drew it again just so wouldn't feel as bad. Drawing over stuff never taught anyone anything, but drawing it, then fixing it, has.

[DBZMerciter2005]

I was sick of looking at my current user ID, and since my new ID will take a while, I drew this as filler. It's Vegeta from Dragon Ball Z.

[DBZMerciter2005]

More work on Avenlei today. More information can be found in this thread.

[DBZMerciter2005]

Here are some scans of sketches I've done since pre-Avenlei picture to today. They should be in chronological order.

I still have that egg in my fridge. The lines you see on it are on the egg. Sadly since I can't draw a straight line it looks messy. I have a clean egg now for my practice sketches now.


The somewhat realistic picture there is of Angela Aki. You'll find that I draw her an awful lot, and reference her a lot. Why? Well I think she's the most beautiful/hottest thing to ever grace this planet, so I get great joy from doing anything related to her, which includes, but isn't limited to, drawing her.

Did I mention that Aki (first picture of this entire thread) is based off of her? Yeah, totally have a thing for Angela going here.


Arm studies from today. I had a reference, but, as you can see, it wasn't working out. I couldn't get things right for some reason.


I continued on and got fed up with trying to draw that pose, so I went to a new one. That one turned out much better. I even tried it freehand, though it didn't turn out quite as nice.


More studies, but this time it's from Constructive Anatomy by George Brant Bridgman. I even took the liberty to stylize one of the drawings just a little bit. I'm not a fan of pointy muscles, now.


Yeah, that says "From Imagination." The arrow is pointing to the reference. Considering that was from my imagination, that's not all that bad. I ended up moving on to faces, though, because arms got tedious.


More faces from Constructive Anatomy, just with me putting my own spin on it. I learned a LOT from that section. Stuff like how the bottom of the nose is where the bottom of the ear/top of the jaw is. That same line is the bottom of the "cranium" as he wrote it, and that's also where the cheek bones start to move inward and downward. So much with just one line!

As for the girl licking her hand? That's Holly. She's Lorie and B.J.'s child (this time Lorie's the mom and B.J.'s the dad, which is the opposite with their other children) and she's a bit... odd. She has a natural ability to shapeshift into any animal she wants. The only down side? She's an albino, and she turns into albino animals. It's a nice trait, but in the wild albinos are incredibly rare (as far as I know) and as such it makes her easy to spot unless she's in the snow.

That's Lorie yelling at her in the picture. Holly can be forced to be human from time to time, though she still acts like a cat (her favorite animal to be).

I know her chest isn't all that great. I've yet to do chest/torso studies, but I think everything else is a vast improvement over what I've done before. I can only hope I'll get better.