Diana Mata
Diana Mata
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@crowlle
More practice , taking my time w this one I feel like mastering this before going forward is a good idea.(Also redid the horse will also redo the wolves i feel like i didint use enough geometric shapes.
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Diana Mata
Hi @crowlle These look good! I particularly like the wolf. One thing I noticed on the horse, though, is the overall volume of its body. The thin part on top (where the spine is) and the lines around the torso and the stomach make it seem much flatter than what it should be. However, afterwards you posted an iguana which shows more volume in its torso. The way you solved the iguana's body could help improve the horse's.
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Diana Mata
Hi @Mary Santos. I don’t think you should worry about one type of technique being inherently superior to another. Working with line only is neither more nor less professional than using other techniques, even in the gaming industry. What matters is the quality of your work (cheesy, but true). Also, remember that it is easy to forget that professional illustrators work differently than those starting out. Just because we don’t see lines in the end result doesn’t mean these artists 1) don’t use lines in their process or 2) that they don’t apply the understanding of form and perspective that comes with knowing how to make good lines. Whether your line art is meant to be the entire illustration, a part of it, or not show at all is mostly a matter of style. You’ll find plenty of professional artists that do any or all of these. There are some wonderful digital illustrations used for game art, but that doesn’t leave out line art entirely – just take a look at Hollow Knight, the Tell Tale games, Borderlands, etc. I’m not sure if this is part of your question, but here it goes: Your drawing is of a similar style to what a friend of mine used to do. In her case, whenever she made her drawings neater by erasing the sketch underneath, it became flatter and much less interesting, so she left the sketch in but was never happy because her drawings were never as neat as she wanted. It turned out that her final lines –the ones that were not meant as sketches– did not show what they were meant to show: shape, light, a change of material, movement, etc. The sketch lines carried most of the weight, so erasing them erased the drawing’s most important information. Shape, light, etc. are things shown in the illustration examples you shared, but they are solved in a painterly-language, not in a line-language. Line art can show these things as well, but you have to solve them differently with line than you would with brushes and color. If you are interested in improving your line art, I recommend taking a look at what fine artists or comic artists do. Their lines aren’t always meant to do the same things, but the crucial idea is that they know what they are doing with their lines and why. It’s great to have digital paintings as your end goal, but don’t underestimate line work!
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Chris Martin
How do you feel about this messy quick gestural approach? Should I polish them? Work slower?
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Diana Mata
I think it's alright to make multiple lines, as long as they are not random.
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Dwight
Asked for help
You won't believe it but I'm doing MORE gesture! Ever since I got that fountain pen I've stopped learning anatomy for now and am just chasing after Vilppu's way of drawing. I tried some digital today and MAN is it hard to make good looking 30 second gestures. I keep zooming out because I always make my figure's heads so big. Any ideas on how to fit all ten 30 second ones on one page? As usually, feel free to critique or question anything that's not ordinary.
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Diana Mata
Hi Dwight. I really like what you are doing with the simple lines – these kinds of drawings may look easy to make, but getting to the end result is not as simple as the lines themselves! If you are looking for ways to improve, I suggest taking a look at the foot of the last figure, the one that is bent upwards. The line doesn't really seem to decide if it is showing a simplified block or a transparency. Because of the placement we know that those lines represent the foot, but it is difficult to read: Where are the toes, the ankle, the instep? Is the arch visible? I don't mean that they should be drawn-drawn – the cool thing about these lines is the suggestion, but these particular lines muddle our understanding of that foot. But in the figure to the left we see how the lines are more intentional and suggest that the toes of the visible foot point towards the viewer. Meanwhile the foot in question leaves several questions unanswered: Are the toes may be pointing towards the viewer, to the side, or not visible at all? Perhaps the foot is shod? I really like how the fingers in the bent figure to the left turned out. Sometimes simplifying the fingers is enough, but in this case taking the time to suggest each one really pays off.
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Tony Vu
Haven't dones this exercise in ages. I thought I would do a few to try to get a handle of the concept again.
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Diana Mata
Hi Tony! These look really good, I especially liked the second iteration on image 5. If I may make an observation: image 3 has a subtle twist that, in the bean, places the hips/bottom closer to the viewer. Looking at the reference photo, wouldn't the twist bring the top half closer to the viewer, bringing the hips under it? I could be mistaken– it's a tricky one.
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Vivien FRANÇOIS
Hello, is someone working with an anatomy book to place the mucles at the right place ? Like an anatomy book for bodybuilding for example.
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Diana Mata
Hi. You could check out the Draftstmen podcast on Anatomy. They recommend several books and artists, but perhaps the one closest to what you are looking for is Strength Training Anatomy by Frédéric Delavier. Here's the link with the notes for that episode where you can find other books and references: https://www.proko.com/course-lesson/how-to-learn-anatomy-draftsmen-s1e10/notes
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Martin
Hi, some of mine robobeans. Thankfull for any comments and critique. Have a nice day;)
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Diana Mata
Hello Martin, Robo beans are quite fun to make, I hope you are having a good time drawing them. I found helpful to do some of them with all the boxes' lines showing, meaning the hidden ones at the back. This is useful to understand what the body is doing, at a very simple level, and it is particularly helpful when twists and perspective become trickier. I'm attaching an example of what you could focus on when doing robo beans: when creating the box, remember there are shorter sides (red) and longer ones (blue), and that they connect as the figure bends or turns (cyan and yellow). I hope this is useful. Have a nice day too.
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Paolo
Hi all, this is my first attempt on structure, looking for a critique on what I can improve on.
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Diana Mata
Hello, Paolo. For this exercise, I would also recommend beginning with figuring out how the shapes could be translated into simple boxes. This will be particularly helpful to find the orientation, inclination, and even proportion of the various parts of the body. Hope this is helpful.
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Marco Sordi
2021/9/21. Hello everyone. This is a personal interpretation of Elsa from the Disney movie, FROZEN. Before presenting the final version to my illustration course teacher, I would like to hear some of your opinions and possibly some advice on how to improve it. In particular I would like to increase the sense of depth of the background and three-dimensionality of Elsa (Elsa has a very fair complexion and I would not want to exaggerate with the shadows since the light of the ballroom is very strong and diffused). Also I would like to add a halo of brightness to the chandeliers. If you have any useful ideas please post them below. I also add some of the reference pics I used. Thanks for your valuable contribution.
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Diana Mata
Hi Marco! I think you have a real advantage working on digital, since you could try out playing with the shadows in a separate layer in case they don't work out. I understand why you might hesitate on accentuating some darker shadows, but they worked quite well on her left arm and hand. You could check out this Proko video on shading tricks–it's not too long and there are some interesting ideas in it. https://youtu.be/6vapw6n6FyU
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Diana Mata
I was just going to post the one in pencil, but the other ones turned out too silly not to share.
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