Steve Lenze
Steve Lenze
Colorado
Professional artist from the animation industry. traditional 2D animation. storyboard. character design.
Steve Lenze
What I noticed the most is that you are not comparing your values. This is a common thing amongst beginners because they haven't trained their eye to see values correctly yet. I gave you some notes and did a quick sketch to show you what I mean, I hope it helps :)
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Steve Lenze
Hey asahi, Nice hand drawings, especially the fist. Your shading is a little all over the place, so I thought I would give you some pointers. First of all there are form shadows, which are soft edged and give a shape form. Then there are cast shadows, which are hard edged for the most part and show one form blocking the light from falling on another from. These drawings have both, but you are treating them as the same, that's why your shading doesn't look convincing. I did a quick painting to show you what I'm talking about, I hope it helps :)
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Steve Lenze
Hey Nick, This is really nice, good job. I have two really subtle, nit picky things to mention: The edges of the nostril and the ear are so hard they draw my attention. And, the contrast of the shirt and hair is the greatest in the painting, thus drawing my eye there first. I did a quick change to it just to show you what you might do to address these things. They are very small so you could take it or leave it. Hope it helps :)
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Steve Lenze
Hey Matt, It's easier to just show you than to explain it. I did a quick diagram that I hope will help, let me know if you have any questions :)
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Javier Lozano
Hi everyone 👋 Here is a small update and hopefully I get some useful feedback as in the previous round. Over the last days I was introduced to the concept of Gesture drawing and The Bean. And to be honest I found them both, very interesting practice, and also very tough to do properly and make the draws look good. I am struggling with a lot of aspects of the exercise, but mainly to have quality lines and being able to capture the motion. I think I focus too much in the contour and the results are quite still. I will keep practicing till I get better, but in the meantime here are my first attempts. I would appreciate some comments 🙏🙏 One more question. I am also starting to use Procreate since two weeks ago. Do you have any brush recommendation for this kind of exercise? I found the sketching brushes too thin for this purpose, but perhaps it’s just I am quite new and I need to get more practice. Thank you! 🤗 Javi
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Steve Lenze
Hey Javier, What I'm seeing in your bean drawings is that you are drawing these too carefully and you are using your fingers. I suggest you loosen up and draw with your whole arm, it will help keep these from being stiff. Then when you move from the bean to the whole figure, it will have a nice gesture. Then think about how the bean informs the figure when you build your structural drawing on top. I did a sketch to show you what I mean :)
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Steve Lenze
Hey John, All of your values are a little light, and you need more half tone values to transition from shadow to light. I did a quick sketch to show you what I mean :)
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Steve Lenze
Hey Henry, Your structural drawings are looking pretty good. You are maintaining for the most part the gesture of the pose. The issue I'm seeing the most is proportion. Heads are too big, and limbs are too short and a few of the drawings are off balance. I gave notes on the ones that I thought needed the most attention, but some of these are pretty nice :)
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Marco Sordi
2023\9\14. Good morning everybody. Here's my latest cartoon hands study sheet. Thanks for any comment or suggestion.
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Steve Lenze
Hey Marco, nice as usual :) I have a few small things that I think will help with these. First of all, with cartoon hands, try to use straight lines against curved lines on the other side. Also, don't forget to use gesture and good anatomy. Even though they are cartoon hands, they still need good anatomy. I hope this helps :)
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Steve Lenze
Here are the things I noticed: you have drawing issues and story issues. *All three characters are lined up and pretty much the same size. Not good layout because it makes the page look static. *Spiderman looks like he is kneeling on the floor, not flying. *Black panther's body looks too short and you didn't show enough evidence of the twist. *The first panel shows Spiderman swinging, in the next panel, he is lying on the floor with a girl over him- what happened to him? How did he get inside that room? *In panel 3 Spiderman is swinging away, how, and what happened to him? * You are drawing the forearms too short and not using overlapping shapes and perspective. * Hands too big. You can't just show moments in the story without setting them up first and linking them, or your reader will be confused and the story won't make sense. Pretty good attempt though, keep at it :)
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Steve Lenze
I really value copying artists that really know what they're doing, and Jorge really knows what he's doing. You can tell from this painting that he has a great understanding of values and how to use them. I enjoyed copying this very much :)
Steve Lenze
What's making your drawings feel stiff is the over complicated contour. If you simplify the contour like you did in one of the seals, it will give your drawings more gesture and flow. I did a quick sketch to show you what I mean :)
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Steve Lenze
Hey Mr. Angel Piedra, Nice job on this, you really captured the "S" curves in this drawing. The only thing you could maybe do is extend the "S" curve through the antenna. Good job :)
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Steve Lenze
Hey, these look pretty good, your really creating some 3D feel. Just be careful that you don't loose all the gesture or make the contour too complicated. I took one of your drawings and did a quick sketch to show you what I mean :)
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Thieum
Appart from the dynamic shapes studies of seals in the drawing basics course, I continued practicing on poses and portraits shapes. I tried to implement @Steve Lenze and @Martha Muniz 's advices , focusing more on accentuating movements, expressions, less on proportions and details. I tried to find interesting shapes while trying to give the impression of volume. I had a hard time sometimes, especially with the right hand of the man in the centre of the second page (which I had to modify as I never managed to draw the original postion)
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Steve Lenze
Looking pretty good :)
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toph
Asked for help
I decided to do another still life. I’m overall pretty happy with the drawing but I don’t think the loaf of bread or fabric came out very well. Would appreciate any critiques!
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Steve Lenze
Hey toph, The problem I see with your still life is the values, they don't relate to each other or the reference. You have to look at the value of the bread compared to the table, the background to the cloth, etc. I did a quick paint over to show you what I mean, hope it helps :)
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Steve Lenze
Hey Maht C. Your question about edges is a good one because it seems to be an issue with this painting. The drawing is nice, and the colors are nice, but all the edges are hard. The problem with that is it destroys form. Form shadows are soft and gradual, hard edges are used for cast shadows. If all the edges are hard, it flattens the form. I did a quick paint over of the face to show you the difference. I will say that some artist keep all the edges hard as a stylistic thing, but if you goal is realism you need both.
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Steve Lenze
Hey there, I know you hate measuring, but a lot of what's happening in this drawing has to do with distances between features. I will say you captured the angular nature of his face pretty well, but the distances are what's causing problems. I did a quick sketch to show you what I mean. Pay attention to my diagram on the eyes :)
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Steve Lenze
Along with the advise you already have been given, I wanted to give you a quick process to use to draw your hands in the future. I hope it helps :)
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Samuel Sanjaya
Here's my submission for this assignment. It was pretty though. any feedbacks/critiques will be appreciated
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Steve Lenze
Hey Samuel, The one thing I noticed in your drawing is that the scapula is not wrapping around the ribcage. You seem to be bowing it up and away from the ribcage. I did a quick sketch that I hope helps :)
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Steve Lenze
Hey pasqualed, The biggest thing I see is that this pose is pretty impossible. There is no way someone can twist their body that much. I'm not sure what your concept for this pose is, that would help determine what you are trying to do. But, going off the pose you have, I did a quick sketch to show you a way to make the pose more believable and dynamic, I hope it helps :)
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