The Mugen Fighters Guild - Xenomic's Art Thread! GASP!

Xenomic

Re: Xenomic's Sprite Thread! GASP!

#61 December 03, 2013, 02:40:35 am

T.G. "Thunder God" Xenomic

So I decided for the first time in like...10 years or so to do some art. Granted, it's not from the top of my head as I was using a reference image, but really...looking at it, it's not that bad. There's some problems here and there yeah, but it's not bad for a first try with Photoshop and using a mouse. No I don't have a tablet, and none of the scanners here at home work so I didn't try with paper and pencil. Maybe I should give paper and pencil a shot though?

It's really hard to keep the mouse from screwing things up, lemme tell you. If you guys wanna color this in, go for it! I'm terrible with coloring lol. And feel free to give criticism and feedback if you so desire~

For those who do not know who it is, this is Nowi from Fire Emblem: Awakening. Yes, I'm aware there's some proportion issues going on, but it was hard enough getting myself to do this with the mouse. Ugh...x_x;;

To my site: http://xenomic.freehostia.com/

Xenomic

Re: Xenomic's Sprite Thread! GASP!

#62 December 07, 2013, 02:07:18 am

T.G. "Thunder God" Xenomic

I do have some sketches that, when we get a working scanner, I'll scan and upload. Been practicing on nothing but art this entire week, mainly on doing faces (haven't gotten around to doing hair yet) in the frontal position (doing angled views shouldn't be that difficult I wouldn't think...I intend on practicing those next once I get the frontal view stuff done, including full body proportions (no clothes for now) in the frontal view). All mostly using Nowi as my base and reference. Hopefully she doesn't screw me over in doing art for later characters seeing as she's supposed to be short as all hell. ^^;;

So, here's my line of practicing:

A) Frontal Views

1) Head/faces - I believe I got this down now for the most part. Only have trouble getting the sides of the head to curve easily into the jawline to chin area for some reason. I generally start my drawings with one eye, then do the other eye, then set the sides of the head, then nose, then do the jawlines to chin, and then finally the mouth (followed by the ears).

2) Full body proportion - This will require me to actually NOT draw super huge, which has always been a problem for me. I'm not sure how I'll be able to manage this on paper and pencil...especially when I start doing characters that are of normal average heights and not like 4' something like Nowi is...

3) Hair - I don't know why, but I struggle to get the hair right. I can't seem to find a good place to start with the hair at all, nor where to go with the hair in some instances...

4) Facial expressions - This will come after I master hair mostly because hair can affect how facial expressions look sometimes. Granted, I guess I SHOULD do this as #2 instead of full body proportions but...

5) Clothes - Seeing as #2 will be just a nude model with nothing on it, I'll need to learn how to do this eventually. I wouldn't think it'd be too difficult to do though with Nowi as my base, but for other more extravagant characters it may become a pain to do...

6) Arm/hand positions - Hands and arms, for some reason, have always been a thorn in my side. It's all the way down here mostly because well...the face and body should be mastered first before actually doing fancywork with things like the hands and feet.

7) Body positions/poses - Such as sitting, walking, excited, etc. I feel like once I master the first 6 in this list, this shouldn't be too difficult to do??

B) Angled Views
C) Side Views
D) Angled Back Views
E) Back Views

B and C will follow the same structure as A, although I'd imagine doing angled views will be easier once I master how to do frontal views. It's just moving some lines here and there a bit longer than others after all, right?? Side views will probably be a pain in the arse to do though...

So yeah, if anyone has any good suggestions/tutorials/whatever (aside from practice a lot, which I already know about and have been doing for the past week lol), feel free to help me out! I really want to get as good as I can get with drawing in particular. I really WANT to be able to do my own art for my characters, and be able to produce gorgeous art for my favorite characters out there. ^^

I am currently using Mark Crilley's tutorials on YouTube to try and learn these better, as well as some tutorials from Naschi on DeviantArt to help improve my art. So far, it seems like Mark's tutorials have been helping me immensely...we'll see when I scan and upload some of this art though >_>

To my site: http://xenomic.freehostia.com/

Kintoku

Re: Xenomic's Sprite Thread! GASP!

#63 December 07, 2013, 05:35:47 am

*Insert text here*

Here's a few places you can check out.

http://helpyoudraw.tumblr.com/ (Has many different tuts there. check out a navigation panel to find the tuts to your liking.)
http://ctrlpaint.com/library/ (Another good place for tuts.)
http://www.youtube.com/user/ProkoTV (Another art youtube channel you should check out.)
http://www.posemaniacs.com/ (Great place for poses.)

Hope this puts you in the right direction. Good luck!

Edit: Just remembered one more!

http://www.youtube.com/user/Sycra/videos (Does some great drawing and has some good tuts as well.)

Last Edit: December 07, 2013, 05:40:14 am by Cryonemisis

Xenomic

Re: Xenomic's Sprite Thread! GASP!

#64 December 07, 2013, 05:57:43 am

T.G. "Thunder God" Xenomic

Thanks for the links Cyronemesis. I think links #1, 4, and 5 will be of the most use to me, since I'm aiming more for the manga/anime style instead of realistic for the time being. Granted, that's not to say realistic drawing tutorials wouldn't help but...^^;

For those curious as to what exactly type of art style I'm looking at:

http://shinxenomic.imgur.com/all

A lot of what I uploaded here kinda falls into that category. Not all, but a lot. Fire Emblem: Awakening art in general is what I was kinda going after (that's not to say that I don't want to adapt to my own art style and whatnot, but it's a good place to start as any). I should be working with Tiki instead of Nowi as she's an adult female as opposed to a more childlike female...>_<

To my site: http://xenomic.freehostia.com/

Xenomic

Re: Xenomic's Sprite Thread! GASP!

#65 December 09, 2013, 12:01:55 am

T.G. "Thunder God" Xenomic

Well, I think I got the head and face pretty much good to go. I just need to learn how to do facial and eye expressions a bit more, and I'll have the face at least mastered. Think I got my kind of eyes I want to use for females too, though I may interchange them at points. We'll see since it varies from character to character anyways!

I WAS going to attempt full body proportions next, as stated on #2 on the list, but I think I'm jumping the gun on that bit. So I'm doubling back and working more on heads and faces more (mostly females still. I'd imagine doing a male head and face wouldn't be too difficult. Just have to make the eyes narrower, give a bridge of the nose, and give thicker eyebrows, as well as probably a squarer chin (?). Hair though...hair is actually quite difficult to do, as that's my next task in learning the head/face. I think the characters I'm using for this exercise aren't good examples to learn (Tiki and Nowi respectively, though Nah's SHOULDN'T be as difficult as it is....but it is. It's the simplest of the three, but it's still hard! This is without the braids btw, as the braids themselves I have a plan on how to do them thanks to Mark's video). Any good characters to reference with starting hair practice at all??

In the meantime, still waiting to find a method of scanning and uploading...we never installed the new printer because the old printer is still working (yet the scanner is not), and none of my buds have a scanner so I'm kinda screwed on that front. >_>;;

To my site: http://xenomic.freehostia.com/

Xenomic

Re: Xenomic's Sprite Thread! GASP!

#66 December 09, 2013, 05:02:23 am

T.G. "Thunder God" Xenomic

Granted, this was in Photoshop and not with pencil and paper where I'm much better at controlling myself, but this is generally how my general guidelines are. I know that this isn't the most effective way, and it really doesn't work with making sure things are proportioned correctly. I'm trying to avoid using too many guidelines, and would really REALLY appreciate feedback or advice on what to do to improve myself.

I have yet to actually attempt hair by the way. That was my next goal before I started wondering if I was making any progress on the face at all. I may do one for the angled view as well, for those interested in seeing how I do angled views. I don't know how to do a tilted up or tilted down head yet with the neck and facial features...just a frontal and angled. This is after a week's worth of constant practice on it, using Mark Crilley's videos and Naschi's tutorials. Whether or not those are the best idea to learn or not, I cannot say...

Keep in mind, this is just a ROUGH sketch in Photoshop, not with pencil and paper. It's kinda similar though however so...

To my site: http://xenomic.freehostia.com/

Xenomic

Re: Xenomic's Sprite Thread! GASP!

#67 December 19, 2013, 02:14:19 am

T.G. "Thunder God" Xenomic

So while I'm still waiting to actually find a way to scan and upload my stuff, I've finally moved on from doing just heads to the shoulders, arms, hands, and torso. The problem is...I have no idea WHERE to even begin on the placement of each. I know the shoulders are about 1/2 a face away the side of the face (though this can change I believe. For instance, someone who looks like around a 12-year-old or so, wouldn't have the same build as someone that's a full-grown adult). The problem from there is how the arms should look, how the arms connect to the torso, and the size of the torso itself.

I just don't have any good tutorials for these at all, and it's kinda frustrating to not have some kind of way to do these, unlike where there were a couple good tutorials for the head. So if anyone can help out and/or give advice on these specific body parts (note, I am still working on the female body, frontal and angled view), feel free to do so. ^^;;

To my site: http://xenomic.freehostia.com/

Last Edit: January 05, 2014, 04:07:02 am by Xenomic

Xenomic

Re: Xenomic's Art Thread! GASP!

#68 January 05, 2014, 04:07:19 am

T.G. "Thunder God" Xenomic

Time for an art dump! Finally got the scanner to work, so scanned some of my works over the past couple weeks.

Spoiler, click to toggle visibilty

To my site: http://xenomic.freehostia.com/

Xenomic

Re: Xenomic's Art Thread! GASP!

#69 January 08, 2014, 04:37:25 am

T.G. "Thunder God" Xenomic

Nowi was kinda used as a base again, but this was my attempt at a quick sketch (less than 10 minutes or so) of a head in an angled view, with some shading and heavier line art. Could be better of course, but it's not the world's worse I think. I've yet to read the Loomis books I have, nor either of the other books I have, and felt like doing a quick practice to see how I'd do the shading. Light source is from the left. I know my shading isn't exactly stellar either, but I think it's not TOO terrible...maybe.

To my site: http://xenomic.freehostia.com/

Xenomic

Re: Xenomic's Art Thread! GASP!

#70 January 14, 2014, 01:03:40 am

T.G. "Thunder God" Xenomic

Redid this today and will be using this to be making a face. Don't mind the squareness of the jaw, that's just an outline! Hopefully this will help me out with making a face better. >_<

To my site: http://xenomic.freehostia.com/

Xenomic

Re: Xenomic's Art Thread! GASP!

#71 January 22, 2014, 08:03:46 am

T.G. "Thunder God" Xenomic

Couple new ones~ Haven't been practicing enough as I should due to running like 4 projects but...

Bottom one is the newest one. I attempted to do another image of Nowi for the last thing, to see what I could do with the new techniques I learned. It's...a bit better than before? I'm not really sure...*sigh*

To my site: http://xenomic.freehostia.com/

Xenomic

Re: Xenomic's Art Thread! GASP!

#72 January 24, 2014, 01:01:24 am

T.G. "Thunder God" Xenomic

2-3 hours I spent wasting paper to try and get circles to not look lopsided, and trying to get faces to not look lopsided. This is about the best I could get with faces after 2-3 hours...and even then something seems off. I don't know...maybe I should just give it up? It's quite frustrating to say the least. Ugh...I tried to avoid adding any realism to them, though the nose on the second image is realistic. >_>

To my site: http://xenomic.freehostia.com/

Kintoku

Re: Xenomic's Art Thread! GASP!

#73 January 24, 2014, 02:31:18 am

*Insert text here*

Come on, don't throw in the towel so easily! Thing like this happen to other artists all the time, myself included. Even though sometimes I want to take a flame thrower to my sketchbook, I still push myself to draw. The process is painful when you start, no doubt about that, but if you continue and push yourself harder and really focus, you CAN become good.

Sappy stuff, I know, but hey, it's true.

You should check this out if you have the chance. http://beyondarttutorials.com/articles/conquer-drawing-frustration/

Now to go back to lurking and being shy.

Xenomic

Re: Xenomic's Art Thread! GASP!

#74 January 24, 2014, 02:55:06 am

T.G. "Thunder God" Xenomic

I just don't know. Right now I'm just being super frustrated at myself (which is normal in anything I do) that I can't seem to pull this one simple thing off. It's like...it's just ONE circle. Why can I not do a good enough circle where it's not lopsided? Why can I not do straight lines or line things up parallel to one another? I just don't understand.

Like, I can understand the people I'm speaking with to do still life or things from realism over the anime/manga style I'm trying, but if I can't even do circles or straight lines, then what's the point? I'm going to keep trying what I've been trying with the heads until I get it right. Doing anything else at this point just won't do it for me I think. I know WHAT I want to do, it's just EXECUTING it that I'm not doing, and that's what's frustrating me.

Also, I was lieeeeeeeed to about the eyes on anime/manga styled art being on that line. Apparently the eyebrow is ALWAYS on that line regardless of the art style. Ffffff....

To my site: http://xenomic.freehostia.com/

Makkah

Re: Xenomic's Art Thread! GASP!

#75 January 24, 2014, 04:41:34 am

Humanity can be so much more

Well, looking at your work, here's some advice I can give you:

1) Those circles that you say you're having trouble with? It looks as though you try to draw them in one go. Try sketching them instead, then cleaning up the lines when you have something you're satisfied with. You could also just use a compass. A tee square and set square would work really well for your lines as well, but that depends on just how meticulous you want to get with alignment.

2) To make sure your eyes are aligned properly, draw 2 horizontal lines for where they should fall. Eyes are also always an eye space apart. Meaning, whatever the size of one of your eyes is, that should be the size of the gap that separates them.

3) Ears typically run from the base of the eye to the tip of the nose.

4) Try drawing the mouth closer to the nose and have the jaw and chin align with the new placement.

You're not terrible, you just need to practice more.

Xenomic

Re: Xenomic's Art Thread! GASP!

#76 January 24, 2014, 04:53:33 am

T.G. "Thunder God" Xenomic

1) Actually, I do do the circles in one go. I think I was pretty much told to not sketch them due to the mess it can make.

2) Horizontal lines eh? The problem for me now, since I'm used to this format and not the old one I used to use, is determining where the lines would fall at now. I kinda have this to fall back on for now that someone on /ic/ did real quick:

3) Aye, I've been trying that (though with the non-human ears I've been using, not doing a very good job of doing that at all). I'm assuming it's along the top of the eye too to the tip of the nose, like I've done in earlier sketches?

4) Reason mouths tend to be where they are is due to what I learned, in that the nose is halfway between the eyes and chin, and the mouth is halfway between the nose and chin thereafter. Which is something that doesn't actually look right now that I think about it (but I think that's how it is in anime style? I know it's not in realistic style anyways...).

I guess my more recent stuff is a lot better than my older stuff:

By far better than that...*shivers*

To my site: http://xenomic.freehostia.com/

Last Edit: January 24, 2014, 04:59:06 am by Xenomic

Rolento

Re: Xenomic's Art Thread! GASP!

#77 January 24, 2014, 05:50:52 am

Figuring things out, one sprite at a time.

It's distinctly possible that part of the source of your frustration is what you are effectively trying to do is imitate drawings that themselves are imitations of a properly drawn figure. What 'anime style' usually consists of is simplification of a more realistic form. If you're just studying the simplification without understanding how they got to that point, then you aren't making the most productive use of your time; effectively just reproducing work with maybe a few tweaks here and there.

Before you can start bending and breaking the rules, you have to know the rules first. Get a working grasp on the real human form, and you will find that making abstract versions is easier.

In Rolento We Trust - I am Many Ninjas - @ManyNinjas on Twitter

Xenomic

Re: Xenomic's Art Thread! GASP!

#78 January 24, 2014, 06:11:26 am

T.G. "Thunder God" Xenomic

I kinda know how the real human form works for the most part. I did do some drawings for those a while back, though not as much as say...the anime/manga/Awakening-styled art I've been trying to do. Really, I think it's A) I'm trying to do one big circle instead of breaking it up so that it's even on all sides, and B) I'm just not positioning the facial details right. I feel that if I can fix those two problems, the heads will be fine. I mean, they're not that bad right now I think...just the two issues that I mentioned that are hurting it the most (I do need to learn to deal with 3/4 views...those are kinda hard on me, especially with the eyes...ugh...).

To my site: http://xenomic.freehostia.com/

Rolento

Re: Xenomic's Art Thread! GASP!

#79 January 24, 2014, 06:57:02 am

Figuring things out, one sprite at a time.

http://callmemra.deviantart.com/art/Some-Suggestions-429095381?ga_submit_new=10%253A1390542919

Due to Smeenet still being temporarily unavailable, I uploaded a supplemental image on DA as a quick fill in.

In Rolento We Trust - I am Many Ninjas - @ManyNinjas on Twitter

Xenomic

Re: Xenomic's Art Thread! GASP!

#80 January 24, 2014, 07:06:36 am

T.G. "Thunder God" Xenomic

Hmm...that should be a useful thing to use for my practice. The eyeline was from me being told for anime/manga style, the eye can lie right on the mid axis line (apparently that's for the eyebrow regardless of art style), so that was a goof up on both ends. Getting that eye width is surprisingly difficult as I really don't have any way to determine it outside of guessing where it will be. Would the nose still be in the same spot though is the question if the eyes are moved down any?

For some reason I never thought of the mouth being that long, and I don't know why. Huh...

For the 3/4th view, how would one go about adding the little curves around the side of the face like that? I have never figured that out, nor really tried due to not knowing how that works. x_x;

And that chin...it's so hard lol. Like...I know feminine chins are rounder than male chins but for some reason I cannot for the life of me get the right placement of the chin. Maybe I should show what I normally do in steps and upload it to my DA and show it here??

I do appreciate you giving me this quick guide though. It should help me out a bit. I did try to draw some of the official images (as you may have seen already in the thread) but I don't think I actually LEARNED anything from drawing them >_<

I do think another big problem, as addressed earlier, is that I'm stuck between realistic and anime/manga style. Again, still going with Awakening as my basis, but I don't think I know which style that really uses after all. x_x;;

EDIT - Found this and uploaded it to share. This is about 3-4 weeks old, so this was before I started all this stuff with Loomis. Attempt at a realistic head. Problems do persist as you can see (things not lining up, etc.), but overall...why does this seem BETTER than what I'm doing now?! Look at that chin! That's like the best damn chin I've ever done! >_<

To my site: http://xenomic.freehostia.com/

Last Edit: January 24, 2014, 08:48:02 am by Xenomic

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