Mirpono's Artin' Along

[Mimironi]

Heyyyy... I was kinda nervous to post this   .

Now, I draw. A lot. And I used to have an old art thread but then my scanner broke... and the I lost the thread itself... Anyway, this will likely have both traditional and sometimes pixel-art, and by that I mean i rarely try anything digital other than pixel-ing.

Art Below

(I've likely given these characters personalities, so they'll only do certain things and such?)

Spoiler

This is Theta. I'm not sure if I gonna make her a cyborg or not but here she is. I like how I made the battle gauntlets, personally.



Iren is... a dragon boy(yes boy) who uses... purple-blue, non elemental, close or ranged- magic. Of course he can breathe out that same magic cause... dragon physics.

This was originally done on paper but I outlined it digitally. This is why I rarely do digital art.



Loché(To make it pronounced like... Lock-Key without emphasis on the k's)

Loche, for some reason, may be one of my favorite characters I've ever made. Anyway, he is an Energy... Sapper? He can take peoples energy kiiinda based on the act of intimacy he does. Placing both of his hands will slowly take like... 10% energy, maybe?  A hug will slowly take like... 40%? You get the idea. There's things to nullify the energy-taking, too. Uhh he also has a horn and a gun.

 

 

Fan art, I guess




Witch generic from the disgaea series.



 

 

[Mimironi]

...



Has anyone ever heard of the disgaea series?

 

[Mimironi]

90% Sure this is the first digital piece i've ever done. If not then it must've been a while.

Spoiler

 

[Bastrophian]

90% Sure this is the first digital piece i've ever done. If not then it must've been a while.

Spoiler

Thats really nice actually!!

 

[Mimironi]

@Deathswallow

Thank you! That really helps me out (self-esteem wise).

------

Digital... isnt that bad. But I'll need to get the right equipment to get the most out of it.

Spoiler

Named her Yuelia. I think she's going to be a dungeon crawler (she also may be a princess? I dunno). Her weapon is a giant mechanical sword that she needs 2 hands to hit enemies with.

 

[Mimironi]

More Loche. Actually, a rough draft redesign in progress. Not sure if I'll make him human or not.

The redesign happened because... I forgot his design while at school. ._.

Spoiler

 

[Emberstorm]

Your third character (Loche), is actually quite a nice refreshing style. Good job

 

[Mimironi]

AH!!!

1> I forgot to follow this topic so i could see things from it

2> I havent posted in a while. A WHILE.

To make up for this, Im going to try to post as often as I can, hopefully every day, for as long as... I dunno.

So, first day:

Spoiler

(I didn't realize I basically drew the exact same expression. He has different ones, I swear)

This is Lucius Albern. I tried to make him kind of... snide? He's also competitive with only

a certain person, especially during their 'ruin expeditions'. Lucius is usually the appointed leader,

mostly staying strategic and calm, but he's somewhat clumsy, as in: he'll either trip over his own feet or get

caught by something like a branch every once in a while. Usually denies said clumsiness.

Makes genuine, non-snarky smiles more often than not, actually. 

He controls the wind element.

Uh,  I think thats enough from me :x

 

[Mimironi]

Wait am I able to post once a day if i decide to? I dont know if I need to wait 72 hours for this...

Uhhhhh

*finds an unfinished, messy looking digital piece*

Spoiler

Bleeurghh this looks baaad but I dont know how to color it without weird white dots showing up.

---

This is Lysca and Vern(on). They're brother+sister and Lysca's the older one though she

doesnt act like it at all. Vern's personality isnt exactly solidified yet (and he's supposed to be the main character, jeez)
Those things on Vern's feet are one of his weapons, Wings of Geo, as he calls them.

Vernon has basically gone through a different design with each drawing I've made of him, just a heads up. And

the next post will feature him, so each drawing may look a little different.

• Lysca wasnt born with an elemental spirit.
• Vernon has the Earth Spirit (clearly).
• The spirits have actual designs I'd like to post one day.

 

[Makio-Kuta]

Very cute style~ Your character designs are really fresh and fun as well. I admire how you don't shy away from drawing full bodies as well.

For the most recent picture, with the white dot issue, what program are you using, and what did you use to make the line art? Your earlier digital work didn't have that problem, so it would be good to know what you are doing differently on these ones to help you figure out how to fix the problem. (though if I were to take a guess at random - switched to an aliased brush and used the full tool?)

 

[nio kasgami]

I am with all the other people said your style is cute and cool! 

I know very well Paint tool sai and if you need any kind of help for adjust your pen I will with pleasure pass to you my pen configuration actually the probleme is you use to much pixalised pen and maybe your canvas are to much small in draw..it's better to draw the most bigger and after shrink it

I generally work with 600x600 for bust but most of time my arts are not minimum 2000x2000 or 1000x1000 pixels of size

it's hard to work big but this give a better accurate precision and also more smooth lines!

if you need any kind of help don't hesit to pm me I will gladly help you out!

 

[DaveyAlpaca]

To begin with, I am sorry if what I am about to say comes out as rude, I get that a lot honestly, but I am honest.

Your anatomy is pretty off, I am saying this because I am assuming you are drawing with anime art style, if you aren't, then ignore this please. But if you are, then please understand that even though Anime is based as a cartoony style, they still follow the idea of anatomy to a peak. They try and emulate this with studies of muscle functions and a bone structure that is correspondent to that of the character's position and posture. In you first art pieces, this is completely missing, the legs are trying to emulate that "cute" idea of feet facing each other is "Adorable" well, it doesn't well if you can't demonstrate that the legs have knees, without knees, the legs look like long sticks with shoes on. Now, on the latest drawings I can sort of see some knees on the female character, a good advancement, but again, you have to demonstrate this a bit more so the viewer can localize them without putting effort. Also, on the same character, her right arm (your left) is missing a shoulder..like completely. The feet are a bit off, I say this because again, the knees aren't showing where they are bending, so I can't tell where the feet are meant to be directed.

Now on to the character on the right in your latest post. I will not mention the knees here because they cause the same visual problems as the previous characters. I will say though that I do notice that you added collar bone details, which to me says that you are trying to show a skeletal idea, which is failed by the disposition of a dynamic pose, the back isn't well portrayed, this is further shown by the face, the face is looking forward (south) with should mean that his chest should also be looking out forward (south) but it doesn't, this causes a small problem when it comes to shading and adding dynamic shadows.

And finally, I have a problem with the outlines, they seem to try and emulate the idea of the characters being drawn on crayons..it doesn't work if it isn't consistent.

Now, again, please don't be offended or upset, I am a huge, HUGE critic when it comes to art because I've gone to college for it as a visual designer, now that doesn't mean I am an expert, it just means that I have taken professional classes by professionals in quick tips to improve art and it's visual amplifiers. Again, I am seriously sorry if this hurts your feelings, or upsets.

 

[Simon D. Aelsi]

-.longwinded criticism-

I agree with many of your points here, but I might be so bold as to say that SOME people post their art in art dumps or art threads here just to show it off, not necessarily for feedback. (It depends on the individual artist, of course)

Also, when giving heavy critique like this, it helps to not just point out the flaws (And WHY... annnd to tell her what she can to to MAKE IT BETTER), but also on any POSITIVE points in the works.

I seriously doubt an HONEST, CONSTRUCTIVE criticism should hurt the OP's feelings, though.

Unless... they're a beginner who seriously doubts themselves, of course.

Just my two cents.

 

[DaveyAlpaca]

Again, no trying to hurt anybody, what I said are points that I saw immediately that took me out of it.

Also, the reason on which I mentioned mistakes only, is because I personally think that when a person is exposed to their mistakes, they are able to see the bad, so the only thing left, should be the ability to fix them. By pointing out the bad, you can see where you messed up so you can fix it. I mean, I can try and visually show my points and demonstrate a method on how to fix them, if that helps then I will gladly do so.

I was taught that mistakes are the road work to perfection, for example, if you're walking down a road and trip on a branch, you will get up, and keep walking, once you see another branch, you will not trip again, you've see the mistake, and you know the consequences, so now the only thing left is the easy fix, and walk over it.

I understand this forums are to simply show personal artwork, but how does that allow for room of improvement? How is an artist able to be better without criticism. 

I am not trying to discourage her, or anybody by any means, that is why I gave a disclaimer. Not to mention that if you are posting your artwork in the web, you are bound to get criticism..kinda unavoidable.

 

[nio kasgami]

actualy I approve what you said Davey Mirpono need to correct some point in anatomy 

I will more clarify what Sea said:

Actually, in what I can see Mirpono begin to draw (aprox 1~2 years)

so naturally she still not get the same level of confidence then us experimented artist.

So my point she still to much "fragile" in my opinion to receive such heavy feedback (not your feedback is not good this a excellent feedback!)

naturally what you could helped for mirpono to accept better your feedback will be to ponctuate your comment with some compliment and some "positive" comment so this will less hurt how she feel.

Also you could also show her where she made the mistake by using red lines for correct her draw like Adelie said to me. 

This will permit her to have a reference for fix her mistakes.

but on that I will not expend on this for not floud Mirpono thread

Also Mirpono Adelie make me notice you use a Doll anatomy do you want me to furnish you some good reference for drawing your draw ?

 

[DaveyAlpaca]

Alright, in the image above I used the red lines to show my points, I pointed out the directions of the knees and how they affected the foot. You can see in the images I found on google that Anime styled knees point out close to the same direction as the feet do. This is due to the bone structures acting together as they should, now you can argue that you can move your feet in a different direction than that of your knee, but you can do that in an unnatural pose, here, these characters are not portraying natural poses. I also pointed out the missing right arm (your left) on the female character.

Now on the male character, the spine was really hard to pin point, in fact, I am not sure if I even caught it correctly, I say that because it's so unnatural to the position of the neck, arms, and legs. in a dynamic pose, the spine is usually straight. here, it feels and looks curved and amplifies, but the legs are straightens, which doesn't match with the arms and neck. In here, you can also see how the knees and feet act together as they should.

I am not trying to boast on my point, I am visually showcasing my points so that they are easy to notice, and easy to fix.

 

[Mimironi]

Actually, to be honest: I've never really tried to study human anatomy for my drawings. I should probably do that soon.

I kinda go for a cartoon, lack of anatomy style, but I always end up trying for some kind of anatomy.

Basically my art's a mix of the two, a.k.a not a good idea.

Im not all that confident in my skills, but thank you for the review, Alpaca. Im actually okay with criticism. It'll make my drawings better, I think.

With that said, thanks for the leg references, too. Arms and legs are my biggest issues, more specifically the legs. They always end up looking like

boards ._.

---

Im using Paint Tool Sai. And the tools I used, lets see...

• I used the linework curve function
• Then used rasterize linework layer to make it back to a normal layer
• And colored it in using the fill tool, which is likely my mistake now that im typing this.

On my earlier digital drawings, I used GIMP, so i drew the lines on my own and they looked shaky.

(Aaand I think thats all I needed to type)

 

[DaveyAlpaca]

Hmm well, personally I take my characters slowly, I think of a pose, for example, in my avatar the character is showing a relaxed, calm pose, therefore I will assume that the legs and arms will do the same. Consistency is a must when it comes to creating poses, also, if you're going to try a cartoon style, remember that in cartoons you can exceed anatomy up to your liking, while in anatomic art styles, you have to make sure that the anatomy makes sense and doesn't raise questions.

I know art is hard, it's a destructive skill that either works or doesn't, so don't give up, practivemakes perfect

 

[Makio-Kuta]

Paint Tool Sai actually has a BRILLIANT fill tool if you play around with the settings.

Mine's set to - Precise, Transp 45, AniAlias on.

You're gonna wanna do your colours on a layer under your line art. So make a new layer underneath. Now! Here's where the real fun begins - select your line art layer and pick "selection source" (it's over by the layer settings, near layer clip and opacity lock) This tells the program to use this layer as your source even when you are on other layers.

Go back to your original layer, and set your fill tool's selection source to well - Selection source.

This tells your fill tool to read the line boundaries from the other layer and fill according to it even on a different layer. This makes laying down colours SUPER FAST and easy. From there, you can just bucket tool fill your areas on another layer.

There might be some touch ups needed to be done at the end (there's some areas too small for the fill tool) but it's a dream.

I tend to use the pen tool and not the curve tool (and not on a vector layer) but the concepts should be the same.

Also, if you have trouble with steady lines at the moment, you should try using the pen tool and turning on smoothing to the setting S-1. It's a stabilizer that helps keep your lines steady. You can try some of the higher settings too, if you really struggle with keeping smooth lines. I tend to use S-1 when I am working on finalized line work.

warning: The smoothing settings are HORRIBLE when you want to sketch this quickly! As they try to stabilize quick movements and do a poor job of it. It's best when you want smooth, precise line work. Play around with it and see what you think.

I can't take screenshots right now, as I got to be heading to work soon, but if you are unsure where or what any of these settings are, let me know and I'll go into greater detail after work.

--

as for anatomy, yes. learn it. Professional cartoonists of all sorts start with the basics. You need to understand how the body works before you can distort or simplify it into other styles. That's very important. No matter your style, it's important. Take some books out of the library, or look on the internet for guides - learn the basics. Understand how the body bends, where it bends, etc etc You'll notice great improvements if you do so.

 

I know art is hard, it's a destructive skill that either works or doesn't, so don't give up, practivemakes perfect 

Practice makes better; there's no such thing as perfect

 

[Mimironi]

I may've gotten a big eager to make something new :x

Spoiler

Before:


After:



This is Catalyst Phloem. His mother's a scientist and if  someone guesses what game series I based him off of,

I'm gonna be pretty happy (the fact that made his name a sort of pun may be a big give-away. And the pose...)

Also... I discovered a shading technique *takes notes*

I focused on the arms' anatomy specifically and used... my own arms as a reference as I couldnt find a good one.

Thanks for that bucket/fill tool info, Makio! It really helped me out on this drawing.