Slash's Art

[slash112]

I want to start getting more into art. The extent of my skills was usually image editing. I never seemed to be able to get into doing stuff from scratch, and I want to start trying to get better. I may as well start a thread to archive my progress, and I would also be very grateful for any feedback/criticism/tips. Spoiler for OLD: My first entry is a few sketches I started yesterday and today. I decided to just try it, and it turned out better than I thought it would. -- sketches missing -- None of those 3 thingies are actually finished yet, but feedback would still be appreciated. EDIT: Here I'll just keep a list of the most recent versions of each piece I post. -- Skeleton drawing missing -- -- grim reaper drawing missing -- -- magician drawing missing -- -- self portrait missing -- The missing images, I plan on finding. They are on a USB stick which I have yet to find.

[HeavySleeper]

First criticism: couldn't you have come up with a more creative name for the thread? Just kidding. You seem to be good with shading, and I know it's a small thing, but the tear on Death's cloak looks cool. The skeleton looks like something out of a Tim Burton animation. That's about it from me. Not an expert on art. I know, it's shocking.

[slash112]

Thanks And yea I was happy with the tear, I want to maybe add more tears on it.

[Wool]

I like your style, its cute and still creepy

[Oneironaut Zero]

Looks good, so far, man. I can tell how much detail there is, in your mind's eye, by your shading technique. It's subtle, but just deep enough that you're still able to see a bit of texture in there. Not too much to critique at the moment, because the style is pretty unique, so I'd like to see a little more done with it, before I can really get a feel for it. Keep it up, though.

[slash112]

Aw thanks guys I'll do more to those ones, but I'll never really finish them. I'll probably just keep mucking about with it forever until I get bored with that particular thing (I suppose at that point I could call it finished) And I'll do some other random stuff too.

[slash112]

Done some more to The Reaper (although not finished). It's funny because it makes me really embarrassed about my first draft of it. This is why I'll never truly finish an image, there will always be a way to make a change I like or feel like.

[Darkmatters]

Looking good! You cleaned it up quite a bit, and I like the hint of a skullish face hidden back there inside the hood. Should the hands be flesh colored though? I'm used to bony hands on my Reapers, but then this one is your creation, and if you say he has fleshy hands, then he has fleshy hands! You're running up against something I hit a lot - if I draw something and then go in and clean it up and rework it, I always gain something and lose something. There's a certain energy to the original one that I really like that's been somewhat polished out in the second one. Did you save the first one before working over it? Since going digital I've learned to always save early versions - hell, always save every version of everything. Work on layers too, draw and paint on a layer overtop of the original. I usually end up with lots of layers, and I don't flatten it at all - maybe only real quick before I save a version that I like, then I use the Edit dropdown menu to go back a step to when all the layers were still there, and save it with all the layers.

[slash112]

Haha the hint of a skull face wasn't intended. Now I need to decide if I should make it look less like that or go more towards that idea. And I tend to not save versions of the project file, only the flattened png files. I probably should though. Thanks, and thanks for the pointers

[Oneironaut Zero]

And I tend to not save versions of the project file, only the flattened png files. I probably should though. Absolutely, you should. Work in multiple layers, and save your project file often. Don't be timid about using dozens of layers too, if necessary. Can't tell you how many times saving my work in sections has saved me. Sometimes, in the middle of a project, you might want to change something, or something that you added doesn't go well with things, as you had them before. I never flatten my image, until I'm done with it. Even then, I will 'duplicate all' layers, and then just flatten the doubles into one layer, on top. Then, I'll have both a flattened image, but also have kept the rest of the layers beneath it, just in case.

[slash112]

Here's some more done to that third one. I didn't know what I was going to do with it. It turned out to be a magician. I find hands incredibly hard to do right...

[Oneironaut Zero]

Here's some more done to that third one. I didn't know what I was going to do with it. It turned out to be a magician. Haha. That looks great. I find hands incredibly hard to do right... Hands are something that I still struggle with, at times. I've gotten much better at them, but they can still get on my damn nerves. Lol. The best thing you can do is look at some anatomy books so you get a feel for how the different joints work and the relative sizes of the different bone segments in the fingers. Hands will likely take a lot of practice to get good with, so don't let them frustrate you....though they probably will. Heh.

[slash112]

Thanks man. And that's not a bad idea. I might just do that.

[HeavySleeper]

The best thing you can do is look at some anatomy books so you get a feel for how the different joints work and the relative sizes of the different bone segments in the fingers. Or you could go the Leonardo Da Vinci route and just cut open a few dead bodies. More fun.

[slash112]

Done more to it, but the hands are still wonky. [EDIT: Guddamit, I see what's wrong with it now. What an idiot] ... also it was maybe a mistake trying to scale it up.

[Oneironaut Zero]

... also it was maybe a mistake trying to scale it up. Haha. Yeah. Always work from big to small. Even when you are doing a smaller picture, start with a somewhat over-sized canvas. When you're done, it's much easier to scale a pic down - and keep the quality - than it is to do it the other way around.

[slash112]

Yea, the thing is though, it was only intended as a little sketch for the heck of it. But I like how it turned out, so I wish I'd started big

[Oneironaut Zero]

Yea, the thing is though, it was only intended as a little sketch for the heck of it. But I like how it turned out, so I wish I'd started big Yup. Once you start drawing more, you'll come to realize that that's how so many pieces start - just as little throw-away sketches. I can't tell you how many of mine started with just drawing the oddball face here, or sketching someone in a pose that turns out to be too good to throw away. By the time I'm done, they often end up turning into something that is worthy of keeping. You never really know what you've got, until you've completely fleshed it out. Always start big!

[slash112]

Ya, to be honest though, I only wanted to scale it up because I wanted to put it on a t-shirt once it's finished In which case, I think it's suitable for a t-shirt even with a bit of quality loss.

[Spenner]

Keep practicing good stuff and plenty of potential from you. Make sure to pay attention to lighting-- for example, there is light illuminating from inside his sleeves, casting a shadow to the outside of the sleeves... to practice, try drawing something simple, define the location of a light source, and shade it accordingly/make a shadow in the proper spot. With no light source, you could have light in some places where there should be shadow in others, and the inconsistency might throw somebody off. A lot of the lines are smudged-- which is fine, the style is nice to blend the shading, but some of the outlines have lighter tones due to the smudging and it makes it look like a glow on the rim of the shirt. Cleaner and less feathered looking edges would suit it better I'd say My last comment is on resizing... you should NOT print that in the sketch size! Even once you've rescaled to a larger size and care not about the quality loss-- prints need to be at 300dpi resolution to come out clean. A small sketch at 300dpi like that would be messed up. Right now, that scaled version, that size with that quality, is at 72 or 96dpi (depending on your monitor). So imagine it scaled AGAIN to 300dpi. A far more substantial loss than what you'd see on your screen D: Keep up the good work, do more of these

[slash112]

Thanks spenner. Nice pointers there Also yea, I was taking into consideration the way the t-shirt printing scaling stuff is. Done it before. It confused me first time lol, because I had this normal sized image and it turned out to be a tiny tiny badge on the shirt

[MementoMori]

Looking great man, I enjoyed all of them

[slash112]

Thanks It was you who introduced me to GIMP, so I have you to thank for that.

[dakotahnok]

I like this digital art because it looks like natural vine charcoal. Really nice. It's definitely a unique digital style. I should make a thread and put some of my more serious art on here. I'll critique later.

[slash112]

Thanks dakotah Also, here's some concept art I did for uni just there. It's for our Games Design module. I'll probably be posting more concept art from that. I must admit, I prefer doing dark things. So I'll have fun when I do the concept art for the devil and the demons and possibly the main character. (No I'm not giving details of the game idea itself )