Chit-Chat: "L'art pour l'art" - DCC

[derozio]

Hands, lol. Those are the things I'm having the most problem with right now. I've seen Signomi draw girls with crazy poses with those dynamic positioning of hands and I attempt those and I'm left with a ";__________________;" expression on my face after 2 minutes of rough sketching. :'( Those, and anatomy. I screw the anatomy up quite a bit most of the times. (But that'll get better once I seriously start following tutorials that are there on here :D I couldn't till now because, you know, stuck with mobile for a year D:)

Hair used to be difficult till I understood they're things you can literally go crazy with. Especially if you're doing jap style art. Crazy hair is kind-of a trademark there, you know? :p Either way, you've managed to draw them pretty well! Both Hase and Fujimiya are very recognizable. But it seems you did use a scene as a reference, did you not? Just curious.

This here is an original art piece which took me 7 hours to draw. The only reference I used were for hair and clothes and facial structure. Also, Kiryuin Ragyo (top left) is completely referenced since I kinda got bored with the piece near the end. Figured I'd post here since it mostly got ignored on FB groups and kinda in my gallery as well lol.

Spoiler:

 

[Nolafus]

I haven't even attempted hair yet. Well, it's been a while since I've drawn anything, but I'm thinking about picking it up again.

Anatomy is definitely the hardest part for me. Just getting everything looking right without having the arms way too long, or having the body in a comfortable position takes so much time. Just thinking about it has me worried!

That, and clothes. I can never get the clothes to look right. They always end up looking so stiff, like they're made of metal, or something. Just figuring out where the clothes should bend and give is the biggest struggle.

 

[derozio]

Those things work out just fine with a lil' bit of practice. I think hair will no longer be a problem for you after a mere 5-10 sketches that are dedicated purely to hair. They're the easiest to "get". Anatomy as a whole is a different beast, though. I always get it wrong. No matter how hard I try. XD; And then there's hands. Those. Those are my enemies. :<

Clothes too. But I'm starting to feel a little comfortable with them. I'll have to practice a whole lot more before I am able to draw natural-seeming clothes easily but at least they don't scare me like they used to haha.

 

[tinybird]

Hands are always a pain, but I think hair is one of the most fun things to draw. You get to use a lot of curved, fluid lines and do whatever shapes you want.

As for clothes, it can be pretty tough to get accurate creases but I've seen some really good guides and references for it. I might have to look through some of my books and see if there's anything worth scanning.

 

[Fairy]

Hands are always a pain, but I think hair is one of the most fun things to draw. You get to use a lot of curved, fluid lines and do whatever shapes you want.

As for clothes, it can be pretty tough to get accurate creases but I've seen some really good guides and references for it. I might have to look through some of my books and see if there's anything worth scanning.

I agree. I love drawing hair, because you kind of.. can't go wrong.

Also don't forget to check our resource thread! n.n;

 

[derozio]

The resource thread, of course. That should be referred first! It has all sorts of good stuff compiled by our good staffies Fairy and Gav and a little stuff by yours truly. :D

Hair is easy. Especially if you're going for Japanese anime/manga style. Because there's literally nothing you can not do. Jap style is a crazy style anyway XD;

 

[tinybird]

I looked through the resource thread earlier and thought that it had a lot of interesting links, definitely a great compilation to check out. It makes me a little sad that I have absolutely no computer skills (nor the patience to learn them) because it looks like there's a lot of information for PS and similar programs.

 

[alisaie]

Hair is okay. Sometimes it's less drawing the hair and more shading it that's difficult. Hands are the devil's bane of my existence though but I think I'm starting to get a little better at them???

 

[Loki]

Hands are actually getting better for me! It's really just about looking at how other people draw them. I did a quick half hour study on my favorite mangaka's style of drawing hands and I learned so much in just that one half hour that I really don't need to ref many of my hands anymore if the pose is simple enough.

Agreed with Sora though-- hair is also one of my favorite things to draw-- though one of my least favorite to color since it's so tedious with all the strands. I think the trick to hair is definitely finding the balance between what's too many strands/lines and what's too little. It's a balance that a lot of people find difficult in manga styles I feel-- too little makes it look blocky, like they're wearing a plastic block on their heads-- and too much just makes it look like you're trying too hard LOL...

The bane of my existence will always be pictures with more than one person in them because I'm just too lazy and don't have the patience for it LOL o)-< And shoulders. God I hate trying to maintain the balance in shoulders.


Personally though, since I'm the laziest sloth ever, I love tablets. The ability to just transform an arm that's too long and make it shorter-- rather than having to erase the whole god damn thing and redrawing it is such a godsend. I'm such a ctrl + Z junkie it's horrible hahaha


Recently I discovered a really neat trick to painting digitally! I'm practicing shading with unusual colors, such as purple on teal or brown on green. It's really quite fun-- and it turns out pretty nice!

For example: http://puu.sh/9d4ZX/826a9d65b4.jpg

It's also really fast which is making my least favorite part of the art process (coloring) much easier....

 

[alisaie]

What I've learned is that you don't want to focus on every individual strand when doing hair. yeah, it can look nice but the thing you should focus more on when doing hair is shapes. That's what can help bring out the realism more than each individual stand or at least make it more three dimensional.

(aka hi i actually learned things in drawing 1 wow).

Aaaah that' looks nice. I'm still trying to figure out a coloring/shading style that I like that I can do well and doesn't make my picture look flat. I think I'm getting close but I'm not sure if I'm there yet.

 

[Universe]

The trick I use for hand-drawing is holding out my own hand in the same position and looking at it. Sometimes I don't have to look at it while holding it up and I can just get a 'feel' for what it would look like. Every now and again I have to hold it up in the position again to 'feel it' while drawing. XD

It's strange how it kinda registers for me like that without looking for a reference but hey, it works! You guys should try it too and see what you think!

Also hair has always been somewhat of an issue for me. I think ears are probably why. OTL;

 

[derozio]

Oh, using your own hand as reference works wonders. Although it is a flop idea if the hand position you're trying is something that's supposed to have the character's hand point towards the viewer - you won't be able to look at your own hand in that case. And if you try (I have), you might get your hand in a really awkward position and it will just be painful XD; Better to ask someone else around you to pose for you in that case. :p

Btw I have a talented young lad as my friend. Name's Sailesh Gopalan. He made this. Composed of 8 frames. Took him 25 minutes.

Spoiler:

also thread title oh you Jo <3

 

[Universe]

I dunno haha, I actually have used my hand to get a feel for the way it would look pointed towards the viewer. That's what I meant in the other post when I said that I've used my own hand to 'feel out' the pose. XD Usually works just fine for me without having to look at it, personally!

Also dat animation. <3 It's really neat! Yeah drawing gets really swift the more and more you do it. But I'm amazed he made 8 lookalike pictures in 25 minutes like that. He must draw really often! It takes me like 15 minutes to do those signatures I make in my shop and they're not framed at all. ovo;

also the thread title was somewhat necessary since yay you're back!

 

[Hiatus]

That's a really nice animation, Dero! Stuff like those could be sort of a pain to get through, and it's really surprising that he's managed to get it all done within just 25 minutes. Last time I tried making one, it took approximately an hour. Maybe more, I don't know, haha. It was just a sprite animation, though; if I were to make it from scratch, then it would have taken a lot longer, I'm sure.

 

[Fairy]

I'm glad everyone noticed the thread title hahaha.

Last time I tried to make an animation I never finished because I never started because it's too ♥♥♥♥ING HARD.

 

[Elaitenstile]

Last time I tried to make an animation I never finished because I never started because it's too ♥♥♥♥ING HARD.

You'll be glad you're alive lol. Making non-pixel animations can eat your head out so much. I'm just glad I didn't do any permanent damage that being heard.

Speaking of pixels, it seems that pixel activity has gone down... could we hold pixel contests from time to time?

 

[Fairy]

You'll be glad you're alive lol. Making non-pixel animations can eat your head out so much. I'm just glad I didn't do any permanent damage that being heard.

Speaking of pixels, it seems that pixel activity has gone down... could we hold pixel contests from time to time?

Mmmhmm, I've noticed the same. Which is why I'm so happy to see the create a fakemon thread back in action. I'd like to get the other one going too, the create a fusion thread.

But.. you know you're completely within your power to post your own competition, right? A nice little recolor competition, or even a devamp competition would be fun! I mean, not that I'm not happy to host it, but if you think we need more pixel action, than go for it! Anything you want to do dude, I'm all ears. <3 :)

 

[derozio]

Yeah, people can go for battles too. Which reminds me - this place hasn't had tag battles in a while, right? I'm so gonna go for it. Although not today. Soon, though.

OH AND LOL JO YOUR AVATAR IS VERY FUNNY XD

I showed my friend your posts. He's happy that you all liked it. ANYWHO, I asked him to link me one AMAZEBALLS gif he made a while ago. And he did. Look at his masterpiece!!!

Spoiler:

He's amazing, right? <3; Oh, and if you guys can't identify them - they're Himura Kenshin from Rurouni Kenshin and Roronoa Zoro from One Piece. :D I told that A-hole to join this place and post around as a comrade. But he's too lazy and says he'll do it later (I KNOW HE WON'T SO LAZY UGHHH).

 

[alisaie]

Ah man I use my own hand as reference all the time. Whether it's me taking a picture of it in front of the mirror because I'm working on a tablet (or because of the position) or holding it out in front of me and doing it that way. I totally agree that it can work wonders.

Wow yeah tell you friend to stop being lazy and come here to post more of his artwork/animations himself because those are amazing and I would love to see more.

 

[Fairy]

OH AND LOL JO YOUR AVATAR IS VERY FUNNY XD

THANK YOU

I showed my friend your posts. He's happy that you all liked it. ANYWHO, I asked him to link me one AMAZEBALLS gif he made a while ago. And he did. Look at his masterpiece!!!

Spoiler:

He's amazing, right? <3; Oh, and if you guys can't identify them - they're Himura Kenshin from Rurouni Kenshin and Roronoa Zoro from One Piece. :D I told that A-hole to join this place and post around as a comrade. But he's too lazy and says he'll do it later (I KNOW HE WON'T SO LAZY UGHHH).

Wow, that's incredible. I mean that's really, staggeringly good work. Your friend is definitely going to be famous, like, tomorrow haha.

Speaking of ♥♥♥♥♥in' battle scenes

Found this. I have no idea who made it but whoever they are.. wow..

and this one

Spoiler:

lol