[Prometheus]

Yeah well .. I'm in to the girl drawing stuff, it's extremely cool to do, at least if you get some descent results I got some problems, like the lips and drawing nice breasts Now I was wondering if some of you could post your Girl pictures (kinda manga style, like the dude who posted two girl pics before, not so long ago (look down)) and perhaps give some comment of the stuff you had problems on, or books/tutorials you read or should read etc...

Thanks !

[XcelsiorArt]

Hello,

Just introduce myself, I have in the past posted on the Top Cow Comics Message Board under the Nick Big_K. I have recently left the comics business, and have been encouraged by the helathy dose of ART that is on this forum....art other than comics.

I personally believe comics to be it's own artform, and have supported it in the past, but I feel that comics and comic art tend to get pigeon-holed.

I love to sketch, and draw. I don't do much in the way of finished pieces anymore...don't have the time yet. I will soon, but not yet. Much of my artwork, because of my experience in comics, and my life experiences [i lived in Japan for 2 years], is loosely based in comics. you can see that with this:

As you can see, while not necessarily a comic boo page, it draws heavily on comic art for inspiration. I think the hardest part in this drawing for me was getting the shadows on the upper-eyelid to look right...and I don't really think I was all that successful at it.

A good place to learn how to draw women is in actually drawing them. Life-drawing classes are ideal, as you can see how to construct the forms without the interference of clothes. Barring that, get yer standards: fashion-mags, online image galleries, even your own old photos. At first, I would suggest concentrating on structure rather than a finished drawing. Heck, ask your mom, sister, girlfriend or wife to stand still for you [clothed or unclothed...depends on your relationship with them...hehe] and just draw them. There is no substitute, when learning to draw the female figure, for actually looking at the female figure and drawing it. I wish I had scans of my old college figure studies to share...but they're lost in storage somewhere.

Here's an old drawing I did that I'm gonna share...don't know WHY i'm sharing it, except that it's a drawing of a girl. But that's OK right?

~Xcelsior!

[jeffery]

here's some character concept work for a really picky clothing company that ended up not using anything. :P don't know if this is exactly the style you're looking for, but hey.. its my take on it.



i think drawing comic/manga stuff is basically like drawing anything else. its all about your understanding of the human form, and fitting that into a few stylistic conventions.

make sure you draw the structure of a figure before you worry about the surface details. also, draw it in three dimensions, thinking of the vanishing points of each part of the body.

its important to get the big picture right (pose, composition, structure) before worrying about any details, so you might wanna try stepping back from the paper/screen every few minutes and looking at it from a distance. i find that helps.

if you have problems with basic anatomy, then there's no solution besides practise,(preferably life drawing) and lots of it.

[sweetpea]

kind of crappy since i squished it down smaller, but this is sorta manga-style lineart i did for a contest...

if you're interested in drawing anime/manga style, check out your local japanese import store. usually they have 'how to draw manga' books targeted specifically for girls/women/robots/men/soldiers, etc. also www.polykarbon.com has some great tutorials.

[Shaded]

Thats one tasty lookin elf you got there, sweetpea.

[DarkGarden]

The first book I always suggest to people wanting to learn to draw "comics" is Burne Hogarth's Dynamic Figure Drawing.

It's a wonderful book and really helps undrstand dynamic motion and light with the human form. Aside from that, everyone here is right, draw from life...and keep drawing from life. Learning "style" comes afterwards. I know a lot of people want to start drawing like Madureira, but the problem is that Joe learned to draw from life first, and his style took a long time to develop, so why try jumping in without any base? It will come, I promise.

Just watching people, and sketching them in tons of poses over and over....it'll give you the eye that you need to carry through to the style you want.

Peter
(Huge and old pieces, but they suit for now)



[ November 07, 2001: Message edited by: DarkGarden ]

[Prometheus]

Since I do not have the time to go to an art class , but do have the patience to learn from a descent book, could you guys give me some help on getting me a good book on anatomy (on amazon please) ? One that is really good, so that I only need that one book, and that explains me step by step how to build up an entire body, male and female of course, however female comes first

Thanks, and great great greaaat pictures all ! Keep posting !

[XcelsiorArt]

1 year? Not a chance. Sorry dood. Ya gotta take the long road. I been drawing seriously for almost 15 years, and on and off I've done it pretty intensely. I don't have a major in art, but I have taken almost 36 college credit hours of Fine arts classes of which 2 of those classes were figure drawing classes. I have TONS to learn. I sat every lunch hour while I was working at Wildstorm Comics [Almost a year there] drawing in the same room with Jimm Lee, Lee Bermejo, Richard Friend and Sandra Hope, and I STILL have tons to learn.

So, one year? well, you may get better than you are now at this stuff. But if you are the anal-retentive type of artist like I am, you'll not be happy with what you are doing and want to continually strive to be better. You may be able to do it in 1 year, but don't be mad at yourself if you aren't.

by the way...here're another couple few things I have done...
(cut and paste the tripod links into a new browser window.)
http://kktripp.tripod.com/images/painting.jpg

{I know...it's a little off in the face...but it's not done... }
http://kktripp.tripod.com/images/keiko.jpg


http://colorfxstudio.tripod.com/images/bkseles.jpg





[ November 07, 2001: Message edited by: XcelsiorArt ]

[Prometheus]

Ok, Thanks, but I sure hope to see improvement after 1 year though And that book looks THE BOOK to me ! It's exactly what I was looking for, cause @ my local library all I find about anatomy and drawing is like 20 page books where you see a dude and a chick naked, and then they explain some muscels etc... not good at all But that book looks great to me, I just ordered it

Thanks for the great advice, and keep posting your phenomenal artwork dudez !

[Prometheus]

Hmmm, I read some reviews, and they say it's not for the beginning artist, you guys have like an additional book that I should read first (to "get started") before going over that book ? I mean the book that you remember that got you "on a roll" with the figure drawing ..

Thanks

[XcelsiorArt]

"How To Draw Comics The Marvel Way" - Stan Lee and John Buscema.

Any of the Bridgman books.

Ummm, all the other stuff I learned just like...from trying to draw it on my own.

Dude, listen..there's no 'easy' way to learn...you just gotta do it.

Stop looking and get out yer girly mags...or your Maxim Magazineand just start from there...

just DRAW dood.

[Motorfish]

Here's a few manga/Image esque female faces. (Please ignore comment on sketch, as it pertained to the sketch and nothing more.)

One pretty common rule to manga/anime style artwork: Less is more (there are exceptions, of course)

Dan

[black_fish]

I already posted this drawing a couple of times but since I have nothing 'newer' online and that it fits the thread ....

Here we go



[ November 07, 2001: Message edited by: black_fish ]

[jcFIG]

Hello, I agree with what XcelsiorArt and jeffery said and the best way to tackle your problems drawing women is to draw them from life. It helps so much that pretty soon you'll be able to come up with stuff on your own. I claim to be no expert in anatomy also so I know what I have to work on but heres a sketch of my more recent work.


[ November 07, 2001: Message edited by: jcFIG ]

[Prometheus]

Ok, so right now I'm busy drawing nothing but those body skeletons (the "help lines" to make a nice body) and drawing breasts But could you guys help me by telling me how long it took you guys to get this good ? I hope you wont say 10 years, something like 1 year would be better

[jcFIG]

If someone already mentioned this book than I'm blind.

Human Anatomy for Artists
by Eliot Goldfinger

You'll see drawings of the muscle layers alongside photographs of the anatomy. Great book, and the Bridgeman books are good too. Burne Hogarth is good if you want stylized anatomy.

[Psionic]

Thanks for the info, I'm off to get searching for those books

[NextGen]

DarkGarden: am i missing something or is that second picture of yours missing a thumb on "her" left hand.

Xcelsionart: Nice stuff, you worked with Jim Lee? is he an egotistic, rich, asshole? or really cool? sorry had to ask from someone who has actually worked with him.
I love that second girl of yours with the Bow/spear/Sword.

here's some of my sheet.

[see]

I did this one based on Dhabih Eng's Sin but i soon notice after i have posted it here that you all ignore me.

Maybe because the pisture "belongs" to Dhabih...I don't know.
But i was sad about.
To only difficult thing was the lightning effect around the girl. I wasn't able to work it out.

I know it takes time till a Newbie get's respect ... but i was really depressed.

So long

Best wishes




[ November 08, 2001: Message edited by: see ]

[Awetopsy]

'Drawing the Head and Figure' by Jack Hamm

one of the best.

[DarkGarden]

NextGen: Nah, not missing a thumb, if you look at the placement of the hand on her thigh, the thumb would curve behind, so you wouldn't see it past the hand...the fingers are a bit fried there nonetheless. One part of that sketch I always hated, but never bothered to fix. I had already moved on

Or, I can blame the blades.

"Don't play with spinny knives, kids, or you'll lose a thumb!"



Peter

[Prometheus-ANJ]

I actually copy a lot to learn a new style, why invent the wheel twice? And as long as I learn it isn't cheating. If I cheated I wouldn't have learned anything.

Here are some A4 (12*8") sheets with stuff I drew more or less based off Marvel art a while back. They contain a lot of junk as I didn't cencor them. My intention is not to show off great looking pics here, only how my practice sheets look, with all their failures included.

I transformed a lot of the faces into Thanos heads, as I like the character.


http://home.swipnet.se/zebes/msketches1.jpg http://home.swipnet.se/zebes/msketches2.jpg http://home.swipnet.se/zebes/msketches3.jpg http://home.swipnet.se/zebes/msketches4.jpg

btw. I go under the name Prometheus aswell, but it was already taken... *eherm...*

[Zek]

wow black_fish, those are some really good pics. Ah who am I kidding, they were hot...

[Prometheus]

Ok, so I've ordered the two books, let's hope one they I'll have 1/10th of your skills

Keep posting pics, I love em all !