[flipside]

Hi everyone, I'm a first-time poster at this forum. I've been lurking around for a while, and everyone here have my admiration. Lots of great skills!

I thuoght I'd share a little drawing I made a few days ago... And for the first time, I tried some quick colouring. The result could've been better I think. Anyways, I look forward to posting more on this forum!

<IMG SRC="http://boris.hiof.no/~aod/ogre.jpg">

<IMG SRC="http://boris.hiof.no/~aod/ogrecol.jpg">

[flipside]

Well there you go, seems I didn't even manage to put up those pics.. lol.

[flipside]

Well there you go again, I'm blind. Didn't see the 'image' button :P






[ December 12, 2001: Message edited by: flipside ]

[eVilAsmo]

I've never been too keen on colouring directly over sketches/shaded pencil images..

As was suggested by corvax the image itself needs a little more mood and style. I beleive the light source, or your handling of it would add to this greatly..

Our green skinned friends are typically depicted as crude and brutal, consequently, harsh directional lights are usually used to accent their scowling faces and make them seem threatening and dramatic..

I have trouble placing the light source in your pic.

To improve, I think it's simply a case of letting every go.. go OTT, whack down some dark brushtrokes and some harsh highlights..

throw in some emotion, destroy the air of indifference that his facial expression is creating..

I'm sure that sounded way harsh, it isn't meant that way.. I'm no expert

[Solayna]

Isn't it odd that even though you have a gigantic sheet of paper, you always end up drawing at the bottom of it and then half of the character is cut off? *heh* Oh, well.. maybe it's just me

If you want to increase the size of the "paper", you can adjust it by changing the size from the "canvas size" option.

Don't worry about the expression, you can make him look grim by deepening the colouring.
The skin will look more vivid if you add more than one colour into it (like brown for example)and deepen the shadows --> the yellow eyes will stand out more

here is a tutorial by Michael Noguchi... I think you might find it useful especially in figuring out how to play with the colours.


I hope you're going to post an update soon because I'm really looking forward to it!

[corvax]

Two crits:
I find the cropping a tad awkward; since there isn't any b/g to speak of, I wouldn't give it so much of the frame - it's not what you want the viewer to concentrate on.
I would also try making something about the pic a little more dynamic. Perhaps harsher lighting, an angrier expression? You need something to make the picture jump a little more; lighting would make it more mysterious, a different expression would make him seem scarier, giving the viewer a more immediate involvement with the image.

Don't take these the wrong way; I like it, and certainly don't want to come across as too harsh. These are just the two areas tat seemed like they could use a little improvement. Keep up the good work, I'll look forward to seeing an update (if you plan to make one )

[ December 12, 2001: Message edited by: corvax ]

[flipside]

Whoa, thanks everyone! I really appreciated your directions. Normally I would just let this drawing be what it is, but after getting some real critics I was encouraged to do a new version!



If you want to see a HUGE version, go here:

Huge version

corvax: I've tried harsher lighting now.. How do you think it turned out? I also left the BG out for a minute, I'm not sure what to put there now..
And also, I tried to make him look real angry.

eVilAsmo: Does he look more threatening and dramatic now? I guess much of what I wrote to corvax applies to your comments too.. And as you said, I tried to 'let go', but I find it a bit hard. I'm a bit tense when I draw.. I guess I'll learn to relax sometime.


Solayna: No it's not just you.. I often end up drawing at the bottom of the sheet of paper, as you say.. But I was focusing on the expression in his face.. Maybe I'll do a full body drawing for him soon, but I need inspiration for a 'scene' to put him in.. Also, I'm not that experienced with drawing environments, but I guess this could be a good excercise

Thank you for the link to Michaels tutorial.. I think I've read it before, but it was useful to read it again.. I will do a 'painted' version of my creature when I get a Wacom tablet.. It's hard to do what Michael explains with a regular mouse I think.. As you said, I deepened the shadows..

Was the update soon enough for you?

Thanks again all three of you for the comments and critics. Now tell me if you think what you told me made any sense to me..

[Maxmike]

About the "let go" thing I am on the verge of letting go... Its a relief, trust me. don't care. just don't care at all, do not think, I tend to get tense when I think. Just let your pencil do your thinking... Kinda hard to explain, but I actually mean it. As part of my drawing phase (The only other phase I have is coloring... I should probably have a planning phase, but meh... btw, I am no expert, can't you tell?) I just let my pencil hover over the paper, imagining what lines I could draw. often I will draw a line and erase it, seeing no potential for it. Sometimes this takes a minute, sometimes fifteen minutes, sometimes an hour, and sometimes I just give up. But I never draw when I am not inspired.

After you begin, try to lose yourself in your picture, look inside it, see the bones, muscles, alternate views. See what your character is thinking, why he/she/it is standing like that, and above all do not pose your character unless its just some sort of character creation sketch. You can ruin almost any picture by making the characters look like they are posing for a magazine cover.

Flow. Follow your lines. Remember prespective, remember proportions, and remember anatomy. forget your stiffness, forget your rules, forget changing the position because you feel uncomfortable drawing something like that. Just let go. release.

You can do it, I am sure. if you feel tense stop drawing, put your pencil down, and do something else for a while, but if you are into it don't let anything stop you from finishing it. Its hard to resume things (like it is hard to start them...)

good luck.

[flipside]

Well! Guess what I got for christmas? YES! A wacom graphire 2!

Now.. I've tried to paint that ogre-thingy.. I know it's not a good composition, I just wanted to try out Michael Noguchi's tutorial.. And here's the result!

[MarshallX]

Not sure about the left eyebrow, looks to bulgy....look into it!