[voyager7]

Greetings,

This is my first attempt at painting (any kind, not just digital) it happened a few weeks ago and I haven't had time for a 2nd attempt but now, I decided to post it :-D

It started with mouse, then I lurked this forum for a week etc etc and I bought a small graphire and I'd finish the picture with it but it's kind of "done", I don't plan to add a background (that's the wrong concept in my book anyway, first the character and then the background, yikes!) because this was kind of a technique test in the 1st place.

here's the pic and some more text below it:
if it doesn't work for any reason, check it out at http://hakl-hakl.si/voyager7/gfx/files/izy-v7-weirdo1.jpg



The main mistake concerning this picture was the fact that I didn't sketch it out really, just an extremely rough outline with a mouse (imagine how correct that can be and it was only an outline, without the head hehe I added that later... yikes!) I wanted to get painting as soon as possible. This whole picture was just a tryout of technique ;-) Boy was it funny :-) I spent a long time on it and it looks like crap. That's ok, it should. Now I know the form of the guy is wrong... his left hand is quite messed up in compare to his right hand so etc etc... and it was kind of late (the pic was almost "done) when I remembered I could observe myself in the mirror to paint at least a few muscles correctly. I'd love all kinds of comments of course, thanks ;-)

Since this was my first time shading and basically using colors etc etc I would really appreciate any tips you all might give me and correct me if you see some bad habbits (I remember spooge talking about something similar but don't remember what it actually was)

Thanks in advance,

Fare thee well,
voyager7
--- http://hakl-hakl.si/voyager7

[CoDeX]

well the way u used photoshop tools doesnt look like it was your first painting...but anyways..... few things really wrong with it.... arms look flat and pixeled due to highlights on the edges , and anatomy of the shoulder structure is wrong ..along with the neck muscles, oh and how come the shirt is shiny on the chest while u can see his "tits" (lol) through it :P , just try to detail the picture more and fix the body structure


[This message has been edited by CoDeX (edited July 05, 2000).]

[HumanClay]

I think your biggest problem is with the human anatomy.. but for a first attempt, it shows promise.

His torso isn't in line with his head/neck. It looks as though his head rests on his left shoulder instead of his neck. The muscle structure isn't right, I don't know anyone with that many oblique muscles. You need to really work on where exactly your light source is coming from and stick with it. I see three different light sources in your picture :/ I don't mean to come off sounding like some know-it-all prick, but I'm trying to help you out.

I suggest you buy a book or two that deals with the human figure, and sketch your brains out. If you read some of the older threads you will find an exercise that Mozeman started that has to do with figure drawing, I suggest you do it.

Also, I dunno how old you are, so this COULD be a phenominal piece of work Anyway, I don't mean to be harsh, I'm just trying to help.

Take it easy man, and keep drawing!
HumanClay

[psi burn]

resembles Shredder from ninja turtles... in fact that would be him if it werent for the beach-boy outfit to him...

pretty nice shading/coloring (like the helmet) however, you need some serious work on anatomy and your "outline"...otherwise, keep up good coloring

[voyager7]

Thanks for the replies, I appreciate it.

Codex, the shiny shirt should be made of metal, like an extremely cheesy excuse for an armor ;-) I was trying to paint shiny things. Oh and I'm not new to photoshop, I'm new to painting with it. Anyway, the pixeled thing, it bothers me kind of, I am glad you mentioned it, I zoom in a lot, sometimes to 1200% to pixel some stuff (I don't want to pixel, I just want control over details, pixeling indirectly happens), the whacked edge is left from the "color layer" I had extra layers for shadow (multiplies) and highlights (dodges) and I was using selections (yikes!). Any suggestions how I get rid of having to zoom in etc? I would really appreciate that. I did rescale the picture from 800xsomething to 2400xsomething but I still had to zoom in and things got immensely slow (400mhz celeron, w98se, 128mb ram, not good but not bad) btw, the nipples on tits were the last thing I added, it didn't look right without those, romans and greeks engraved nipples in their armor which resembled chest muscles I think I saw that in a movie long time ago, not certain, anyone got a picture handy?

HumanClay, yes I am aware of the bad... no, that's putting it too midly - of the HORRIFIC anatomy I can get a few anatomic atlas doctors use when studying, I can borrow that from parents, I assume that will be some good but may not quite cut it?, there's a lot of nerve and subcortical structure I don't really need do I?
About the phenomenal thing, this really is my 1st painting however I said goodbye to teens 2 years ago so this may explain a little, I'm not sure how much since I discovered I need a lot of practice and in the end practice is what makes up majority of a good painter's skills right?, smaller portion is talent I assume, talent merely enables one to comprehend concepts earlier or perhaps enables one to extend his skills a little further just because of talent, but I'm not sure how large, if at all, that "extension size" would be. I know some of that based on experience from music. Oopz I wandered off topic there...

Btw, you can check out an mp3 or two on my page and you'll see another side of me, might explain a thing or two, or maybe not. Thanks again,
Fare thee well,
voyager7

[voyager7]

Greetings,

psi burn, heh it's actually a beach boy with a funky helmet :-) I was trying shiny metal, I realized I must make it reflect something and most basic thing to use is sky, anyone has any specific tips on reflections and color? (I checked out some stuff spooge made for a class or something like that)
Thanks, I'm really glad you find the helmet pretty

Regards,
voyager7

[Scaramel]

Sexy. Too many naked women... not enough scantily clad men!