Curse

Deatgs Corrupter · Nov 03, 2009, 04:41 PM // 16:41

Oh yeah minami GIMP ftw

Deatgs Corrupter · Nov 03, 2009, 04:45 PM // 16:45

GIMP FTW Minami also just when ever theres a compo gfor gw enter it you will see your skills improve and also join a workshop they rule. my last piece of advice invest in a tablet if you are going to do cg art they are priceless

Duranin · Nov 03, 2009, 04:50 PM // 16:50

The forums need an "automerged double post" feature.

@Blue's wall of text - yeah, a lot of what you say makes sense. I guess it could tie into what Tzu said about luck, however. I wasn't "lucky" enough to be exposed to proper art instruction when I was young, and now I'm so far gone on the other side that it'll be really hard to do a successful turnaround. I grew up in an environment where if I had wanted to go learn from a professional artist, I probably could've found lessons somewhere. But I just didn't know anything about the process, or what to look for/avoid, so I went down the self-taught route.

Deatgs Corrupter · Nov 03, 2009, 04:50 PM // 16:50

woops doublepost srry

Deatgs Corrupter · Nov 03, 2009, 04:59 PM // 16:59

dude my mum and dads are lawyers the oinly reason i do art is cos i try if u try you can roduce great art. my first ink wa a parker pen engraved with my name , you jst try cos personally i think everyone can odo some art if your worried about colours then just scan in line art and experment on GIMP or Photoshop

Duranin · Nov 03, 2009, 05:03 PM // 17:03

It's a triple-post and a subsequent doublepost, just sayin'

I'll let someone else answer your posts.

BlueXIV · Nov 03, 2009, 05:10 PM // 17:10

@Hoodieh, I didn't really really touch on motivation because I thought it was so fundamental that you could almost take it for granted XD. There are plenty of people who get what they want through pure force of will :P

@Morag/Minami, See above :P

@Deatgs, that was a triple post, not a double post :P

@Araiia, I was actually talking about you on MSN yesterday while I posted :P (don't worry, wasn't anything bad). I was just telling Sierraa how I think you are already a pretty strong artist. You have a good color sense, and you definitely know what you are doing when drawing.

I just thought you could benefit a lot from practicing some pure volume studies where you do the extremely boring process of studying exactly where the light falls, and maybe do a couple more realistic anatomy studies where you learn where everything is on a real person's body. Then when you return back to doing lineart/manga, I think you would be in for a pleasant surprise.

You don't really have to turn around and swap styles or anything, but working on your foundations would help you in many regards. You already got this far without "luck," so I don't see why you can't get any further :P

Duranin · Nov 03, 2009, 05:16 PM // 17:16

You can ask Snowy about my MSN info >>'

Color choice actually bothers me a lot. I don't have enough contrast between the light and darks on my pictures and I usually have to go on photoshop and use the brightness/saturation and hue adjustments to make it look better at the end. It's on my list of things to study but right now I'm working on poses and anatomy.

..and on that note, it's kind of funny ... if I look at a pose stock photo, there's an immediate improvement in my next drawing (or two.) Then it goes back to the way it was before. XD I'm not sure how to go about learning anatomy. Actually looking at a labeled biology/textbook diagram tends to confuse me more than it helps. Think it would be worth just finding lots of photos and sketching the skeleton/frame on top of them to get a feel for the relative proportions between body parts?

BlueXIV · Nov 03, 2009, 05:25 PM // 17:25

YSJ was pretty right about Loomis as a guide. It's great, but make sure you actually practice it.

Uhm I also recommended to him Bridgman's Human Machine if you want to do constructive anatomy. Those I think are by far the best figurative books. But like everyone said, you have to practice with the content, not just read it over :P

YunSooJin · Nov 03, 2009, 06:47 PM // 18:47

Although I can't speak as an expert in drawing, I think drawing holds the same parallels for everything else in life.

Repetition of the basics. Exhaustive, boring, mind-numbing repetition is the best way to obtain the tools and ability to really do what you want in your chosen field. In chemical engineering, this means being able to do any of the math that comes you way; what point is there if you can do higher-level thinking if you can't even do calculus, ODEs or PDEs? Answer: there is no point. The same is in english too, I think. You must learn vocabulary, sentence construction, etc etc to really become a solid writer. Regardless of what you end up doing, the basics will always call you back to task if you're not good at them.

I think, in the same vein, that this applies to drawing. In drawing, the basics would be light, structure, composition, blah blah blah. Some things you cannot learn except by doing over and over until it becomes 2nd nature. When it becomes 2nd nature, you must go back to it every once in awhile to refresh it. But once you have it, you are more free to do what you like with the skills you've obtained.

I prescribe to the more Eastern method of learning a skill: you don't get to do squat until you've learned to basics. Just ask the sushi chef that spent a year or two or more making sushi rice before they ever got to touch the meat :P. You might try to take shortcuts but your work (this is in general) will reflect the shortcuts you've taken. Also, it will probably take longer to get better, assuming you do get better.

@Araiia, you can find Loomis online. Blue recommended Bridgman's the other day as well, which you can find online as a pdf.

BlueXIV · Nov 03, 2009, 07:21 PM // 19:21

o_O YSJ you are too serious. For some (actually most) people, grinding basics is boring as RED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GO. Approaching art like math can induce some serious ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Like I said, basics are extremely important, but if you don't have fun doing what you want once in a while, your motivation collapses. I'm just saying you should work on basics while doing what you like to do. Doing basic studies like drawing eggs for a month WILL help you a lot, but it wont help you if you stop doing art after being bored out of your mind. Things like personal sketches are definitely not off limits.

YunSooJin · Nov 03, 2009, 07:51 PM // 19:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlueXIV

o_O YSJ you are too serious. For some (actually most) people, grinding basics is boring as RED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GO. Approaching art like math can induce some serious ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Like I said, basics are extremely important, but if you don't have fun doing what you want once in a while, your motivation collapses. I'm just saying you should work on basics while doing what you like to do. Doing basic studies like drawing eggs for a month WILL help you a lot, but it wont help you if you stop doing art after being bored out of your mind. Things like personal sketches are definitely not off limits.

motivation, psh. people are too coddled :| If you're going to be serious about something you should be serious. W/e if its just a hobby, but if its something you've already invested a lot of time and effort into I think a little bit of backbone and discipline can help.

BlueXIV · Nov 03, 2009, 08:05 PM // 20:05

YSJ, you sound 50.

Duranin · Nov 03, 2009, 08:42 PM // 20:42

The moment art stops being enjoyable/a hobby for me I'm probably going to stop ... same with gaming, which is why I quit so many MMOs in the past; the grind got to me and I got burnt out.
Except I don't think I can just /stop/ art, it would probably manifest in massive art block or pessimism.

I downloaded all of the Loomis pdf's while I was at bio lab, so I'll unrar them later today.

Gwee · Nov 03, 2009, 09:00 PM // 21:00

Nice posts people.

Here's some of this progress I promised. None of these are "finished works" as these are done in all the rough same amount of time about 1h-3h. As my "finished" works vary anything from 10h to 30h+, you can't really compare. I think I improved.

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

Verene · Nov 03, 2009, 09:50 PM // 21:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by Araiia of the Songs

The moment art stops being enjoyable/a hobby for me I'm probably going to stop ... same with gaming, which is why I quit so many MMOs in the past; the grind got to me and I got burnt out.
Except I don't think I can just /stop/ art, it would probably manifest in massive art block or pessimism.

I downloaded all of the Loomis pdf's while I was at bio lab, so I'll unrar them later today.

I'll go through phases where it'll be months or more before I create anything new.

And definitely agreeing on "once it stops being enjoyable, why bother"? Which is probably a bit strange for me to say, considering that I plan on doing art as a career. However, I have a bit of luck in that what I'm studying is different from what I usually do as a hobby.

Baibai · Nov 03, 2009, 11:43 PM // 23:43

Those pictures are beautiful Gwee x_x
I agree that art for me would be much more stressful and gross should it start feeling like a chore which is actually why I'd never choose to pursue it career-wise (though I have the utmost admiration for those who do :> )
The sentiment that you should only do it if it's fun is true, but at the same time though I've also found personally that I could mope around and say I didn't really want to touch a pencil today then end up doing it anyway and spending 2 hours in the same spot scribbling away wondering where all my time went o_o

Great read though! Thanks everyone who has posted it is very inspiring (wish I had some gem of wisdom to add D: )! I also love the idea of posting the transition of skill and style through time too! I'd love to see more though it does make me a leeetle jealous xD

Kerwyn Nasilan · Nov 04, 2009, 01:43 AM // 01:43

Well I have been inspired, while I have made it a point to take an art class every year, I don't do much besides doodle in notebooks during class. I think I'll start doing some other stuff to try and improve. Gunna take Blue'x advice because A). he has amazing art, and B). he just seems like a great person in general

. Maybe someday I'll have something to post.

hoodiestarfish · Nov 04, 2009, 02:23 AM // 02:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by Minami Kaori

Aww hoodie, ty

No animation sorry... Animation is one thing I can't do yet... I would have loved to have a short animation as advertising too, but I couldn't do it, even with keyframes. :S

if u fur is dynamic, shouldnt it react to things like wind particles etc etc. so u dont really have to animate much. just the camera and u can put the camera on a curve around ur subject, zoomed in to watch the fur being impacted by wind particles which is just using an emitter with opacity set to 0.

Minami · Nov 04, 2009, 02:36 AM // 02:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by hoodiestarfish

if u fur is dynamic, shouldnt it react to things like wind particles etc etc. so u dont really have to animate much. just the camera and u can put the camera on a curve around ur subject, zoomed in to watch the fur being impacted by wind particles which is just using an emitter with opacity set to 0.

True enough, hoodie.

I'll try and fiddle with some settings, and see what I can come up with.

I don't know how long it would take to render all that though, the big cats have over a 1,300,000 pieces of fur

Kitty has 400,000 and dog has 900,000.

Makes for one helluva render time