#fud crits

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Written critique

Hello, this is my deviantart -> http://chitsuu.deviantart.com/

I recently had a fresh start and would like to have your opinion on this gallery, such as what to work on.

Thank you very much.

Hello chitsuu. uvu First off I’d like to say that there is a softness to your work that I really like, and the color schemes are nice. It looks like most of your colored works are watercolor, so I would suggest watching watercolor process videos on youtube or vimeo. I’ve always felt like process videos help me with coloring, so I hope they can help you too.  I think what will help you most is drawing and painting from life! For anatomy especially, doing a lot of more loose drawings (both from imagination and reference) will allow you to experiment and learn about anatomy and form. Draw lots of figures on the same page! Do this with anything you want to improve. Larolaro has some good examples: 

http://fav.me/d2bqhkv

and doing this from life is good too! 

http://fav.me/du002k

As for working on painting, doing watercolors from life or photo can help. I recommend high contrast lighting so the different values and shadows are easy to see. 

FINALLY I really like that you’re drawing different types of characters doing different things. Allowing yourself to draw lots of stuff and experiment will only help you grow as an artist. I hope this critique helps!

-Fud 

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Hi there!  I would love any feedback (red line/paint over/written) on this picture of my OC, Isari. I'm happy with it, but I know it could go further!

Critique on her character design to make her a little less bland, perhaps, would certainly be appreciated, but my primary concern is anatomy and coloring.  Thanks!

Hey, fud here. I think that you've got the basics down. The face is really close, I just think the neck and shoulder area needs the most work.

The facial anatomy is really close! Everything I'm going to say is just going to be an echo from this http://www.stanprokopenko.com/blog/2009/05/draw-head-any-angle/ , feel free to browse through it (at the end they have links for how to draw eyes, noses, lips, etc). Very useful stuff!

The main problem with the neck is that its lacking the tube-shape that I hope you can see in my redline. To define muscles, I laid down shapes on top of the base form. Since the neck is complex and would take a while for me to explain, I'm going to point you to another resource: Micheal Hampton. 

Take a close look at the forms he's using to define the neck shoulder muscles! Note that he starts with basic forms for the neck and chest/shoulders, and adds the muscles on top. Also note how the collarbones look like bike handles- I find that a useful way to remember how they go. 

The horns should be treated like warped cylinder shapes that rest on the head form. They round out a lot more if you draw them this way.

I cleaned up the hair to show that the hair is going to fall and follow the form of the head. The hair that's in the shadow gives it a lot of depth because it shows there are two 'sides' of the hair, its not one big clump, if that makes sense.

For coloring, I think you're on the right track. I think there are parts that are missing a shadow, for example the hair would cast a shadow on her right eye, and the shadow cast on the neck will be bigger. The hair is rather streaky- remember that hair tends to clump together and the highlights and shadows follow the forms of the clumps. 

And finally, I think that the design of your character is fine! She does not strike me as bland at all. The horns and the pattern on the scalp define her well. Also- there's only so much about design that I can critique from a head shot, haha. 

I hope this helps! If you want to study anatomy further, I HIGHLY recommend checking out Micheal Hampton's book: Figure Drawing, Design and Invention. IF you have any questions feel free to ask. ouo

-Fud

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A simple explanation of light sources

To the one that asked about how to choose a light source...

I sent the ask before I was finished, so I'll just explain more fully here.

Picking a lightsource isn't that difficult, but there are ones that are more common and easier to follow than others. For example, light from above is more common than light from below, and light from the front or side is easier to draw (usually) than light from behind.

Heres a simple explanation of how light works. There's more going on here, but this is essentially what you need to know to place shadows correctly. 

Andd here are some different placements of the light source. I apologize if my shading isn't too accurate. 

For studying light I highly recommend drawing from references with high-contrast light. This way it'll be easy to pick out the shadows and their shapes. Drawing simple forms (like cubes, cones, spheres, etc) from life is a good starting point for light study, and once you feel like you can draw the simple forms move on to more complex subjects like the human figure. 

Caravaggio is one of the masters of using intense light. I would recommend studying his work. 

I hope this helps! I will probably make a more in depth post about lighting later.

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This is meant to be an icon so it's very simple and very cute. I want some help with anatomy on his feet and some tips on composition. Also, the lighting of the ghost, how did I do on that? Feel free to tackle this how you see fit, redline it, write it or whatever. Thank you.

I think very, very simple shapes and flat colors will work best! as for the feet, i'd make the legs thin and the feet a sort of blob I guess. If the icon is meant to be smaller then the forms would certainly benefit from being very simple and easy to read from far away. So, details and shading don't really matter since they're going to get lost anyways, like the girl in the bg. Other than that its good!

Fud

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Need help with "Boring" Piece

Hi there! Awesome page! I stumbled on your tumblr and I would highly enjoy a written critique on my League of Legends Nidalee fanatart. Although I tried everything to make the drawing look as "animated" and "moving" as possible, it looks flat and boring. And also, for some reason, color and I do not get along! Whatever advice you can help a fellow artist, please do share! Thanks in advance.

In case the image doesn't show up above (computer issues): http://i-moosker.deviantart.com/art/League-of-Legends-Nidalee-359582637

Hello! First thing I'd like to say is that it there is definitely movement and excitement to this. The pose and hair and perspective of the spear all work together to make this dynamic. I also really like the use of flats, and the way her hair bunches up at the end is really cool *U*! And the color scheme and shading are really not bad at all. There are some cool things going on here.

With that being said there are certainly things that can make it more dynamic! 

One thing I would keep in mind when constructing the post is the line of action- a continuous line that goes throughout the pose and makes it more readable. Right now it is a little bit chaotic with the limbs as they are. Think about the flow of the pose. I drew a preliminary pose to show a more dynamic option:

Also drawing small thumbnails of poses can help you decide what poses are more dynamic or suit your idea better. 

The background and the way you crop the figure can make it more or less dynamic. I suggest cropping it closer to the figure, cropping a bit of the limbs out, etc, and seeing what makes it move more. I cropped out the legs and much of the white and it looks a lot different:

play around and see what you come up with. ouo

The background itself is very flat, so it's not helping the pose at all. Try using lines come from the back of the figure, or drawing a background in an extreme perspective. There's a lot you can do! Experiment and see what you can come up with.

As for coloring, I think the actual colors are fine and your shading is alright. The only problem I have is maybe the line weight  Varying the thickness of your line art will make it a lot more dynamic. 

I hope I was able to help! This is really good so far, keeping working on it and it'll be even more awesome *U*!

-Fud

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Red marked

Written Critique

Help on: Anatomy, coloring, composition, perspective, values and hues. 

I think one thing that will help your coloring is color choice. The greens and browns here are 'pure' green and brown. Don't be afraid to use colors that have yellows, grays, reds, blues etc mixed into them. Also, making the leggings and cape different hues and shades of green or another color completely can help add variety to the design.

I'm not saying to never use pure green or blue or what have you. Just be aware of the options!

The skin is a little dull. Instead of using darker and lighter versions of the base color, try adding yellow-based highlights, some pink tones in the shading, and some purple-ish tones in the shadows and see how that works. I've drawn a simple example, but i think checking out this will help you a lot with using color to shade.

Also, don't be afraid to go very dark with the shadows and light with the highlights.  

And I can see that you already have a light source in mind and that you're already placing the shadows and highlights roughly where they would fall. Keep doing that and really think it through! 

Hope this helps ;u;

-Fud

hey there! Jabberwock here with a little critique on your posing! I really like this piece because of the dynamics that come with having an archer character! however; there are a few things to keep in mind when drawing an archer .

archers use a technique called anchoring. this is where they pull the bowstring back and rest their hand on a place like their chin or cheek. this serves as to let them aim consistently since it makes the bow sit in a similar way each time. another thing archery requires is the use of back muscles. I think you could make this pose much more dynamic if you utilized some of the requirement of archery, kinda like these references :D

Like here! see her hand? she is also using all of her back to help draw the bowstring back.

Here is another one! this one shows the  anchoring technique really well c:

see the tension in her arms and back? if you add these sorts of little details it can just give your picture a bit more oomph c:

as silly as it sounds, brave is actually a great archery reference. the animators put a lot of work into it and made it very accurate as to how real arrows are shot.

this article goes over what they did right, so reading it might help some.

hope this helps hun!

-Jabberwock

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Hi, so I was practicing painting and decided to practice painting hair. This is what came out.

I was wondering if you could maybe help me with whatever is wrong with it? If there are any shading/painting tips or anything you could give or even the small bit of anatomy that’s in the picture. Anything would help, honestly. :D

Hey! I love the color scheme of the hair. Remember when anything has a pattern on it (like the subtle stripes of color in the hair) the color or pattern will bend to fit the form. Like how a striped shirt has curved lines even though the lines are printed straight- patterns adhere to the form.

Also remember to pin down a light source before you start painting! Right now I can’t tell where the light source is. Pick one and stick to it. It’ll make placing shades a lot easier.

The highlights and low lights of the hair all seem to be simply darker version of the base color. Try using opposite colors for the lights and darks. Most common lighting tends to have either yellow based light and purple based shadows, or orange light and blue shadows.Here’s a simple drawing to explain:

One more thing i suggest is drawing the rest of her body until it runs off the page. Since the hair goes past the cut off body it looks a little awkward.

I hope this helps!

-Fud

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Hi, Qinni here,

Something you have to be careful of: even when you think there’s something covering certain parts of the body, it’s better for you to either visualize it already in your head so you know exactly where the head is under the hair (or where the hips are under the dress, etc), and if you can’t visualize it in your head, it’s better to draw it out completely, because there’s a big chance that people will feel there’s somthing wrong even if they don’t completely see it.

So the side of the head looks a little strange and the neck is not correctly connected in the right place to the head. here’s how the structure of the head should look under the hair:

perhaps this helps a little :)

- Qinni

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My first ever lineless, sketchless digital painting. I'm used to painting traditionally and don't have the materials to do so a lot. can you please critique this? I see some flaws by myself, but would like some other opinions as well :) Thanks!

I think this is a good start. I love that the concept tells a story! Really cool!

One thing I highly recommend is to start off with a sketch before you go and add color and start shading. I'm not sure if you sketched first or not, but either way it will help you work out the form of the figures, and then it will be a lot easier to shade.

second, the way the shading lays on the figures is very two dimentinal. I drew this diagram a while back for a friend and I think it'll help you too.

note how the shades reflect the form.

I also think the figure holding the light should be much lighter, and his shadows will probably be dark. Judging from how far the light reaches, id make the dragon's bill (?) much lighter.

Finally, it could use a little bit more contrast. It should be as dark as the corners on the back of the dragon and behind the figure.

I think if you get the lightsource down it'll have much of an impact and it'll really pop out.

-Fud