visual art Folly-Fallen's Art Emporium (critiques/advice wanted!)

[Guest]

So, I've finally decided (for the second or third time now) to practice my artistic abilities so that I might finally begin to improve.  So, to kickstart my attempt at improvement (and to keep me tied to my goal) I will be posting my art here from simple sketches to full-blown artsy things.  
 
I don't know how many people will actually look at them, but if you happen to be someone who decides to, throw me a helpful critique or two or maybe even some advice please. :>

 

Now on to ze artz....
 
My First Piece to be uploaded:
 
Random Gryphon (Digital Art, Paint Tool SAI)-
 
Non-Colored-
 

Colored-

 

 

[RaptorART 258]

the flat image thing going on here works rather well

a bit more tweaking and you could do say that this piece is kinda closely related to stain glass

this is simple, but at the same time pleasant and nice

nice work, good eye on the colors seeing how its a flat piece

[Guest]

the flat image thing going on here works rather well

a bit more tweaking and you could do say that this piece is kinda closely related to stain glass

this is simple, but at the same time pleasant and nice

nice work, good eye on the colors seeing how its a flat piece

 

You use the term flat-piece, I kind of understand what you mean, but since I am here to learn could you explain that further?  What would make this different from a non-flat piece?

[RaptorART 258]

You use the term flat-piece, I kind of understand what you mean, but since I am here to learn could you explain that further?  What would make this different from a non-flat piece?

Ah, gotcha!

I shall explain "flat" and "non Flat"

 

this AJ piece is FLAT because it has no shading and no light source at all (besides the back legs, and eyes)

 

now here is an example of a Non flat piece

this piece has shading, and a light source, which give it a round-ness feeling and a sense that its realistic

 

Stain-glass pieces "normally" aren't meant to be realistic at all, its a simple, yet awesome piece of art

If you can create a good piece like that, than you got talent

It can sometimes take a lot of thinking and planing to make something simple look good

generally you have LESS lines to work with, and that would mean that it would be easier to mess up, and you couldn't mask a mistake with shading, or extra lines

Edited December 12, 2012 by RaptorART

[DireDoe 48]

(I linked some images into this post - if any of them don't work, feel free to let me know so that I can change them)

 

One of my biggest suggestions is to look at as many real-life reference pictures as possible when drawing. Even if you want to have a more cartoony style there's some 'rules' that you need to follow when it comes to anatomy (rules I keep breaking 'cause I get lazy - don't let yourself fall into the same trap!).

 

Anyway, one of the biggest things that struck me off is the tail. It's really wiggly and snakelike, which you wont often see with mammals. If you have a cat, look at the way it holds it's tail - it's mostly going to be a gentle curve, maybe a sharp curve towards the tip, but that's about it.

 

The hind quarters look like it's crouching, rather than sitting (though if that's what you're going for I apologize). Also, keep in mind that if an animal is covered in fur, you're going to lose a lot of muscle definition. The thicker or longer the fur, the less definition. Here's a good example of a mountain lion sitting in a similar pose. You can see how the belly goes to the ground in front of the legs, and how the legs are completely folded with no space in between. Also, the chest is merging into the front leg a bit.

 

I'm gonna say one thing here - birds have some wonky-looking feet when they're flat. In this area, reference pictures are your best friend. Here's a good side-on view of bald eagle feet, and you can see that they're surprisngly skinny, but the claws are huuuge. Each 'finger' is a different length to help it hold onto prey.

 

Your beak is also a bit off compared to a real life raptor beak - here's another bald eagle, showing it's head and beak from the side. If you're wanting it to be a bird of prey, the top part of the beak is going to be longer than the bottom. The bottom beak is fairly straight, with the dominant, overlapping part is the upper.

 

The wings are okay, but again, look up some photo references just to make sure that they look perfect. There's only so many ways feathered wings look in nature, so artistic liberties is pretty constrained.

 

When you're drawing a fantasy creature you do have a good bit of artistic leeway, but the rules of anatomy should still apply (except where it obviously doesn't, like giving a four-legged animal wings as well, but even then you should stive to have it make as much sense as possible). When you have a composite creature like a griffin, make sure each part flows smoothly into the next.

[Guest]

I just started a 30 day drawing challenge yesterday, and the first day's challenge was to draw a self portrait.  Its another "flat" one for the most part I guess, I'm not very good at non-flat yet:

 

 

 

 

Even if it isn't great, this challenge is just a way for me to practice with goals in mind, so as long as I'm improving somewhat I guess its the thought that counts. XD

 

I'll be trying to upload every challenge either the day I complete it or the day after, and hopefully by the end of about 30 days I will have 30 pieces of art uploaded.

 

~snip~

 

Thanks for the tips, I usually do try to look at a few references, but I could always use more closeups of body parts (which I usually don't do).  I just get impatient sometimes and prefer to say "looks good enough" rather than make it exactly what it should be, I'm trying to work on that more I guess.

I didn't complete yesterday's goal of drawing my favorite animal (partially because I couldn't determine exactly which one was my favorite XD), so that one will have to come later.

 

I did finish today's however, I was going for a different style than I usually do, so I dunno, here it is, my favorite food: