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NeoGAF Drawing-a-Day Thread

That's some lovely stuff there, highrider.

marmotsketch_by_orlanis-d7v7cat.jpg

Haha thanks man. I don't actually use pre set swatches or pallets or anything like that, I just sort of pick the colours as I go along. A lot of the skin tone I think would be effected by the lighting you have in the image, and its a matter of mixing the skin tone colour, and your imagined light source colour to get the right tone for the reflected light off the skin. I mean you also have to keep in mine where the skin is thin, or thick, whether there is bone, fat, or muscle behind it, and how oily or dry the area is. As well as that you need to keep in mind under tones and veins and all that shit. That's the stuff i think about when picking colours for skin.

Sucks about your bad day. Thanks for that info.
 
Oh man, great thread idea! This'll get me a little motivation.

I usually go digital after I sketch something out with a Cintiq, but as I'm actually working on a coloring a comic book right now I don't have much time for leisurely drawing lately. Still, managed to crank out this concept today:


Supposed to be a Diver Mage or...something. Any feedback is welcome. I'll try and actually get a sketch in here daily; let's hope my laziness doesn't defeat me in this quest!
 
That looks really cool! How do you make these?

I use the sketchbook on a Galaxy note 3 and post process them in a photo shop type app. I do work on paper as well, but I really enjoy doing little 30 minute art bursts on my phone. Oh, and thank you for the compliment of the work yo.
 
I use the sketchbook on a Galaxy note 3 and post process them in a photo shop type app. I do work on paper as well, but I really enjoy doing little 30 minute art bursts on my phone. Oh, and thank you for the compliment of the work yo.
Ah, very cool.

Also, those are really great, Devil Trigger. I need to get back into more pencil work, I just hate losing the freedom to redo everything instantly in Photoshop.
 
That's some lovely stuff there, highrider.






Sucks about your bad day. Thanks for that info.

Ah it's alright. It happens. I do sometimes stream live while painting on Picarto, and i usually say when I'm streaming on my twitter, so if you're ever wanting to ask questions there I can kind of demonstrate what I mean. I'm just bad with words.

I finished this, and I'm a bit happier with it than I was. Still have mixed feelings about doing busts though.

firfss0l83.jpg


Oh and she wanted him not so sad, so I had to make him not sad. I don't know how many more elves I can take. I'm reaching breaking point.
 
Ah it's alright. It happens. I do sometimes stream live while painting on Picarto, and i usually say when I'm streaming on my twitter, so if you're ever wanting to ask questions there I can kind of demonstrate what I mean. I'm just bad with words.

I finished this, and I'm a bit happier with it than I was. Still have mixed feelings about doing busts though.

firfss0l83.jpg


Oh and she wanted him not so sad, so I had to make him not sad. I don't know how many more elves I can take. I'm reaching breaking point.

How many white elf dudes have you done already? XD
I think it's just that your style is so elegant mixed with nature/earthy stuff, people with elegant elves wanting commissions will naturally gravitate to you. lol A blessing and a curse?

I actually like thinking about what characters I'd like for you to do if I were to commission you at some point. Luckily I don't make many elegant elves though..? hahaha~
 
Ah it's alright. It happens. I do sometimes stream live while painting on Picarto, and i usually say when I'm streaming on my twitter, so if you're ever wanting to ask questions there I can kind of demonstrate what I mean. I'm just bad with words.

I finished this, and I'm a bit happier with it than I was. Still have mixed feelings about doing busts though.

firfss0l83.jpg


Oh and she wanted him not so sad, so I had to make him not sad. I don't know how many more elves I can take. I'm reaching breaking point.

You should try to promote art with less effeminate men. People liken your men to elves. They view your style perfect for it, but you should advocate more variety. If you aren't hurting for money, start turning down people who ask for elves.
 
How many white elf dudes have you done already? XD
I think it's just that your style is so elegant mixed with nature/earthy stuff, people with elegant elves wanting commissions will naturally gravitate to you. lol A blessing and a curse?

I actually like thinking about what characters I'd like for you to do if I were to commission you at some point. Luckily I don't make many elegant elves though..? hahaha~

Yeah I mean, its a love hate sort of thing. I don't really hate it, but i think its more the expectations of what an elf is supposed to be. There's a lot of overlapping elements in the kind of characters elves end up being. I will say though, I absolutely love painting the ears, because you can make it all weird shaped and put a lot of catch light inside them. I love painting ears...

Also, you commissioning me?! I shall wait
im
patiently.

You should try to promote art with less effeminate men.

Never!

People liken your men to elves. They view your style perfect for it, but you should advocate more variety. If you aren't hurting for money, start turning down people who ask for elves.

Yeah that's probably part of it, but one thing I do notice is trends. Sometimes there will be a person who would want, say a knight, and because there are people with similar interests as them who follow them see it, they then know that I can render a knight in the style that they want. SO then you get a couple more commissions with the same theme. I also feel bad for turning people down, because they think my art is worth buying and all; and it always seems like a great challenge. I think I just complain too much, especially when I'm down.


Nothing special yet, but starting a speed paint of Ocelot for another commission.


About an hour or two or something like that. I really don't remember. Not even sure why I'm sharing it; it's super messy.
 
Yeah I mean, its a love hate sort of thing. I don't really hate it, but i think its more the expectations of what an elf is supposed to be. There's a lot of overlapping elements in the kind of characters elves end up being. I will say though, I absolutely love painting the ears, because you can make it all weird shaped and put a lot of catch light inside them. I love painting ears...
Haha, yeah, that's true! Most will be mage-like cold high intellect types from my understanding.
I think all of mine just end up being outcast types though because I'm not sure I know how to make elegant types without destroying them on some level. lol

Also, you commissioning me?! I shall wait
im
patiently.

Eventually yeaaah~! I have prerequisites I need to fulfill for myself first. XD
- get started seriously on webcomic //fallstofloorinprocrastination
- save up about $300 cdn. lol
- actually choose characters since I have so so sooooo many ._.

How do you feel painting hairy dudes? Or ladies? xD I know androgyny is your main niche (never stop drawing the femme men!), but there are so many things I could have drawn! *-*
 
Never!



Yeah that's probably part of it, but one thing I do notice is trends. Sometimes there will be a person who would want, say a knight, and because there are people with similar interests as them who follow them see it, they then know that I can render a knight in the style that they want. SO then you get a couple more commissions with the same theme. I also feel bad for turning people down, because they think my art is worth buying and all; and it always seems like a great challenge. I think I just complain too much, especially when I'm down.


Nothing special yet, but starting a speed paint of Ocelot for another commission.



About an hour or two or something like that. I really don't remember. Not even sure why I'm sharing it; it's super messy.


I understand. Well on that note, I'm sure Ocelot is a nice change of pace.
 
Yeah I mean, its a love hate sort of thing. I don't really hate it, but i think its more the expectations of what an elf is supposed to be. There's a lot of overlapping elements in the kind of characters elves end up being. I will say though, I absolutely love painting the ears, because you can make it all weird shaped and put a lot of catch light inside them. I love painting ears...

Also, you commissioning me?! I shall wait
im
patiently.



Never!



Yeah that's probably part of it, but one thing I do notice is trends. Sometimes there will be a person who would want, say a knight, and because there are people with similar interests as them who follow them see it, they then know that I can render a knight in the style that they want. SO then you get a couple more commissions with the same theme. I also feel bad for turning people down, because they think my art is worth buying and all; and it always seems like a great challenge. I think I just complain too much, especially when I'm down.


Nothing special yet, but starting a speed paint of Ocelot for another commission.



About an hour or two or something like that. I really don't remember. Not even sure why I'm sharing it; it's super messy.

I really like the more raw look to that drawing.
Noice!
 
I really like the more raw look to that drawing.
Noice!

Thanks man!

I understand. Well on that note, I'm sure Ocelot is a nice change of pace.

Yeah it certainly is.

Haha, yeah, that's true! Most will be mage-like cold high intellect types from my understanding.
I think all of mine just end up being outcast types though because I'm not sure I know how to make elegant types without destroying them on some level. lol



Eventually yeaaah~! I have prerequisites I need to fulfill for myself first. XD
- get started seriously on webcomic //fallstofloorinprocrastination
- save up about $300 cdn. lol
- actually choose characters since I have so so sooooo many ._.

How do you feel painting hairy dudes? Or ladies? xD I know androgyny is your main niche (never stop drawing the femme men!), but there are so many things I could have drawn! *-*

Yeah I've done a few hairy dudes, and in fact one of the few pictures I still kind of like that's sort of old is a hairy(ish) dude. I think with the ladies I have a harder time with simply because I really don't know what qualifies as feminine or masculine sometimes (like I actually have a hard time differentiating the two), and I have more masculine features so I don't have anything to base feminine qualities off of physically. I really do enjoy drawing them, but I often find myself trying to restrict myself for the sake of keeping them "feminine" whatever that means. I'm trying to stop that but I keep getting people who get annoyed with my ladies so its hard man.

Just a self portrait today.

aselfportraityvsxc.jpg


Maybe like an hour and a quarter? I started a whole bunch of sketches for commissions but they all have different feelings they're supposed to convey so I've conveniently put myself into my own art block. I've also become a little bit self obsessed.
 
Theres nothing more depressing than working on something for 30+ hours over the course of a few months only for the reactions from people to be a resounding "Meh" while other people churn out stuff that's hundreds of times better in less than two hours. Maybe I'm not cut out for this whole art thing. Any artsy stuff I do takes absolutely forever to get anywhere, and I just can't really make it look special I guess (or at least I think I can't because no one seems to care, and when they do comment on it its always criticism unless its friends or family).

I'm so jealous of all you guys that can just casually draw super crazy awesome stuff in a few hours. I've probably drawn for like 10,000 hours over the course of my life and for some reason I just can't do that.

Oh yeah... well, here's my thing. Its supposed to be Marceline from adventure time.

 
Theres nothing more depressing than working on something for 30+ hours over the course of a few months only for the reactions from people to be a resounding "Meh" while other people churn out stuff that's hundreds of times better in less than two hours. Maybe I'm not cut out for this whole art thing. Any artsy stuff I do takes absolutely forever to get anywhere, and I just can't really make it look special I guess (or at least I think I can't because no one seems to care, and when they do comment on it its always criticism unless its friends or family).

I'm so jealous of all you guys that can just casually draw super crazy awesome stuff in a few hours. I've probably drawn for like 10,000 hours over the course of my life and for some reason I just can't do that.

Oh yeah... well, here's my thing. Its supposed to be Marceline from adventure time.
How do you practice?
 
How do you practice?

Its kind of weird, I don't really do the type of sketchy random stuff that people in this thread do because I really, really suck at drawing quick. Like it looks like third grade stuff. I only really draw actual 'big' projects and I have to slowly, methodically do things over time and gradually chisel out what I want. So my 'practice' comes from slowly working on larger scale stuff for super long periods of time. As a result I think that makes my stuff look uninspired and way too 'clean'.

Also, I'm really horrible at drawing from my imagination which probably helps make it hard for me to practice and just sit back, relax, and sketch tings. I can draw still life stuff pretty good, and portraits of actual people, but when I try to draw a face from my imagination (or a landscape, or whatever) its usually horrible or I just can't even start because I can't form any creative ideas outside or make any pictures pop into my head. This portrait was mainly a hodge podge of tutorials for digital painting and reference pictures of facial features on google images. .
 
Fun with a pencil by Andrew Loomis is a good book to start off with if you want to eventually draw without reference. Basically shows you how to construct a head and other stuff in a sort of easy going manner where perfection isn't required. Might help steer you into a direction of more spontaneous drawing.
 
Its kind of weird, I don't really do the type of sketchy random stuff that people in this thread do because I really, really suck at drawing quick. Like it looks like third grade stuff. I only really draw actual 'big' projects and I have to slowly, methodically do things over time and gradually chisel out what I want. So my 'practice' comes from slowly working on larger scale stuff for super long periods of time. As a result I think that makes my stuff look uninspired and way too 'clean'.

Also, I'm really horrible at drawing from my imagination which probably helps make it hard for me to practice and just sit back, relax, and sketch tings. I can draw still life stuff pretty good, and portraits of actual people, but when I try to draw a face from my imagination (or a landscape, or whatever) its usually horrible or I just can't even start because I can't form any creative ideas outside or make any pictures pop into my head. This portrait was mainly a hodge podge of tutorials for digital painting and reference pictures of facial features on google images. .


I think part of your problem may be the "I'm studying while working on a large picture". I say this because I use to have the same exact mind set, and couldn't understand why my timing was so incredibly slow. What's happening is you are not making yourself cut out the useless parts of your process. I recommend you start timing yourself (and I use to absolutely hate this idea because I am the type of person that believes good art takes time), but this will force you to drop the really unimportant details and keep the things that really matter. It will teach you how to channel and focus on the point you're trying to get across.

Right now, because you have all the time you want, you're probably trying to make every single aspect of the drawing as good as each other, when not everything is as important as other things in the picture. You're probably wearing yourself out, becoming fatigued half way through and loosing your original vision. As well as that , you're feeding your viewers with (that you've worked so incredibly hard on) stuff they really don't care about. They're not as interested in the shape of any particular line zoomed in at 200% like you do. So that hard work goes unnoticed.

You -have- to do studies, you -have- to do quick ones. No one starts off being fast, you have to work to it. Studies look like shit because you're learning. The point isn't to make a masterpiece but to choose a specific area you want to get better in and focus solely on that. If you find that your skills from studying arn't transferring onto your purely original works, you're probably doing the motions without a lot of thought as to "why am i using this colour, why am i making it this shape, why are these lines like this?". Choose what you want to focus before you even get the sketchbook out for studying. The studies don't have to be seen by anyone, so it doesn't matter if they look bad.

Also, why not try making up a few scenarios in your mind before you sit down to draw? If there's ever a moment where you think of something you think would look great on paper, just keep a tab on it mentally and what triggered it. When you go to draw, get whatever it is that made you feel that thing and play it,watch it, listen to it again.

Sorry for the long ass reply, but I've gone through this same exact feeling time and time and time again, and it's really tough. I know a lot of people who go through the same thing and I just can't say enough how important it is to study continuously. Also, if you want you're imagination to be stronger or more prominent you have to use it. Otherwise you loose it. Good luck


So I started painting that commission of Ocelot

ocelotpreyasm2.jpg


4 and a half hours painting, only a couple hours left on it and it's done. It's only supposed to be a quick work, but I want to fix up some of the values in some areas.

And I've challenged someone to a duel over internet love.

aduelfsv3sge.jpg


I will probably loose though. 45 minutes on that one.
 
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