Random Doodlez Thread 2.0

[Pheonix Gamma]

Warm-up sketch I did today. Kinda mature I guess(?)

[Ligar]

Impressive for just a warm up I have to say.

[Rawr]

At first I was like: Whats so mature about it? And then I noticed it.

Cool warm up

[LarkSS]

At first I was like: Whats so mature about it? And then I noticed it.

I'm still using a small resolution so I had to scroll down first.

If I look at the mouth long enough, it begins to look like she's limply sticking her tongue out.

[Serephim]

someone needs a razor

And i cant tell if her mouth is open or if her tounge is just hanging out. And how do you get ur stuff so cleannn PG? its pretty damn neat.

[LarkSS]

And i cant tell if her mouth is open or if her tounge is just hanging out.

I think it's meant to just be a big lower lip. Gotta love how many forms it can take on if you concentrate hard enough though.

[Pheonix Gamma]

Oh, that's her lower lip. I think she's supposed to be pouting? I forget :V It was just a warm-up before I started reworking my old comic pages for submissions, so I didn't put much thought into it beyond "I should add pubic hair riiiight there."

Regarding how I keep drawings clean... (EDIT: I'll bold the important stuff and spoilertag the whole thing. I accidentally typed way more than I thought I would. I just love talking about the process of making drawings or paintings or sculptures. It was probably my favorite part of being an art student.)

-I always make an underdrawing. Either it'll be on paper I scanned in or on a lower layer in photoshop/painter. If it's a digital underdrawing, I'll usually make it light blue or something, and if it's a scanned underdrawing, I'll usually knock the opacity down.

-The underdrawing is usually pretty messy. I do that so I don't get attached to the original marks I made, because if you try to trace something precisely, it always looks mechanical and not very good. Like those awful anime vectors you might find on deviantArt where someone traces a screencap with pen tool.

(Here's a sample underdrawing I did. And here's a more extreme example. The second is a lot messier than what I usually start with and wasn't intended to be refined or anything; I was angry at an illustration I was stuck on and vented my frustration. Ideally, though, I could still work with that mess and still get something clean out of it.)

The idea is to just have a general guideline of the direction I want to move the pen, how much pressure I need to put down, etc., not to have something I need to line up with my pen precisely.

-Finally, I make a new layer on top where I draw for realsies. I try to make my strokes as long as possible, because going over the same line multiple times will likely leave you with a messy line, and trying to touch it up can be difficult, so I try to look at the underdrawing and figure out how to draw what with the least amount of strokes. Can I draw the whole nose, including that little bend, in one stroke?

For that particular drawing, there was a lot of long hair, so I made a lot of long, swooping strokes. The upper eyelids were the only part I went over more than once, because I was having problems getting the right thickness, so I just carefully stacked a few of identical strokes and neatly touched up the corners of the eyes.

-Finally, STEP BACK/UNDO IS YOUR FRIEND. USE IT. A LOT. Each line I make gets drawn over and over and over, drawn and undone, drawn and undone, until I have a line I'm happy with. The bottom button of my pen is set to CtrlAltZ in Photoshop and CtrlZ in Painter, so undoing is only a finger press away. I use it religiously, to the point where I've accidentally clicked the button on my mechanical pencil trying to undo something on paper. If it doesn't look right the first, second, or tenth time, I'll redraw it. Or go draw another part and come back to it later.

-Watching videos of other people inking helps a lot.

-Oh, and practice. I've been working with a tablet for almost 5 years, and the first two were pretty brutal. Eventually, it becomes second nature, and you're undoing your lines less and less, using pen pressure better, etc. Last fall I decided to make all of my school projects entirely digital and skip the scanner completely to force myself to get so used to it that it was second nature.

But that's it, really. I don't think there's anything particularly different in my process from what most digital illustrators do. They might make their strokes a lot slower than I do, though. I have a really bad habit of running the pen on the tablet like a madman so that my hand doesn't shake, but that rarely results in good lines. Well, sometimes it does, but I really shouldn't be doing that.

[Spike]

[qimg]http://i883.photobucket.com/albums/ac36/azukaramegadriver/Meandmyfriendsincartoonform.png[/qimg]

Me and some RL friends of mine. Guess who I am. So not the guy with the Sonic shirt on.

I have that shirt!

[Scarletdark]

Bored during class

I know it's not INCREDIBLE like some of the stuff thas been here recently but it was a product of extreme confusion and bordom.

ps. Sorry for the HUGE images. I am trying to find out how to make them smaller.

[Serephim]

It's actually pretty damn good. If it wasn't for sonic's left hand, i wouldn't really have anything to say about it.

[Scarletdark]

Yea I seriously need some help drawing hands.

If anyone can direct me to a nice little tutorial I would be eternally greatful.

[Serephim]

just search it on the internet, or DeviantArt search it. I find that no tutorial is going to ever help you with hands -- you're going to have to practice drawing them. I suck at hands almost as bad as i suck with feet, and i suck realllllllly bad with feet.

[Ristar]

did this digital painting of ashlynn brooke

[Azookara]

Wow, good job! That's really professional looking.

[Azookara]

wat is this I don't even

[Serephim]

if you dont spoiler tag that monument im going to kill you

stuffs

Okay, so i guess i just need more practice. I do mostly the same thing, except i guess im just not nearly as coordinated with this Graphic tablet. (BtW, its 6x8)

Issue with Undo'ing? Well, i spam it with History, but my Pen with my tablet shipped with the buttons broken. (Fuckin ebay.) I was so happy to get it that i just didnt care. Also, it doesn't have tilt sensitivity either, and like i said my hand isnt nearly as steady with it.

I usually have to short-stroke all my lines to get them to look right. I mean, it comes out nice if i zoom in to like 200/300%, but usually im lazy and they're kinda messy.

[Pheonix Gamma]

I don't think tilting affects my drawings too much unless I'm using Painter and it's special tools, since that program has a massive boner for tilt sensitivity and realistic effects. I'm also using a 6x8. Only problem with that size is that when I switched to a new computer with a totally different resolution and aspect ratio, it took me a week to readjust. But it's really all about taking it slow enough that you can adjust your stroke on the fly, but fast enough that it looks smooth. So yea, practice a lot :V

Today's warm-up was pretty fun. I might color it, cause I want to experiment with different tools and brushes in a few different programs.

The bear's eyes are actually inspired by the Archie Sonic comics. They had a miniseries about the Death Egg, and whoever drew that Death Egg is made its eyes really creepy. I was gonna draw them the same way, but I ended up changing the character from a rock golem to a heavy guy in a bear mask for...some reason.

[LarkSS]

That pic gives me Bioshock vibes... somewhat.

[FanGameRevolver]

Just a project I started, not sure what I'll do, if I do anything with the concept.

Only one done so far, completed in one sitting:

I rather like it myself and am looking foward to working on some of my friends concepts to go along with what will be a set.

Opinions and crits?

[Serephim]

So i've been pretty busy lately. Guess i can put a few things up.

Hey, anyone remember an old topic where i was working on sprites for a game i was working on? They went a little something like this:

Well, here we are. Kind of redesigned her...

As always, constructive criticism on the drawings is very much welcomed. Helps me get better. More as they come, i guess. Got alot of characters to draw anyway.

[Rawr]

Yo those are pretty awesome, you seem to be improving a lot! Keep it up bro

[Serephim]

Thanks alot, lol. I've been drawing alot more so when it gets down to animating it'll be alot smoother and without so many errors from the jump.

If anyone has any suggestions i'd like to hear em, btw

[Aerosol]

Azalea looks a little dainty to be more of a fist fighter than a magic user. Not saying give her more muscle, but maybe lose the capris? Or maybe they fit her personality. I do like the design though!

EDIT: While I'm here...

made a new enemy for an Earthbound hack. Please rip it apart and tell me what's wrong with it, aside from anything that would require me to add colors.

[Serephim]

Well, i guess i worded that wrong. She DOES use magic, she just doesn't rely on it. She has a sword and uses magic for agility and power, but she has no issue with using a Gun, either (and she does carry one.) She's more of a "surprise" than a "force". Her sister, on the other hand, uses nothing but magic, and thus is a bit more dangerous regardless her weight class.

But yeah, Azalea's a pretty small girl. In a solo fight with anyone formidable she'd likely lose.

Edit: And about the sprite, perhaps MAYBE more shade would help, but really the only thing i can think of would be more detail in the clock body. I remember you told me it was a kind of clock soldier, and thats really the only way i can tell thats a clock on his stomach. Otherwise it looks great to me.

[Aerosol]

Another little Earthbound hack related thing:

It's actually pretty ugly zoomed in, but its good enough for now. Atleast I think so.

Before anyone asks, I did infact use the Sonic Pocket Adventure sprites as bases.

EDIT: Thanks for the crit Sereph. I'll see what I can do thar!