Looking for General Feedback
4yr
Scott Lewis
I created this character of our dog, Marlow (RIP), who LOVED water. This is supposed to be a gouache painting for my wife but I'm not satisfied with the character design. I can't really pinpoint what is off so would appreciate any guidance. Thanks!
I FINALLY finished this piece. I incorporated a lot of the feedback I got here, or tried to. I spent a total of 13 months working on this piece and redrew it more than 2 dozen times in different media on different papers. Ultimately the "finished" piece was done in Prismacolor pencil on French Paper Co. Speckletone paper. I like the tooh of the paper and it works well with the Prismacolor though it's not really a drawing paper. This was a gift for my wife. The character is our dog, Marlow, who died 2 years ago. He loved water so this is how I envisioned him in doggie heaven.
This looks fantastic! I haven't been on the site in a long time, but what welcome treat to come back and see this. So much style and character built on top of solid shapes and structure. Not to mention, the amazing patience and perseverance displayed sticking to it.
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3yr
I love this final piece, @Scott Lewis! I think it’s impressive that you were able to spend such a long time on it and redesign it so many times - persistence is a virtue. By comparing the earlier version with the final one, I can see how the feedbacks you got contributed to the re-shaping of the drawing, and, in my opinion, there was a lot of technical improvements, so I think your hard work certainly paid off. Congrats! Marlow looks lovely in the way you portrayed him, and I’m sure he must be having a lot of fun surfing the waves of Doggie Heaven’s Beach! 😆 Best regards and keep up the good work!
Asked for help
Been wondering for a while if studying how the torso affects the position of other limbs is a waste of time. I feel like it’d help me make more natural looking poses but if there are other more effective ways of learning this then I’d love to know! If this isn’t appropriate for this forum I’ll take this down.
In general I don't think studying how the forms of the body fit together and affect one another is ever a waste of time. There are some really good tutorials on this site about simplifying the shapes then working toward more detail and realism. For me I think studying how the forms join together is really key. What I mean is, for instance, how the muscles from your feed all the way to your head weave together into a single mass that moves together. This idea was driven home for me, ironically, when I was still a runner and went for a sports massage after an injury. The therapist showed me how (and why) an injury in one place can cause a secondary injury in a seemingly unrelated place. It clicked for me then how the muscles fit and work together. You can apply the same concept as Reilly rhythms to the entire body. I also find that doing quick gestural sketches can help with more natural-looking forms as well. For a great demonstration of working this way look at Karl Kopinski's or Kim Jung Gi's work. They start with sort of rough gestures and fill in the details right on top. Sorry for the kind of meandering answer. My mind is kind of spent after a long day punching code but I hope it helps somewhat.
Asked for help
I tried making a small, rough comic, just looking for genuine advice...
I think it is looking Ok . But shading can be more good
SIGH. Story of all of my drawings. I'm not great at the shading. But, something to keep practicing. Thanks for taking the time to comment.
Asked for help
This is my first, pretty much finished digital work.
First , I wanted to make it a cartoon then I caved into blending the colours much more and it turned into a caricature of sort.
I'm hoping for some encouraging comments also critics....
Thank you
Staline......
I think it turns out really well for the first time digital.I really don't want to critique anything I just want to say embrace what digital has to offer, experiment, try brushes, textures, layer types, gradient maps...just play. I think you will discover some pretty unique additions to your own style.
First, you did a great job capturing not only Mayweather's likeness, but also that cocky/mischievous eyebrow raise he does. I think overall the proportions look good, even recognizing it is caricature-esque so his head is enlarged a bit. The only read constructive criticism I have is that in some places you seem to not have been able to decide between lines to define shapes or values. For instance, on the abs, you have heavy lines delineating the abs but also tonal values. Personally, since you are going all-in on the color and tonal values, I'd remove the lines. He has pretty deep-cut abs in real life but the dark lines make the abs look like lumps of clay stuck on instead of rounded masses with skin stretched over them. I think the tape on his hands is kind of tough because there isn't a lot of detail in the original photo and you can't really see much of the underlying anatomy even in the photo, but intuitively your eye knows it should be there so maybe imply more of that with the shading on teh tape? Your shading on the tape seems to be quite a bit darker than the photo so maybe that is what I'm responding to. But to keep that in perspective, it is a very minor point. If I were your professor, I would not deduct any points for that. Just something to explore. The main issue to me is the uncertainty between outlines and values. Outlines define a shape by painting a boundary around them. Values define the shap by showing how the light bounces off of the form. It is really difficult to mix the two without ending up with a visually confusing image.
The anatomy, overall, is pretty good but in the neck area you seem to be unsure of yourself or of the underlying forms. I struggle like hell with this area as well. I think for my own work I need to forget it's a neck and just focus on the basic shapes, cylinders, but paying attention to how the muscles curve around the neck and where and how they attack to the top of the sturnum and base of the skull.
Overall I would give you a solid B, maybe A-. The only reason I would not give an A is the issue mentioned above but it is a really nice image. I could not do anything even remotely this good digitally or otherwise so it is pretty solid.
I am sorry for your loss and I think that is a wonderful gift!
I like the drawing a lot and if I were you I think would not change much, he/she is really cute and well drawn imho.
But you asked, so if I would change some detail that could have a big impact, I would think of the eyes. You said the dog loved water and I think you were going for a very exited, joyfull expression. And I think for that the lower eye lids are too far up. It gives it a bit of doubting, unsecure, not really happy vibe.
Would love to see the coloured version, it will be great :)
Good call on the eyes. In a more recent version I have done almost exactly what you suggest. I struggle with the eyes, TBH, so I will likely have to do many more iterations. Thanks for taking time to leave me some feedback!
Asked for help
Another pig character! Trying to make a little series. Any feedback welcome!
Hey Blaise,
I like your drawing, you chose a tough angle and pulled it off nicely. I had some suggestions that I thought could help you. First, the left leg is completely lost, so I would pull it out a little. Also, you should study how wrinkles work, it will really make your stuff look cool. I hope you dont mind, but I did a draw over to show you what I mean. Keep up the good work :)
My notes:
- the line of action is like a straight vertical line, which doesn't match the action of the pose (running forward)
- the "twinning" of the eyes and ears (perfectly symmetrical=boring)
-The tongue looks like it begins at the front of the mouth
-the smoke puff feels too high
-the fingernails on the hands creep me out on a dog... just personal taste lol
Looks great though! Don't want you to think I'm bashing it haha
Implemented a lot of the suggestions made. It still needs some work but much better, I think. I just noticed the back foot is much larger than the front foot. Obviously need to fix that. Some areas are not yet finished but soon.
Asked for help
Hello! Made a little pig wizard character today. Looking for general feedback, whether it be fundamentals, character design, or whatever you can think of. Thank you!
I think experimenting with line weight will be helpful. When all the lines in a drawing have the same thickness it tends to flatten out the figure.
Hi Blaise. A graduate of Hogwarts no doubt? Get it? Yeah, it's pretty bad. Sorry, I like to make really cringeworthy jokes. Drives my wife nuts but if I get the eye roll, I know I've hit my mark.
The thing that stands out to me is the staff and inconsistency in the distance from his body. If you look at his left hand, it looks extended away from his body, but the right hand seems to be up against his chest. Then the staff seems to be up against the brim of his hat. It doesn't seem like depth-wise, that would be possible. I'm not sure how to fix it but I think his right hand maybe needs to come away from his chest a bit or the angle of the staff change so that the top is to the right (his right) of the hat and the bottom more to his left so that the bottom fo the staff is coming towards the viewer, or at least away from him, and the top receding more towards his back or away from the viewer. Since it will be somewhat foreshortened, there will probably be a slight difference in thickness of the staff as well with the closer end being slightly thicker perceptually.
Hope that helps.
I was really nervous about posting my first drawings for feedback but everyone has been amazing in the right amount of encouragement and honest feedback. I am loving this. Thanks for the great support and help.
Hey Scott, this is a really fun drawing! Looks like you've gotten a lot of amazing feedback already as well. As far as I can tell no one has mentioned this, I apologize if I'm mistaken.
One of my favourite parts about it is the clear sense of form you've give him by defining planes with your lights and darks. The eyebrows and snout particular fit into a very nice box shape. It seems like the perspective of the teeth are a little off from the box established by the nose, eyebrows and chin. In the attached image you can see that the red lines from those features roughly go to the same vanishing point (I left out the chin, because it went over the teeth too much) but the blue lines from the teeth are a little off.
I know that cartoons sometimes have intentional asymmetry, so if that was the case then you can just ignore this. If not, then I hope you found this helpful. Awesome stuff man, looking forward to seeing the final product!
Oh wow, good callout. I had not noticed that. I was having trouble with the bottom teeth and how to represent them. This is about the 10th or 12th iteration and the closest to what I'm going for but like you said, I have gotten some amazing feedback and am looking forward to doing round number 13 to implement the suggestions. That left eye (his left eye) is also too big and breaks the perspective a bit. It's amazing how these little details can really push a drawing to the next level though. Thanks for the feedback.
I am going on vacation in the morning and will not be online as much to respond, so if you comment, thank you in advance and please don't think me rude for not responding. It is only because I will be away for a few days.
This is such a nice drawing! beautiful shading and clear lines are pleasure for the eyes! Sorry about Marlow. He must have been a beloved member of your family.
I've read other people's comments, and I totally agree with the point that you could push the gesture, making Marlow seem more excited to play!
Speaking of the design, I love the idea that you let Marlow hold a surfboard and wearing swimming shorts; that really shows how much he loves water! Though it seems to me that the surfboard is a bit too small for him. Maybe you could try increasing the size of it to fit the his size.
Also, I want to point out that the tongue, the eyelids, the fur on the back of his head, and the ears seem stiff to me. They are supposed to be the soft parts of the body; maybe you could use smoother shading to give them softer looks.
Last, the human nails on his paws seem a bit odd to me. Looks like you incorporate human hands and animal feet. It might be better to make the design of his paws conform to his feet.
Overall, my suggestion is to give the design a tint of consistency and the sense of reality to involve the audience.
Thanks, @Hanu . Great suggestions. I will try to incorporate your ideas to soften the fur, ears, and eyes up and make him more dynamic. I agree about the surfboard. The thought was to make it secondary so it doesn't dominate the design but someone else suggested putting it in his far side hand so I think that would help solve that problem and allow me to make it bigger. Thanks again.
The drawing looks great! Only thing that's bothering me are the human nails on his hands 😅
I love him! What about the design is making you unsatisfied? My main thoughts when looking at the picture are that the tongue looks a little off... like maybe it's a little too stiff, sticking out the side like that. Not sure if your boy Marlow had a tail, but I also was thinking I'd like to see the tail flapping in the wind as he ran to the water. Overall I think it's a super expressive and charming design though! I'm sure your wife will love it.
Yeah, his tongue has bugged me in every iteration I've done. This is about number 10-12. I will try changing the angle and loosening it up a bit. I definitley want it trailing towards the back but need to figure out how to get it to look attached properly too. So many details to consider. Thanks for the awesome feedback.
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4yr
Hey @Scott Lewis, this is a really fun drawing! I'm sorry about Marlow, he seem to have been an amazing pet! It seems to me that a dog who loves water is a rare thing, haha.
I like the linework and the hatch-style shading, and you seem to be having a good grip on the overall representation of form.
I'd just like to add a bit to the comments that were already made regarding how to push the gesture. One main thing to look for is the line of action: try to think of one single line as the simplest way to represent this action, then build your drawing out from there. You might wanna consider the energy involving in that acttion: which is the direction of the movement? The speed? Where are the tensed and relaxed parts of the body? Is there any resistance such as air, gravity or some impairing force? You might also wanna imbue some of the character's personality into the action: how does he run? Not just any random run, but "Marlow's run". How does he feel when running? What body traits and mannerisms (including facial expressions) might stand out with that feeling as he performs that action? Getting clarity on these kinds of questions can really help inform gesture and character design. Over time and practice, using these guidances to think of solutions kind of becomes intuitive.
To me, I see two major paths for enhancing the gesture in this case: push the whole body forward to state the direction and energy of the action; or puff just the chest out and curve everything else backwards, which could look a bit goofier and "cartoonier". I did a couple of sketches as visual notes on these possibilities (I didn't consider the drawing style too much, so I sketched in a way that felt natural to me, but hopefully it gets the point across so you can adapt the main idea to your own drawing style).
Let me know if this helps!
Best regards.
Oh man, I never considered putting the surf board in the other hand to serve as a kind of backdrop to push the figure forward. I LOVE the surfboard overhead, adding more excitement and energy. Marlow got a kind of intense, crazy look on his face when at the pool. He would start bouncing and barking as we pulled up to the building where the pool is. So I think some more extreme energy like this is totally warranted. Flat Coated retrievers are very elegant and athletic dogs so he always looked so graceful but his face was totally at odds with that because he had so much passion and excitement in his eyes. Thanks for the sketches. Those are super helpful to demonstrate the line of action concept. Some great feedback from everyone on here.
Sorry to hear about Marlow, looks like a fun dog! I really appreciate the clear anatomy and negative spaces between limbs. I read @Blaise Chambers review and I agree the pose could perhaps be pushed a little more and in my opinion the front leg could be extended and back leg extended a bit too, almost leaping to really fit with the movement lines and dust rings. To me the left eye could be a little bit smaller(?) It's behind the right eye and it appears bigger but it's further away. In any case as other reviewers have mentioned it's great as is. If you left it alone it would be a hit. Thanks for sharing and opening this up for critique!
Thanks, @Peter Cohen. He was an amazing dog. A Flat Coated retriever and he was nuts for water. If we ever said "swim" his ears perked up and he'd go to the front door to go to the pool. The general consensus seems to be adding more energy by stretching the limbs out and giving it more movement so that is what I'll work on. Thanks again.
Perhaps if you added more gestural lines to make the drawing looser and give it a greater sense of movement.
Can you elaborate a bit? What do you mean by gestural lines? This is my first attempt at a cartoon-style character so I may not be familiar with some of the terminology or concepts. Do you mean just less hard outlines and more sketchiness for lack of a better word?
the angle of his feed is looking weird compared to the perspective you established on his other body parts. i did a quick paintover to show what i mean. its not perfect but should be enough to show what i talk about. did some other lil tweaks on top.
