Please offer me some advice to improve my work
2yr
@phyothant
I made this digital drawing in GIMP a year ago and originally intended for shirt printing. I don't have a good reference and experience so this is as far as I got. I'm looking for ways to push my drawing further, especially in areas of shading and values at the back of the torso. The subject in the drawing is a bathing woman in a sitting pose, so you can see she has really nice curve at her back. I did the shading based on my imagination because my reference photo doesn't show well. I'm just signing up on this website to improve my drawing skills and artwork. Please help me with my drawing. Show me how can I make it better.
I love how you simplified the form. Something about the way the birds are arranged seems like it could be improved. What if you used only two birds? Maybe use the one on the lower right and have one of the left with its wings in a similar position except facing downwards, as if the two birds are circling the girl in a counter clockwise motion. Does that make sense? Or some other arrangement that gives the sense of the birds flying around the figure.
Hey phyothant,
I like your image, and I don't think you did that bad of a job doing the lighting from your imagination.
The first thing I always do is pick a light direction, this gives me a consistent idea of where my shadows will be. I think about what my main focus is when choosing my lighting. I also try not to use beauty shots like this because they always use flat, direct lighting because it's the most flattering to the model.
I did a quick sketch of your drawing and tried out a couple of different lighting directions to give you an idea of what I try to do. I hope it helps :
