I made a new thread because I don't always get a lot of feedback and I'm desperate. My work that I put effort into comes out poorly, but my random studies are more successful. I know part of this is perceived skill vs actual skill, but I don't know how to improve. I'll post work for critique, or I'll post in yearly progress threads, and I'll get advice like, "go back to studying from references more, work on your basic shapes." I'll revisit material and work on fundamental things again like gesture, blocking in shapes, or trying to better understand perspective. I think these all come out ok, obviously the examples I provided could use some more work, like the hand on the figure is messed up, but I think they're "ok" for quick activities. When I try to make original ideas they lose whatever was making those activities work, and I don't understand. I still use reference, and I put much more time in them, but even if I were to take them to the next level and fully clean up stray marks, they look even more amateur. I try to do a lot more of this kind of art though because I find it fun, but something isn't working. Is it an imagination issue and I need to step back and draw from my head and work on internalizing figures? Do I need to be doing even more studies? I know part of it is just mileage, but it feels like my brain is broken. I tried to think about things like the composition, or how having both socks fully on would look less interesting. I was given advice from someone outside of this board to ignore color for a while and focus more on form readability and cleaning up lines and I think that's true. Does anyone have suggestions for what to practice to achieve that, or other suggestions? I'll put in the work, I just would like some guidance please.
Yea good thread idea. We need one focused on tailored advice.I think your colors are pretty bad but so are mine so I can't offer any substantial advice.
That portrait in the top middle is the best thing in OP. Focus more on doing that kind of thing.
I'm going to tell you what people told me when I made a similar thread a few years back, if you can't recreate it, you didn't really learn it. Art is all about observation and your studies are very poorly observed, so its no surprise's that your original art is even more lacking. You're struggling like this because you're trying to paint without understand the fundamentals of painting and you keep making sloppy copy after slop copy. >>7245026there is a general for this already but few people use it >>7208056
>>7245085Not op but how should I improve, I have some watercolor should I do studies of stuff on my desk.Or copy artist with good colors like moebiu
>>7245085Thank you, from what you're saying it sounds like I need to: 1. revisit the very basics like brush economy and simple forms and take it slowly, and 2. Try to make very accurate copied studies? If I misunderstood please explain how I can better my observational skills in the way that you mean
>>7245003Going off of the portrait and the most complete version of the girl at the bottom, I think you'd benefit from utilizing different brush sizes or rethinking how certain shapes/patches of color come together. Starting with the portrait, it's proportionally pretty good and the way the eye bags under the left eye and mouth are handled are really nice to look at. That said, the rest of it becomes muddied from the very small range of values. Try giving yourself a set number/range of colors with varying values to work with or try doing more value studies in general. Personally, I really enjoy the earthy tones used, but try pushing them further on both ends of the value scale to make it pop. This might also help you find places to add more details or ones that may be missing. Immediately the space between the nose and his left eye seem really flat, especially in between his brow and where it meets the nose. Experiment with shadow, light, and different brush shapes to push what's already pretty solid.Moving onto the anime girl, I think the biggest issue was at the beginning. Looking at your sketch, the hood and overall pose of the upper body look all alright, but they can be improved upon. For example the hood was simplified enough that it felt cohesive with the rest of the sketch. When you started refining your lines, it looked like you added an unnecessary amount of detail and folds. They don't look like fabric, they're too symmetrical and end up looking a lot fleshy in the final. I'd try referencing actual hoods, literally propping a hoodie on a chair and studying how the folds lay, and translate that to the style.If you're going to do studies, do them with an identified goal or subject you're trying to learn/practice instead of just doing them to do them. Experiment with brush sizes and how light affects a subject. Reference and study life/anatomy as much as you can, you'll gradually build up knowledge that will improve your anatomy and what's built on it
>>7245239Thank you very much, between what the other anon said, your critique, and thinking through my approach, I believe it's like you say, I'm just doing studies to do them, so it's not really a study at that point. Even the portrait which I would agree has the best foundation was just an exercise on underpainting (?) I wasn't really applying a whole lot of thought. I do the "study" and move on back to my comfort zone without thinking if I learned anything from it. I can immediately see what you're saying about the flat area now that I'm looking at it analytically.Or like you say the hoodie, I knew it got worse as I refined it but I didn't stop to think about actually studying what I need to improve it, I just go through the motions and stay comfortable. I was thinking about other issues but if the foundation is messed up then it doesn't matter.
>>7245003watch these videos, try to apply the methods they use to make master copies, forget about fundies atm you lack techincal skill and eye resolution>https://youtu.be/B5QetP4aa8w>https://youtu.be/KT4-DTdn6ukonce you can replicate your references with 85 - 90% accuracy (it will take some time) read this:>https://hackmd.io/7k0XRnIQR6SValR77TDfZw?viewi really like your OC you have potential don't give up anon.
>>7245275I think the initial sketch of the Hoodie was really nice, although like I said I think you started to ham it up for whatever reason as you refined it. Things don't need to be too terribly detailed when you're working in a simplified/hyper-stylized art style.That said, why not take a moment to assess what you want to focus on artistically and make a list of what all that entails? If you're leaning more toward the portraits, try studying facial anatomy and photos of various faces. It'll force you to think more about lighting and become more confident with your shapes while forcing you to be more mindful of color choices.If you're more focused on the figure as a whole, then gesture drawing and studying various body parts wouldn't hurt. I would even recommend bringing index cards and a pen, something you can mark on to practice when you're going about your day. Building your knowledge of human anatomy and practicing whenever you can, even if it's people-watching or gesture drawing, can be applied to all types of figure drawing. Overall, don't beat yourself up, You clearly have skill and a drive to improve upon it even more. Focus on what you want to create and go from there
>>7245290Thank you, I assumed this is roughly what I took the one anon to mean by increasing observational skills. I think I get stuck trying to understand when I should be aiming for a perfect copy, and when I should be trying to understand their process so I can utilize it for my own work.>>7245313I'm rambling but I struggle with what I appear to be slightly more skilled at, what I enjoy, and what I enjoy looking at. I find the painting process more fun than extremely clean lineart and cel-shading, but the kind of art I like looking at often has very neat lines. So then I'll allow myself to be a little messy with the copy/study because it's more useful to how I like to work.I recently started trying to do more gesture drawings again and do 2 minute ones and I think those I do with a lot of intention of pushing poses, but then trying to study anatomy or certain things baffles me. I knew folds were an issue prior to the one girl at the bottom so I was looking at drapery books like the morpho one, but just copying it doesn't make anything stick because I'm not being deliberate with it. Thank you for giving me things to think about
>>7245003accept it, you are hardly learn anything from this site
>>7245085> if you can't recreate it, you didn't really learn it.This is really great advice >>7245003. OP didn't even post any of their studies and I can't imagine being able to do 'amazing' studies and then being unable to apply that to when you are doing your own work. OP should do the study and then do the study again and then again just for good measure. Sucks, but that is how art goes.
>>7245890My bad OP did post them, but they are not reflecting what OP is saying. In fact, I think OP's original work is reflective of their studies.
OP here, this was helpful to me if anyone else feels like they relate to anything from this thread. Maybe its really obvious to some people and I've seen variations on it and heard these things said but this one was very clear to me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kfK46nruKM
