Artz! Can she do them?! (also, call for input)

[shadesofmauve]

For whatever reason, my opinion of my own visual art skills varies far more wildly than my opinion of my music or writing skills. It's like the "You are an awful judge of your own work" taken up to 11. I usually manage to go back and forth between "YOU CANNOT ART. STOP. GIVE UP!" and "I am an ART GOD" "Hey, I may actually be getting somewhere!" within the space of half an hour. Repeatedly.

Er, that's not really apropos of anything, just a general warning/disclaimer.

EXCITING:
I just received payment for a lil' graphic design job I did for Amy Zilk, Piano Technician, a good friend of mine and my first branding client when I was straight outta school. On the same day, I received the downpayment on a Sheep In Space commission (THAT one'll be a trick -- first time I've ever painted sheep ON THE GROUND!).

Upshot?

I can has graphics tablet! For home! For me! YAY!

I'll probably get a wacom Intuos4 unless I hear something convincing otherwise. The medium is the same size as the 3 I use at work, which may be good in terms of hand-eye training (not having to jump sizes). It's also aprox. the same working area as most of my sketchbooks. :P

It's very exciting, as it means I can work on improving my direct-to-digital skills in large windows at home instead of fifteen minute chunks at work.

Speaking of which, things I did in fifteen minute chunks at work. I had this plan of carefully testing out different coloring methods and timing them and comparing the results. It lasted about five minutes before it turned into SCRIBBLE ALL THE THINGS.



And then later...



My monitor at work is pretty much crap, so I was hesitant to adjust color and darkness there, but now I think the skintones are all over-saturated and the darks'll have to go darker. She's too gold. As usual, I moved the lightsource once and went back and forth on what color it is. One day, I will learn to make up my damn mind.

(I say this all the time).

(hint: it never happens).

EDIT: Grrr, I know what I want to do to fix it and I can't 'cause it's at work. :P

Comments

[lilchickadee.livejournal.com]

I like the coloring and shading technique you used, even if it does amount to "scribbles everywhere". :-P

For what it's worth, I agree with you. She's too orangey in the bottom picture, and too ... I don't want to say pale, but flat, perhaps? in the top picture. her hair color, however, I think looks more accurate in the top one, but it has the same tonal issue as her skin does there.

[shadesofmauve]

That's really helpful -- seems it's not just the monitor at work, it's definitely my error. Too orange, not enough brown. I'm glad you like the scribble technique! I'm undecided -- have to see how it looks on the whole thing before I make a call, I think.

The top picture isn't near shaded enough, which makes it appear flatter. In general, I think I have the skin shading in the right place, it's just that the color's all wrong! I didn't work much on the hair, so it's flat, but it was much darker on the monitor at work. Def. getting a tablet so I can color at home, with a machine I have more control over!

Thanks for commenting. :)

[oddlittleturtle.livejournal.com]

Ooo I like the scribbling effect. She does seem a bit goldish in the bottom pic and the lighting on her face is... distracting? Like she's shiny. Like she's standing in Kaidan's area of the ship in ME1.

[shadesofmauve]

Oh, dear, Kaidan's sweat-highlighting area. :P Luckily, fixing that should be easy -- it's just an issue of needing more midtones. I'll deal with it after I make her un-gold.

[stasia]

Bearing in mind I have no idea what anyone is 'supposed' to look like, I think she looks fine, but, well, cartoony in both. I like the scribbling effect, but I would want to smooth out the scribbles more if I were the one doing these artses.

Are her lips supposed to be that color, or am I missing something? I feel so lost.

And this is making me desperately want to get my art out and start making pictures again.

Stasia

[shadesofmauve]

Don't feel lost -- there's no reason you'd know what she's supposed to look like! Here: One two.

I'm realizing my work monitor is darker than the norm. It reduced the day-glo effect a bit -- I really need to pull it from orange/bronze to brown. (And the lipstick should be black, with tiny hints of purple, not bright purple).

I wonder if the cartoony effect is actually the scribbles, or just that the highlights on her face are so harsh. I need to get more midtones in there, which would smooth it out even without actual blending. Hold a finger over the highlight on her face; with that obscured, is it less cartoony?

I'm trying not to judge the scribbles too much until more picture is done, because I know from past experience that they'll read differently in the context of a larger work.

So much of figuring out a new process is feeling your way in the dark -- honestly, if I were working on traditional media I probably wouldn't even have shared something at this stage... but I'd also have worked the background up first, started the skin with bright hansa yellow, and relied entirely on translucent layers to get the skin tone right, so.... veeeeerrrry diferent.

Here, I'm working with each figure on separate layers, which makes it easy to 'color in the lines' (useful when using the tablet) but harder to blend them into the same color space. I suspect I'll get each figure reasonable then add my dark-darks and light-lights -- the shading that makes it feel REAL -- as another layer on top, but like I said -- stumbling in the dark!

[stasia]

Upon further inspection (and looking at the pictures you so kindly showed me), I think part of what's bugging me about her lips is the line down the center - why is there a gold line along the center of her lips?

The cartoony effect is much stronger in the first image, without the detailed shading, so I think the issue is more about depth of shading than anything else.

I wish I could sit next to you and watch, for entirely selfish reasons; I want to get better.

Stasia

[shadesofmauve]

I wish I could sit next to you and watch, for entirely selfish reasons; I want to get better.

Well, as long as you're wishing, you wish to watch someone who knows what they're doing!

The lip thing is because I'm no where near done -- her mouth is supposed to be open a tad, but I haven't colored anything there and the base skin tone is showing through. :P