Doodles and Finished Pieces

[Ashura]

Okay dude seriously.
Stick with stuff like those doodles because it is far more strong than any of your anime stuff.

I mean, it has better sense of shape and way, waaaay more energy.

That or just apply some of that energy to your more anime-styled drawings. I'm serious.

Really, seriously. Try not to think about style so much and let it develop naturally. If you force yourself into a style then your work will suffer.

Haha, thanks. I wasn't really serious on forcing myself to only draw anime, but I want to have alternate styles. I have a problem when drawing anime: the characters look ridiculously stiff. It seems like most anime drawings that I see have more focus on detail than energy. Cartoons are the exact opposite (well... not counting cartoon paintings/cariactures). It's hard for me to draw an energetic anime drawing.

[bla bla styles bla]

Did you... actually read my post?
TRY NOT TO THINK SO MUCH ABOUT STYLE.
You easily CAN put some of that energy into your anime styled drawings if you stop thinking "This is how I do things in this style".

Look at this:
http://lysol-jones.deviantart.com/art/Bee-105749878
In fact, look at lysol's whole gallery because he's a legend.
There's a definite anime influence but it's still very expressive and fluid.

Your poses looking stiff are nothing to do with your style and everything to do with you not understanding why it looks stiff.

I'll keep this brief. Because mostly you've ignored criticism thus far.

Read this:
http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2006/05/a...ne-of.html

Parts of it however, will not make sense until you have read these:
http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2006/05/a...ction.html
http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2006/05/a...h-and.html
http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2006/05/a...check.html
http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2006/05/a...cters.html

Read these. Do the exercises. It doesn't matter what style you're going for, because energy and shape are Very Important Things regardless of style. Don't gimme any shit about how you aren't animating; ANY drawing needs to keep shape and energy in mind.
Also don't give me any shit about not wanting this exaggerative a style. You study this extremely expressive stuff, and then you use what you've learned to give your own work a more expressive feel.

Again, and if I have to say this any more I will scream: stop thinking about style. Let it happen naturally. This is the number one most important thing you must learn.
DO NOT THINK ABOUT STYLE.
DO NOT THINK ABOUT STYLE.
DO NOT THINK ABOUT STYLE.
Learn all the technical stuff and your style will learn itself.

Ah, okay. ^^ Sorry for misunderstanding, I guess I was posting my rambling thoughts rather than focusing on your post.

Ah, I understand. I should make my drawings more lifelike, regardless of style. By making up construction shapes, keeping in proportion, using silhouettes, following action lines, and effectively using center lines, I can add energy to any drawing.

I've read John K's blog and linked to the same articles to other people. While his attitude is a bit... elitist, he certainly knows what he's talking about. My friend Rage followed his stuff, which is why Rage is so good. Because I wanted to learn to draw like Rage and Don Bluth, I followed John K's stuff when drawing cartoons =o

I followed a separate how-to when drawing anime. I learned how to draw anime at the manga university site, and it never mentioned that I should keep my poses active. All it said was something similar to "do this and that to make the chin, follow these exact guidelines, blah blah etc add lots of detail". All of my anime drawings beforehand were done using the stuff I learned in the tutorials. Does that explain why my anime drawings are so stiff? ^^;

But now that I think about it, some of my favorite anime pictures are active. I'm going to be using John K's tutorial for ANY drawing from now on. Eventually, I'll make lively anime drawings. Thanks for the tip!