Izumi's Kinda Okay Art

[EmaBuns]

Okay so I do art and I thought I'd make a thread to show a few little things I've done in the past few months and probably post new stuff I make in the near future. Enjoy mostly doodles and stuff quickly just drawn from pure memory. (I say that because of inaccuracies in details)

First off here's some Naegi Makoto



An incomplete Ninten doodle I did in class like 7 months ago



A thing I sketched in McDonald's a couple months ago



A decent Rena Ryuugu



And I guess that last thing I'll post for now - some elven character my friend asked for



(Yes, I know I'm a total weeb)

[Struggleton!]

I love your art style

[EmaBuns]

If it's not too much to ask, could you guys rip apart my art? Like if you see any serious continuous errors or things that need significant work, please point it all out. Suggestions on what I should do to better myself would be nice, too. Trying to spend the next 8 months in mega improvement mode to prepare for my portfolio for college.

[EmaBuns]

Did a little doodle

[Struggleton!]

-drawing-
Did a little doodle

The hand looks a little odd, if he's waving, he should have all his fingers extended, instead of having some extended and some bent, sorta like this:

hand wave

The legs are a bit too long, the legs should be about the same length as the body, as proportional as possible

Hoped this helped out a little, I'm not a good drawer myself, and not too good on giving criticism  

[EmaBuns]

No no, it's fine. This is exactly what I asked for. Thanks.

Also with the hand wave - I guess? I mean I know what people generally do, but usually I have my fingers curled in when I do. That's probably just me.

[Kosheh]

Hey, I'm gonna be real quick here and say that I think you're a fab person and your art's pretty cute - but there's something you asked of us.

(By the way, Ness' waving hand looks fine to me...? It's just a really odd and a bit out-of-character, but there's nothing wrong with that hand per se)

If it's not too much to ask, could you guys rip apart my art? Like if you see any serious continuous errors or things that need significant work, please point it all out. Suggestions on what I should do to better myself would be nice, too. Trying to spend the next 8 months in mega improvement mode to prepare for my portfolio for college.

If it's not too much to ask, could you guys rip apart my art?

I'm a pretty tough art critic. I'll try to keep it worded properly so it doesn't sound like I'm pickin' on you, but there's somethin' else first:

Suggestions on what I should do to better myself would be nice, too. Trying to spend the next 8 months in mega improvement mode to prepare for my portfolio for college.

Yyyyeah, to start: if you're going to college for an art program, submitting a folder filled with anime illustrations isn't going to cut it. :/ I'm sorry, but it's the truth.
Typically, in an art portfolio you'll want to show your ability to make a variety of things: well, besides anime, you may want to try cartooning, still-life, and observational drawing. You might also want to try using different mediums - brush art, charcoals, and of course, graphite (like you're using now) Of course, if there's a particular style you're proficient at, it's perfectly fine to show a few examples in your portfolio - just remember to show your "diversity" with art, that you're confident with experimenting and that you're excited about improving!
(Hell, if you have an interest in pottery or costuming, it might not hurt to have a photo of that in there as well. Don't just take a photo of you in cosplay though; put it on a mannequin. Which by the way, only add the cosplay to the portfolio is if you made it completely by hand; not a bunch of things you bought online)

---

Now, as for art: the good news is that it looks like you've got a grasp of foreshortening in some of these drawings! I still can't foreshorten properly, so kudos to you!! It's kinda hard to get used to, but it looks like you've got the gist of it!

As for things to improve - there's...a bit.

- A lot of your illustrations appear like Naegi, Headphones Guy, and Ness look like you drew the headphones first, then said "Okay, this is neat, now it's time to flesh out the torso...all right, onto the arms..." and just drew things sequentially. I noticed you drew a "wire base" for Ness - try using that to "plot out" the pose and position of the character, and even the muscle form of the character. It looks like you had the foundations of that with Ness - but try to draw it all at the same time and you'll be glad you did, as the character's proportions will remain consistent and the character won't...lean.
It looks like you did that for the other characters - but basically, just stick to it. You're heading down the right path!
You'll also want to try doing that on character's faces, so it'll give you an idea as to where facial features fit on their big anime skulls.
Oh, yeah - plotting things out beforehand will also allow you to add feet to your illustrations - which we'll talk about next!

- It seems like you hate drawing feet. Either that or it's just coincidence that many of your images don't have feet, and when they do they're pointing straight down.
Drawing feet is actually easier than drawing hands, just fyi - if you're using a wire-base guy and sketching out the whole character, draw a circle where the ankle would be. When I draw feet, mine look a bit cartoony - I usually put the ball at the very edge of the calf, and I use it to dictate where the ankle's going to be. From there, I can figure out just how I want the foot to sit on the ground - be positioned in midair, and then draw the bizarre-looking shape that'll later be fleshed out and made into a foot.

- Your fabric creases in almost all of the images are kind of...random. It's like "Yeah, I guess this material creases, here I go"
You can literally google references for this one, and try to figure out exactly fabric creasing sits in the material and how the twist of the body influences the way the fabric's manipulated. Now, there's different types of fabric - so leather's gonna look significantly different than silk, which is going to look different from chainmail!
I have a feeling someone's gonna come in here and one-up me on this, which is fine. I have no freaking idea how to describe this part.

To be fair, most of these were drawn without references, so it's a little unreasonable for me to harp on you over fabric creasing I guess. But when you're home and doodling just keep it in mind!!

But yeah, yer comin' along! Just take a second look at what I mentioned, and give them a shot! Good luck on your artsy endeavors c

[EmaBuns]

Yeah, thanks! I'm really glad you didn't pull punches because a lot of people do and that will only hurt me as an artist. I've taken everything you've said in an I'm gonna work on it all. You gave really helpful insight.

And yeah for the longest I've worried about being too weeb with my stuff lol. Never really intended to be that way in the first place, but I guess I've taken so much influence from Japanese games and anime that it sorta just happened. I've been trying to my best to venture off into my own unique style that isn't so animu and the stuff before that Ness is sorta from before I starting trying my best to do that. The Ness isn't AS typically Japanese style but still is to a good extent, but I'm coming along slowly but surely I think. If you or anyone else thinks of anything else please let me know! c:

[EmaBuns]

I'M STILL ALIVE AND THIS IS A WIP BUT LIKE JUST SAYING GUYS I'M DEFINITELY STILL UP AND RUNNING AND HARD AT WORK TRYING TO IMPROVE

Also, if anyone wants to see my newer junk more frequently, I post a lot on my Tumblr if ya just wanna follow it lol
http://izumisoul.tumblr.com/



Also actually colored it but not for long or seriously cause I'm tired (I've still got just the line work saved as its own project file so I can redo this whenever I want lol)

[Kosheh]

Also actually colored it but not for long or seriously cause I'm tired (I've still got just the line work saved as its own project file so I can redo this whenever I want lol)

At first I was looking at this and thinking "why's she drawin this pokemon character" but then I realized


is that Nyami from PnM Lapistoria but for some reason really angrily holding that pop-kun

[EmaBuns]

Also actually colored it but not for long or seriously cause I'm tired (I've still got just the line work saved as its own project file so I can redo this whenever I want lol)

At first I was looking at this and thinking "why's she drawin this pokemon character" but then I realized


is that Nyami from PnM Lapistoria but for some reason really angrily holding that pop-kun

yes, yes it is. She's like "ALRIGHT MAN. EX 50 LET'S GO I'M GONNA WRECK YOU."

[Filler]

I know I'm going to sound like an honest jerk here, but your art could by far better if you improved on some stuff.

First of all, you really need to improve on hierarchical construction. That Ness drawing shows you have some skills for it, but you aren't practiced enough for such a thing. Here's basic breakdown of things I saw

1. You really need to improve your pencil strokes, too. I cannot say how bad doing over-sketched lines are, try to learn how to optimize line strokes. As doing sketchy, over-stroked lines makes the drawing pointless, as you cannot read any lines.

2. You seem to have minor grasp of head construction, but not enough to do the level of work you're attempting. I'll try to add a few things to improve on.

-Your way of drawing eyes suffer from "animu" proportions. Your eyes are too far apart to create negative space between the side of the head and the front. This gives your characters the eye-sight of a horse when in 3/4s view, as one eye is close to the front, and the other sticks on the side of side of the head, breaking the overall head anatomy.

-Cheeks, jaws, and other facial features should be another shape apart from the basic head form, this is so that you can draw a much wider amount of expressive shapes using the same base head form, rather than modifying it for open mouths.

-Perspective lines should wrap around the shape in a circle-like format (make sure you add the lines behind the form, too). All shapes and details should flow around the base shape for solid perspective. These lines are also there to help you plan the position of where to draw shapes, and are not there to make drawings look professional.

-You seem to have gotten this very well, but I'm putting it here for reasons. Minor hear splits should flow around the shape of the form, ans should stick out of it, not erase inside it.

3. Your anatomy is made to only to have a skeleton (which is the way schools tend to do), try to make the image up of basic forms. For example, add a circle for when the knees and elbows are, then draw the arm up of two shapes, and place them to meet at the knee/elbows. The body should be made of base shapes, too. Rather than a large 1 shape.

4. It's impossible to tell this since I cannot see you draw, but plan in list of orders. Try to do:

-Base skeleton

-Basic forms for head, and body

-Base shapes for knees, hands, and feet

-Shapes for legs, and arms

-Details on the forms like shirts, hair, eyes, and other stuff.

-Minor details like hair splits, lumps in shirts, and other junk needed.

5. Plan the hands in the base form, then a "mitten" shape for all the fingers, add the thumb and then add the fingers inside the mitten shape for them.

6. Use a lighter colour for doing rough sketching lines (like a bright coloured pencil of blue or yellow, or green) then outline the base shape in pencil of sorts.

That's all I really have to say, but here's an example of head construction that could help.

[EmaBuns]

Thanks. Seriously, brutality with honesty is preferred to keeping things out to spare my feelings and I'm glad you guys understand that. Anyways, that's all been noted and I'll get to incorporating the input I've gotten into future stuff.

[Filler]

@Izumi

I try to keep my criticisms less rude and more informal. More or less explaining where there's room for improvement. I actually think I sounded a bit too rude there. And if I did, I'm sorry.

Also, to note. Try to learn how to draw from more professional designs before you try your own. You can learn a-lot of tricks on how artist's use hierarchies in their work to make their drawings and designs more professional (My aren't the best, so don't use 'em. In-fact: that head turn-around I made and posted was really bad, but it was the only thing I could find at the time)

So, practice, learn from others, and improve. As it can make a huge difference. Trust me, I could barely draw a year ago, and now I can do some rather decent drawings.

[EmaBuns]

OKAY SO. First of all, it's been a long time and a lot's happened but I should actually be around for good this time. Thought I'd update this thread and say that I'm going to art school starting in September for a BFA in Game Development and moving to San Francisco in August. Woo

That being said, I've actually gotten much, much better at art in this time. I may in the very near future frequently update this thread with doodles and junk since I'm much more consistent now (and better).

Anyways, once again, I'll actually be around now so hi haha
(I really need the change the title of this thread now it makes me sound so self-depreciating lol)