Suggestions on the art...

[Alschroeder]

Suggestions on the art...

The backgrounds are usually very, very bare, when they're there at all. Some background would be useful. In the current strip, the speedster and Lightbringer seem to have no backgrounds at all. Backgrounds would convey a sense of depth and detail.

Another suggestion that's helped me---make a collage of images. Don't trace, don't lightbox, but putting together real images in your graphic program is relatively easy. I do that, print them out, and use them as reference to make my drawings from, and it seems to give them more "weight" and gives you a more realistic feel. Both google and yahoo allows you to search for images, and corbis is another good resource.

There are tons of good drawing resources out there, and many of them have helped me. Proportions, especially, need to be worked on. People tend to concentrate on the face, but for instance, in the latest Lightbringer, the heads are waaay too narrow, because you're concentrating on the face, and making it as large as you think it's important. But the head---the ears come in the exact middle of the face if you're looking at it from the side, and there is just as much BEHIND the ears as in front of it. In many of your drawings, two-thirds or three-fourths of the head is in front of the ears. That's a mistake a LOT of people make when they draw. You're not alone in that.

These are things I learned the HARD way---lots of my early drawings for Mindmistress are terrible---and I'm just trying to save you from the mistakes I've already made. And obviously I have a long, long way to go.

Just suggestions, okay? ---Al

[Linkara]

You are banned from this forum for ever daring that my artwork is-

Nah, I kid, Al. ^_^ Thanks for the suggestions! Those should be useful, in particular the ears thing - I never actually realized their position on the head.

Yeah, my backgrounds are bare, which is definitely something I'm going to be working on. I think sometimes I just get so focused on trying to get a good background for one panel on one page (which even then doesn't turn out so great) that afterwards I'm burned out on trying to do backgrounds for other pages so I take shortcuts through gradients.

So just any random images as a collage?

[Alschroeder]

Oh, no. I search for images that correspond to what I need. When MM dodges a bolt of lightning, I search for a cartwheel done by a female gynmist, for instance.
A lot of times I have specific models in mind for my characters. MM, both as Lorelei and MM, is Liv Tyler. (It's amazing how different she looks with blonde hair...basically if it's a picture of Liv smiling, or crying, that's good for Lorelei. If she's looking determined, that's MM.) So I'll try to search for pictures that go with it. (The times I drew Lightbringer, I looked for a young Peter O'Toole. Remember when I asked you, before I sent you that fan art, who you thought Lightbringer looked like? THAT's why.) Vicki's Winona Rider, Bloodlust's Brad Pitt.
You can go TOO far with that of course. I remember a Gil Kane character called Matt Savage, Trail Boss, who looked EXACTLY like John Wayne, and it took you out of the story. And in the current incarnation of THUNDERBOLTS, Norman Osborn looks exactly like Tommy Lee Jones, also taking you out of the story. But that's an exception.
That's JUST a suggestion. It works for me, and helped me improve my drawing, but you might find other methods that work for you. ---Al

[Alschroeder]

Oh, and on proportions---
(Other stuff I learned the hard way)
--Bodies are seven or eight heads high. Eyes are half way down the head. The nose ends a quarter of a way down from there, and the ears correspond with where the eyes begin and the nose ends.

The nipples are one head(height) down from the chin. the waist is two heads down from the chin. The crotch ends three heads down from the chin. (Unless you're doing perspective shots, and that's something else altogether...)

There's a really good book called---momentary braindeadness---DRAWING ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE BRAIN. One of the things they counsel when you're drawing a picture, is to draw it with the model/reference upside down if you have a model or photo or some other sort of reference. It frees your mind from the preconceptions you have, and you often get proportions better. People who often think they can't even draw stick figures often do much better if they draw a picture---held upside down.---Al

[Linkara]

*Makes notes of all of this.* Uh huh... nipples... one... head... down... There!

[Alschroeder]

Looking MUCH better on the art---the proportions are better, and the backgrounds (INCLUDING the one you didn't think "turned out that well") of Pharos City gives some real DEPTH to the fighting, and the aerial maneuvering.

You've got a looong way to go, but then, so do I...and at least you're moving in the right direction. It's appreciated.

---Al

[Xade]

...l when you're drawing a picture, is to draw it with the model/reference upside down if you have a model or photo or some other sort of reference. It frees your mind from the preconceptions you have, and you often get proportions better. People who often think they can't even draw stick figures often do much better if they draw a picture---held upside down.---Al

One problem with that for me, Al, is I tried that and it worked, until my mind, determined to make sense of it, mentally flipped the picture upright. I haven't been able to draw like that ever since Now if I see an upside-down image it makes sense cause i mentally flip it upright, despite trying not to. Heck, even if I rotate my desktop I can use it. Guess sometimes the mind can be so weirded out that it fights to make sense of things until it does, or something like that.

[Darkdetective]

For some reason I can never get my characters on model. Their hight always changes.

[VinnieD]

Well you could always just do drills with blind contour drawing. it's hellaciously time consuming and destroys any sense of confidence you might have built up but it is a good form of practice that if nothing else helps build pencil control.