Doodles 12: Just like clockwork.

[Ti-Phil]

I'm Lucky, every year around christmas the Lucky Lukes animated movies plays, so I get my dose every year. Same with the Astérix (and yesterday I saw Astérix and the vikings for the first time and it inspired me to increase my skill in animation!).

[McDuffies]

Where's Iznogoud?

[Ti-Phil]

I admit I didn't listen to Iznogoud when I was a kid. But I admit, I could have added Gaston Lagaffe also.

[McDuffies]

Ah, he's just one joke over and over anyway.

[RobboAKAscooby]

Just some pics I've done lately...




I need to redraw this one, made her legs too thin, but I like how the rest turned out.

[VeryCuddlyCornpone]

The little cheek-puff line is cute but I'm not sure it belongs in all three pictures. In the first two it's okay since that's the same person, but it's a unique feature kind of like if a bunch of people had the same birthmark in the same place, you know? It's a shorthand for a specific feature and might look weird or misused if it starts showing up on everybody.

[RobboAKAscooby]

See, that's why I like this place, I can get useful feedback (and for once it's not about boobs, yay!).
Makes this kind of experimentation worthwhile.

You've got a good point Cuddly, it's something I should probably keep to rounder faced characters like Harli (and obviously only to expressions that warrant it, ie big smiles) and at the very least tone down the size/severity/direction/curve of smile/cheek lines on other characters.

[VeryCuddlyCornpone]

[McDuffies]

Since you like punishment, there's also the thing that you didn't paint blush on the cheeks but higher, under the eyes.

[RobboAKAscooby]

Since you like punishment, there's also the thing that you didn't paint blush on the cheeks but higher, under the eyes.

Working on it, McD.

Honestly this is something I'm trying to get right but blending markers feels like a crapshoot sometimes.

In general, at least, I have (I hope) come a long way from where I was a year ago.

Any other notes while you're feeling helpful?

[McDuffies]

Try to avoid mannerism. Like, getting into habits of how to draw particular things. Like, try to draw as many different face and body shapes, and also different body contortions. Body is endlessly versatile, and you won't find a muscle sticking in the same way on two different bodies, or maybe even on the same body in two different occasions. Knowledge of anatomy should work less as a set of strict rules and more as an underlying ground that allows you freedom. And I can't think of another way to achieve that, other than practicing like crazy.
If all this seems a bit confusing when I talk about it, consider this: all three images have one thing that is very strikingly similar: all three have very characteristic, thin ankles. They all seem almost like copied from one image, though they're all probably a result of you adhering strictly to certain anatomy rules, and perhaps to some decisions about your drawing style. Would three different persons, in three different positions have the same looking ankles? Well odds are they may, but for the sake of variety of your drawing, they shouldn't. You got to stop yourself from being pressured into drawing every bump exactly the same way you taught yourself and just learn the general shape of the ankle, which you should be able to vary and contort in multiple different positions. I think that learning anatomy is less important than being relaxed and confident in your own drawing, drawing has to look effortless. It's just that knowing anatomy is what makes most of people more confident and relaxed, which is why we always stress learning anatomy as important, so it's important in the indirect way.
There are a few more areas where I see you verging on mannerism, like the tummies of all three look very similar.
Actually, is there a reason why ankles, arms and waists are so thin? They don't look right to me.
Finally, I expect you are also drawing males, and also other kind of subjects, like animals, buildings, landscapes, etc.
Progress is there, though, no doubt.

[RobboAKAscooby]

Actually, is there a reason why ankles, arms and waists are so thin? They don't look right to me.

Short answer because I'm not that good (which isn't me just putting myself down).
These are things I'm trying to work on. I do have some bad habits I need to break.
With the waists they always seem fine while I'm working on the pic but then when I look at it afterwards, too thin. Same goes for the arms really.
Ankles on the other hand also come down to the fact I don't often draw below mid-calf so I'm pretty shocking at the feet/ankle area.

Finally, I expect you are also drawing males, and also other kind of subjects, like animals, buildings, landscapes, etc.

Of course.

Progress is there, though, no doubt.

[McDuffies]

With the waists they always seem fine while I'm working on the pic but then when I look at it afterwards, too thin. Same goes for the arms really.

This happens to most of artists - you are kind of used to what you've been looking at for a while, so you don't see an error. There are several ways to deal with this:
Don't ink it right after you've penciled it. Allow yourself a chance to fix it after you've had a second look at it. Leave your half-finished drawing to lay for a while. For instance, leave pencils overnight, look at them tomorrow, and you'll see mistakes that you've missed, so you can try to fix them before inking.
If you're in a hurry, you can try something else: To look at your drawing in the mirror, or from the back, with the light source behind it, so you can see the reversed drawing through the paper. Sometimes, seeing a reversed drawing helps you notice things that you haven't noticed at first.
But ideally, don't rush to ink things right after you've penciled, leave things some time to settle down.

[Doboy1]

Ah nostalgia so many years since I last posted here.Even the bad times seem like good times now.

[IVstudios]

Hey! Bob#s is ba- and he's gone. Well that was quick.

[McDuffies]

This is so great, I was just buying groceries and I realized that I had no pouches to put them in!

[Sortelli]

oh god the worst part is that I mistook this terrible artist for a different terrible artist

[VeryCuddlyCornpone]

What a pleasant surprise!!

[Sortelli]

NO WAIT this was the guy I was originally thinking of.

Thank GOD there's still only one of him.

[RobboAKAscooby]

It's like looking at an early 90s Marvel comic while being both drunk and concussed...