Reworking Character & coloring

This took around 10 hours, but it was mostly because I took my time with everything.  Also, I kept asking friends to critique.  Afterwards, I'd fix things that looked odd to them and improved on the things they already liked.  

Issues I had regarded shadowing on black?  Is that even possible?  Since I was using darker colors, my shadows didn't show up too well and the light would often look really strong against the colors.  

Other than that, she still looks a little anime-like doesn't she?  I need to start making characters more realistic, but the outline and line weight are throwing me off.

Eyes, Shapes, & Silhouettes

Time: 5.5 hrs (or more, forgot to log time until mid first eye?) 

Let's say I went into this assignment thinking it was going to take about an hr to two hrs.  However, I actually took about 45 minutes on my first eye!  It's not because I was drawing slow, I was really trying to get used to drawing on my tablet again.  My tablet has this really annoying 2-5 second lag every 5-10 minutes or so (the things I draw don't appear on screen instantly).  I might finally have to replace it xD.  I also finally started using CS5 after using Photoshop 7, yes 7 and CS2 for years and years.  

So for the eyes, at first I just experimented with shapes and size.  The lighting wasn't pretty and I did not know this until my dad pointed out!  Later on I added lashes and rendered a little better!   I will randomly practice more during free time because I still have a looooooong way to go from making nice and pretty eyes.  They still look anime-like. Oh, and my brows LOL hideous...I forgot human eyebrows are not lines.  Too much anime for me!    

Mermaid Silhouettes.  Time: 3 hrs.  I actually did this assignment last thinking it was going to be the most tedious one.  However, this turned out to be the funnest and most entertaining assignment out of the three!  I picked Little Mermaid because I love the story (Disney version and the actual original one by Hans Christine Anderson) and also because Little Mermaid has such an unique silhouette.  During our first character drawings, I had to draw a Cecaelia so I experimented with swimming poses a little but I have been itching to do more for a while!  

The hardest part about this assignment was probably the rendering.  I feel like I overdid it for some of them and my blending isn't all that great.  My mom walked by when I was working on this and she told me some of the tails are too long but I didn't see it.  Now, after a day, I look at it again and some are indeed too long!  It didn't hit me that the tail should probably have similar proportions as a human's legs!  Also, I rarely take breaks during an assignment (I know, bad bad.) so it's hard to see mistakes.  I will learn to force myself to take mini breaks from now on!

Time: 2 hrs of actual work add 2 if you count my trying to figure out the layer masks (which I still haven't fully figured out).

I just totally finally realized I can't render 3D shapes to save a life.  o_o.  The only ones I am slightly satisfied with are my cones.  Oddly enough, the cubes were the most confusing for me.  I had to take a box and a lamp and demonstrate it a few times.  However, I did realize that as I got nearer to the end, I started rendering a little better.

Like eyes, I am going to randomly draw 3D shapes when I have free time.  

------

I think digital work looks better than sketchbook work and there's the privilege to erase mistakes (which, I do way too much.  Lila, stop it).  I know it probably took such a long time this week because I am just starting to get used to PS and my crazy tablet.  :)  Hopefully, I will do nicer work in less time in the near future!  It was frustrating, yet a very fun and entertaining journey!

And I cannot end this post without specially thanking Leticia for putting up with me this weekend when my Filezilla, PS, tablet, Internet - everything started crashing all at once.  Also, for checking over my work! :)

Character Model Sheets and Mystery Objects

Here are my three character model sheets!  I think my shadowing and contrast is off on my characters.  I especially had a hard time with my knight.  I kept confusing myself because I was trying to mimic the stuff we did on the second figure drawing class.  However, I realized my light direction was different than the light direction of our figure drawing class - eh basically I just got really confused xD.  I tried adding a lot more shadow than I usually do though and a lot of my reference pictures helped me with that.  

I actually like my hawk the most and surprisingly it took the least time, perhaps it was because it was the last character I had to draw so I was less stressed out, or maybe I just felt more confident because there aren't many messenger hawk characters out there - where else knights and witches/pitiful villains are everywhere!

   For homework, we had to create new model sheet templates (I think, hope I did it right).  I tried experimenting with the different positions my final characters could be, fonts, patterns, and color.  In the end, I just thought my characters looked better on darker, melancholy colors so I chose this brown/tan color.  There is also a shadow element I added behind my characters.

Let's just say besides Fantasy, Mystery is my favorite genre.  I played Nancy Drew and Carmen Sandiego games and watched insane forensic dramas growing up (at one point, I thought I was going to be a Forensic Scientist).  Therefore, this week's 20 objects homework was very enjoyable for me.  I however, am sure I colored my magnifying glass wrong - still having trouble with contrast and highlights of glass and metals.  I like my bloody hand though. :D

Week 6 Figure Drawing & Silhouettes

First figure drawing session ever!  Came to class really nervous and not knowing what was going to happen.  I admit it was awkward at first but everyone in the class was so professional and mature, it made me step up my game!  Actually, being in a room with students probably just as scared as me made it a little more comfortable for me.

I think I had problems with proportions (still do) but I got a little better after drawing more figures.  The thirty second poses were really overwhelming but they were good warm-ups.  I guess as time passed I got more confident in making mistakes.  At the beginning, I spent a long time just figuring out if the line I was about to draw would be right.  Later on, I just went "what the heck" and drew from instincts, and even if it was wrong, so what?  It was actually good that I visually drew my mistakes so that the next drawing I learn from the mistakes!!

My friends are such silly models.  Haha.  Had a lot of fun forcing my friends to pose.  Seriously though, you probably don't want to be doing this at 1am though...you'll realize your friends have alter egos HAHA!

I still have issues with proportions though I'm getting better!  At first, actually the majority of the figures, I spent too much time thinking about details!  When I finally realized this,  I started focusing on my poses and gestures more.  Still have to work on my proportions!  Oh, and sometimes I don't know how to draw poses where you can't see all parts of the arm (For example, zombie pose).  They never come out looking right! 

For the silhouettes, I have similar problem with proportions.  Sometimes, I make the arms so long (lol) they are longer than the person's legs ahaha.  I also have a hard time with the curves of limbs and sometimes feet.  The details on my silhouettes are also not superb.  However, on the bright side, I work a lot faster on these than I did last week! :D

On another note, while doing midterm drawings, I totally ruined two of my Copic markers.  Don't ever, I repeat DON'T EVER color your markers over the white color pencil.  You will regret it.  The wax of the color pencils will clog the tips of your beautiful markers!  Yes, your contrast comes out a lot smoother, but it's not worth it if you have to replace your markers every 6 weeks!  Just don't do it!  

Week 5 Class Exercises & Hw

In class (LOL)

I was a deer in headlights.  I am not kidding.  Look, I even spelled "eating" and "squatting" wrong.  I didn't know what I was doing LOL.  Now looking at some of the figures, the torsos are really short...  

Hw: 20 Ball Figures & 20 Silhouettes 

Let's just say stick figures are not as easy as they look...In fact, I think this was the most frustrating drawing assignment for me!
I have the really bad tendency to shorten people's torsos and limbs!  I have always been aware of this but when I draw, especially the ball figures, they look correct to me.  It wasn't until I did my silhouettes that I realized everyone turned out short and stubby!  For the second silhouette page, I made sure to elongate the torsos and limbs and the silhouettes came out a bit better.

Week 4 Work

20 Action/Adventure Drawings, 5 pages of visual development, & Final Character Design.

I'm still struggling with lighting/shading/shadow.  It feels like it should be common sense where light would hit and where there'd be shadow, but really sometimes it's just confusing.  I get the concept more on simple objects, where else something like octopus tentacles...I must have corrected my shading at least six, seven times and it still doesn't look right.

I guess the other issue I had regarded the time and amount of drawings we were assigned. If my other professors didn't assign homework, I probably would have spent a lot more time on my drawings.  However, that's how life is (Long live Golden Triangle!).  I'll just have to manage my time accordingly. 

I desperately wanted my character to be as original as it can be.  However, the whole time, all I could think of was Little Mermaid's Ariel and Ursula.  I guess it'd good to run into this problem now rather than later  so next time I can learn to "purge" prior knowledge of similar character and "start with a blank mind".  

Lastly, the genre action/adventure is very vague.  Previous genres we worked on like fantasy and sci-fi had "rules".  Fantasy - orcs, renaissance, mages, etc.  Sci-fi - repetitiveness/parts/sections, robots, aliens, etc.  Even when I researched on places like Gamestop, action/adventure was more of a subgenre than an actual genre (eg. Historic action/adventure. Fantasy action/adventure.)

Special discovery: If you are clumsy like me, you most likely dropped your Prisma color pencils many, many times.  When you sharpen, the tip will break and break and break...Well I found a solution!  I microwaved my pencil for 5 seconds and the lead inside melted back together.  Now if only I knew of this before, my box of Prisma color pencils would have lasted a lot longer!  I do have to warn you, there is a small burnt scent...maybe try microwaving for 3 seconds or something...

Edited/added some contrast before class last Thursday. not an actual complete redo! (sorry about the ink on one of the pages, it's from an exercise during class...I should have scanned them in before class T^T!)

Week 3 Work

20 Random Objects, 40 Heads, 40 Fantasy Drawings.

This assignment was probably my favorite so far.  It was really fun drawing different head shapes and seeing how minuscule differences made the character really different.  I struggled with values/lighting though as I have never actually shaded heads before.
The random objects was a lot easier to do this week than the week before.  I guess practice may not make perfection, but it sure makes improvement.
Fantasy is also my favorite genre!  I had the funnest time drawing the objects.  I always have trouble drawing thumbnails though because I look at items I draw and I always want to add details and so I add more and more and eventually the image is not a thumbnail anymore.  I seriously need to practice getting my idea down with the least amount of lines as possible.