Tips for an artist

[Snakenator1]

Guys I could have some tips and tricks advice please.

I've been drawing for over a year now and I have made some awesome stuff. But my drawings lack lighting to them. What I mean is I can't shade from a dark colour to gradually a light colour (e.g. Black to grey) so my drawings have fixed colours. I mean I like this style but I feel like potential is lost in doing so.

If any of you could help me I appreciate any advice you can offer.

Right now I'm doing my latest drawing and I need the advice to get this one right. It is a work in progress so nowhere near completion.
My drawing on the left and I want it to look like the one on the right in terms of colour and shade

[Jonny]

You drawed this...with a...PEN? :paperbag

[Snakenator1]

Sorry I messed up the attachment system :brickwall
Huge fail on my half :P

My drawing is the pencil sketch and the other one I'm trying to replicate :P

[Cipher]

Use soft pencils (3B or above) for starters, next find out your highlights/RIMS/Keys and surround them with a very very faint outline, then shade the whole thing in one solid LIGHT grey, next find the darkest parts of your drawing, and fill them up, you usually need to go darker than you think you should and then you just start the gradual shading controlling pressure to get a nice result, it's easier with soft pencils since you don't have to press hard at all for it to leave any graphite on the paper ;)
This will be easier if your drawing paper is bigger (recommending A3), soft outlines of the shading edges can guide yu for making nice transitions, but you have to pay attention the seam doesn't become too apparent, there's multiple ways to shade though, lines, dots, cross lines (all these usually for comics) or the normal smooth shading which is harder but more realistic ^^

If you find yourself having trouble with shading, try shading some very simple objects with shadows first

The main things to look at when doing so are; Specular (brightest dot/part), Highlights(lit/bright areas), core shadow (dark area of object), bouncelight (light bouncing on floor and casting back into the core shadow) & cast shadow
Here's a quick example (and don't use the hard paper (supposedly for drawing), use smooth/soft paper for shading, otherwise you'll get all those gaps of white where the pencil didn't get to like in mine)
http://gyazo.com/fb633d921ae61e59a4a56e363d441888
(horrible scan, i know..)

Other shapes to try are a cube, cone, cylinder (standing), cylinder (on it's side), donut (tough one), always indicate where your light is coming from as well with a little 3D arrow like so;
http://gyazo.com/7fea6694801c8dc18a9750a3bb51dbe4
it helps visualizing the shadows ;)


For your lineart, i don't really have any comment, it looks quite nice :) , not sure if you drew over it, or drew it yourself, if you did it yourself, GJ, if not, use perspective/trace lines to create a basic blockout, then start refining the blocks with sliced shapes (eg cockpit/hull slice,...)
AND! NEVER USE A RULER!!! Only use a ruler for your perspective lines or horizon line
Here's a lineart i did some time ago for college (the only thing i'm not satisfied with is that stupid cup, it's so simple it's dumb compared to the rest, but whatever)
https://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/2048x1536q50/843/vi9j.jpg

and here's a shaded still life (although again, horrible paper used (teacher almost scolded me for it >.<)
http://gyazo.com/4fd20d408b872e43310aae247b181990

I'm no pro by any means, but that's what we are tough at my college :p
Hope it helps :)

Cipher

ps you did take quite a complex object to start shading though lol

[Snakenator1]

For your lineart, i don't really have any comment, it looks quite nice :) , not sure if you drew over it, or drew it yourself, if you did it yourself, GJ,

I drew it all free hand, I couldn't trace it for:
-my printer broke :|
-I cannot trace it from my laptop screen as its touch so the screen can move
-Its not in me to trace, I prefer free hand
Thanks for the kind compliment as well ^_^

All that information WOW 0.0
That's awesome, thank you very much. Precise and to the point which is what I'm looking for, I find online tutorials and videos are to vague for me.
Also your drawings :clap awesome pieces I must say, guess you do learn a lot from art lessons. I actually hated art lessons in school though. Teachers were too controlling for me, I want to draw what I wish so for me this is a passionate hobby :)
Thanks again.

[Jonny]

@Snake: Ah ok, I was nearly dead ^^
@Cipher: That drawings are lovely (I'll use that withe the PS1 and PSVita as a background wallpaper now ^^)

[Xpand]

I'm not that great of a drawing guy, but if my 2 cents count for anything what I usually do is make the basic shape first, not really an outline, but rather individual components like wings, fuselage and stuff, try making them from simple objects like boxes and cyllinders. Next I do some ambient occlusion shading (soft shadows) and projection shadows from a light source I choose. And then I add details like welding lines and rivets and refine the outlines.
Here's some stuff I made:
http://threedmaniak.deviantart.com/art/Wip-Eout-F3600-AG-Systems-384929371?q=gallery%3AThreeDManiak%2F25962488&qo=31
http://threedmaniak.deviantart.com/art/MiG-21-256045423
http://threedmaniak.deviantart.com/art/FEISAR-F3600-388668528
http://threedmaniak.deviantart.com/art/E66-concept-drawings-299103530
http://threedmaniak.deviantart.com/art/Cassandra-2190-racing-track-214032567

I like drawing blueprints too, for my 3D models:
http://threedmaniak.deviantart.com/art/S-46-Orca-Plans-201501219

Since I do all these without references I can't really give you a hand at replicating things to perfection.

[Snakenator1]

^Those are incredible :D that Feisar drawing I'm in love with :3

Thanks for the tip about the soft shadow and projection shadow, it sounds like I should try that to. Also I'm not trying to replicate that image 100% I'm using it for a basic Tomcat design such as the shape, minor details, profile and direction etc.

I plan on giving it a splinter camo similar to most Russian military fighters. But its the lighting I needed tips for.
Thanks though :)

[Xpand]

No problem! I added two more I found, including Cassandra's concept art (lol it looks nothing like the model).

[Cipher]

Not great he says.. *shows of some epic drawings* :P
Props to you! Looks nice :)

We are forced to do digital shading here after the first 2 weeks of traditional shading (basic shapes) which is a bummer (i actually find it easier to create it in 3D lol)

And yes Snake, i hate art classes too, they're very demotivating & with continuous pressure/subjects you don't like, so try to stay away from them and improve with feedback instead of criticism, then again, you do learn a lot from them :p

I'll have more time myself this year as well, so i might be drawing more too, but tempted to do some wipeout 3D Art as well, so will have to chose ^^

Cipher

[Snakenator1]

Hahaha he doesn't mean to brag ;)

This actually my first ever drawing of a aircraft, I would say vehicle but I've drawn Feisar and a Arwing before so third vehicle drawing :)
I normally do video game characters for the greater flexibility but I wanted something new :D
I like drawing as a hobby, there's so much freedom to it.

I thought I offer samples of my past drawings. Notice how there are no shadows or fading of colours, that's what I'm trying to improve on with this F-14.
Also the F-14 as it now stands, quite self-proud ^_^

[Cipher]

No no, my post wasn't meant that way, just find it silly he said he's not that great, although i find his drawings pretty awesome :)
And Oooooh! Liking that character drawing! ^^

In my course it's more about design/ creating something new, we're not allowed to draw things that already exists (which is stoopid!) and have to whip up a bunch of thumbnails and then refine one of them
Last year the project was to create a Scrapyard Robot Guard built from scrapyard stuff (not a fun assignment bleeeeeeh)
Here's some thumbnails, some digital, some analog, all rushed because we have a time limit per thumbnail as well (see what i mean with pressure, really dislike the course lol)

http://gyazo.com/56901786a61524f249e5f852827f1db9

And guess what! I wasn't allowed to make the one i wanted to make :P

I mean i like drawing, but whipping out designs that all differ from another with limitations/restrictions is tough and tiresome, they expect 45 thumbnails, they crazy.
So it's not my favorite thing to do, prefer 3D instead, but might give it a go as a hobby ^^

Aaaaaaaanyway, enough spamming of me lol, GL with the drawing Snake! Defo show us the end result! :)

Cipher

[mannjon]

Ok a few things fellow art patron ^_^

In the world of art, the most versatile and important skill is sketching. Learn to sketch with your eyes OFF your paper and spend most of your time focusing on your subject. This seems like something you are well on the way to getting the hang of.

For shading, there are a few approaches.

Rendering Markers
I personally suggest using rendering markers and color pencil. Most professional grade rendering markers will have a set of cool or warm grays in a pack for about $20 for a basic set. Look for one that has 10% black - 100% black. Color pencils are forgiving, but I tend to only use the white. You can also use white chalk instead of color pencil, but you really only need a white.

The reason for using a white chalk or color pencil (and by chalk I mean "conte crayon") is that it will easily go over the top of rendering markers. This is useful for highlights, and should only be used for final touches.

Start with your base lightest color. For the image above, I would suggest a 30% gray. Color the whole thing. The best thing about markers is that they bleed and mix on paper. So after laying down the base coat, go back and additional darker colors on top. It is important to go in order of lightest to darkest because you can't undo a mistake or lighten a darker color. Only use 100% black for the final and darkest areas. Use it sparingly.

Once you are done with the markers, go back over things with the pencil/conte crayon. The idea is that the white will go over even the darkest marker, making it ideal for highlights. Use this sparingly too. Whitest white and blackest black should be used only as details, and not for the main rendering.

Your shading strokes should me both meaningful and deliberate. Practice making single steady strokes at a time rather than filling in an area with constant circular motions.

Pen Approach
This is a more stylized approach towards shading, and require much less equipment.

For this you will need a fine point pen, a medium point felt pen, and a wider sharpie type of pen. The process is called cross-hatching. The lightest pen should be used for lighter areas, and the darkest should be used for solid black areas. The idea is to make a pattern (usually of diagonal pen strokes). When you make a pen stroke in a different direction, it adds "darkness" to the shading. This is a style used by comic artists and Industrial Designers attempting to rapidly produce an image.

This approach isn't going to yield life like results, but it is an important technique to utilize because it can teach some important fundamental skills. Even if this isn't the right kind of technique to use, it can help to master having control of the pen and maximize your hand-eye coordination. It also teaches restraint because you can't easily fix an pen-stroke gone wrong.

Color Pencil
This is probably the least professional method. I don't say this as an insult to those that have mastered this technique, I only mean to say that in the professional world of rendering, it is the equivalent of a crayon. Depending on what you need to do, this may or may not be the right way to go.

A lot of the same theory applies here. Lay down the lightest colors first. That way, you can always go back and add darker colors. The difference is that the weight that you exude on the paper will determine texture and color. Lighter pressure obviously makes for a lighter color. Lighter colors are easier to blend, while darker colors often resist ANY color placed on top.

You can get some good texture effects by using gestural movements, which you cant as easily do with markers. You can still cross-hatch with colored pencil, but you get the added benefit that by using less pressure, you won't have as hard of lines.

I've attached some images taken from when I was in Industrial Design school. Each use a combination of styles using markers, colored pencils, and highlights from a conte crayon. For the couch, the darkest color was black, but since it was the color of the couch, that went down first and I lightened it using colored pencils and highlighted it with a conte. The other example is a construction tool placed on a 2x4 to prevent it from splitting when driving stakes. The stake cap shows some of the layering with graphic markers.

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[Snakenator1]

Thought I share this quick, forgot to mention I've started trying Pixel art and the first try was an obvious one ;)

Pixel Art Feisar

[mannjon]

Not bad at all snake! I like a good pixel image. They are becoming more common with all the indie games being released. What program do you like to use for pixel drawings?