Makin' a bit more progress but not much.


Things which need fixin':

-Shoulders are too narrow.
-Body is too small compared to the body.
-Boobs are very wip. They are surprisingly harder to pixel than I imagined.
-hair is getting better but I'm not there yet.
-haven't started the left arm yet.

I'm getting confused with the color palette...

I don't want to use color reduction and other techniques, I feel like it's cheating. I want to impose upon myself the same limitation I would have if I was drawing this with a pencil.

What about you guys? Any advice, pointers? 

Here's the ref (nudity):

Comments

  1. "I don't want to use color reduction and other techniques, I feel like it's cheating."
    There is no cheating.

    "I want to impose upon myself the same limitation I would have if I was drawing this with a pencil."
    Yah use rules if you want.

    But don't let it limit things you haven't tried.
    If you think color reduction will help you solve what you need to solve then do it.

    Also, hyper link your links!
    Highlight the link text, then click the button at the top that says LINK, when you post.

    I won't crit the image right now.
    Will come back.
    But yah you have something going.

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  2. "I'm getting confused with the color palette..."
    Explain?

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  3. Here are some things I noticed when I am trying to draw from a reference photo:

    - I always make the canvas the same proportion as the photo. Proportions are so important when trying to relate accuracy. With what you have I think the reference photo is a little longer:

    http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MnnAVjCPKes/UsDmtK-6qhI/AAAAAAAAINs/kc_I36SGKyk/s1600/bigboobiebiatch.gif

    - Making my drawing the same proportion of the photo lets me easily translate the proportions of the image with the proportions of my drawing. It also helps me understand the negative space in the image more accurately.

    - Proportions are easily one of the hardest things to do with drawing. Measuring proportions is boring as fuck but you have to do it for a while before you get really good at it. Here are a few ways to measure proportions:

    - A piece of string ( http://www.briannaleefineart.com/uploads/1/1/4/2/11427687/6902675.jpg?558 )
    - A compass ( http://480bc.com/static/img/sight_size/ss6.jpg )
    - A unit within the drawing (so the length of the eye is 1, and the face is 4 units (eyes) long.

    They are all valid and you can even make up some of your own. But careful measuring is a must and will help the image look correct.

    But most importantly, keep going! This is exciting stuff to learn and see! And wowza, what a rack!

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  4. @PPD:
    In my head, using technology to facilitate the drawing is cheating. I want to develop the ability to recreate pictures without the help of a computer so color reduction and other tricks feel like crutches. For instance, tracing wouldn't have any ''real'' artistic value (in my head).

    Now, would using those tools be beneficial in the short term? I don't know, which is why I am still hesitating.

    @Jengy:

    Thanks for the detailed post. You do have interesting insight and you are a lot more experienced than I am at portraits.

    I didn't realize proportions were that hard until I compared the current version with the picture side by side. Wowzer, I was certain I was spot on but realized how big the head was compared to the body.

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  5. APLAD!!! Always Put Lights Against Darks ... A P L A D !!! You NEVER have to use "hard" outlines to show edges.... Look at the corner of the room that you are in...... How can you tell there is a corner there???? CONTRAST!! even though the walls are painted the same color... you can see the change in light against dark that creates the edge for you!!! Outlines are for coloring Books! (STAY INSIDE THE LINES!!) lol Use lights against darks to create contrast and edges! (and never let me catch you saying that Digital painting is cheating..lol) (check out my non digital stuff at ww.krburde.com) :) (I was Jengy's HS Art teacher)

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  6. Thanks a lot, Kennyholmes! This really helps!!

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  7. About cheating: what I consider cheating is using color reduction, tracing on other gimmicks to faciliate the task.

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    1. I was just teasing.. I hope i didnt sound like I was yelling at you..lol .... Rembrandt Traced check out his work... he used mirrors and glass and strong sunlight to "project" his Models' images onto his canvas and Trace them .. he had such a good eye for color matching he could mix his oils to the exact colors and make metals look like metals... a great master! (but he "cheated"! ) :)

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  8. @Burde Slam dunk!!! I added you as an author if you ever want to post a doodle!!!

    @Etienne For a long time I thought that tracing/using tricks is cheating. But you have to make a distinction between tracing for practice and learning, and tracing for a final piece of art.

    When you are growing as an artist, and going through hundreds of drawings, participating in things like tracing artwork, using grids to draw from, and drawing from a picture (as opposed to life) can really help you understand the abstract nature of what you actually see.

    The book "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" really sucessfully explains why the human brain has issues drawing what it sees and methods that explain how to break down the negative and positive shapes that compose a 2D image--allowing you to draw accurately what you see instead of symbolism you intepret.

    So, when you first learning to draw. there is nothing wrong with experimenting with TONS of different methods. It's one of the best parts of being an artist! Being told one theory by a friend to try, or making up your own...relish that new feeling of adventure!

    Practice is where you can feel free to just do something, and interact with that lesson and learn from it!

    If you are ever conflicted about doing a certain method, make a list of pro's and con's. Here's one about tracing:

    pro:
    - Helps you digest the image before taking it on freehand
    - Helps you understand the abstract shapes that form the puzzle of what you are looking at
    - Helps free up your hand to learn the muscle-memory of what certain shapes look like and how you can make them
    - Expands your library of shapes
    - Helps you understand some of the proportions you might have misjudged

    cons:
    - Only tracing will not help you as an artist in the long run, so it should be mixed with drawing from images, drawing from life, and imagination


    Personally, I don't ever trace and post that as something that I did freehand. I feel doing that will definitely hold me back from getting better, and gives me a "this is dirty" feeling.

    But I have done pre-drawing exercises where I trace the image a few times and then throw away these practices, and I have seen a marked benefit in my final image.

    This process is not wrong--it's just a process, something I made up, and something my art has benefitted from, something I throw away but keep in my visual library.

    Think about the impact of your personal growth and not necessarily the final result and you'll have more fun experimenting. You are a scientist as well as an artist, don't forget that!


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    1. @ JengyJensterMonster!!! :) One of my Favorite books... I actually tied my right hand to my belt with a piece of rope for about 2 weeks to force me to use my left hand... Very Awkward a first, but it slowed me down enuf to really observe.. plus it put my right brain into overdrive... that book, another .."conceptual blockbusting" and another "subliminal seduction" are the 3 best books for learning design... and life!

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  9. Thanks for the suggestions for the books, I'll look into them.

    I'll need to ponder what you've said for a while, Jenny :).

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  10. Cool. Yeah check out this video, it talks about a use for tracing, which you might find interesting. There are also a bunch of other cool videos there too.

    http://ctrlpaint.com/videos/draw-100

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