Author Topic: More Schala Fan Art  (Read 5191 times)

Satoh

  • CC:DBT Dream Team
  • Magical Dreamer (+1250)
  • *
  • Posts: 1291
  • Am I your dream... or are you mine...?
    • View Profile
Re: More Schala Fan Art
« Reply #30 on: June 29, 2009, 03:35:59 pm »
Yeah, that makes sense. I only put the sun there 'cause the sky looked sort of empty and the sea flat. Clearly I was taking one too many liberties with artistic license there...  :)

Replace the sun with some more gulls, black, small, silhouetted ones... it'll take away the monotony without ruining the light scheme.
other than the fact that it's anime  :lol:

Oi!

anonymouse

  • Porrean (+50)
  • *
  • Posts: 95
  • Blown along by the wind...
    • View Profile
    • Livejournal
Re: More Schala Fan Art
« Reply #31 on: June 29, 2009, 03:45:22 pm »
I'm very big on collective opinion gathering, at least when it comes to improving artwork. If you see anything I've done, lemme know what you think! Be critical! You won't hurt my feelings.  :D  (Though I admittedly don't have much "done" that I've posted here. But I have lots of experiments floating around the forums.)

Unfortunately, I'm not too much help here. My comments range from "Yuck" to "Lookin' good!" I just fail at providing proper criticism =P
Oi!

Seconded!  :lol:

I'll work on the piece again tomorrow. It's 3 AM right now and I'm braindead. Thanks for the suggestion.

Satoh

  • CC:DBT Dream Team
  • Magical Dreamer (+1250)
  • *
  • Posts: 1291
  • Am I your dream... or are you mine...?
    • View Profile
Re: More Schala Fan Art
« Reply #32 on: June 29, 2009, 04:02:08 pm »
3AM...? I swear, if you're Chinese and living in Australia I'm going to explode into a colorful ball of confetti... (Not because I have anything against either, mind you, but rather because 90% of the people I meet online are A. chinese, B. in Texas or Australia, C. A&B. I just kinda hope I can eventually meet someone that live in a similar timezone one day XD;;)

((Why do I only meet Chinese-Australians XD;;;;? I have the weirdest luck in friends...))

Anyway, you should look into getting a tablet. Hanvon, a korean company, makes a good tablet that is fairly durable, battery-less, and inexpensive. I got one that continued to work for about a week after being accidentally washed with my laundry... (the pen I mean...) It'll probably still work if I get the soap out of it... (technically it's still useable, but it glitches once in a while) All for less than 100USD.

Oh well... Sleep well.

Mr Bekkler

  • Bounty Hunter
  • Zurvan Surfer (+2500)
  • *
  • Posts: 2736
  • So it goes.
    • View Profile
Re: More Schala Fan Art
« Reply #33 on: June 29, 2009, 04:12:39 pm »
What an odd choice for B, Satoh.

And anonymouse, it's all good. Most people either like to criticize and don't know what they're talking about, or know what they're doing but don't know how to communicate it to others. I try to fall somewhere in the middle, but in your case, having skill and not being good at critiquing is nothing to be ashamed of.  :) That's more than a lot of people have anyway.

anonymouse

  • Porrean (+50)
  • *
  • Posts: 95
  • Blown along by the wind...
    • View Profile
    • Livejournal
Re: More Schala Fan Art
« Reply #34 on: June 29, 2009, 11:49:13 pm »
3AM...? I swear, if you're Chinese and living in Australia I'm going to explode into a colorful ball of confetti... (Not because I have anything against either, mind you, but rather because 90% of the people I meet online are A. chinese, B. in Texas or Australia, C. A&B. I just kinda hope I can eventually meet someone that live in a similar timezone one day XD;;)

Chinese, yes. Australian, no. =P Actually, it's Southeast Asia, so I guess you're close.

And when I asked my dad if I could buy a tablet, he was like, "You don't need a tablet."  >_>

anonymouse

  • Porrean (+50)
  • *
  • Posts: 95
  • Blown along by the wind...
    • View Profile
    • Livejournal
Re: More Schala Fan Art
« Reply #35 on: June 30, 2009, 07:39:46 am »
OK, the new image is up!

http://axilet.deviantart.com/art/Chrono-Cross-Kid-127621860

Thanks to Zephira, Satoh, and Mr Bekkler for your help ^_^ If there's still any more kinks to be worked out, do let me know.

Satoh

  • CC:DBT Dream Team
  • Magical Dreamer (+1250)
  • *
  • Posts: 1291
  • Am I your dream... or are you mine...?
    • View Profile
Re: More Schala Fan Art
« Reply #36 on: June 30, 2009, 10:54:15 am »

And when I asked my dad if I could buy a tablet, he was like, "You don't need a tablet."  >_>

You remind me oh so much of someone I know... >.>;

Still, I find it strange that I have a sort of magnetism that attracts chinese people XD; It's not a bad thing, but it would be nice to meet someone online that's on this side of the planet too occasionally XD;

As a general rule, I don't use burn and dodge anymore for shadows... it's too hard to correct it after the fact.

Recently I started using a new layer, with varying opacity, on the "Multiply" and "Screen" settings and draw in my highlights and shadows as a big gray shape (in 50% gray)

This may not help much for that specific picture, since it already has shading, but in the future it may help, since you can edit the shape of the shadows easily with that method.

Also, it doesn't NEED to be gray, if you have a different colored light, you can use any color as long as it gets the right effect... (I just use gray since I do mainly simple white-light concept drawings...)

Mr Bekkler

  • Bounty Hunter
  • Zurvan Surfer (+2500)
  • *
  • Posts: 2736
  • So it goes.
    • View Profile
Re: More Schala Fan Art
« Reply #37 on: June 30, 2009, 12:00:03 pm »
OK, the new image is up!

http://axilet.deviantart.com/art/Chrono-Cross-Kid-127621860

Thanks to Zephira, Satoh, and Mr Bekkler for your help ^_^ If there's still any more kinks to be worked out, do let me know.

Wow. Much much much better!

Satoh

  • CC:DBT Dream Team
  • Magical Dreamer (+1250)
  • *
  • Posts: 1291
  • Am I your dream... or are you mine...?
    • View Profile
Re: More Schala Fan Art
« Reply #38 on: June 30, 2009, 12:09:51 pm »
Agreed.(Suddenly realize I forgot to comment as such XD;;)

I guess I try to say too much sometimes.

kid123

  • Guardian (+100)
  • *
  • Posts: 195
  • A millenia of unceasingly nonsensical posts
    • View Profile
Re: More Schala Fan Art
« Reply #39 on: June 30, 2009, 12:21:28 pm »
Nice tactic and skill in shading ! Teamwork really worth it eh?

Satoh

  • CC:DBT Dream Team
  • Magical Dreamer (+1250)
  • *
  • Posts: 1291
  • Am I your dream... or are you mine...?
    • View Profile
Re: More Schala Fan Art
« Reply #40 on: June 30, 2009, 12:51:24 pm »
Not so much teamwork as just a sharing of techniques and ideas... Mouse did all the work.

anonymouse

  • Porrean (+50)
  • *
  • Posts: 95
  • Blown along by the wind...
    • View Profile
    • Livejournal
Re: More Schala Fan Art
« Reply #41 on: June 30, 2009, 01:13:38 pm »
Still, I find it strange that I have a sort of magnetism that attracts chinese people XD; It's not a bad thing, but it would be nice to meet someone online that's on this side of the planet too occasionally XD;

Heh. On the other side of the coin, most people I meet online are Westerners XD

Recently I started using a new layer, with varying opacity, on the "Multiply" and "Screen" settings and draw in my highlights and shadows as a big gray shape (in 50% gray)

This may not help much for that specific picture, since it already has shading, but in the future it may help, since you can edit the shape of the shadows easily with that method.

Also, it doesn't NEED to be gray, if you have a different colored light, you can use any color as long as it gets the right effect... (I just use gray since I do mainly simple white-light concept drawings...)

Will try that next time (I'm working on a Magus picture ^_^), thanks!

And, thanks, everyone--I'm really trying hard to improve my art  and your comments have helped a lot.



Zephira

  • Bounty Hunter
  • Errare Explorer (+1500)
  • *
  • Posts: 1541
  • You're not afraid of the dark, are you?...Are you?
    • View Profile
    • My deviantArt page
Re: More Schala Fan Art
« Reply #42 on: June 30, 2009, 01:37:53 pm »
Wow, that does look so much nicer. Great job! Looking forward to your Magus (durr) :D

Since we're discussing shading techniques, I use dodge and burn for absolutely everything I do now. Yeah, it's difficult to correct after the fact, but there are a couple ways it can be done. If you're burning midtones and go too far, take dodge on the same settings as your burn tool and go over it lightly. It might not go back to the exact same colour but it's enough to fool the eye, and can give some interesting effects. Alternatively, if you have to redo a whole section, take your base colour (hopefully from swatches panel or a hidden layer) and use a soft brush to "erase" the shading in the messy area and try again. I've had to do this hundreds of times for school :lol:

Satoh's 'big grey blob' shading is one of the more accepted methods and can be easier to use than dodge and burn, especially since it never touches your base colours and you can change the opacity. Just remember to link the two layers (or the shading layer and the colour group's folder) so your grey blob doesn't affect anything outside of the character.

Also, if dodge and burn can't make your shadows or highlights strong enough, you can use both methods in tandem to make the contrast pop even more. I prefer the doge/burn method because the texture that a soft brush gives looks better. Anyway, just experiment and see what you like, and keep improving! You're doing well so far!

Satoh

  • CC:DBT Dream Team
  • Magical Dreamer (+1250)
  • *
  • Posts: 1291
  • Am I your dream... or are you mine...?
    • View Profile
Re: More Schala Fan Art
« Reply #43 on: June 30, 2009, 01:52:44 pm »
I'll grant that Burn and Dodge have their unique look, and I use them occasionally...

But when I do, I generally copy the character layer and use the copy to exact my burns or dodges... that way I always have a backup...(because of this, I generally have a lot of organizational folders that group my various layer copies together for space saving)

In the end there are lots of things that make interesting effects, and no method should ever be considered outright "bad"

I did discover an interesting process for making organic cracks/lightning effects recently... if you're interested I could make a short tutorial... it's only about... 3 or four steps at most...

Zephira

  • Bounty Hunter
  • Errare Explorer (+1500)
  • *
  • Posts: 1541
  • You're not afraid of the dark, are you?...Are you?
    • View Profile
    • My deviantArt page
Re: More Schala Fan Art
« Reply #44 on: June 30, 2009, 02:04:42 pm »
Hah, we've kidnapped Mouse's thread and turned it into a huge art discussion. Sorry Mouse!

I took it for granted that a duplicate layer would be made before applying shading. I duplicate everything, lines included, and hide it all as backup. If you've got pretty far into your dodge/burning and are about to start a risky section, it's also a good idea to duplicate the shaded layer and work on the new one. This way, if you screw up, you have a 'save state' to go back to. Also, if you duplicate like this and have a part that you really like on the new one and a part that you really screwed up on, or another duplicate on top of that which has some really good spots, use layer masks to pick and choose the parts you want to keep.

By all means Satoh, make your tutorial :D There are quite a few good ones on deviantArt that I like to refer to, especially for hair. Perhaps we should make a thread for tutorial and technique discussion.

But now I'm curious. How much photoshop experience do you all have?