# Where should I head with my art?



## laser (Jan 1, 2012)

*Where should I head with my art? - Need general advice and critique*

I need some critique and suggestions about what do to with my art. 

  Tbh, I am not very creative about the subjects of my pictures, it's just what I feel like drawing and it's mainly male adult artwork. I am pretty confident in my stuff, I think that I have a good sense of proportion and structure, but I definitely have problems with pose and facial expressions. I draw exclusively without reference. Now, I know that this is a stupid thing to do, and my work would definitely be more realistic if I did. 
But I feel like when I use reference, the things I draw look out of place, I like to construct bodies from the ground up.

 I'm still in a phase where I can see continuing improvement in my art, but since it's so niche, I guess not many other people like it.   

I think I end up not being able to objectively judge if my pictures are good and ignore flaws that are important to my audience. You might say that I shouldn't care as long as I like it, but the whole point I'm doing this is that I want people to enjoy my stuff and get appreciation, as stupid as that sounds.  

I have more specific ideas about what might be wrong with my art, but I don't want to influence your judgement.  

Here are two recent pics, both clean: 
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/7123263 
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/7134428 
there are many other adult pics in the gallery if that's okay for you 

 What I want to know of you is: What should I put more emphasis on and on what should I focus less? Should I stick with this style or is that too much for my abilities?


----------



## greg-the-fox (Jan 2, 2012)

I try to draw from my head and use references if I get stuck or have trouble visualizing something, I think that's the best way to develop your imagination.
Your linework is very very simple and gets totally overpowered by your shading. The shading isn't bad but I think you get too caught up in the details rather than the big picture and it gets a bit messy. Start with basic patches of light/dark and go more detailed from there. And vary the type of shading you do too, some places can be very soft and others should have much sharper shadows. With yours it's all the same everywhere, and gives it a sort of clay-like appearance.
But I would say take a step back and work on anatomy and definitely practice your linework a lot. The lineart should have clearly defined form and depth by itself so when you add the shading it really pops. Practicing lines will help you a lot with the faces too, trust me. Forget about the shading for now, this is the biggest issue. Even if you're eventually going for a painterly style with no lineart it's still important.


----------



## Zydala (Jan 2, 2012)

Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm getting the sense from your work that you tend to focus very closely on one thing at a time. I'd try to work your pieces all over instead; the former makes your picture look like it's comprised of pieces that have been cut out of completely different pictures and pasted together. The rendering of the figures is completely different than the backgrounds or other props and its very jarring. Not saying that things won't be rendered differently depending on their material, but there should be some sort of consistency in the way you treat your brushstrokes to unify a picture.

greg-the-fox is pretty on the mark; just thought I'd emphasize that aspect of it. I think you're doing pretty well and you obviously have some great talent, just gotta push yourself more in some particular areas and get some better habits going.


----------



## laser (Jan 2, 2012)

Thank you guys, that's pretty much what I expected. I think I should take a break from the sketch - lineart - coloring - shading process and rather paint instead


----------



## Arshes Nei (Jan 2, 2012)

No.  You should focus on both. You get better at drawing. Draw from life so you can get your visual references up. This helps you stop with over-referencing photos and getting static poses that you feel are uncreative.

You can also focus on painting as well.


----------



## laser (Jan 2, 2012)

Arshes Nei said:


> This helps you stop with over-referencing photos and getting static poses that you feel are uncreative.



I don't know, I think I should use more reference because right now I use none. I am half decent at making 3d models with sculptris, maybe I should use those as reference.


----------



## Arshes Nei (Jan 2, 2012)

You misunderstand. You need to build a visual library - which comes from drawing from life. If you're only using photographic models, you're not really learning to see. I'm not saying ditch the photos entirely - having photographic reference helps.

*Relying solely on photographic reference when you need to also draw from life only hurts you*


----------



## FireFeathers (Jan 14, 2012)

Your anatomy's not bad, but yeah, the 40 watt bulb next to each muscle lighting is kinda odd.  It looks like you're painting over a 3d model render or something, something's just off.  I'd say try and do some gesture sketches, try and loosen up a bit, see if you can work things out better that way


----------



## Egypt Urnash (Jan 29, 2012)

Spend some time with reference. Don't copy from the surfaces of the images; CONSTRUCT something from the ground up BASED on the images.

Draw some backgrounds. Go out and draw some trees cars buildings mountains bikes meadows clouds throne rooms furniture fountains gazebos etc etc etc, use what you learn to evoke a place instead of having characters against a gradient. (Which is superior to just having them float on a white void!)

Draw some ladies kids old people - step out of the zone of just what makes you hot.

Block in lighting for the whole figure before you obsess over every chunk of muscle. And if the work on the muscles overwhelms that, go back and slap some more large-scale shading over the whole thing.


----------



## lostfoxeh (Jan 30, 2012)

I would suggest learning lighting. Get a flashlight, some GI Joes or what have you. Set the flashlight on a stand, and in a dark room look at how the one source lighting is. Then add another flashlight from a different angle and see how two light sources effect your subject.

Right now your light sources do not all agree with each other making everything look strange.

I think you would benefit from using a reference to keep your lighting in order if nothing more.

One other thing to note, most shadows are not the same color with a bit of black mixed in. Blues and purples are common, but not stead fast. Pay extra attention to those new color changes as things go from bright to shadow.


----------



## orentil (Feb 2, 2012)

You couldn't go wrong with drawing different body types.  Even if your focus is on muscular men, it's always good to draw outside your comfort zone - short, lanky, fat, even women!  It'll all help you learn the fundamental structures better.

Also, I'll repeat what's been said about the shadows.  They're too light and blend in with the base color too much.  It blends pretty nice, actually, but it doesn't give the look of actual _shadows_, it doesn't make the figure look three-dimensional.  Try to use a darker tone (a blueish tint does well for this) for the darkest values of shadow.


----------

