I haven't had much time to hone my skills recently but even so the I feel that I have hit a wall as far as improvement goes. So here I am in hope of some suggestions as how to improve my art. The following image was a working progress and one of my beter line drawings. When I draw directly to pc I prefer to use Deleter comicworks for my line drawings as I find it easier than using photoshop or painter. Unfortunatly a freak power surge that fried my hard drive forced me to stop long before I could even come close to finish it. Luckly I had this hard copy I printed to see how it looked on paper which I scanned in again to post here, hence the notes writen alongside.

This next image was a quick one I did using traditional pencils, personally I think the main character came out well but I feel that I can still inprove a lot there as well. But that is not the problem, one of my biggest pitfalls is that I have extreme difficulty in drawing backgrounds especialy getting the right perspective.

And here is my biggest disapointment to date, I SUCK at colour! Wether through lack of experience, knowledge or both I find photoshop to difficult so instead I use painter not that it matters much looking at the results. For this image I used a photo specificly for use in practising colour so that I had a refernce.

hi and welcome cereal (what sort of cereal by the way? hope its crunchy nut cornflakes or frosted shreddies)

sorry i'm at work so i can't see your images to comment on them (blocked by the firewall) but i'll looksee when i get home, i just wanted to say hi

---

Ok, an honest comment : It doesn´t look too bad - You got potential, though just like me you need to study anatomy and composition.

I think you have made a rather good beginning with the colour painting. To use reference for practise is absolutely o.k I think, ( I do it myself a lot...) Just remember to save copys of your work in every stage of progress, ( though you have already experienced one "fried" hard-drive - my tip is to use an USB-memory to store at least your latest work outside the PC where it is protected from hard-drive disasters ! )

As for PhotoShop - I absolutely hate it too...I have tried it and its "kid-sister" Elements a few times ( because they have some functions my beloved Paint Shop Pro lacks...) Though if you aim for a professional career in art you MUST learn PhotoShop I´m afraid...

See you around, and keep up the good work !

---

raimo

Yeah, I think you're one of those people who just needs to stick at it and you will improve. Keep on using references too, playing close attention to anatomy and proportions. Try to see what's really there, not just what you think is there.

Also, I actually think your coloured image is the best of the three you posted, even if it is the most unfinished.

---

http://www.artfulscruff.co.uk | deviantart
Playstation Network user ID: artfulscruff

I agree with philby that your coloured picture is your best of the three. Her skin tones need a bit of work but the features and shapes are fine. I'd recommend adding a pale cyan highlight and make the shadows warmer... (at this point you just have the base colour and the shadows - I'm missing the highlights all together). The light on her hair is quite nice and soft.

Hey Cereal.  There's not much to say apart from practise when it comes to improving your work.  Personally I've only recently started working digitally and I think it is important you work traditionally until you've got a solid grounding in the fundamentals.  There's no undo key when drawing pencil to paper so you need to focus more, plus it's much more useful for learning gesture.  From the looks of your work you clearly like doing characters, but you need to work on your anatomy.  One thing I did recently was I took out one of Burne Hogarths anatomy books and opened it on page 1, then copied every drawing in the book from cover to cover.  They weren't slavish copies, more general shorthands, as long as the proportions were correct.  I think it instantly improved my understanding of anatomy, maybe give something like that a go, even if you only do a couple of sketches a day.

Yeah, I also recommend pencil and paper over drawing straight onto your computer. It's different for everyone, but I find that I get too caught up in getting things absolutely perfect if I try to do it on computer from the start, whereas pencil and paper is more relaxed for me.

---

http://www.artfulscruff.co.uk | deviantart
Playstation Network user ID: artfulscruff

I think you're making a really good start, just keep up the practice and study that anatomy, you'd really be surprised what a difference it makes. I know I'm not an amazing artist but its improved my art alot

I suggest using references for your sketches. For me, references make it easy to draw. I've been using  Reference For Comic Artists   for awhile and it's help alot.

Thank you all for your advice, I appreciate it. This is a piece of my latest project, still unfinished. For the most part I basicly used photos and pictures to trace for a lot of the picture, then change it to how I want it. The problem is one of features I changed is the face, but now I am having trouble getting the simpathetic expresion I was aiming for especially the eyes.

Looking a lot better than your previous posts, keep it up. The only thing I can say that will help with the expression is for you to draw it on a page by itself, as large as you like. I find that drawing larger makes it easier to draw what you want, and then you can use that as a kind of reference.

---

http://www.artfulscruff.co.uk | deviantart
Playstation Network user ID: artfulscruff

Oooh and don't forget shadows and highlights aren't just darker or lighter versions of the original colour, Marta Darligs workshops are pretty good for teaching that