Alwaysneedsleep - Art School Journey

Lockenheim 2023-04-16 20:32:19 UTC #144

Time for some chaos baby.

Gordon003 2023-04-17 10:29:56 UTC #145

Maybe keep the head detail but make everything else blur could help give the motion momentum you want? just an idea.

Love the contrast in detail between those 2 characters

alwaysneedsleep 2023-04-25 02:27:56 UTC #146

Thanks @gordon003. That’s a good idea, I’ll keep that in mind for next time. Appreciate the feedback.

alwaysneedsleep 2023-04-25 02:31:24 UTC #147

Latest piece. Tried making a cover page for a manga based off my dog and partner. First page is just spit balling ideas and composition. Second page selecting which one I like and last is final piece. Looks okay but I feel lacks a bit of sparkle. And suggestions would be most welcome.

Gordon003 2023-04-25 12:38:01 UTC #148

Can you describe/expand more on the word "sparkle"? There are ways to improve your current cover work but depends on what you feel is lacking.

matthewwemes 2023-04-26 05:50:40 UTC #149

good work and very cute! My suggestion would be to try increasing the size and darkness of the shadows, that might help the girl and dog stand out from the background more. you could also try doing that by experimenting more with the colors (I'm not much of a color expert myself so sorry for not having a more specific suggestion for that)

alwaysneedsleep 2023-05-06 12:51:16 UTC #150

Hi @Gordon003, I guess to me it feels a little boring and flat. Perhaps I need more contrast. Thoughts?

alwaysneedsleep 2023-05-06 12:55:13 UTC #151

@matthewwemes I really appreciate the feedback. When you mention it I see what you mean, sometimes I get a little hesitant to push the shadows to far, I’ll try this next time. Also I think I chose poorly with the purple, the dog gets a little lost in the darker colour.

alwaysneedsleep 2023-05-06 13:03:24 UTC #152

Latest piece of work. Admittedly this one was a little rushed to meet my deadline. But in the end I was able to finish it. A few things I’m not happy with is the front view on the girl, looks very poor, not fond of the style. Also had difficulty with positioning the brim of the referees cap, need improving with simple box forms I think. On a positive note I feel like my hatching is improving. Still getting to grips on when it’s appropriate to use them and not.

If anyone has tips on hatching that would be super. Thanks.

chewitt1 2023-05-06 15:02:48 UTC #153

It looks like a lot of time and thought goes into these story boards. Good work. For hatching, I remember hearing that the directions have to match the plane they are on and all go the same direction. They should also start from the edge of something like a stair and get thinner as they go way from the edge (as you let off) maybe… . I think they are usually used for form rather than shadows. Like on the edges of muscles.

alwaysneedsleep 2023-05-06 23:39:35 UTC #154

@chewitt1 Thanks for the feedback. I think you’re absolutely right on the hatching, I don’t know why I didn’t see it before. I think I’m getting confused with speed lines and hatching, but they are really 2 different things. I’ll definitely take that into consideration on my next price. Thanks!

alwaysneedsleep 2023-05-07 12:33:18 UTC #155

@chewitt1 I took your suggestion and tried a quick face with hatching but used it more for form. I’m happy with the eyes, the neck not so much. Found it difficult to hatch such a large area and keeping the curved form of the neck. I’ll have to look up referencing I think.

alwaysneedsleep 2023-05-08 12:53:56 UTC #156

Practicing face drawings using referencing as a guide. Main focus is emphasizing line weight and as always recently hatching.

patrycja.lerch 2023-05-08 13:36:54 UTC #157

This came out nice! I like this face
I think hatching on nose should be a bit tilted following form

chewitt1 2023-05-09 00:49:46 UTC #158

Looks good! Have you taken a look at that without the darker paint behind the hatching? I am wondering how it looks in the shaded areas with only hatching. Either way, you art is really quite impressive.

chewitt1 2023-05-09 01:10:19 UTC #159

Yeah the portrait based on the reference looks really good. I like the stylization. Also more hatching on its own. Maybe looking at some comic artist styles will help you decide to use hatching on its own or not. Sweeeeet

alwaysneedsleep 2023-05-09 11:46:55 UTC #160

Thanks for both your feedback @patrycja.lerch and @chewitt1. I’ve taken both your advice and used it in this piece. Followed the form of the nose better than previous, looks much better now. Also tried just hatching as opposed to shading and hatching. Personally I like the the combo rather than hatching but perhaps that’s because the shading is more forgiving. I’ll keep experimenting but thanks heaps for the help guys!

alwaysneedsleep 2023-05-10 13:02:48 UTC #161

New piece. Not very confident with female characters tbh. So this took a lot longer than it usually would. Had to play around with the eyes. Still not overly happy with it something feels off about them, just can’t quite pick it. Anyone got thoughts?

On a positive, I think the hair turned out pretty good for me. Also tried to use hatching sparingly for this piece, only use it for darker sections.

Any feedback welcome.

playforwho89 2023-05-10 22:57:27 UTC #162

Hey nice work on the recent portraits!
If you are looking to improve your hatching you should checkout David Finch on yotube, he explains it pretty thoroughly.

Gordon003 2023-05-16 00:17:23 UTC #163

Maybe it's the composition of the character. Just lacking some emotion/idea for me imo.

What I recommend is to do a bunch of random doodles/quick sketches and pick and refine a bunch of sketches that got you intrigued. Not sure how many sketches you have done but when I do cartoon art commission, I do LOADS of quick sketches (give it 3 mins each) with varying idea, send it to the commissioner and let him/her get the best of each sketch to make a more refined one.