Jul 16, '20
Aug 15, '21
There are 166 replies with an estimated read time of 13 minutes.
Wow, great work! It looks like you've done this before 😄
Honestly it's an awesome sketch and looks correct. So it's nitpicky and only because you asked for critique: the only thing that might separate it from a professional drawing would be the lines (incl. brushwork for the light rays).
One way to tackle that is a matter of cleanup. The other is comfort and confident, interesting strokes. People say the latter "comes with practice", but practice can be made more efficient by studying masters. Your work seems advanced so you probably already know, but lmk if you'd like examples!
Appreciate the critique. I agree, my linework needs more practice. I have been doing Marc's dexterity exercises every day, but I still struggle with curved lines. If you have links to additional dexterity practice examples, I'd appreciate that!
As for light rays, I did this exercise before I discovered the joys of the custom blend brushes 
I cannot believe how much I was missing out on.
What are you using? Photoshop? If so, definitely take advantage of the smoothing slider. I knock it up to anywhere from 12-25% depending how long and precise the line needs to be.
Unfortunately with digital it's not all about dexterity; with any software/tablet there's the annoying "wiggle". Procreate in particular has not yet addressed this; their style of smoothing doesn't work for long strokes which need to be drawn slowly for precision.
I highly recommend the free app Krita, actually. It was absolutely wonderful to draw and paint in, and pretty intuitive to get started. It has one of the best smoothing functions out there. On tablets, Infinite Painter has good smoothing.
Finally, it's not that perfect lines have to be the goal — there are beautiful drawing styles with messy/wild lines! Even for straight and modern architecture like this. I can try to find some examples if you'd like.
P.S. Do tell me if I'm just going on about things you already know and not addressing the specifics you do have questions about!
I am using Photoshop, you're correct. I will definitely see what the smoothing option can do.
Haven't heard about Krita, thanks for the tip!
I can safely say that that I haven't figured out my one style yet. That's what I'm here for!
And don't ever worry about saying something I might already know. If I do, I'll share my insight and we'll just learn from each other.
Did a head study as well as shading practice this time. I know the proportions have not turned out exactly perfect (haven't drawn by pencil-measuring technique in such a long time!), but I hope with practice it'll come back to me.
As always, critique, suggestions and recommendation are welcome.
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Nice portraits! It's great that you're going all-out and finishing these.
Maybe this post/video will help:
https://www.proko.com/top-5-shading-mistakes/
Also, I know Marc has said to start with a soft brush but I disagree a little bit — not completely, just about the type of softness. PS's standard soft brush is like an air brush, which can be difficult to get nice results with. A lot of beginner drawings have an overly-airbrushed look where forms get lost and look blurry. (Even in pencil, like this. Compare to this where they started with hard edges and blended, & another.)
A fuzzy brush can exacerbate that. Another way to soften a brush is to use one with hard edges (even a square brush) and use extremely low Flow. Like 1-3%. Try it!
Some more nice examples of blocked form to softening:
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/QzrLe3
—
EDIT: here we go! I think the section title is too harsh, but just happened to find a similar explanation from Proko (page-search for Self-Delusion): https://www.proko.com/top-7-digital-painting-mistakes/ — the two side-by-side portraits are a good example.
Ohh! I like this block out technique! Determined to try now. And yes, I agree, seems like all beginners' shading looks like airbrush everywhere. I'm really trying hard to get away from that.
12 days later
So I went ahead and colored the character design I showed on Saturday while trying to implement the critique Marc gave me. Let me know what you think. Any critiques/recommendations are welcome.
Wow, really really cool ;D. I like the first and the fourth ones of the second image.
Thank you! I like the #4 hairstyle too, but do you think it feels more like a priestess than an archivist?
A bit of a mix I think xd
Hi WeirdOwl,
I love your character design all off them look awesome!
But when I have to choose,I prefer the third (her hairstyle remind me of an historical person in the 14 century..I really don't know why 
)
She look very unique with her hair.
And I like the fourth,too.
Her hat looks so cool 
She expresses wisdom and a kind of power with her hat.
Maybe if you change the height of the hat a little?
I know what you mean she look like a bit of a priestess, but I think it is either the height or the form.
I wish you luck!
Thank you @wum.laumann for sharing your preference! I agree, #3 is the most unique here. Maybe not the best choice for this concept, but I'll store this hairstyle for some other time 
I do like #4 a lot too. Guess I'll cheat and see what Marc says during his critique.
