Some work of mine

[Crystal_Method]

I've been drawing for about a year and I started doing anime about 2-3 months ago. So don't expect much. Pardon my inking, it kinda sucks. Anyone out there who can gives tips on how to ink please do. Also I'm a little rusty on my shading too, so if anyone got tips for that as well i would appreciate it.

Some character design:

http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n...g?t=1165127225

Saber:

http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n...g?t=1165127501

Chrno Crusade (I kinda screwed up on Chrno's face ) :

http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n...g?t=1165127581

[Zero Shinohara]

Well, if you wouldn't mind reading just a few tips I posted up in another topic, here goes:

http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost...5&postcount=15

For a quick walkthrough of tools and techniques for pencil artwork:

http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost...71&postcount=9

Don't worry about the inking, I agree that it's one of the hardest parts of the final-art process. I normally use the computer to do them, since I just can't keep a pen steady in my hand.

You're on the right track in regards to proportion and position. It's just a little more practice and you'll be just fine. In the drawing of Saber, though, I just feel the need to point out the outline around her eyes, which you drew lines around. Anime eyes normally don't have those apar from certain stylized series, so they look odd in that kind of character. Also, keep in mind that the eyeline is the same, so eyes should be at the same height for the most part.

Besides that, pretty nice. Post more if you can.

[Crystal_Method]

Do you use adobe to ink on the computer? I've never tried that before so maybe I'll give it try. Also where would you find these curved rulers, I've looked for them in the local art stores near me but couldn't find any.

Btw here is the fixed Saber, what do you think?:

http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n...g?t=1165161735

[Crystal_Method]

No I'm not using a ballpoint pen, I'm using a ultra fine sharpie. I guess you can say that I'm a little careless and more or less not confident, considering that I did make these drawings first as pencil sketches and they were fine before I tried inking them. I don't really no what happened, it just turned out to look really sloppy. And yea I wasn't going for that style. But I'll keep on trying and I guess I should buy those french curves, the bendable one sounds really useful. It is my first time trying to ink so hopefully this is just temporary.

As for the saber, I guess you can say the kind of mood I put her in isn't something you would see in the usual saber. The best anwser would be that I just wanted to see how saber looks with the innocent smile thing going on.

[Crystal_Method]

Alright, I got a few things to buy. I guess I'll get them at amazon. Thanks for the advice kayos. If you have any idea of what the price would be to get a calligraphy set, french curves, and the lightbox please tell. I'm not really sure how a lightbox would help but believe it or not I'm not very good at tracing so if it can be of any help to me I'll get it. Btw what would the tablet and pen be used for inking on adobe. (I'm not really knowledgable about using the computer for art, but I do have adobe photoshop and I'd like to utilize it somehow. )

[Crystal_Method]

I looked into the pen and tablet thing and I was wondering if wacom is a good company. I found a used one for 399 dollars thats original price was like 500 dollars and I do want to get serious about art, especially anime/manga, so it might be a good idea to think about getting it. As for the other stuff, I should be definitly getting them. I also found one of those tablets that actually puts the image on the screen but it's like 2000 dollars. So that's impossible for me to get.

[Zero Shinohara]

Do you use adobe to ink on the computer? I've never tried that before so maybe I'll give it try. Also where would you find these curved rulers, I've looked for them in the local art stores near me but couldn't find any.

Yep, I'm currently using Adobe Illustrator C2, but some artists still preffer the older, but more specific for vector design, Adobe Streamline. It does take a little while to get used to it, but when you do, it's a great tool to know how to use.

I used to do my outlining/tracing on Manga Studio 3.0 MX, but as you can see in this comparison, there's a huge difference:



So I'm sticking to Illustrator. Both programs also have nice tools to actually fix and straighten your lines for you, so if you have shaky hands, they'll work like a charm.

Alright, I got a few things to buy. I guess I'll get them at amazon. Thanks for the advice kayos. If you have any idea of what the price would be to get a calligraphy set, french curves, and the lightbox please tell. I'm not really sure how a lightbox would help but believe it or not I'm not very good at tracing so if it can be of any help to me I'll get it. Btw what would the tablet and pen be used for inking on adobe. (I'm not really knowledgable about using the computer for art, but I do have adobe photoshop and I'd like to utilize it somehow. )

Well, a great, but kind-of-odd way to make up for a lightbox is taping your drawing to a window and tracing it in there. I know, it sounds awkward, but hey, those boxes are pretty expensive. However, if you have access to a basic knowledge of electronics and a few tools, you could probably make one yourself for less than 20-30 USD, using Acrylic sheets, some low-profile fluorescent lamps and a metal/wood box. ( I'm a huge practicioner of cheap do-it-yourself stuff, like my custom-made Case window for 5 bucks and Sword-hangers for 10, and stuff like that, so you might know where I'm coming from :laugh.

And you don't need a tablet that costs 300-500 bucks as of now. Mine is a Wacom 6x8 and it works pretty well for me. A smaller 4x5 one would be a little too cheap if you're thinking about the next mile on drawing, but anything above that would work fine. I bought mine for 199 USD at Compusa about 8 months ago, so you might find them for a cheaper price these days.

In regards to pens, I really wouldn't suggest using a Sharpie, like kayos said. They're normally meant for less detailed work, and tend to be much thicker than what you're looking for to use with Anime and drawing. They work well for larger areas, but for lines and detailing, they're a poor choice. I found that the hard way too.

I looked into the pen and tablet thing and I was wondering if wacom is a good company. I found a used one for 399 dollars thats original price was like 500 dollars and I do want to get serious about art, especially anime/manga, so it might be a good idea to think about getting it. As for the other stuff, I should be definitly getting them. I also found one of those tablets that actually puts the image on the screen but it's like 2000 dollars. So that's impossible for me to get.

Adobe Illustrator and Streamline have this nifty tool called "Automatic Vectoring", that reads the lines in your pencil-drawing and create vectors based on them. You don't need a tablet like that to do something that the program already does for you, right?



Edit:

Here's a link to Newegg. If you scroll down to the 100's area, there're some nice deals on tablets. Though they're not Wacoms, I'd say they might work just fine.

Edit2:

Crap.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...Tablet&Ntk=all

Edit3:

...What an awkward day.

The drawing of Saber looked a lot better, I have to say. And I never watched F/SN, so I don't know anything about her personality. She's still cute, though.

[Zero Shinohara]

Hah, thanks, but I really have no clue about that. I actually have never watched AMG and You're Uner Arrest. In that particular drawing, I had started trying out with a different style, trying to bring the eyes a little higher in the face and make the character actually look more like a teenager than the usuall kid-look I had been going for. The hairline is a little strange, I have to say, but that's because I'm still not used with Illustrator, so it's tough getting more well-defined lines in there.

Here's a zoomed out version of what I managed to get done. Wow, almost two months since I did this. Time sure goes by fast.

http://www.kidoutenshi.net/random/randomlol4.jpg

[Crystal_Method]

Do any of you know if you can upgrade from Illustrator 8.0 to the Illustrator CS2? I'd like to get that for 169 dollars rather than 400. Thanks Zero for the advice, I think I will get the 6x8 1 it looks good. I want one that can last me a good while, and ithe wacom seems to have pretty good reviews.

[Zero Shinohara]

Do any of you know if you can upgrade from Illustrator 8.0 to the Illustrator CS2? I'd like to get that for 169 dollars rather than 400. Thanks Zero for the advice, I think I will get the 6x8 1 it looks good. I want one that can last me a good while, and ithe wacom seems to have pretty good reviews.

* Whispers, just like kayos * Yep, you could, definetly could. In fact, these types of programs are MEANT for large corporations and people who work with this, so they really are very expensive, and a common person just can't afford them. There're other free tools you can use, like GIMP and other Vector-drawing programs, but none of them compares to Illustrator or Streamline. Save the money for a better tablet, if you're thinking about buying illustrator for retail price.

There's a pretty good 9x12 tablet on that page I sent you, though it's not a Wacom, and it doesn't look like it's the same quality, the specs look just like Wacom's, just with a few changes here and there. They're not that professional, though.

If you haven't seen AMG or YUA don't worry. The drawing looks good, too bad you never completed it though. I think the latest character design from that guy is the game Tales of the Abyss. It's a rpg for ps2 I think.

Thanks for that. I think that particular drawing was a turning point in my style, but I didn't have the patience to finish yet. Oh well.

[Crystal_Method]

Haha, I forgot I could do that. Thanks for reminding me that I don't have to waste 100's of dollars.

[Gundam Zero Force]

Originally Posted by kayos

Just remember anything free comes with a price.

that is true

[Zero Shinohara]

Just remember anything free comes with a price.

Yeah, as my grandfather used to say, "There's no such thing as a free lunch". We're not allowed to talk about illegal copies of such programs nor to encourage their use on ASuki, but I guess that since you already KNEW they existed, we're all good under the law

However, if you're planning on using any of those programs for commercial purposes, be that in your company, home-based business or even to make a profit on a poster you made for your school, they are probably gonna be looking for you. But for personal use, they don't care.

And even if you don't want to get in trouble with them, you can always download their Trial versions, which expire in 30 days ( not sure if they do that anymore, though ). Then you can keep installing/reinstalling them every once in a while, and all it takes for the program to not recognize it has been installed on your PC before is a little registry modification.

[Crystal_Method]

Here's a rough sketch of some recent work I have done. I actually tried this out because in another discussion someone said they liked drawing characters in really cool positions and I wanted to try that so I came up with this. This is the coolest position I could think of and it was pretty annoying to do, but it looks pretty cool so it was worth it. I'd probably have done a little better job if I drew it on something bigger than an 8.5 x 11 sketch pad.

http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n...g?t=1165449539

[Zero Shinohara]

Here's a rough sketch of some recent work I have done. I actually tried this out because in another discussion someone said they liked drawing characters in really cool positions and I wanted to try that so I came up with this. This is the coolest position I could think of and it was pretty annoying to do, but it looks pretty cool so it was worth it. I'd probably have done a little better job if I drew it on something bigger than an 8.5 x 11 sketch pad.

There's an old chinese saying that goes "Never draw bigger than what you can scan", or something like that. 8.5x11 is a pretty good size, although I, too, find it hard to fit everything I want in a single sheet of paper. But we can work with it, right?

And I'll say the same as kayos ( I'm at school, can't do much from here ). There's nothing we can point out majorly, since you get the basics and all you need to do is to practice some more and get the tips and perspective. However, I can't stress enough the use of a good ruler to work with perspective and do your straight edges. Even if ultimately, your buildings, swords or whatever aren't perfectly square, you need to draw them in a way that you have the framework to be able to change them, and if you do them without the help or either a ruler or a compass, it's not gonna look good.

The position is pretty good, I'd just try bringing his left ( viewer's POV ) arm more to the "front' of the drawing. The shoulders aren't perfectly stiff, so if you need to move your arm up front or to the other side of your body, the joints in your shoulder and ribcage make it available so you can move that way. Watch out not to exxagerate too much, though, just a little bit will do it much good.

You know what would help us lazy people. If you decide to make a thread move and move into "What's your method? (Drawing)" thread and help me and Zero comment on other members drawings (mine and Zero included). Then you could post yours there as well and will be able to receive more comments and suggestions. Ceasing lazy people (mostly me) to jump around so much and help keep one thread alive for the art community.

Yeah, we should have a commentary topic, since posting in separate topics doesn't get that much attention. The problem is when the topic gets too extense that people won't bother browsing it too much, so we'd have to get some pro help.

[Zero Shinohara]

Although you might not be able to scan it in that size, you still could use your head and scan it in by pieces (not saying to cut the paper to pieces). You could scan portion at a time and piece them together in photoshop. Hmm... sounds like too much work though you're saying to yourself. YES IT IS!!! Especially when you're trying to piece it back together, it has to look perfect.

See, even you yourself are abiding by the old chinese saying I made up. Things fall into place, my friend, things fall into place!

But what you could do is actually draw in a bigger paper, then try to emulate the same on a smaller one, so you can scan it or whatever. I don't know, my head isn't in the right place right now.

[Zero Shinohara]

Hey, better exclamation marks than "XD" after every statement.
I had a friend who even had it automatically, it was like

"My grandmother just died...XD"