I need Help

[Inferndragon]

Your character designs tend to be very anime in the way they are drawn. Tiny mouth and high emphasis on the eyes (Which is fine)

You focus on high detail in the environment with your characters.
Adding god rays (rays of light) from higher locations probably could add more vibrancy to the drawing.
Since "Forest Swih" there are trees so they would release more light. Giving you more options to mess with light sources.
The background itself even though highly detailed feels like it was added as an after thought
(Shadows on characters but not on the background kind of detract from it)

The Feeling Lonley klein, imagge also has the same problem it feels extremely muted.
No light sources in the scene other than "moon light"
Excuses to use Ambient occlusion would be beneficial too (When 2 objects get closer together they gain a shadow inbetween)

 

[strawberryfox]

Yeah Anime/Kemono is what Im trying to go for ^^''

So what you mean by that in the Swing drawing , the characters are shaded but the backrgound isn't , wich is why it feels like an after tough? So if their would be some proper light/shadow on the tree in the forground and rays of light coming from between the trees in the background, it would probally look a bit better?

But for the second one im kinda confused , where else would the light come from besides the Moon? or do you mean bounce light?

 

[Inferndragon]

Yeah Anime/Kemono is what Im trying to go for ^^''

So what you mean by that in the Swing drawing , the characters are shaded but the backrgound isn't , wich is why it feels like an after tough? So if their would be some proper light/shadow on the tree in the forground and rays of light coming from between the trees in the background, it would probally look a bit better?

But for the second one im kinda confused , where else would the light come from besides the Moon? or do you mean bounce light?

Nope I mean you could add other sources of light. The moon would be a bluish tinge anyways.

Using multiple sources would add more depth to your character.
Bouncing light can help a little. But it is more or less too much effort for the reward.

If you have problems with perspect a little bit. You can box the drawing in a 3D program.
With placeholders to get the idea across
You can even use a mask in the program to simulate leaves from the trees so you can see where the blue light would fall on the backgrounds too.

Your art is good regardless.
I tend to avoid adding backgrounds when possible unless I've already designed or planned the drawing in advance.
(Since I am a lazy b'stard)

 

[cindybrown]

ok, for the doodles , sketches are enough or should it be an acutall lineart?
And good to know someone thinks it's intermediate, feels much better then complete beginner tbh.
yeah for the ref part, I always try to find some if Im stuck, but sometimes I don't find any good ones.

I believe sketches will do good since its easier and you could do more than putting in full illustration, yes
As for refs, it really depends but there are some good storage photos out there for posing models, hands and etc
Its just difficult to find any tutorial for kemono style, I too struggle a lot but some Sonic tutorials can be quite fascinating for getting the nose/mouth part done

 

[strawberryfox]

Nope I mean you could add other sources of light. The moon would be a bluish tinge anyways.

Using multiple sources would add more depth to your character.
Bouncing light can help a little. But it is more or less too much effort for the reward.

If you have problems with perspect a little bit. You can box the drawing in a 3D program.
With placeholders to get the idea across
You can even use a mask in the program to simulate leaves from the trees so you can see where the blue light would fall on the backgrounds too.

Your art is good regardless.
I tend to avoid adding backgrounds when possible unless I've already designed or planned the drawing in advance.
(Since I am a lazy b'stard)

Ok, thing is where could be the second light in my drawing? there isn't a lava puddle or something like that in my drawing. Only thing I could think of are lights from the cottage but they where supossed to be off.

I will give the program a try.
yeah backgrounds can be hard to do, but i still want to do them anyways , I just love good backgrounds so i want to do them too, even when they are right now not as good.

I believe sketches will do good since its easier and you could do more than putting in full illustration, yes
As for refs, it really depends but there are some good storage photos out there for posing models, hands and etc
Its just difficult to find any tutorial for kemono style, I too struggle a lot but some Sonic tutorials can be quite fascinating for getting the nose/mouth part done

Ok tha'ts good to know
yeah i'ts just sometimes certian things can be hard , espically things like two characters flying on a broom.
yeah , luckily i'ts only the face ,the body i think can be mostly normal just with paws

 

[Inferndragon]

Ok, thing is where could be the second light in my drawing? there isn't a lava puddle or something like that in my drawing. Only thing I could think of are lights from the cottage but they where supossed to be off.

You don't have to use a secondary light (it's just an example). You could have multiple moons, Runes on rocks emiting light... Mushrooms glowing slightly... Small particles of magic (since your character is wearing a magic hat, the hand not on the face could be casting some form of mana sparks). Regardless, instead of getting hung up on that image. Just go with what you feel would be beneficial and just have more fun with it.

Practice other types of styles and learn certain techniques from them and then use it to incorporate it in your work (if you actually prefer using them).

 

[strawberryfox]

Ok I will keep that in mind for the next drawings

But for the style part I always tought it would be better to be more consistent with the art style?

 

[Inferndragon]

Ok I will keep that in mind for the next drawings

But for the style part I always tought it would be better to be more consistent with the art style?

We are creatures of habit. We tend to repeat routines and behaviours over and over again. Usually ending up with the same result over and over again.
We are more likely to make the same mistakes over and over again by repeating those habits.

Drawing other styles (even for an exercise) can actually help you learn new techniques which can be beneficial to your work.
I am not saying to abandon your style I am saying using it to your advantage to improve the way you do things.
It could be drawing a different type of anime/kemono style.

Manga artists focus on linework and the expression in drawings.
Even creating your own brushes might also help.

 

[strawberryfox]

ok I will try those things out.
thanks for the advices

 

[MintyDog]

Keep in mind that all stylized art is a branch off of realism. So to better understand realism, the way light and shadow works, texture looks, perspective works will allow you to deconstruct it into your own style. What I think would help your art most especially is lighting, there isn't much dark areas and dark areas provide the contrast that makes the lighter areas feel vivid. In some of your pictures I can see how aerial perspective would help, this is the way light works at a distance, like how mountains and trees in the background appear to fade and loose contrast in the haze of the air. I could do a little paint overs if that would help.

 

[BSporn]

Honestly you're not as bad as you think you are. There are just a bunch of smal compositional and lighting techniques that you need to learn to make your art pop.

First Your values are flat. What I mean by that is if you reduced an image to a grey scale the entire image is gonna be a fairly similar shade of grey. This makes it hard to really draw a focus on the picture cause it all kinds of blends together. Try focus on making the light areas light and the dark areas dark. Like take a look at the picture you linked as an example of what your aiming for. The lighting on the character is almost completely white. Where as the darkest darks and the lightest lights are pretty close together on yours. Also keep in mind that the eye will adjust to either dark or light areas not both.
So if you are detailing in the darker areas you would generally leave the brighter areas less detailed, and vice versa.

You are also only really working with self cast shadows. Wich is making the characters feel disconcerted from eachother and the backgrounds. So take the swing picture. You've shaded with the shadows in like the folds of the dress and shit, but the tree isn't casting dappled shadows over the characters the characters aren't casting shadows on eachother, etc.

Generally I like to flood fill a layer over the characters and set it to your shadow colour and overlay then go in with either your light colour or an eraser and draw in where the light would be striking your characters. It really helps to add form and dimension to the characters.

Your perspective is off on some of the stuff, but the 3d blocking techniques allready mentioned and liberal use of whatever software your using perspective tools should be able to sort that out.

And other than that I think composition is probbably what you need to focus on. You said you wanted a detailed background in the swing picture wich is totally fine. But you need to work out how to still draw focus onto the subjects. This is where your values will be important. For example you could have the characters in the foreground in shadow while the stuff past that tree is lit up brightly. It would seperate the image out, draw attention to the subjects while still letting you go ham on the background details.