Looking for critique

[Gushousekai195]

Hi fellow artists. I am an artist looking for exposure and maybe critiques. My art used to be very bad but now I think my most recent art is worthy of merit. Here are a few pieces:

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/13331103/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/15162426/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/15195131/

Let me know what you think. Comment on the submissions themselves if you have an FA account and if you can.

 

[Gushousekai195]

Why is nobody replying?

 

[Rekel]

Well, I tend to be really anal about work and I'd probably respond accordingly, but the content server is offline right now, sorry. Shitty timing is shitty.

 

[Maugryph]

Images are not working at the moment for some reason. I will return and give you a crit in the future. The crit area has been a bit quiet. I can take some time to get feedback

 

[Taralack]

Why is nobody replying?

Just a word of advice, if no one's responded to your thread, just move on and keep drawing. Making posts like this just makes you seem whiny and entitled. :V

Anyway, just a few things..
- Look into varying your stroke pressure. Uniform stroke pressure is often quite ugly and shows how amateur an artist is. Not sure if you're using a tablet, but if you are, make sure that the tablet drivers are installed correctly.
- Avoid using the dodge and burn tools. Again, a very amateur mistake, is thinking that dodge and burn are good enough to render shading and highlights. I would strongly advise against using these tools unless you are very comfortable in your technique to be able to render it well. Instead, use multiply and screen layers for shading and highlights. Which brings me to my next point...
- Avoid using pillow shading. Before you start rendering shadows, be sure to establish the direction where your light source is coming from.

On the more positive side of things, your poses are quite nice, I'm guessing you used references for these. Keep it up. You could stand to improve on rendering when it comes to shading for muscle, but that's quite an advanced technique. The first thing you should absolutely do is work on varying your strokes, and stop using the dodge and burn tools.

 

[Maugryph]

Taralack's critique is spot on. Posting my entire crit would be redundant.

However, pillow shading you biggest problem with your pictures. Infact it would be better to leave the colors flat then to guess the shading. If you want to shade something you must pick a lightsource and the direction it's pointing. You must stay consistent to that direction throughout your entire picture. Never guess your lighting. If your having trouble figuring out how the light would fall off the figure get an art mannequin, set it up in a similar pose and light it in the same direction. Defused light is another option.

 

[mapdark]

Taralack has pretty much said most of what I wanted to say.

What really bothered me was the pillow shading and lack of line weight difference.

Also , you might want to reference from real animals so that eye placement is a little less... wonky?

It<s rather obvious in this one : http://www.furaffinity.net/view/15162426/

The girl's eyes are so close to each other right now they might as well share the same eye socket. you might want to study how eyes are seen from different angles so that you draw a shape that is appropriate for the angle of view that eye is seen from.

An eye viewed sideways won't look the same as from the front.

 

[Gushousekai195]

I had to go out and Google pillow shading after reading all these replies. I know I tried to use an obvious light source in the "Falcon" picture.

I don't think I have used burn or dodge, well except maybe to create more apparent highlights and darker shadows.

I would do flat colors but they would look inconsistent against a detailed background.

Eye placement, as mapdark suggested, is going to be a chore. No one simply goes out to Google, searches for "[insert animal here] [insert view type here]," and expects to get those kinds of images. But I do have a couple of those "Draw Furries" books which I have been neglecting to read.

I also have a best friend who never varies the weight of his lines, yet his art still looks good (it's most likely because he uses such a tiny brush for his lines). He is even offering commissions now. His name is Aelius. Look for him on FA.

I regret my "Why is nobody replying" comment. I probably sounded like someone with some kind of mental handicap.

 

[mapdark]

I had to go out and Google pillow shading after reading all these replies. I know I tried to use an obvious light source in the "Falcon" picture.

I don't think I have used burn or dodge, well except maybe to create more apparent highlights and darker shadows.

I would do flat colors but they would look inconsistent against a detailed background.

Eye placement, as mapdark suggested, is going to be a chore. No one simply goes out to Google, searches for "[insert animal here] [insert view type here]," and expects to get those kinds of images. But I do have a couple of those "Draw Furries" books which I have been neglecting to read.

I also have a best friend who never varies the weight of his lines, yet his art still looks good (it's most likely because he uses such a tiny brush for his lines). He is even offering commissions now. His name is Aelius. Look for him on FA.

I regret my "Why is nobody replying" comment. I probably sounded like someone with some kind of mental handicap.

And here Ladies and Gentlemen , we have someone who asks for a critique and then rejects it en-masse when it's not ass-kissing.

*headdesk*

 

[mapdark]

I had to go out and Google pillow shading after reading all these replies. I know I tried to use an obvious light source in the "Falcon" picture.

If the light source was obvious , we wouldn't be telling you not to pillow-shade

I don't think I have used burn or dodge, well except maybe to create more apparent highlights and darker shadows.

"I haven't used dodge and burn , except when I used it"

I would do flat colors but they would look inconsistent against a detailed background.

Eye placement, as mapdark suggested, is going to be a chore. No one simply goes out to Google, searches for "[insert animal here] [insert view type here]," and expects to get those kinds of images. But I do have a couple of those "Draw Furries" books which I have been neglecting to read.

"No one simply googles for animal heads and expect to find that kind of material"

EXCEPT EVERYONE WHO DOES!

I also have a best friend who never varies the weight of his lines, yet his art still looks good (it's most likely because he uses such a tiny brush for his lines). He is even offering commissions now. His name is Aelius. Look for him on FA.

1- His stuff would look BETTER with line weight variance
2- He has a completely difference style than yours
3- Our point still stands on line weight

 

[Vex]

And here Ladies and Gentlemen , we have someone who asks for a critique and then rejects it en-masse when it's not ass-kissing.

*headdesk*

^literally this

 

[mapdark]

And finally , to counter your argument that your friend's drawings look good DESPITE using the same line weight all over , I took the liberty to take a part of one of their drawings and then modify it to show how it would look WITH line weight variance.

This is virtually the SAME EXACT drawing , but the one on the right has line weight difference.
Now don't tell me it doesn't look better because that would be a lie.

 

[Gushousekai195]

And here Ladies and Gentlemen , we have someone who asks for a critique and then rejects it en-masse when it's not ass-kissing.

*headdesk*

Oh, dear....

I did not mean nor intend to reject your criticism. I apologize if I actually did. And, I would never want anyone kissing my ass; where would someone acquire that kind of pride?

I am thinking about how I can achieve variable line weight. I already have a pressure-sensitive tablet and Lazy Nezumi Pro (for my grossly unsteady hand if that's okay with everyone).