Art body wrong

Hehe, well now im positive this drawing is jinxed. I started messing with it today again and shaped it so that it looked quite okay.. Right. Time to save if something bad happens. DING! windows error, BAD command blahblah something, program crashes, drawing is lost..again. That's allright, i go cool down as i'm about to ram my both fists in the screen. I come back and start all over AGAIN (what is it now..the tenth time?). I do the same thing, draw it to look pretty good. Right, nowin case this program crashes i'll take a screenshot and just paste it in again.
I try to save, BLING! same error..program crashes. HAHAA, i'm so clever to have this print screen in the memory. Allrighty lets paste this sucker..hey..paste...PASTE! nooooooo! it's not there.
I just want to go mental and destroy everything in sight, but i think i'll settle for a loooong smoke.

Edit: Well i finally got something done and actually was able to save it so i did the legs again. I think i'm going the right direction (especially when comparing the first one).

 

Pretty neat!

Well... I could say that you're in the right track and your drawing is much better than the first.

If your computer is having trouble, I think the problem is with the software you are using. Did you ever have problems with your computer the first time you installed the program? If not, you can try to run "System Restore" (if you're using Windows) and set it to the date close to when you first installed the program you're using. Anyway, software breakdown is not enough to stop an aspiring artist. My father often scolds me when he sees me sketching, but I don't let that bother me so much, hey maybe someday your work would be recognized. Keep up the good work!

 

Heh, nah that's what you get from using pirated software (hey, i'm penniless right now ) but u'r absolutely right and it wont put me down. After all it's all practise and were it on paper i'd prolly crumble it to a ball and toss it to the bin anyways.
But man that sucks bad if u'r dad scolds you for drawing.. what's up with him? I don't get it.

I'm guessing that i made the feet a tad too big this time right?

Oh by the way. Do you know what's the deal with the flipped picture thing. I mean i read somewhere that you're able to spot mistakes easily that way but i don't really get it.

 

Ah, i got no reply for my last post.. thats allright.
I've been drawing this again and now i started to draw the hands a bit better. I'm quite pleased with the right hand now, but i tried drawing the left hand and it didnt work out at all. It's not TOO bad right now either untouched. But it definately looks wrong. So、 whoever is the hand/feet master. Give us a crashcourse お願い！

 

I am guessing it has to do with proportions. Your mind creates a short after burn and you can see some differences. Also change of angles helps a lot.

 

tadaima!!!

I just can't ignore a fellow artist in need of help (I know because once upon a time I was the same as you)!

I wanted to reply to your last post about the 'flipped picture thing', but because of my new 11 hour work schedule I was not able to make a decent illustration for you. Flipping or reversing the paper where the art has been drawn is a technique to determine if your drawing is well balanced, because there are times our mind tend to play tricks with our eyes. Okay, the story goes like this, you have finally made a great drawing and you find yourself marveling at it and some times you flip the drawing paper against a light source just to see how beautiful it looks if mirrored. That is when you begin to realize that the face of your beautiful art is horribly disfigured

Well... If that sort of thing happens, don't worry, it happens to everybody (I find most of my art ending up that way too ), okay enough babbling! Here is a page from How to Draw Manga for beginners. They only breezed through this part because it doesn't need too much explanation.

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About the hands... I will try to make a couple of sample pics for you when I get the time >_< Hands and feet are two of the most difficult parts to draw, but I'll try to simplify it so that it won't give you too much head ache

 

Thanks for the help b-tuvs, i really appreciate it!
btw, this is kinda off topic, but im a bit frustrated as i changed to open canvas 4.5 and now i can't open my file that made with oC 4.0
It's not the picture, but the .oe4 file, any ideas how could i make it work again. Or maybe someone could just try out if it works. tervahauta.com/hol.oe4

 

Handy Tutorial ^^

Well, sorry for the lateness of my reply... Tetsuo requested a tutorial for the hands and I must admit it took me some time to get my hands on my original tutorial files. About the Open Canvas 4.5 program, I'm afraid I can't help you with that...

Below is the tutorial I made on how to draw the hand, I hope this helps ^^

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If you got further questions or request with tutorials, just leave a post and I'll do what I can to help ^^

 

Would feet be the same way with the circle?

I could use a hair tutorial. I need help with that. Tried books and online stuff. I did good on one so far.

 

Whoowee! nice one, someone should really cut that part out and add it to the Tutorial thread, it's great! I've been a bit busy too not being able to draw at all with heaps of exams at school so do worries having taken a bit long

Actually, i started wondering how is it possible for the legs to be bent to the sides like that, you'd have to be quite an acrobat to do that in real life, unless you kneel down just a bit..or something, i dunno. It just feels like a strange position.

(OMG! i did it AGAIN, fiddled with it, got it pretty nice and happily shut the program without saving it. I seem to have mastered the art of screwing up )

 

Legs, legs, legs, legs

Well, as for your question about the legs being bent on the sides. I have asked that question myself long ago We're talking about Japanese here, and since Anime and Manga style art originated in Japan it is natural that the characters are also based on average Japanese person. In my native language we have a term for people having their legs bent inward and out ward. It's part of their physical trait, in the old days it is very noticeable for people from Japan to have legs like that because of their sitting position. Take cowboys for example, in the old days when horse riding is a part of daily life, people riding horses tend to have their knees bent outward taking the shape of the body of the horse

Anyway, this is just based on my observation to why many anime girls tend to bend their legs inward

 

I think i must be the slowest person ever in drawing. It's been what, six months or so since i last did anything to that eternity project of mine I should get a medal or something. First semester is at it's end at college so things are slowing down, and i've got time to think about something else than seafaring laws, bearing installations or diesel machinery. So i figured i'd continue a bit with this, as i'm penniless, it's a good second choice instead of going to the pub.

This is propably the first time im looking at this pic and saying to myself..that's almost decent. So either im making excuses to myself to let this one rest, or i'm actually doing something right (possible?).

Anyways, i drew the whole thing again on a new layer, using the old one as reference. Still can't figure out the hands. I suppose i'll just have to draw them a million times over some model and hope something will register. I'm not happy with the eyes or the hair, but it's better than before i think. And the feet, i haven't even practised them at all so i suppose i can't expect much.
I tried to draw the other leg a bit behind the other one as to maybe justify the bent legs a bit more. I think i should've drawn it more further than just a tiny shift, but i'll see what the more wiser people have to say about that, meaning you, the reader.
Say, b-tuvs, you say you see that bent leg thing alot. Could you point me to a manga that has them, i can't find any.


I also tried to shade a bit for the first time, not sure if i failed brilliantly, maybe someone could drop a link to somewhere that explains shading a bit.
Yeah, well 'nuff said, bit too much prolly. here's the pic, shoot me down :sweat2:

 

Try Deviantart. That place is chock full of tutorials for up and coming artists. I think your piece is very good though. Resize the feet and adjust the head and shoulders to the rest of the body and it's pretty set. Otherwise, I just see problems with the fluidity of the lineart itself.

 

Thanks Chance, what do you mean by fluidity? I suppose you mean that they should be drawn more like long clear lines than the choppy one million plus tiny lines everywhere I would love to, but that is haaaard! i dunno, maybe im holding the pen wrong or something, but as the line gets very long, i can't seem to keep it on track. It seems impossible.

I've found that it's hard to find a really good tutorial, thats why i'm usually asking here. I've seen too many tutorials made by someone that doesn't really explain properly what they are doing and why.

I might just advertise a bit of my personal favourite. Mark Crilley, he's put up a ton of tutorials on youtube that's well worth a look. He's also a pro in in this field unlike the many many tutorials i've come across made by amateurs.
http://www.youtube.com/user/markcrilley
Haven't found anything about shading though. maybe i should ask

 

Hello Tetsuo! It's been a long time, I see you're still working on your art skills, that's good

If you ask me, it doesn't matter how long it takes you to perfect your skills, as long as you enjoy drawing. Just take your time, take me for example, I have been trying to figure out how to draw manga style for nearly 10 years now and until now I still feel that I'm not at the level I wanted, but that doesn't bother me I just keep drawing!

But recently I have been busy with other stuff so, I kinda stopped for a while but I still draw whenever I get the chance.

As for your work... Hmn... I think it's too "beefy" the body is kinda, buff or chubby, but you have the proportions right ^^

As for the lines, yes, it is better to draw single clear lines than choppy bundled up ones. It's hard to do at first, but with a lot of practice, you can master it^^

A tip: Before you try to draw, exercise your wrist by swiveling it back and forth. You can hold a pen and try to swish it around, like you are drawing a curve line. It would also help to try and draw long straigh lines on a piece of paper for several minutes just to get the feel of drawing a straight continuous line, you can also do curved lines while you are at it.

One of the noticeable part of your pic are the feet, they look pretty flat and big... try to slim them down a bit ^^ and make them lean a little lower to create depth.

Last night I tried to make a drawing for practice, and this is what I came up with:

Yeah, I know it looks kinda extravagant (I haven't drawn anything in days and I just felt like making this one complete with tones and everything :sweat2:​

Now, you will notice that her legs are pretty slender and there's a gap between the legs, I draw the curves of the thighs on one side and a bit straighter line for the inner side of the thigh to make the gap between the legs a bit noticeable (I know it sounds pretty much off, but it works perfectly, as you can see ^^). One leg is leaning backwards making the illusion that she is walking. Notice that her feet/foot is not drawn flat as the floor, instead they are drawn slightly slanting downwards, creating a depth effect as if you are looking at her at normal eye level.

My advice is: For now, try to practice drawing single or cleaner lines, doodle if you have to, just grab a pencil and swish away! Your hands at present are heavy and you seem to draw heavy lines, that is why you make bundled short lines. Practice to draw lightly ^^
Next is the feet, avoid drawing the feet flat, try to look at some pictures and you will notice that people's feet, although they are touching the floor are not flat. You have improved from the time you started, you just need to refine a bit further. Good luck!

I can make some tutorials about shading and stuff if you'd like ^^