My Artwork

[Mythic]

Well I figured I'd post my artwork so here's some samples:
elf
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g182/_Mythic_/sheelf.jpg
Temple of the Rain children

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g182/_Mythic_/temple_of_the_rain_children.jpg
Menzoberranzan
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g182/_Mythic_/Menzoberranzan.jpg
Mythic
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g182/_Mythic_/The%20Chronicles%20of%20Phoenix%20stuff/mythic.jpg

my DeviantArt (http://empressofnoneckia.deviantart.com)
my Smackjeeves (http://www.smackjeeves.com/profile.php?id=6651)

[Brickwall]

Well, work on your faces. Your cheekbones, in general, should not be poking out that far. It's a very small problem, but it creates a sort of offputting feel. Your eyes are great, work on the noses. You are still using your left brain for noses. Your elf's heair is great, but Mythic looks like she's got a bad disco-do. Lips are good. Neck and shoulders are good. Swords are good.

Your backgrounds. Great one-point perspective! I have such trouble with perspective, and you're a regular DaVinci at it. Work on making things regular on the sides though. Just a little more patience and a good eraser there. Your trees look odd at the roots, but good everywhere else. The fire looks good, as does the little figure that seems to be casting a spell, but the thing near the left edge of the cave mouth is totally unidentifiable.

Overall, you're better than me in every way. I'm just good at criticizing, having been exposed to lots of artists of varying levels.

[Mythic]

thanks and actually in chronological order they are: Temple of the Rain children, Mythic, Menzoberranzan, and then elf. the temple one is ancient, mythic was not so ancient, Menzoberranzan is rather recent and the elf is the latest headshot i've done. there are plenty of stuff inbetween and i've been working hard to make things more realistic. On the elf i did it as a study on making them look more realistic by using methods i'd seen other people use. It was a success but to truly make it great i would have to put the shading in and i was afraid to do that cuz i didn't want to ruin it.

[Brickwall]

I know your fear of "ruining art by working on it more". I've gone through it more than once. Just remember that the chance of that actually happening is pretty small (it does happen occasionally, though).

If you want to make something look more realistic, draw from life. Use mirrors or pictures of yourself. If you have a boyfriend/girlfriend, they will probably be glad to pose for you for 10 minutes (long enough for you to steal small facial details) once or twice a week. If you have a spouse, it's even more likely.

[Mythic]

unfortunaly my boyfriend lives in florida while i'm in wisconsin so that won't work :(

[Brickwall]

Long distance relationships. I'm so glad that my true love is so close to me. In fact, infinitely so, since I love myself so very, very much. Never was much for relationships.

Anyway, self portraits will get you far. I use my own hands for reference when drawing hands (and it helps some), so I can't see why faces wouldn't work the same way. Then again, facial structure varies hugely among humans. Still, you can get the basics by doing self reference.

I'm sad that nobody else will comment on your work. Artists live for criticism, people! Especially complimentary criticism!

[danielf]

very nice drawing

[Mythic]

yeah i know.....lol

I use my hands as well but faces are different....I used a photo that i found online to use as a good reference for certain details on the elf picture and it certainly helped but I still have a lot to figure out when it comes to drawing from real life or photographs... The only problem with self references is that I don't have a mirror that really allows me to do that as they are either too small or not in a convinient place.

Thanks.

Also here's a more recent drawing of mine that I'm very proud of. I seem to finally have my figure drawings down to the point that I'm getting them to look good and they don't take me forever to do. I'll post it here for people who don't want to follow the link to my gallery.
Empress and Emperor of Noneckia
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g182/_Mythic_/Emperor_andEmpress_of_Noneckia_by_E.jpg

[Brickwall]

Hmm...

If you're not going to use chiascuro (is there another h in there?), outline all the way. None of that soft outline junk. It just makes the eyes work harder, and nobody likes to do extra work. Black or dark gray for outlines, my friend.

And very few things in life come to a sharp point. Chins are rounded and wider. Boots are rounded. Cloth, because it is cut, will come to a point more than occasionally, but only at the edge, if the edge isn't overlapped. However, cloaks are not cut without edges, and neither are capes. Resist your urge to round all clothing.

Wrinkles do not have hard lines like that. Delicate shading. Dark, but delicate.

Like I said, you're much better than I am, but I can criticize quite well.

[Mythic]

I don't know what that is.....see the thing is is i don't ink the whole thing because I cna't get the detail down. in the original lineart the wrinkles were less defined but that's what happens when you take a sharpie to it >< So yeah...i only ink the clothing...

[Brickwall]

If you can outline the clothing with inking, I really can't see why you can't outline the rest. I don't know what you use to ink, but there are pens out there made only for inking, and they come pretty thin, if that's what you need.

[Mythic]

I don't do the rest because i lose the definition of my lines and they look really weird. I use a fine point sharpie for inking. I don't know where to get the pens that are made especially for inking.....

[Brickwall]

Hmm...perhaps you could try one of the 10 search databases of nearly every internet site to find one of the 10,000 online art supply stores? One of them might have it.

[Mythic]

most likely. however...I have no money plus I doubt that my mom would let be get stuff online

[Brickwall]

Your mother is an anathema to society. She must be destroyed!

Tch, seriously, though, you missed your opportunity to ask for one for the holidays. Guess you'll either have to find an art store in your locale or wait until your birthday.

[Mythic]

oh i think I can wait for my birthday since it's in 20 days.

[Mythic]

I just finnished what I considered to be my best work yet last night ^^
here it is, The Empress's Magic:
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g182/_Mythic_/The%20Chronicles%20of%20Phoenix%20stuff/TheEmpresssMagic2.jpg

[Brickwall]

Why can everyone use colored pencils the right way except me?! GAH!!

I mentioned before that unclothed areas should still have dark outlines. It doesn't look as bad in this one as in the last one, but outlines are your friend.

[Mythic]

um...i dunno.....

ahuh....

[Mythic]

this is my surrealism painting from my art class....I wish i still had my painting class.......it was nice
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g182/_Mythic_/surrealismprj-cropped.jpg

[SacredStorm]

but outlines are your friend.

Depends on what kind of art style you are striving for. In a cartoony style, yes outlines can help clean up your drawing, but when you strive for realism in your drawings...its different.

When I look around I barely see any outlines! What I do see are contrasts. Contrasts in shape, contrasts in color, and contrast in value. If you want your pictures to look more realistic, then ditch the outline and save money for buying Prismacolors or any other good name brand colored pencils.

You have some nice cross-hatching skills, but I feel your leaving too much white space when you color (See your floating sorceress) Saturate your colors more and lessen all that stuff out. With a solid background you can use contrasting colors to define shapes and that will create outlines that you see subliminally.

Besides that, I really like your painting. Not alot going on in it (Some surrealism is like that) Your high points, in my opinion, is the reaper's bone texture and the sea. I like that color that you made. Work on shading the blacks...Notice how they make the picture feel flat. Next time try some undertones; that nice green you had would have went well mixed up with the reaper's robes.

[Mythic]

yeah...i love my prismacolors...only thing is i only have a couple.... I don't usually draw cartoony and I'm trying to get more into realism......so that's why I'm not outlining everything....

thanks....if you go to my DA you can see a better version of my painting....i had to resize this one

[Mythic]

here's my newest completed peice. No criticisms (constructive or otherwise) on this one please. It was made for my boyfriend to let him know i was there and to make him feel better (he's having a rough time atm)
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g182/_Mythic_/ImHere2.jpg

[Ava]

I'm a costume designer so I've had a lot of experience drawing figures and clothing. Your figures and clothing are a really good start, I think you have a good concept of shading. Here's some more tips for you:

Figure:
Work on proportion. Practice sketching the figure in blocks and cylindars to lay out the proportion first, then go over in detail. In particular, make sure your torso, legs, and arms are in proportion to eachother.

Clothing:
Think about how the clothing works. If a dress is blowing to the side, how does the windward side lay across the figure? How does the garment work? What are the different layers? It looks like you already have a good feel for how the garment curves around the body instead of having straight edges.
Also, think about the fabric. Is it heavy or light, soft or stiff? This effects how the garment moves, drapes, and folds in your picture.

[Mythic]

I already knew i had to work on those things ^^; I've been working really hard on them and I've only recently got my figures to look somewhat decent and I'm still working on how fabric drapes over the figures and how it would rinkle and how it would be shading. The floating pic was the first time I had ever tried doing anything like that with fabric and I was so proud of how well it worked out. Anyway I've been working on getting my figures properly proportionate but when I do sideviews they just don't seem to work....the lower half looks great but the upper half is too long and thin compared to the legs....I don't know....I just need more practice which is why I'm drawing side viewed pictures....once I get things proportonate I get to try funky angles! yay! (not)

[Mythic]

Ok this was for LunaDarkGoddess (http://lunadarkgoddess.deviantart.com)'s contest on DeviantART....I lost T^T
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g182/_Mythic_/LunaandVadercolored2.jpg
and this is my newest completed piece: Far From Home
"I left with the intention of never coming back. Memories were too painful and the knowledge that I would never again see those I had cared about was too cruel. So I turned my back on all that I had konwn and set out to see the world and find a place where I would belong. Little did I know it wasn't going to be that simple. I would be treated the same everywhere I went and I learned to never show my face, to stay in the shadows, and to hide myself from the world. I learned to be alone."
-Mythic
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g182/_Mythic_/The%20Chronicles%20of%20Phoenix%20stuff/FarFromHome.jpg

[Mythic]

here's my newest piece...wore me out it did, and the shading looks terrible here T^T it's really much much better!:
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g182/_Mythic_/The%20Chronicles%20of%20Phoenix%20stuff/HurryHome.jpg


for the picture in my deviantart gallery go here: http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/57089631/