Some art

[killercore007]

Spoiler: Mallis

Spoiler: Emily

SG related stuff to come later, maybe.

 

[Funkermonster]

I hate to act like a forum cop, but isn't it against the rules to post two times in a row? Nice art though, I guess.

 

[killercore007]

I hate to act like a forum cop, but isn't it against the rules to post two times in a row? Nice art though, I guess.

Well, it depends on the time gap of said post and how a forum handles it really.

In this case, it's been at least 2 days since last post.

 

[killercore007]

Something new, tried a few other style techs.

 

[Cellsai]

I hate to act like a forum cop, but isn't it against the rules to post two times in a row? Nice art though, I guess.

Art threads, like training diaries, are given exceptions for multi posting (as long as they're not shameless bumps) because they're sort of personal areas for the creators.

*sigh* Hate being not popular....

Do try to remember that you're on a Skullgirls themed forum posting random anthro art. By all means, keep doing that, but you need to be aware that you're already stacking the popularity deck against yourself by posting stuff that not many people here are interested in.

*sigh* Why is it that no matter how much I change my drawing techs for anatomy, people keep saying it sucks...?

Do you use guidelines for your drawings first, or do you sketch the whole without them?
Some people prefer the former, some the latter so I'm not calling you out on improper techniques.

 

[killercore007]

Yes, I use guidelines of some sort.

Also, the reason behind what I said about popularity was because I'm starting to get tired of constantly conforming just so people give a damn about what I do.

 

[Cellsai]

Also, the reason behind what I said about popularity was because I'm starting to get tired of constantly conforming just so people give a damn about what I do.

Then don't conform. Do whatever you want to draw. Expressly drawing because it'll make you popular is a pretty toxic way to undertake a hobby.
You have to be realistic here though, Skullheart is an extremely focused forum. It's specifically for one particular game, in one particular genre of one particular hobby. People who post regularly on this forum are probably here almost exclusively for Skullgirls. That's not to say everyone is though, and plenty of people - myself included - post non Skullgirls art here, but unless your art is really top notch it's very likely the forum users will drift to Skullgirls art instead of anything else.

EU03 posted a pretty good thing about this recently: http://eu03.tumblr.com/post/86988128833/i-got-a-question-recently

 

[Cellsai]

This all stems from the fact that most of my life has been people being "If you aren't high enough skill level, then you don't deserve respect".

If you feel that way, then practice. Do a sketch a day for a year see how much you improve.

Either way, mulling around feeling like no one cares about your art serves no purpose for anyone. Work hard, get good and people will follow you.

 

[Cellsai]

Easier said than done, at least in my case. For the most part, just not motivated these days. I've tried offer commissions to help revive that but I just get scoffed at. One guy went as far as saying "I would be willing to pay 25c for something inked and colored, anything lower isn't worth it". No joke, he basically called my best efforts worth a measly quarter. I would've been fine if he meant sketches, but nope...

Honestly, as harsh as it sounds, your art is not good enough to pay for. Don't be disheartened by that. Take it as advice that you need to practice more.

"Not being motivated" to practice is a bad excuse.

@The hobby part: I do plan to go pro-ish someday.

If you do plan on becoming "pro-ish" do you think 'not being motivated' will be a valid excuse? "
"Sorry boss. I'm not doing any of that art you want me to this week. My heart's just not in it."
Fuck no. Make yourself motivated. Artist's block is something you need to learn how to barrel through or you will never take your art beyond an occasional weekend drawing, and you will never improve like that.

If you're going to go down the long sloggy path to being a professional artist or even keep going as a proper hobby you need to learn to take criticism. HARSH criticism. If someone says your art isn't good enough, make your art better.

As I said above, sitting around moping or feeling sorry for yourself is not helping anyone, so you might as well put that time to good use. Daily sketches - even if they're crappy - will do wonders. You don't need to upload them, but you need to draw something - ANYTHING - once a day.

 

[Cellsai]

I have no income, zip. Turned down for every job, everywhere. Hell, I can re-apply years later but will still get turned down just for not being the best, which only makes the "not good enough" feels even worse.
Ugh, why did life put so much pressure on me...?

First up, I have no interest or patience for this stuff. Art I can talk about. Personal baggage? Not so much. First step to getting people to post in your thread is not making every post a dramatic sob story. Make your posts about art.

I never said I was making it an excuse. I'm saying that I just can't motivate myself these days for some reason, and art stops being fun when you need it to make a tiny living yet it never does.
As for the motivation, I shouldn't have to force my myself to draw like that, as it just turns it from hobby to chore. Yes, I've tried many, many things to motivate myself, but they either don't work or the motivation doesn't last long enough to start.

Yes, you do need to force yourself to draw. If you want to get good at something you need to put in the time. You can't just sit back and hope you'll magically get good and popular. Practice, motivated or not, is a requirement of getting good at drawing. Any explanation you make to avoid practicing is an excuse, valid or not.

I cannot stress enough how good the daily sketch thing for this is. Sure, there'll be some days you absolutely do not want to draw and anything you draw that day will probably be garbage, but the important thing is training your brain into being able to draw at any time you want, not whenever your motivation decides you can.

You'll also get a boat load of actual drawing practice in too, which is a bonus.

I sometimes get lucky and finish something but still...

Get lucky and finish drawing something? You are 100% the thing doing the drawing. 'Getting lucky' is one of the most bizarre and flimsy excuses I've ever heard for not drawing stuff.

1) Sit down.
2) Draw something.
3) Finished.

Even if it's a bad picture, there was absolutely zero luck involved in that process.

 

[killercore007]

Deleted the "baggage" posts.

Anyways, finally got this done yesterday.

Not sure why I gave Miss Fortune shorts though, lol.


Oh, and let me elaborate on the "lucky" part:

I mean it as I start the drawing then mid-way through, I lose motivation and leave it unfinished.

 

[Espresso]

Warning: I am not a professional.
I noticed a few shortcomings common of newer artists. This is a great thing! Developing any skill requires tons and tons of mistakes! I highly recommend studying the human form and practicing the things you find toughest. Use anatomy proportions to measure parts of your drawings like the arm for instance. If Ms. Fortune were to stand up her left arm would be significantly longer than her right. Learn foreshortening and how to apply it in your art. Notice how artists you like use it. I recommend drawing hands a lot. Make a point of it. There is a common theme where the hands are hidden in the art. This is usually a sign of lack of confidence in drawing hands. When I asked my life drawing teacher in college what book should I get after I don't have access to her class, she told me about 'Anatomy for the Artist' by Sarah Simblet. It is really good.

 

[killercore007]

Ackk, did NOT catch that about arm, oops. *should fix if it ever gets to inking stage*
I'm normally actually good with arm lengths though as you pointed out, I do make the occassional mistake.

Also, Mallis hands are not hidden, I actually completely forgot to put them in somehow, lol.

I could learn foreshortening but all the ones I found ended up too complicated or made no sense, at least to me.

Also, I'm definatly not a new artist, rather an artist that went through a lot of sht art wise and never really developed the confidence to truly try.(started like 13 years ago)

 

[Cellsai]

Good stuff. A couple of points to watch out for that I've noticed in a lot of your art:

Be careful of the way you always draw the eyes right up against the side of the face when the character is turned slightly away from the camera. Human skulls have the eyes inset quite deeply into the skull, so it's quite unusual for much of the eye to ever 'touch' the outside of the face. Doing it excessively or to the extend that Mallis is shown here makes the character look bug eyed, or like the eyes are just painted onto the smooth surface of their perfectly round faces. Yes, I know Mallis isn't human. The point still stands.

Take note of the gap to the side of the eye on Ms Fortune here despite how far she's turned from the camera:

Or another fox here (Yes, his eye touches the edge of the face, but just barely and mainly because of how thick the lines are):

This is not to say that the eye will never touch the edge of the face. Based on skull shape and extreme camera angles, it very well sometimes will, but it is far more likely that it wont, or if it does it will just touch it at the corner.

As Espresso mentioned, you should practice your hands a bit. I'd also lump feet in there too as Fortune's show that you probably mainly draw characters in shoes. In general I think you could benefit from some life drawing practice or lessons.

Best way to learn all this stuff is just practice practice practice.

 

[killercore007]

Yeah, I never really did bare feet. Also, about the eye thing, nobody had EVER pointed that out to me until now, really, it's true.

 

[killercore007]

Ok, did some fixes to the pic. The imcomplete foot on Miss Fortune was me giving up after almost tearing the paper after so many attempts, lol.

 

[killercore007]

Oh, and sorry about lack of updates. Lately havn't had a real good day, especially the last 3.

 

[killercore007]

Good luck with your irl problems and I hope you keep drawing.

Me too...

Anyways, there's an actual story between these 2, if you want to hear it.

 

[Funkermonster]

Anyways, there's an actual story between these 2, if you want to hear it.

Sure

 

[killercore007]

Ok then.

Note, may want to read this first as the following will make more sense if you do: Bare bones Mallis Bio


Anyways, here we go.
Mallis pretty much tries to hang out with Fortune a lot, since the loss of her family and rejection from others made her feel alone and unwanted. She chose Miss Fortune as Mallis knows of what happened with her and feels they though they have something in common because of the circumstances of the events.
Fortune see's Mallis as the little child who just wants to play. She does often try to push her away though, not because she hates her, but rather because she doesn't want Mallis to find out the truth of her origins and her getting hurt as a result.(She has no idea Mallis already knows btw).
Also, Fortune has no clue about Mallis' origins. She thinks Mallis simply treats it kind going over to someone's house and hanging out.(Fortune also has no idea that Mallis is an orphan that has absolutely nobody to be with). Mallis does try to explain sometimes but never gets the chance to.

^That is pre-SG story mode(assumming she had one in the actual game). I'll make a quick version of her actual story mode:


Scene 1

Mallis is walking around looking for loose change as usual when she hears something from a seemly condemned building. She goes to investigate and sees 2 mafia members(isn't stated whch family they're with) talking about the skullheart and it's ability to grant wishes.

Mallis: Interesting...Wait, does that mean I could bring my parents back?

*Another mafia member spots Mallis and runs over to her.

Mafia man 3(meaning not of the other 2 talking): And what do you think you're doing?!

Mallis: *looks back in shock* WHOA! How did yo-

Mafia Man 3: Look kid, you shouldn't be evesdropping, didn't your mommy and daddy teach you that?

Mallis: *Tears start to well up in her eyes* If I still had them...

*The two men that were talking earlier see this exchange and rush over.*

Mafia man 1: Whoa, who's this kid?

Mafia man 3: not sure, but she's going back home right now.

Mallis: I told you! *Now starting to get upset* I don't have them anymore...

Mafia Man 3: Pfft, kids, always with thier stories. Come on kid, let-

*Before he finished, Mallis had bolted between them and ran out the building*

Mafia man 2: Wow, she's pretty fast! Should we try to catc-

Mafia Man 1: Nah, no need. We got more pressing matters to contend with.

**Fade**
Scene 2

*Mallis is now on a bench in the cathedral, alone, still upset about the way the men talked about her parents*

Mallis: Why doesn't anybody ever understand!? *sigh* *She starts thinking of Miss Fortune* Why...why do you push me away...? Am I just a pest to you...? I just feel like we have something in common. I know what happened to you, why won't you let me explain...?

*A tall shadow now starts to cover her*

Double: Fascinating

*Mallis looks up in shock*

Mallis: Wh-wh...who are you?

Double: I alas cannot say that, but something about you I sense, it's fascinating. But what is it? Perhaps a test of fighting skill to see?

Mallis: Fighting skill? Wait, no, I, I can't. Wait-

Double: There is no avoiding this child *Starts to go into battle form*. Fight, or die.

*Mallis tries to run but is caught by the feet by double and thrown a good ways*

Mallis: Ooof! Ok...that hurt a little...*Looks up to see Double coming at her again* I guess...there really is no avoid this this.

*Mallis quickly gets to her feet, and summons a pair of silver colored daggers in her hands.

Mallis: *Now with a determined expression* Ok Mallis, you can do this!

**Switch to battle**


There's a lot more but that's just a quickie for now.

 

[Funkermonster]

Not bad for a quick story. But I do have a few personal gripes that I think are issues for you to think about. Don't worry, I won't tear it to shreds and I'll criticize as lightly as possible.:

Spoiler

1. First of all, why not put both the stories in spoiler brackets? That would make your comment smaller and easier to navigate through the page.
2. The pre-story, I am sorry to say this but I don't think it is very deep and I am gonna be a little hard on this one. You didn't exactly give much of a description on who Mallis herself is, all you said was that she's a vagabond who lost her family and is rejected by society and wants to hang out with Fortune became she feels they share that in common. The rest of the story has way too much of Fortune in it and that takes away a chunk of the spotlight from your own character. The vibe I got from reading it was someone who lost her family, nobody likes her, and has a playful interest in another person whom she felt had a connection with (maybe obsessed with her a little bit); but outside of that, there wasn't much of a vibe. I admittedly have done the same thing before with one of my fan characters (only the difference was that I had too many characters interacting with it, rather than giving too much attention to one in particular) and I have been in this situation too, and someone once told me that I should cut back on the character interactions and let people know who my own OC is before I put him in the SG story, and another person said that a good fan character should be able to stand on his/her/its own story even without the Universe it was created for.

I know its a work in progress but, I think I would've liked it better if you gave her more character and let us know who she is. You didn't really say stuff like how she lost her family, why society rejects her (I'm assuming its because she's a feral?), details on her personality besides an interest in Fortune and feeling lonesome. I personally would've written about Mallis first and then put Fortune only at the very very end. The actual story is fine, but the pre-story that supports it is pretty shallow.

But maybe I'm just weird, I'd think of asking around and seeing what other people think and maybe they can help you write it out, maybe I'm just missing something big. Sorry for sounding like a jerk when writing all this, I'm not a very good critic and you shouldn't let me influence you very much (if at all), you're better off listening to someone other than me. But if you do, I'd say there's a good character in here, but its shelled by having too much of an interaction with one that already exists.

 

[killercore007]

Oops, completely forgot the spoiler tags.

Anyways, the pre-SG thing I said, it's not the full thing, the passage was mearly meant to highlight the interactions between Mallis and Fortune. I can easily add in the other, more personal details if you want.

 

[killercore007]

I got a new pic to post but I need to ink and color it first.

EDIT: I guess I can at least give a preview for now.
Before you poke at all the mistakes in it, remember that it's not finallized yet. That will come in ink and color stage.

 

[PrettiestMedic]

why

 

[killercore007]

why

Why what?

 

[Cellsai]

I got a new pic to post but I need to ink and color it first.
Before you poke at all the mistakes in it, remember that it's not finallized yet. That will come in ink and color stage.

Gotta stop leaving out those hands!
I know this is an unfinished picture, but you should get in the habit of not avoiding doing hands until the last second. Practice them until hands are just another part of the picture, not an ominous specter hovering over you until the finish line.

 

[killercore007]

Gotta stop leaving out those hands!
I know this is an unfinished picture, but you should get in the habit of not avoiding doing hands until the last second. Practice them until hands are just another part of the picture, not an ominous specter hovering over you until the finish line.

It's more forgetting than avoiding actually. I still know what you mean though.

 

[killercore007]

And.....Finally, lol.

Spoiler

 

[killercore007]

After some style input from others, I went back to the previous one.

 

[killercore007]

lol, almost posted a pic that was NSFW. That would've been bad.

 

[Cellsai]

lol, almost posted a pic that was NSFW. That would've been bad.

No problem with NSFW stuff here, just be sure to put it in [ spoiler] [/ spoiler] tags.

Edit, also, that last picture is a big improvement on the others. The face looks much nicer. GGs.
The hands are still a bit small though (and that one on her hip is kind of... broken). If you're going for realistically sized hands, try to remember that you can cover your whole face with your hand.

 

[killercore007]

No problem with NSFW stuff here, just be sure to put it in [ spoiler] [/ spoiler] tags.

Oh really? Even if it pushes it a bit? Not saying it's pr0n, but I'm not sure...

Edit, also, that last picture is a big improvement on the others. The face looks much nicer. GGs.
The hands are still a bit small though (and that one on her hip is kind of... broken). If you're going for realistically sized hands, try to remember that you can cover your whole face with your hand.

Yeah, I seem to that with hands somehow, the small size that is, lol. As for the "broken" hand, maybe keep the position but changing the orientation could help.

btw, what about the face is nicer to you?

 

[Cellsai]

Oh really? Even if it pushes it a bit? Not saying it's pr0n, but I'm not sure...

btw, what about the face is nicer to you?

http://skullgirls.com/forums/index.php?threads/art-forum-rules.106/ Check the rules and see if yours is covered.

The face looks less like and egg with facial features painted on than your previous efforts. It looks like it's got depth to the features. Nose looks like it protrudes, eyes look like they're slightly sunken, etc.

 

[killercore007]

http://skullgirls.com/forums/index.php?threads/art-forum-rules.106/ Check the rules and see if yours is covered.

The face looks less like and egg with facial features painted on than your previous efforts. It looks like it's got depth to the features. Nose looks like it protrudes, eyes look like they're slightly sunken, etc.

Ah, I see.

EDIT: I did some checking of the forum art policies. Yeah, the pic I almost posted wouldn't be allowed as mearly a spoiler.

 

[killercore007]

Another thing, which was just finished today.

 

[killercore007]

Yeah, scrapping the animation project because truthfully, I'm in way over my head with it anyways.

Anyways, trying some new things with style techs.

Yeah, I know it isn't scanner quality, need to reconfigure it again before I can use it though.