Q-gallery V

[qoxolg]

Laurel sketch! Hope this was what you had in mind.

This time I tried using perspective before drawing:

Perspective:


Circels (circles work great to get the human body in perspective, gives a good sense of volume):


Body sketch:


Final sketch:


Desired finish?

[FOkyasuta]

Who's zat?

[CupOfCoffee]

Damn, man, that looks so goddamn good I don't even know what to say. Wonderfully badass, and I love the pose/perspective slant. The way her hips kind of jut out perfectly captures that sort of cocksure (vj-sure?) "I think you have to die, but only because you're in my way" type attitude. I think it's suddenly time, at 1am, to start writing furiously on that next chapter

And you absolutely nailed the costume! Especially impressive considering I gave you such a barebones description of it. Get out of my head Charles!

Who's zat?

It's Laurel Grave, a character from my PSO fic (currently floating around somewhere on the first page).

I think for finishing, it would look coolest in this style. Thanks a million, again!

[qoxolg]

Thanks! I alway love designing stuff myself

anyway, lines:

[CupOfCoffee]

It looks awesome. How do you do the lines, anyway? Do you use the pen tool at all? It looks like some of those curves are almost too smooth to be strictly by hand, but at the same time a lot of the lines taper off at the ends, which isn't traditionally a pen tool thing.

[qoxolg]

No, it's not the pen tool. IMO pen tools are any other 'vector' tools completely ruin an artwork. Lines made by pen tools/illustrator always look boring computerist sterile/fake. I've tried it a few times and the result is very unsatisfying. The best thing about artwork, is that it's something unique made by a human being. It's the best to make it look not machine made, which is why I am into painting lately. While my digital paintings still look rough, it does contain energy and can tell a story on it's own. I liked the quote of one of a guy that does a lot of video tutorials, he says: When an artist sketches something, is when the most creative energy is put in the artwork. The more time you spend cleaning it up, the more energy of the original sketch gets lost, until you are left with a boring sterile artwork.

I think that is spot on and I notched that already quit some time ago, that when I lined my sketches, they always looked boring. Thats why I came up with another way to line my drawings. While it's still not where I want it, it at least looks somewhat decent.

So how do I do it?
1. STANDARD PHOTOSHOP BRUSH
2. Brush size is linked to the pen pressure of my tablet
3. High resolution (6000x8000)
4. Zoomed @ 100 or 200%
5. Almost all of the brushstrokes I make, or done in one single swift movement. This is essential to give the lines a feeling of movement. When you make up your lines out of multiple small strokes, or simply slowly trace your sketch, the linework will look slow, choppy, wobbly.
6. I make use of pen pressure. I begin with high pressure and end with low pressure for many of the lines.
7. Effort
8. Effort
9. Effort
10. Most people don't like lining, cause it takes a lot of time and it's kind of boring.

To give you an idea about the time I spend on the requests:
2 hours for planning, sketching, getting the design down, etc.
2 hours of lining
4 hours of coloring

A total of 8 hours for just a single character.

While it seems like a solid technique, it takes a lot of time.

Painting is a lot faster. Like my last one took 6-8 hours. If I would've done it with all the clean outlining it would've took me at least twice the time and the result would probably not be the same. Thats why I am trying to get better/faster at painting.

Anyway, you can check this speed up video to see how boring my lining technique really is (I am a bit faster these days (thanks to my comic project )).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLQt0A6Ike8

[CupOfCoffee]

Haha, cripes, that's a lot of control Z. That's the only way, though. I suppose there must be people out there that don't have shaky hands, but I ain't one of them, and I don't think I've ever met one, either. All the digital drawings I've ever done have been a nonstop explosion of control Z.

I don't think I myself could be so harsh on the pen tool, though. it's one of the main staples in graphic design, which is my artistic background. But I do agree that vectory stuff can occasionally look out of place in an otherwise non-vector piece.

Hugely looking forward to the finished drawing. And now back to writing.

[qoxolg]

It really depends on your goal though. Clean linework == lots of time, and the use of CTRL+Z is obvious. Most pro artists don't do clean lines though cause in the end most clients prefer getting multiple sketchy designs then one clean line drawing.

[qoxolg]

Laurel Grave
(click for high-res)

[CupOfCoffee]

Way, way beyond expectation. A+, gold star, and endless applause! (And as soon as I get to my computer, I'll post it showcase-style in the story thread.) Thanks again!