So-naa: Fighting spirit! ( Update: 12/14/09)

[So-naa]

My first sketchbook. Starting with more recent things. May throw old things in too? I'm still going to school and working on art all the time. I still lack the fine skill of being able to relax more with painting. I mostly work on digital media but have done fine art. Oils and charcoal are my favorite mediums.
Also I'm a wimp, but I really do want to improve. My spirit animal is the tenacious snail.

Note: My early penname was "Coma" ( so those pieces are quite old usually).

Below is a picture of Donia I painted using a photo reference of her face( study of her face using observation) . The coloring is different because I didn't direct sample from the picture >.< So It's not perfect or anything..

[bharat]

cool ....art tools....!

[So-naa]

I had a color pencil version, but the original got mussed up during a move and I haven't seen it since. I only had pencil version because we had to take a picture of it for class or something of the sort. So here's an oldie. We had an assignment to create our own creature. ( I also did one of him on a thumb like really tiny guy, but that paper died a horrible death too.)

[So-naa]

This was a figure study, but I was trying to be brief and not linger. So very quick with water graphite. Face was kinda wonky, but I lost control of the media. I had a happy accident and a non-happy accident. I am water-based media handicapped.

[bharat]

good one....dear...do water colour practise.....4 improvement n control.
So-naa daily sketching is the key of success,i like cartoons n all, so it's natural....good luck...!

[Janos]

Totally didn't get your introduction to the thread but I love nonsense (of it wasn't supposed to be nonsense, I'm sorry) so all is good.
I actually like the watercolour piece, more control would be great though. The cat is nice, too, reminds me of some old book illustrations about monsters. The digital is nice as well, not as much depth though. Nice variety.

Cheers

[So-naa]

How do I improve water colors? I think it's been hard to find people who do them. All my teachers teach ink or dry medias or paints.. So watercolors are my weak spot. Any tutorials or resources you could pop my way. I saw there was a huge forum dedicated to that, but I barely got through a couple threads XD

[So-naa]

Totally didn't get your introduction to the thread but I love nonsense (of it wasn't supposed to be nonsense, I'm sorry) so all is good.
I actually like the watercolour piece, more control would be great though. The cat is nice, too, reminds me of some old book illustrations about monsters. The digital is nice as well, not as much depth though. Nice variety.

Cheers



Hi ! I appreciate the looksee. It's a movie I watched about couer d'laine indians and more so about two boys who go on a journey to retrieve one boy's father's ashes. A movie about learning to forgive someone or accept your situation. The movie is called Smoke Signals. It's very quirky and funny and emotional.
Smoke Signals Trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-XJjwiQJGY)

Anyways to the arts! I was curious what gave my traditional works more depth? Is it preference in traditional media? Is it texture? Values? :) Thanks so much again!

[AustenFM]

Hey there! Glad to see you made a sketchbook here, you'll be improving faster than you can imagine if you stick around!

I wish there was more stuff to look at in here though, go ahead and post some of your old works if you don't have anything new to show, that way we can get a better idea of what your strengths and weaknesses are.

Also lets see some figure drawings and some anatomical studies as well, those are a must if you plan on getting better.

Cant wait to see some more from you

[So-naa]

Thanks Austen! I finally got enough guts, because I was looking at how wonderful people are here and helpful<3 I really want to improve. Sadly I've been at this for at least 5 years seriously? And drawing for 16 years hobby? I'm pressing harder to improve now and feel a fire burning in me to do art!

[So-naa]

Sorry I don't have a larger size. This is incredibly old and the original is probably lost somewhere.. These are times when I'm glad for digital media? You'll see my ever ongoing struggle with hands... the national pasttime.

[destinyapocalypse]

u have too good jobs i want see more your jobs

keep it up

[So-naa]

I kinda realized, looking at other sketchbooks that I could put more than one artwork. I'm going to put two! One is a very old one, the unicorn girl and the other one is my assignment in water graphite(snail brush). I didn't fill out his environment because I don't want my teacher to say I spent too much time on environment when it's really about the snail.

[Philipp Scherer]

wow, you´re drawing alot-and it looks quite good, keep it up.
and i rally like the verdict at the beginning

[Zenobia]

Very nice so far. You have great character designs. Everything seems to have a lot of personality and life to it.
Personally I'd like to see more of the colored stuff, you're very good at those!
Keep it up! :)

[So-naa]

This is my new color work. A month or so ago completed.
Digital.

Girl in vines was several months ago. I tried to create an environment. I'm going to have to practice landscapes. I'm people crazy, so I've neglected environments.

[Emil_J.]

very nice digitals!

The introduction to this thread was a bit ..... weird though :P

remember to do many many updates :)

[So-naa]

very nice digitals!

The introduction to this thread was a bit ..... weird though :P

remember to do many many updates :)

Is it the quote about fire and ash? XD I was thinking I was like that as an artist.. burning it up or falling apart..
Thanks for looking though!!

[So-naa]

These are both many many months old. Maybe even a year old.
Baby bloomer is for someone who was having a baby. It's a very general idea, just graphite.
The other one was the fallen star from the book neil gaiman wrote. I thought about how the witches talked about eating the hearts of fallen stars and this girl popped up in my drawings. This was way before the movie came out, so there's no connection really to the movie to this piece.

[So-naa]

( Attachment didn't make it in the post above )

[So-naa]

One is a sketch I never finished, the raven folk. I saw her a shaman with intense cleverness.
The other is a Naga female. She was supposed to be holding something and kind of casting it down on someone or something.

These are both unfinished and a possible revisit.

[So-naa]

Was going to have a bear backpack but I didn't like how it turned out..

[So-naa]

Sunflower girl

[So-naa]

Hey~ Looks like you've got a great start in PS. You registered in 2005, so I guess you had all that time to work on your digital hunh? LOL jk I lurked here a long time before I joined.

Post some of your traditional stuff. Maybe some studies or charcoals? I'll subscribe to this thread and come back in the future. Good luck in school.


I have a mix of traditional and digital. So far all my traditionals are pencil here ( figuring out how to get my charcoal up ( all large pieces and one is in the gallery right now..). None of my works are PS, there's a strange distortion at different sizes for ps, so I use either open canvas or SAI. In my earliest days I used oekakis and paintchat.
I do have a couple ps pieces though. And I'm considering using it? I see there's a lot of cool stuff to be had with brushes and painting. I have to go check out some CA tutorials ^^

2005?? really?? Holy crud. Well I think I first came here to ask about tablets or tablet pcs or something. Oh and about Opencanvas / jtablet working when I first got vista. I never ever thought I'd put my stuff up on here.

This year I thought, why not? There's tons of inspiring sketchbooks here. I wanted to be part of an art community and get that useful critique with what doesn't work and what does work! :) Also I had a revolution 3 years ago through digital media. I think it's because it's so free and loose, I'm not worried about running out of a media or going to far, because I can go back. LOL. I still do charcoal though. My most recent works dating about 3 weeks ago.

Anyways I look forward to seeing you!! :)

[Icedearth15876]

Great work so far, keep up the good work.

[So-naa]

This is Bess's character, Évangeline . I was inspired about her way before this, so a torrent of love for this character came out in this commission! <3 Sometimes that can happen hehe.

Évangeline © Bess

[So-naa]

If you want a real challenge, you can join a sketch group. They will help encourage you to post. But I don't know how serious it is to you. I just like your style, I think you continue posting here! It took me a little while longer to get more serious with digital art until college. But yeah, good times good times. Check out my sketchbook and others sometime, and leave comments! They will sometimes comment back and who knows, you might get regulars that way, it will help encourage you.

Unfortunately I don't think I have the time between school and working full time. But I think my rapid illustration class will be a blast! I think it'll almost be like being in a sketch group ^^

[So-naa]

Great work so far, keep up the good work.

Thanks:)

[So-naa]

Character® Doctor Funkenstein

I'm not very hot with weapons. Will practice. I love keyswords in games but drawing them can be a pain. o.o

[So-naa]

Sketch update! :) ( More like doodle)

[So-naa]

Here's the very first stirrings of a picture I'll be starting o.o It's very ugly but I thought it was important to put it. So people know how bad I am at sketching XD
Anyways it's kind of abhorsen theme. ^^ So if it looks familiar with bells and all, that's why. It's my representational character pretty much doing cosplay LOL.

[So-naa]

My character as a frog in frogger. Another theme picture:)
Unfortunately I did not use any refs, but painting from memory. I might have to go back for the little frog leggies. But I really want to just hint at frogs o.o This will be cartoony rather than realism. I do want to fix the face though. It's very flat.. o.o Any suggestions would be welcome! I have to finish by this weekend!

[So-naa]

Hey Xana,
Thanks for taking a look. I'm curious if that's for everything or mostly for the frog person? The frog person has no lighting quite yet, but I'll work on making everything more defined and darker. Also maybe it'll help when I add highlights? I've only got some shadow and middle tones?

I deeply appreciate the critique. I do have a major problem with going darker and getting better contrast. In some ways, digital media is great because you can fine tune levels and things.. but in traditional media I have to punch up contrast >.<!!

[JailHouseRock2]

I dig your work:)

[So-naa]

JailHouseRock♥ Thanks!

[So-naa]

Finished! My froggy girl. It's not as complete as I could go, but it was kinda due today and it's kinda just for fun ^^

[So-naa]

Xana♥ I know people can have different perspectives or likes & dislikes ( more than being wrong, might be a different point of view). Like I thought my proff didn't understand what direction I was going in because she loves ink and clear defined lines.. but in her most recent lesson, I saw I could still glean valuable information no matter where she was coming from on her perspective.

I guess the main thing is I didn't understand what you are trying to tell me exactly? I'm still not completely sure either...
Texture is like what it might feel like, translated to visual sensation.
While gradient is consisting of two or more colors blending together.
And the lighter shadows are actually reflected light, rather than being farther away? A lot of your examples have reflected light.

I'm guessing from what you are saying that the weapons are kind of sucky. I didn't completely understand how they were supposed to be because someone described them of what they wanted. I could of probably went darker on the shadows on both weapons to emphasize what they are?

Also did that apply to the frogger one as well? o.o I wanted to keep it a bit more cartoony, because I had painted another one with some stronger shadow and form, it came out looking like hercules frog hehe.

I appreciate all your advice. I'm sorry I'm not completely understanding all of it, but please don't feel that I'm rejecting it or anything. *hug*

[So-naa]

Oh I was reading your link more in depth.. Was it that I had too many soft transitions and need harder planes of light&shadow without transitions between them? :)
Thanks for the link btw.

[So-naa]

You've seen my unicorn girl. This one is a commission for a friend of mine.. Her unicorn girl!

WORK IN PROGRESS

[So-naa]

Color pencil media.
Face is being very problematic. But it's hard to correct mistakes in color pencil. I'm hoping to shape her a bit better. Work in Progress if you couldn't tell. I only get about 2 or so hours a day to work on it and it will have to be finished by Friday.

[Strela]

Great stuff. My favorite one is the watercolor-looking nude study on the first page. I like your stylization and the fact that it's not heavily based on anime, a look I am coming to despise. I love the Frogger one too, great energy there.

[So-naa]

Thanks:) Oddly enough someone said it looked anime lol! Really I like to get closer to realism and stay in the realm of cartooning. I felt like I wasn't achieving that before, but your comments give me confidence that maybe I'm really coming into my own style? :) Glad you like the frogger!! :)

[So-naa]

Just so I don't make unnecessary posts, I'm going to fit an update with and update!
One I'm going to Korea hopefully the end of May *crosses fingers* and I got a Moleskine sketchbook that I'm going to draw the heck out of stuff when I go there! I don't know if I'll be successful in keeping my own regiment! But I'll try.
Also here is my completed project in color pencil. I made a mistake and did it on the rough side, causing a lot of holes in the picture >.<;;

[So-naa]

Arcade type character for someone's RP ^^
I think I used Sai for this one. I know the arcade machine is totally unrealistic >.<;; But I didn't want to put a lot of detail in it.

[So-naa]

This is from an rp style forum. Commission again ^^ A little older.

[So-naa]

More cartoony stuff for a friend!

[DARAF]

Your female characters are very cute. Keep up the good work.

[So-naa]

Your female characters are very cute. Keep up the good work.

Thanks:)

[juicy]

your figure drawing sketch is really awesome! also, digitally, you are
doing very well. keep up the good work!

[So-naa]

your figure drawing sketch is really awesome! also, digitally, you are
doing very well. keep up the good work!

Thanks Juicy! I like figures the most.. But I'll try to be practicing other things soon. Especially when and if I go to Korea I'll totally sketch it up :)

[Pseudocognition]

Waah yay gaia commissions, that brings back memories haha. It's shameful that I know the names of the items... oh man.

I love your COLLOOOOrssS! So bright and so much fun. <3 I know that gaia commishes are great for practicing your style but don't forget about building a solid foundation. One way to do both at the same time would be to find reference photos for the commission, draw from them to absorb all the goodies the pic has to offer, and then spice it up to make it more personal.

Keep it up!

[Jho]

Great stuff.
Don't know if anyone else has already suggested this, but I noticed you said you have had some problems with contrast, or?
Just occurred to me you might want to try painting against a colored background, not white...
Anyways, looking really good.

[So-naa]

Waah yay gaia commissions, that brings back memories haha. It's shameful that I know the names of the items... oh man.

I love your COLLOOOOrssS! So bright and so much fun. <3 I know that gaia commishes are great for practicing your style but don't forget about building a solid foundation. One way to do both at the same time would be to find reference photos for the commission, draw from them to absorb all the goodies the pic has to offer, and then spice it up to make it more personal.

Keep it up!

They are a great motivation. I want to get good enough where people barely recognize where it's from. I saw one artist who was like that.. It's like reinventing the wheel to the point everyone thinks it's your own invention haha:) These are fairly old, but I thought I'd put everything up and I still do these sometimes, but I like doing oc's a lot. If you look up further, the unicorn girl is an oc for a friend. And further before that is one of her characters I think too. It's the large plant and the girl.

:bashful:I do use reference. But my style does look not very realistic o.o? I don't combine realism and cartoon very well. It's either one or the other. >.<;; I'll practice it more in the future. I guess I need to put more figure studies? I just hate dragging out my giant paper LOL.

Thanks for looking <3<3

[So-naa]

Great stuff.
Don't know if anyone else has already suggested this, but I noticed you said you have had some problems with contrast, or?
Just occurred to me you might want to try painting against a colored background, not white...
Anyways, looking really good.


Thanks for the advice. I think also when I get better at backgrounds those may lend to my characters too :)
Thanks again !

[So-naa]

Quicky commission thing. I made them naked under the clouds for practice ( literally naked with all parts and then put clouds on top)

[So-naa]

First one is two original characters I drew for a contest. I am terrible at guys.. I am still practicing men. Also the anatomy was weird on them. This is an older piece. I did create the girl's 'dress.' As you can see I'm not a fashion person lol.

Second piece is Damey. That's also older piece. :)

[So-naa]

Old piece - My unicorn girl named Sonaa :) I would like to translate her to a more realistic style possibly in the future.

[mike butkus]

Terrific character design.

[ErikStorstein]

This is great So-Naa, I just want to see more :D

I used to be on Gaia, but then my account got banned for cheating xD I never did cheat though, silly site. Oh well, was probably for the best :D

[So-naa]

Terrific character design.

Thanks!! :)

[So-naa]

This is great So-Naa, I just want to see more :D

I used to be on Gaia, but then my account got banned for cheating xD I never did cheat though, silly site. Oh well, was probably for the best :D

Thanks Zil! I love your sketchbook<3

I'm still on Gaia XD It gives me motivation to go do random things. For some reason my general imagination is a bit dried up. I started to take classes again and I had to take a lower lvl class, but so far it's been really getting my brain going >.< I never realized your imagination needs a lot of exercise too!!

[So-naa]

WIP

Regal, showing little emotion...

[So-naa]

Someone's character with my interpretation of basic elements. I made her very pale. I think I could vary more colors and helped the perspective a little more, but I'm very happy with deeper shadows and also her nose :)

[Strela]

You need to sell the eyes better on that last one-- they look flat. I think the problem is that there is too little value in the pupils, and I don't really know about the highlight across the low part of the eye-- why would it be there if the face is not bottomlit? BTW I love your "from reference" painting of the girl's face lying on her side with the pink lip gloss. I was thinking what an extraordinarily complex surface glossed lips like that are. You've got the surface of the gloss (which itself may be wet from being licked), then you've got the interior of the gloss and internal reflections there, then you've got the incredibly convoluted surface of the lip itself, and then under that you have subsurface scattering. Eyes are kind of the same I think, and to make matters worse we are hardwired to see significance in eyes. That may be why it's so difficult to draw them convincingly.

Let's see some more!

[Dahami]

More naga updates please. I love reptilian women. :)

[So-naa]

You need to sell the eyes better on that last one-- they look flat. I think the problem is that there is too little value in the pupils, and I don't really know about the highlight across the low part of the eye-- why would it be there if the face is not bottomlit? BTW I love your "from reference" painting of the girl's face lying on her side with the pink lip gloss. I was thinking what an extraordinarily complex surface glossed lips like that are. You've got the surface of the gloss (which itself may be wet from being licked), then you've got the interior of the gloss and internal reflections there, then you've got the incredibly convoluted surface of the lip itself, and then under that you have subsurface scattering. Eyes are kind of the same I think, and to make matters worse we are hardwired to see significance in eyes. That may be why it's so difficult to draw them convincingly.

Let's see some more!

I really see what you are saying on that.. I didn't even think of it not being lit from below o.o;; I'm about to put up another update with below lighting.. And the lighting of the eyes make more sense o.o;;
As for convincing of the eye, I was trying to make it flat and stylized a bit more on that one, but I did get the lighting totally wrong. I think that's what really bugged me about that.. Hm.. You gave me a lot to think about. Also I have a mega hard time painting realistically with totally fantastic characters.

For the lady on her side.. Were you trying to say the eye was flat or is doing well like the lips? I added extra highlighting to the lady on her side because there was no highlighting happening..

Please come back and give me more critique!! I really had to look at that last one again due to your keen observations!!

[So-naa]

More naga updates please. I love reptilian women. :)

:) I'll try. It's been a while since I've done many nagas ^^

[So-naa]

Kind of a fan art with my character for Abhorsen ( kinda thinking of it playing dress up with my character).

This is WIP. I know there are some major problems with the perspective but I'm having horrible time of correcting them. If you go to page two, you will see the original sketch. For some reason the painting will depart from the sketch a whole lot. In this case it's not neccissarily good because things became skewed more straight on while other things stayed 3/4 view. I may not be able to correct it and may go on painting. But it's something I have to watch out on.

[JailHouseRock2]

Oh I've said it before I know, but I really love your character design style!

Saying that I think some anatomy studies and life drawing would help ge you to the next level. But keep up the imagination stuff too!

Thanks for dropping by my thread too, really appreciated!

Seeya,
matt

[So-naa]

Oh I've said it before I know, but I really love your character design style!

Saying that I think some anatomy studies and life drawing would help ge you to the next level. But keep up the imagination stuff too!

Thanks for dropping by my thread too, really appreciated!

Seeya,
matt



>.< Eee I'm so appreciative of you coming by. Your art is where I want to be!! So much more imaginative and spontaneous feeling.. T__T;; *cling*

Ah I have done that T__T;; I've taken a lot of formal classes and TAed for a class. My anatomy and life drawings always come out great( so I was told.. ). But when I try to transfer them to fantasy they totally fall apart.. I still haven't figured how to combine my 'style' with the knowledge I have gleaned.

I will however work on getting my life study drawings up. They are just stupidly big so I can't scan them and I'm so lazy taking a picture lol.

By the way I have subscribed to your thread. You might get some posts about your old work as I work through your sketchbook:) Your new stuff is incredible!

Oh yah what's terrible about that current work is the fact it was a 3/4 view and when I painted it became more and more straight on. I almost want to trash it, but if I don't continue I'll get in the bad habit of giving up and never having completed works.. Help! >.<!!

Thanks always for coming by!! :)

[vardoburrito]

[The pink lips got me. :P] I wish you hadn't gotten lazy on her eyebrow. :) Please please fix it.
I like pillow talk too. Any piece that has a character in deep thought hits me in the heart.
(AndIshedatear)Anyway.
I love the the finishes on a few of them. Something I'm struggling to do.

Keep up the studies.

[So-naa]

[The pink lips got me. :P] I wish you hadn't gotten lazy on her eyebrow. :) Please please fix it.
I like pillow talk too. Any piece that has a character in deep thought hits me in the heart.
(AndIshedatear)Anyway.
I love the the finishes on a few of them. Something I'm struggling to do.

Keep up the studies.


o.o Who's eyebrow? The first picture?

Thanks :) Very cool of you to look.

[spaztastic]

hmm I thought for certain that I posted last time I visited. rats. well your stuff rocks and I love the anime and manga inspired effect of your style. great work and i love your coloring techniques. 5*

[Pigeonkill]

You have a lot of cute illustrations.

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=669090&stc=1&d=1242110130

Her eyes seem a bit flat to me, as if they were painted on a embossed surface.

[BlackDelphin]

ooh i so totally love the colours you use!! and on the first page, i just love that last fairy! the legs and the way you painted them in is just fabulous!!

and as you go, especially while i was looking at the first drawing on the 3rd page, i realized how much better you got with folds and realising that smooth look, particularly with hair! :D

keep going dear!!
you're great!

[My57]

nice little drawing style you got going on. Painting is pretty good as well, i would recommend more life studies though for it.

[Jamie Romoser]

Nice sketchbook you have going here i like your clean style very comftorable to the eyes.
Looking forward to seeing more :rocker:

[So-naa]

This is a Commission for someone who has a character in City of Heroes. He is Supermaorifulla on DA. :) Took a mega long time to complete. I actually did a background of some sorts o.o Craziness!

[So-naa]

<3 My character mixed with a vinyl toy known as cactus friends Carina

[AmontilladoAg]

Diggin' your characters.. very nice! :meow:

I really liked the gecko kitteh on the first page -- can't wait to see more creatures :D

[dU5K]

great work. i love the lips on your first post.. they're so... juicy :) keep up the work

[Jizu]

nice works! a lil bit too female to me but thats becouse im a guy XD ... every guy want to see big boobs, tight ass and nice hips ^^ XD sorry for that ^^

keep up the good work! youve done a good job on them!

[So-naa]

lol Too female? What do you mean Jizu??
Thanks for looking!

[destinyapocalypse]

nice jobsss

[So-naa]

nice jobsss


Thanks!

[So-naa]

This is a chocolate girl with some cherry <3 From an online forum done in photoshop! o.o

I'm trying new ways of doing art o.o I hope some people could give me insight on which of my styles works best? :)

[miycko]

I like your female characters, they're very pretty, especially the vine girl & your latest upload. your colouring is getting better, looking forward to seeing more :)

[So-naa]

Thanks! I'm appreciating the comment about my style<3

[So-naa]

Just putting up a progress of a pic I'm working on. I've changed some anatomy things because they weren't right. And I don't do well on guys but I'm trying >.<

[So-naa]

Daring rescue! Photoshop, commission. Lighting is not all the way right to conditions because I didn't want a back lighting

[So-naa]

Headshot photoshop

[So-naa]

My first time using my tablet pc in figure drawing. How crazy huh?? I never imagined I could use a piece of machinery in figure drawing ( used to chalk and charcoal and traditional methods).

btw I got that HP tx2513cl tablet pc. Refurbished. Had issues with the pen, but got a brand new one from HP.. Works awsome! Using it in class :)

[Jesus Masochist]

Dude your coloring technique is godly

[MoKhi]

I think I know you from gaia. I saw you in an auction not too long ago. Man your imporving fast. Last time I saw you you had just done the girl with the vines by the tree. You've gotten really good at cg'ing and compositions.
I hope you post more soon.

[So-naa]

Thanks for the comments.
<3 I've taken some more figure drawing classes since then. Hopefully composition will become more realistic.

[MoKhi]

Yes, I'm still on gaia, but I only have an auction now and again. I'm usually really busy with school work.
I still think doing commissions on there is a great thing for improving, because you get real feed back by how much people are willing to pay and how many commissions you can get. And I find it forces me to keep working.

[So-naa]

Sketching to practice " Force" type drawing... I don't knwo if it's working that well but I'll keep practicing.

[MoKhi]

What is force type drawing? Anyway, it makes for some nice poses and good compositions.

I really like the cat lizard on the front page. I keep coming back to look at it some more.

For the brown sketches in my sb I used some old fast food bags, paper bags, and some of the think cardboard that the mail room used to keep letters and papers un wrinkled (That's where I worked during the summer)

The inspiration was, well, extreme boredom. I worked on a conveyor belt making sure envelopes were sealed. = _ = Boring just to think about. I used some photos (For the bear, lol) and mostly trying to keep my mind occupied with anything that popped into it. Food, animals, oc's, facial features of my friends, stories, movies, some dreams I had. I wish I could sketch that much all the time.

Sorry, that became a ramble.

[MoKhi]

Oh, sorry. I forgot to answer that one. I work in photoshop, but there are a few acrylic paintings and water colors in my sb.

I keep them all together in a box. Storage is a problem, the papers pile up fast and I don't know what to do with them. I hate to throw sketches out.

I don't know if I want to show you my older stuff... It's embarrassing.... Fine, I'll post some stuff in my sketch book. I feel like I shouldn't post my shit here.

I'm 20, when I was 12 I was really into drawing for a year, and then again from 15 on, I think. Gosh, it's been a long time. I go to university (Fine arts) full time, and I pick up commissions when I can. My school doesn't teach me a lot about illustration, so I have to keep pushing myself on my own time too.

Getting more expressive and confident lines is something that you'll get as you keep sketching. You should think about your line quality too, because it helps things look expressive when you can use fewer lines. I worked with ball point pens for a while and that really pushed me to use my lines well. (Almost all the drawings on brown paper are done in pen.) You'll get it.

Sure, we can do an art trade. That would be fun!

[MoKhi]

Well, I think the only real difference is in patronage. Will illustration they pay you and you make the art, in fine arts you make the work and hope they pay you. But there's also a lot of feeling in Fine arts that things shouldn't be "pretty" and stylization in faces is looked down on unless it make them more ugly or gritty.

Oh, I think I'm starting to understand force drawing. I try to do that when life drawing too but thickening the lines that are away form the light source and the ones that are really important.

You could draw me a cat lizard?! Or one of my oc's, if you don't want to.

[So-naa]

Came out a bit small but the file size wouldn't go down >.<

[So-naa]

Missing depth but here's a quicky I did for a theme. Floating arm on the right. Sucks >.< Maybe shadow deeping? I think there's anatomy isssue.

[Magnatude]

You have some really good talent with your Cartoony digital's. Daring Rescue, I feel the male should have been smaller or perhaps the damsel needs to be a little bigger.
Your sketches just above are really great!

Keep with the digital, you have a good talent with it so far (plus its easier to adjust and rework... not like color pencils... I used to do color pencil too, lol). I like the expressions you have with digital, sexy-cute, very charming look in your art.

[So-naa]

mouse in a cup for class project having to do with alice in wonderland. This is traditional media scratchboard

[Magnatude]

Missing depth but here's a quicky I did for a theme. Floating arm on the right. Sucks >.< Maybe shadow deeping? I think there's anatomy isssue.


Yeah, patience!!!!
Always check your art as its being created, give it a good look over when roughing it out. Correct those mistakes before you get too far...

I have this SB bookmarked, seriously I like some of your work here.

[JailHouseRock2]

Such good updates So-naa, really cool to look through!

Thanks so much for the sb visit too, appreciated!
matt

[MoKhi]

Great updates Naa! Even thought it is a bit flat, the green haired one looks pretty great. I like what you did with the hands and skin tone.
Why is the one of tilty so small?

[So-naa]

Magnatude <3 Thanks I appreciate your look-see. I don't think I ever commented on your critique about the guy being pretty large. I guess I was aiming for petiteness of the girl, but I went too far? Ratio of couples are ackward I think.. Definitely something I need to work on. You know I realized there aren't a lot of couple figure drawing sessions? o.o Interesting to think about.
I guess I could fix her arm even now, but sometimes I get a feeling where I just don't want to continue any further with something. Some paintings I leave for a while and will continue to fix things. I have that issue with faces sometimes. I just did that painting in probably an hour or so. I never went back, but noticed the botched arm when I posted on conceptart. But like I said what's really nice is you can pretty much change anything at any time or any stage of your digital art. Another reason I love oil painting, another moveable medium that lasts wet for a very long time.

Matt <3 Thanks! I love your SB too. You are too too incredible. I hope to attain such skill!! o.o *CLING*

Mohki <3 Hiii I missed you! I'm going to answer your question in your thread!! :)

[ashess]

hi there So-naa;
wow, I leaved through your sketchbook and I'm quite impressed. lovely ideas, and you have pretty good anatomy grasp. there's one thing I'd like to point out, however. you might have already heard this before, or even noticed it. all the body parts you draw are good, but they don't quite fit together. before finishing a sketch, you might want to picture the connection parts naked, and draw in the directions, to check.
alright. that's a little unclear, so I'm doing a sketchup to show what I mean.
this is a bit of a weakness of my own, so bear with me; it's not perfect. but it does show some of the difficulties of your drawing. you shouldn't leave your sketching phase until such issues are resolved.
observe, the angles and elbow's directions cannot be matched keeping in mind the upper arm is an un-bending un-changing 'box' shape.
841287

[So-naa]

hi there So-naa;
wow, I leaved through your sketchbook and I'm quite impressed. lovely ideas, and you have pretty good anatomy grasp. there's one thing I'd like to point out, however. you might have already heard this before, or even noticed it. all the body parts you draw are good, but they don't quite fit together. before finishing a sketch, you might want to picture the connection parts naked, and draw in the directions, to check.
alright. that's a little unclear, so I'm doing a sketchup to show what I mean.
this is a bit of a weakness of my own, so bear with me; it's not perfect. but it does show some of the difficulties of your drawing. you shouldn't leave your sketching phase until such issues are resolved.
observe, the angles and elbow's directions cannot be matched keeping in mind the upper arm is an un-bending un-changing 'box' shape.
841287

Hiii! Thanks for visiting my sketchbook and critiquing! We always gain so much mental perspective with more eyes to see things.
Actually no one has told me that before... So dunno?
I draw skeletons but I don't use cubes because they come out very stiff and lifeless? I use circular or use reference materials to get realistic views? This particular drawing was on the fly and I know the arm on that side is messed up, possibly because I rotated it so it made it so it has to be outward instead of inward?
I didn't understand your redlining or what you were trying to explain.. ^^;;
I didn't really have much of a sketch phase, I went to quick paint. Also usually my sketches totally transform during painting because the 3d element changes everything, when trying to fit parts together.. ^^;
Thanks again for your critique ^^
Here's kind of what I was doing: referencey (http://www1.istockphoto.com/file_thumbview_approve/1875723/2/istockphoto_1875723_happy_girl_drinking_beer.jpg)
Shoulder/head reference (http://www.flickr.com/photos/naiaforever/402827402/)

[MoKhi]

Hi, thanks for always coming into my sketch book *___ * I'm not very good at redlining, because I almost never do it, but if you tell me which ones you want done I'll give it a shot for you?

[MoKhi]

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a174/avicanto/Untitled-1-19.jpg

Alright, so I did this one because it's such a cool image with a few problems in the layout stage that really throw it off.
The big one is that he seems to be carting around a bag of feathers. She's just floating there. even if she only weighed 100lbs she'd still need to be supported a hellofalot more.

So the chest and the hips are brought back, and his hand wraps around her waist to rest flat against her stomach. I've also got her arm around his neck, and the other one either over her chest or thrown back behind her for effect. That ought to support her, so on to the expression,

The image should be really dynamic but I find the characters come out a bit still. I think it's to do with her cucumber facial expression, he has a bit more character (Still a very calm one, but I get the impression he does this a lot), but she looks way to blazer to be swinging around up there so slap on an open mouth, or some wide eyes, or make her look a little scared of the height. Also, i think that rope needs some tension for him to be hanging on it.

You did a really good job on the color application, but you need a bit more contrast in his black clothing. I love her skirts too. Your getting really good fold variation in the front part of the skirt although it gets too uniform at the back, it should be going crazy in the wind or maybe flipping up a little?

Another thing is to throw some touches of color in that white, white tends to pick colors from around it, so try putting some touches of yellow and light blue from the sky and a bit of purple in the shadow to make them pop.

I love that gold, did you use the Hanagumori tutorial for it?

Great outfit, great colors, great idea, great product. I'm sorry, I feel like I said too many criticisms when I really like this image.

Ps, he has no left leg, I didn't notice until after I did the red over.

[So-naa]

HI MoK!! Thanks <3 I thought you said you weren't good at this ?? XD
It actually got more messed up as I painted rather than in layout.. I realized through your redlining that I lost the pressure on the rope when I painted. It's more like a twisty pole >.< Dang.. Oh and he doesn't have a left leg because it's hidden behind her, the only way to be able to see it is if it's up on the ledge or stiff legged like the right side..
I'm thinking I could go back and do the highlighting of the colors on the dress of the sky.

I guess Daring rescue was a bad title? I was thinking more of a gentle drop off.. Kinda like peterpan bringing wendy back in the wee hours to her window.. That's why they are so serene.. and her like a feather.. kinda like she's bouyed by fairy dust >.< So I think the title is terribly misleading..
I'm working on composition too hehe:)

[ashess]

hi So-naa.
sorry if I wasnt too clear.
what I was trying to show is connected to what mokhi is saying. the reason I used sqaures is, it helps a lot more when trying to figure directions then spheres. you see, a ball-shape doesnt have a direction. it is just round, every what way you look at it. but a box looks different from a different angle. which is why it is a lot more useful for putting bodyparts together. also, I used that particular drawing because I liked it, but the same goes for almost all your drawings. take the daring rescue for instance. the man especially, how do his arms attach to his chest? what shape and volume does his chest have? it looks flat now, exactly because you can't tell where the box shapes go.

[So-naa]

hi So-naa.
sorry if I wasnt too clear.
what I was trying to show is connected to what mokhi is saying. the reason I used sqaures is, it helps a lot more when trying to figure directions then spheres. you see, a ball-shape doesnt have a direction. it is just round, every what way you look at it. but a box looks different from a different angle. which is why it is a lot more useful for putting bodyparts together. also, I used that particular drawing because I liked it, but the same goes for almost all your drawings. take the daring rescue for instance. the man especially, how do his arms attach to his chest? what shape and volume does his chest have? it looks flat now, exactly because you can't tell where the box shapes go.


Hm actually Mokhi has a whole different point. She is talking about how the picture doesn't deal with gravity or the weight of the girl. Also that the expressions don't match a daring escape lol. Also about reflected light on her dress from the sky behind them ^^ Also that the girl was too short compared to the man.

Gleaning from your post ( that's why I was kind of confused) is you are talking about body parts fitting together? I draw my bodies before I put clothes on, so it isn't that. And I don't use cubes because they don't describe the body at all. Circles actually show direction and emulate flesh. Human's bodies aren't perfect cubes. I think it just makes the body like a robot with stiff joints. Now a person could do perspective type drawings with cubes.. But I think again it stiffens up your drawings. Circles and curves are more natural to the joints and parts of the human form.

I recommend this book : Force: Dynamic figure drawing sold at Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/Force-Dynamic-Drawing-Animators-Second/dp/0240808452/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1260047205&sr=8-1)

He shows how there is a rhythm to the body when you draw. A square kills the dynamic fluidity of the body, because it's lines are parallel.I guess circle is a misleading concept. More like circular shapes? Curvy shapes?

Anyways I think people have a different method of working. For me, it's to learn the human shape through figure drawing. Squares tighten up my forms and are misleading. I want to loosen up my art, so I can do speed painting and things like that ^^ Also circular creates beautiful female forms >.<

Here's a perfect example in this tutorial, showing circular method( like what I was trying to say but maybe failing at saying)?
Tutorial here at conceptart! (http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=135935)

Anyways I don't want you to think I'm ungrateful or anything. I always appreciate people taking the time to critique my art. I just still didn't understand what you were trying to say about the figure? And why you see my figures as having seperate parts? like a doll? I draw it all together, it's not a seperate put on an arm or leg here type of thing.. I draw it altogether or else it wouldn't fit together? So I'm just still very confused at what you are trying to say.

[MoKhi]

It's too bad, because daring rescue makes a much more exciting subject than a gentle drop, but oh well. They're really more things to think about for next time. Personally, I really hate revisiting images that I think are done.

It seems like the arms in your square paint over are quite large. I'm not sure I understand either, but then again, I've never looked into building bodies with shapes.

Naa, is Force drawing one of those 60's technical guides? (Our library is full of them so we might have it so I could look at it.)

ps. Hurry up and update! : P

[bagshotrow]

Hey there! Kudos for working so hard.

The only thing I can really talk about here is color. Your objects seem to be locked into their local color; they just get darker or lighter, they don't reflect anything around them. For instance, you've already been told about how white objects pick up and retransmit colors from the environment around them; in the daring rescue piece, her dress (and even his hat, perhaps) should be reflecting a bit more blue from the atmosphere. You *start* to deal with this on the underside of his boot--you just need to carry that through to the rest of his costume. Same thing for the angel with the white hair, and the girl drinking the milk; the colors are not bad, but they don't interact.

Love your figure studies; keep those up.

[krel]

Hey there! You need to work on your anatomy. And try not to bother with a "style" too much before youve got the basics down. Keep it up!

[Magnatude]

Mohki has some great ideas for your rescue image.
I think the way Mohki corrected it by lifting her head and creating more "flow" with her limbs would do great things for this picture.

And it really worked for making the characters more equal as subjects in the image.

I think you have a great grasp of anatomy, you just need the patience to correct it on the fly.

No one draws out a perfect anatomical subject in one stroke... (well sometimes it may happen) it always requires correcting and that's where most artist fall short is on their time taken to ensure the corrections are made when penciling out the rough (before reaching the point of no return, where the artist says "bah, its to late to go back now, I put too much time into coloring it).

Watching videos of other artists creating their works also help relate to the process of reworking composition and anatomy during the early stages.

Watching Gnomon's Comic Book Pencilling with David Finch (http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/store/product/79/Comic-Book-Pencilling-with-David-Finch) is a great example of an awesome artist going through the rigors of reworking and reworking their masterpiece... inspiring dedication to this process.

[So-naa]

New something!

[So-naa]

Hey there! Kudos for working so hard.

The only thing I can really talk about here is color. Your objects seem to be locked into their local color; they just get darker or lighter, they don't reflect anything around them. For instance, you've already been told about how white objects pick up and retransmit colors from the environment around them; in the daring rescue piece, her dress (and even his hat, perhaps) should be reflecting a bit more blue from the atmosphere. You *start* to deal with this on the underside of his boot--you just need to carry that through to the rest of his costume. Same thing for the angel with the white hair, and the girl drinking the milk; the colors are not bad, but they don't interact.

Love your figure studies; keep those up.

Yah I can totally see that.. A lot of times my subjects don't have backgrounds so I end up not doing any reflective light, because white doesn't work so hot for that.. So I just got out of the habit of doing it.. I may revisit that piece to add some reflective light.. Though I don't think I'll go back to redraw the picture >.<;; I'm ready to move on again and use what I learn from that piece to get better.

[So-naa]

Hey there! You need to work on your anatomy. And try not to bother with a "style" too much before youve got the basics down. Keep it up!

>.< I'm not 'trying' to make a style. That's just how I draw if I'm not drawing from life. Photos tend not to be the same either. Reference photos don't really come out realistic looking.. So they usually have my own twist.. Anyways I do figure drawing sessions about once a week. I have a ridiculous amount of charcoal drawings >.< Hopefully it starts to work for me where my anatomy looks decent? o.o;;

[So-naa]

Mohki has some great ideas for your rescue image.
I think the way Mohki corrected it by lifting her head and creating more "flow" with her limbs would do great things for this picture.

And it really worked for making the characters more equal as subjects in the image.

I think you have a great grasp of anatomy, you just need the patience to correct it on the fly.

No one draws out a perfect anatomical subject in one stroke... (well sometimes it may happen) it always requires correcting and that's where most artist fall short is on their time taken to ensure the corrections are made when penciling out the rough (before reaching the point of no return, where the artist says "bah, its to late to go back now, I put too much time into coloring it).

Watching videos of other artists creating their works also help relate to the process of reworking composition and anatomy during the early stages.

Watching Gnomon's Comic Book Pencilling with David Finch (http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/store/product/79/Comic-Book-Pencilling-with-David-Finch) is a great example of an awesome artist going through the rigors of reworking and reworking their masterpiece... inspiring dedication to this process.

Well it's just weird cause, I'll make a bunch of corrections in sketching stage, but as soon as I color it totally changes >.<:; Something about trying to transform the picture into color changes it a lot.. Even just refining a sketch, tightens my characters and shrink them >.<;; I love Gnomon!! It's so magical! They make it look so durn easy though.

edit: ugh I would never want to draw in pencil that completely. It's beautiful but not for me.. I'm more of a reducer type of person ( erasing charcoal or using oil paints)... It'd drive me nuts to do it all detailed in pencil. Though he does it incredibly beautifully!

This is more my style: Iaian McCaig (http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/store/product/159/Visual-Storytelling-with-Iain-McCaig-Vol.-2)
He gets enough sketchy information in and goes in to paint more texturing things without using so much lineage.

[MoKhi]

I love the update! The skin looks great and so does the dress. I think you need to work more on the gray your putting in for reflected light, it still needs to have shape, but it's looking so good ^__^ Great pose, great color, and your really improving your blending.

[MoKhi]

Ps: ignore people who tell you not to have a style. You are never too young to embrace the way you love to make art.
I like your style. I know it'll keep developing as you go. And of course you should keep doing boring studies and still lifes. Sorry for the random outbust, but it always pisses me off royal when people tell me not to have a style.

[JailHouseRock2]

Hell yeah thats the way to do it!

Just a quick thought:
As much as I do so love your style, I think some life or realistic photo studies would really help evolve your art. It will also be a great way to broaden your own library of reference images in your mind too. So find some reference images that inspire you and just do it!

Thank you so much for your wonderful comments in my thread too, so very appreciated:)
Take care now,
matt

[So-naa]

Mohki * I can see what you are saying about the grey. I will work on that more. Sometimes I hit it on the head and other times I"m just way off. I don't know if I completely understand it yet.. I get the general concept, but definitely need more practice..
Yah, the thing that weirds me out is the fact, I'm not "trying" to have a style. That's just how I create art? I don't conscious sit and think about how I'm going to have a style. Basically I just practice real life ( which people say to keep doing.. I think it's because I barely post those in this thread.. since they are hard to photograph.. usually more than 20 inches big?). Then those that you see, I draw from memory, of how a body should be with ficitional characters people have made up or pixel people.
Thanks for your support and awsome critiques. This is why I came to concept art :)
You're gentle enough not to turn me into a quivering mass of doubt, but strong enough to help me question myself about my methods! :)

Jailhouse * Thanks for visiting!! Your art is intensely amazing! <3 People have been saying study life or photo a lot. I think it's because my sketchbook lacks a lot of my studies. They are pretty much all done traditional methods that are kinda hard to digitize because I'd have to photograph them. I'll try to put them up some time.. Also I'm more an emotional artist than, recording something that looks photographic.. I can do that, but it's painful.. I wonder if I have to hunker down and do it? I just don't learn shapes by doing something photographically? >.< Does that sound weird? Anyways I rambled. Thanks again for looking!!

[So-naa]

My school work. This was my final to do alice in wonderland themed. This is done all by memory, not references or models. I wanted a fantasy style, so I know that the cat looks kinda uncatlike. I could of modeled it after a real cat but I chose not to. This was a lot of my self expression. Don't worry I will most likely hear the mounds of critique at school about it >.<;; I won't get away scott free from not doing realistic pictures.. Though if you have any color pencil tips, please let me know

[MoKhi]

I think the colors on this one are really good. The animals, especially the rabbit are working. There's something going on with Alice that's throwing me off. I think it's the thinness of her limbs. It doesn't match the solid forms and the realistic rabbits head.

The best advice that I've gotten for colored pencils is, to make them so thick you can't see the paper underneath, though, i like the way you did the rabbits head. Your using a really toothy paper, right? Try out using a smoother paper, and one that isn't slippery?

[So-naa]

Actually, the paper was terribly smooth with no tooth. I didn't like it without tooth. It didn't grab the pencil that much. The rabbit is probably the only and most realistic thing. I made up the cat head with no real cat reference ( wanted to make something fantastical that suggests cat) and alice is kinda far away so her figure is semi-bright but small and thinned out. Weirdly enough some of the areas where you think you can see paper is a thick coating of a pencil I have ( something like warm grey) that matched the paper.. So some spots aren't actually showing the paper.. it's the color pencil that looks like the paper.. I tried it out but maybe you found it not so successful.. :)