Brand New Here! Will Post Concept Art and Sketches!

[Dragon-Punch-Studio]

Hi there, ConceptArt community! I am a brand new member! I am actually a very nice person if you decide to get to know me. Most of you won't give a damn, but I have some concept art I would like you guys to take a look at, and of course, as an amateur artist who is working on character designs for his game, I have come here in search of criticism. Keep an open mind because my art style is primarily anime/cartoons. I do practice on my own, but not as much as I should be. Anyway, enough of this tom-foolery. It is TIME FOR ART!

[Black Spot]

Draw an apple.

[Hitsu//San]

Bottles and drapes too.

[Dragon-Punch-Studio]

Out of curiosity, why? I mean, I can do it, but just...Why?

[Dragon-Punch-Studio]

Okay, I will (it won't take long) but I need help with poses and such. I want to work on that if you don't me saying. If you could, I would like some references for advanced fighting poses and foreshortening demonstrations if you would be so kind. I came here for help and to show off my art, so any help, critique, etc. would be very helpful. I appreciate your feedback.

[Dragon-Punch-Studio]

This is the same character shaded. Don't worry, your apples, bottles and drapes are coming. Again, this is just me showing off.

[Dragon-Punch-Studio]

Umm...Hello?

[Kashmir]

So.. Why her mouth is open? And how she will attack someone holding the axe like that?

[Dragon-Punch-Studio]

I guess it could be like...A taunt before she attacks? I dunno...

[viper45]

I will do my best at a critique, but I am new here as well. First off, I like your 'manga' style. It is definitely unique and the hands are well done, and I also like her expression.

The issues (as I see them) aren't really a big deal, and are just a matter of practice. The axe is being held 'backwards' and too far out from the body. Big hunks of metal like axes are extremely heavy and would be held close to her body so she doesn't fall over. Secondly, her right leg (left in the picture) is at an awkward angle in relation to her ankle and body. Her knee should be turned out more to support the weight of her axe. Thirdly, it looks like her ankles and feet aren't quite proportionate to the rest of her body.

So that's my critique and I hope it helps. You're doing a great job, keep it up. I look forward to seeing more of your work!

[Dragon-Punch-Studio]

Alright, I will definitely fix these issues in the final product.

[Hitsu//San]

I guess it could be like...A taunt before she attacks? I dunno...

That's the main problem. You don't know you say? But you're the one drawing right? For some of us is clear that you are not in control of your technique and you lack a lot of informations about anatomy, perspective and all that stuff that makes you able to make gorgeous drawings. Being in control of those information and to be able to use them to communicate something like a character design - pose - mood - action (like in your case) is the basic knowledge for a concept artist.

The apple and the bottle and drapes are just jokes because those are the first things that an art school will teach you to draw correctly and in perspective (apples and drapes for shading, bottles and boxes for perspective), sorry about that If you need some directions i will be glad to help you.

Anyway most of us are busy people so if you don't see a quick response just use the time to train your drawing skills.

[Dragon-Punch-Studio]

Alright. Do you know any good sites where I can learn about character concept art design?

[Hitsu//San]

Not really. You should learn the basics of drawing in order to be able to do concept art, and if you want to focus on characters (something i don't approve) you should study a lot of anatomy and proportions at the same time of perspective drawings.

[Dragon-Punch-Studio]

I am learning the basics from someone else actually, but character design, poses and perspective is where I want to focus right now. I feel that my art will become A LOT better by focusing on certain things, then I will get better at those things I want to master. I am not trying to make excuses, because someone on Newgrounds is giving me Private Message art lessons for free, and I am following his/her instructions. So learning the basics is no longer a concern in terms of finding somewhere to learn it from.

But my clashing statement that goes against yours is that I want to focus on character design. And yeah, I agree, anatomy, perspective, etc will come in handy, and I agree with you on that, but I want to draw characters. It's just what I do.

[Dragon-Punch-Studio]

Gabriella concept sketch. I am actually going to try a more simple style for my characters for Sword of Yggdrasil; something that will require detail, but not an overwhelming amount of it. I want to draw more design sketches of Gabriella as I feel like no matter what design I draw, it just doesn't feel like her. So, I am going to keep re-designing her until I find something I like. In the meantime, does anybody have any costume suggestions?

Actually, before that, let me give you a bit of her backstory:

She is an ex-noble (having been disowned by her eldest brother who currently is in charge of the family), who learned sword play from the military academy she attended when she was only 13, graduating at age 20; the fastest of any female graduate and in an area women were almost forbidden to practice: the art of swordplay with Great-swords. When she was age 20, a bunch of stuff happened to her that would cause her to become exiled, not out of any fault of her own, but so that the King could protect her because she has a power to wield a holy sword no one else can, and since she is the focus of the story, that's perfectly fine, and totally not Mary-Sue material.

Anyway, she is not the best at wielding swords, as evident by some of the villains she'll face throughout her adventures. She is strategic, uses runes that give her enhanced upper-body strength so she can actually wield the swords she does, and has little interest in magic. As for personality, having had gone through said traumas at age 20, now being 25, has turned her into a cynical, wise-cracking, battle-hardened "bitch" so to speak, who carries a lot of weight on her shoulders. Gabriella, though certainly not the first person you would expect to do this, will disregard her own safety, even willing to knock on Death's door just to save her friends. Being disrespected by her male peers in the military academy has caused her to be very judgmental on men and even more so on women who just "stand by and let the men whip them into submission". She tolerates no bullshit from ANYONE. She may seem cold and detached at first, but will resort to violence to stand up and protect those she loves, her ideals and the country she was "exiled" from. Also, in case you were wondering, mess with her friends, and she will screw your shit up. Badly.

[Dragon-Punch-Studio]

I have drawn Gabriella's main weapon throughout her adventure, and that is the Sword of Yggdrasil, a weapon that chooses its wielder by means of a simple test: Find it, and prove your worthiness. The cave the weapon is hidden in contains may different physical traps, and will test your convictions constantly. The sword recognizes the master if he or she is able to stand by his or her own convictions even in situations where his or her convictions may be in conflict with the situation at hand. For example, the test chamber for the Enchiridion from Adventure Time had a test where Finn could save the gnomes only to realize that they have now taken an old lady hostage, or leave them in there and save the old lady instead. Finn's convictions and rationale come into conflict the very moment the gnomes are set free and begin killing the old ladies in question. The Sword of Yggdrasil would never take Finn as its master because he simply sees things in too much of a black and white sense, when life's choices are full of gray areas. Being the cynical realist she is, Gabriella is able to stand by her convictions even when her beliefs come into conflict by finding a solution in which both come into harmony because she realizes that not everything is black and white, unlike Finn.

Jake on the other hand would take the Sword of Yggdrasil because of the way he dealt with the situation, realizing that there is that gray area within which Finn could not operate.

The Scythe of Pentegarn on the other hand, will take any soul that is suffering under great pain and desperation. Not just any villain can take the scythe. The wielders either have to be descended from a family member who once wielded it, or must themselves be suffering under and immense burden. King Vanguard of the Mysidia Province of the country of Galgaria, split into seven provinces, is able to wield the scythe's power because he was desperate to break the grip of power that held his older brother King Cedric IV of the Rynalda Province hostage and to make his brother remember their father's solemn oath to put the people first.

Both weapons have the potential to be wielded for good or evil, or whatever we as the eventual players of the Sword of Yggdrasil will conceive as good or evil, which is where the game will shine in terms of the story behind the weapons and their wielders. What will also make the game shine is the amount of political themes that are brought up that focus on very common human themes, as well as those games will never dare to tread.

So yeah, that's the story behind the weapons. I am not promising these as final designs, but I like them enough to stop redesigning them at this point, but who knows?

Leave your comments and such, yadda yadda...

[Dragon-Punch-Studio]

I just got done with the redesign of my character, and I am going to start drawing the other characters for my story tomorrow.

[Hitsu//San]

^^ draw what makes you happy then, it's a good thing to do indeed. (But it's not a career choice)

[piskorz]

I feel like this forum is not a good place for you mate. I'm pretty new here but it seems like this place is very focused on improvement. And if you want to improve I'd suggest you to grab some of these http://www.parkablogs.com/content/be...and-draw-books
Just learn, draw and lurk on the internet forums for now. I think it's too early for you to post your concept arts.

[piskorz]

I feel like this forum is not a good place for you mate. I'm pretty new here but it seems like this place is very focused on improvement. And if you want to improve I'd suggest you to grab some of these
parkablogs.com/content/best-how-sketch-and-draw-books

Just learn, draw and lurk on the internet forums for now. I think it's too early for you to post your concept arts.

[Vak]

I guess it depends on what you want to do.

If you want to draw just for yourself and your friends then anything is fine, but if you're interested in making money out of your art then you really should follow the advice some of the more experienced people have offered here. When they say draw an apple and bottle, it's not to be mean or harsh but, let me ask you this: How accurately do you think you can draw a bottle or an apple? Will it look like the real thing? Will it have correct cast shadow, drop shadow, bounce light, and tangent light?

Drawing the things you draw is a very dangerous path if you are keen on becoming a concept artist- Not because character art is bad to do, but because things that humans are really familiar with, like characters cars and motorcycles, require a very very good understanding of fundamentals in order to pull off correctly, because everyone is used to seeing humans every day
If you were doing, say, aliens, you can practically get away with anything...

That said, bad perspective and poor understanding of how to turn shapes even with lineart will forever categorize your work as 'amateur', and drawing character poses for training instead of, say, life drawings, is the much slower approach to getting anywhere close to pro level.

Good luck!

[Hitsu//San]

If you were doing, say, aliens, you can practically get away with anything...

Do you think so?
That's not like this at all, actually you must do much more thinking than drawing an human if you're a good concept artist cause you have to figure out what are the condition (gravity, atmosphere, vegetation) where that creature is born and live, what does he eats and what kind of culture has made (if it's intelligent enough). Those are the minimum requirements to do a good alien creature, common people don't think about those stuff and just draw but if you think about it we are talking about A LOT of knowledge that's required to do this kind of job.

PS: Understanding of different planets atmospheres, geology, physics, gravity applied to anatomy, general anatomy, biomechanics, biology, social behavior... at least, maybe i've forgot something... anyway pretty sick huh?

[Vak]

Yeh I'm on a similar project right now.

Well. Let's just say that, if you're smart (and the project isn't specific) you can pretty much reverse engineer everything from your creature. For example, is your creature short? Well then it's a heavy gravity planet! Is your creature a lizard? Then obviously you're not doing a snow world XD

From my perspective, the main requirement to make your creature look good is a) not confuse the audience and b) show off what it's doing in its silhouette. The rest really just depend on your skill level but if you can get those two things in, you have something that can work.

Well and of course, don't copy something that someone else has already done :p

[Dragon-Punch-Studio]

I will, but again, I am still going to work on getting better at it.

[Dragon-Punch-Studio]

Should I just...Draw random poses of random people then? I have seen people improve by doing pose drawings in as little as a month. But yeah, I get what you're saying, and I am actually starting to draw machinery as well and things like that...So, you know, I can get better at drawing them.

[Dragon-Punch-Studio]

[QUOTE=Hitsu//San;3560955]Do you think so?
That's not like this at all, actually you must do much more thinking than drawing an human if you're a good concept artist cause you have to figure out what are the condition (gravity, atmosphere, vegetation) where that creature is born and live, what does he eats and what kind of culture has made (if it's intelligent enough). Those are the minimum requirements to do a good alien creature, common people don't think about those stuff and just draw but if you think about it we are talking about A LOT of knowledge that's required to do this kind of job.

I watch a lot of shows about other planets and I watch a lot of documentaries, and play a lot of video games, so of course, I have at least some understanding of this kind of stuff. But yeah, if the understanding helps, then so be it.

[Vak]

Understanding is the first thing you need. How can you draw something if you don't understand how it works? Sure you can draw a car engine by looking at another car engine but how do you draw a fully exposed skeleton of a mech with all its joints and servos exposed to the viewer if you do not understand how pistons and joints work? Sure you can draw a lot of details and hope that you fool the viewer into believing that it works, that's what most of us do anyway, but the more you understand, the more you can convince the average joe that your stuff will work, even though it probably never will.

It's not even about drawing 'random poses of random people' like you said. It's about understanding human anatomy. If you just look at a pose and draw it, you will get good at drawing that pose, maybe at some point good enough that you dont have to look at the picture anymore, but if I then tell you to draw a different human in a different pose, you will probably struggle.

Trust me when I say this, I did the same mistake myself. if you are interested in becoming good at art fast, drawing manga chicks is the slowest way possible, and if you do become good at it, you are good at drawing something that thousands of thousands of artists can draw at least equally as good as you and probably better, which in turn means that your chances of finding a paying job with that skill are very slim.

[Hitsu//San]

Absolutely, and there's another problem that we were talking about a couple of months ago. The main problem about learning to draw by drawing manga and comics is that your brain will associate the shapes you draw to the anatomical shape and this thing won't go away easily. I know that it sounds weird but it's really true.

[Dragon-Punch-Studio]

Oh...How long has it been since I have been here? Oh well...I have a preview of a painting I am working on I would like some feedback on. Yes, it's a Pokemon painting, BUT the character I made is original, and for once, I actually tried something more expressive.