Critiques/Comments, please?

[LukasA]

I'm currently working on something I actually want to finish.
It's a possessed man.
Any tips with painting on photoshop once I get to painting it?

So, here it is;

I'm planning on adding a background later, maybe a swamped out forest or something?

And sorry I didn't have room for the rest of his body, is it possible to add room?

[Nezumi Works]

I'm planning on adding a background later, maybe a swamped out forest or something?

And sorry I didn't have room for the rest of his body, is it possible to add room?

This tells me you did not plan this drawing at all. Therefore, it's a nice enough sketch, but adding all the rest on an ad hoc basis will not make a good finished piece.

Did you have a concept in mind when you started this, or did you just start drawing and it turned out to be a possessed man?

From the point of view of something that you just took out of your sketchbook, it's pretty cool. Anatomy's WAY off of human, but the things on his head and the skirt he's wearing are both kinda nifty and create an interesting silhouette. Pity the pose is essentially boring and shows no sense of character whatsoever.

What I'd say if you want to turn this into something good is to figure out what his story is, who's possessing him, how he got that way, and do a bunch of sketches from various angles and doing various things. Then start doing thumbnails of him in whatever environment makes sense (i.e., don't just randomly plunk him down in a swamp and call it a day - why is he there?). Then you'll have a good starting point.

Oh, and you really shouldn't be in a position where you run out of room on the page. Not if you have a handle on how proportions work.

[LukasA]

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Yea, your pretty much right about how I didn't really know what I was doing, and it just happened.
I don't know how to create characters though, I always just do one hand down and one to the side like a profile sheet, and both legs just going straight down.

And I'm sure my anatomy is off because I'm still learning it, I want to know what I did wrong so I can fix it, if I knew what I did wrong I wouldn't have drawn it like that.

[wooden mango]

And I'm sure my anatomy is off because I'm still learning it, I want to know what I did wrong so I can fix it, if I knew what I did wrong I wouldn't have drawn it like that.

this is going to sound mean but there's /alot/ wrong with the anatomy. like...almost everything. so giving you a list of what is not so helpful. You just need to practice drawing real people.

As Nezumi said the the costume and concept are interesting so I would suggest stashing it away, doing some practice, try different poses and such and then coming back to it.

sorry, if that sounds harsh.

[LukasA]

this is going to sound mean but there's /alot/ wrong with the anatomy. like...almost everything. so giving you a list of what is not so helpful. You just need to practice drawing real people.

As Nezumi said the the costume and concept are interesting so I would suggest stashing it away, doing some practice, try different poses and such and then coming back to it.

sorry, if that sounds harsh process.

That didn't sound very mean at all compared to what you could've said xD
And I am currently drawing poses from pose maniacs and getting more critiques from another website.
Coming up with my own poses is harder though, here's one with a reference here

[Nezumi Works]

I don't know how to create characters though, I always just do one hand down and one to the side like a profile sheet, and both legs just going straight down.

Okay, this is something you can actually learn. First, you start your drawing off with a line of action. In fact you want to start every figure drawing with a line of action. This is where the energy of the pose comes from. Try to avoid the line being straight up and down, because that totally robs your character of energy.

Next, you tick off a couple of landmarks on that line. Top of the head, angle of shoulders, angle of hips, where the feet go. There you go, you've not only set up the framework for your basic skeleton, but you've also solved the problem of stuff going off the page. Hooray!

Now you just need to draw the body itself, using those loose guidelines.

And I'm sure my anatomy is off because I'm still learning it, I want to know what I did wrong so I can fix it, if I knew what I did wrong I wouldn't have drawn it like that.

Well, as Wooden Mango points out, it's pretty much all off. Let's go down through the major problems, since there's no point getting into too many fiddly bits.

The head: Way too long, with no real understanding of the skull. You need room at the back for the brain, first of all, the cranium from the side is more oval than perfectly round. Also much too long, the "ball" of the cranium comes down to roughly the 2/3 mark. Take a look through Drawing the Head and Hands by Andrew Loomis, there's some good info on that, although most good drawing books touch on it. Face is really flat, most of the nose (between the bridge and ball) seems to be missing. Neck is way long.

The torso: No defined ribcage. Also no tilt to the ribcage, it actually tilts back in real life, while the pelvis tilts forward. This is really apparent in profile. Ribcage needs to be big enough to put your organs inside, sort of like a basket upside-down. Shoulders don't seem to connect to torso, and seem to be moving independently. Guy's got no pecs. Further down (again, very long abdomen) there's a place where the pelvis should go, but there ain't no pelvis there. You get marks for roughing in the location, though. Even if you're putting clothes over top, you should rough in where the body parts are.

The limbs: Both seem to be afterthoughts to some degree. Again, be aware of proportion and how the skeleton works (at least roughly). The knee, for instance, is actually a separate structure from the thigh, so you need to work it out. In general, you need more structure overall to make them believable. Hands, same deal. Nothing really to say about them that doesn't apply to the rest.

Overall, structure, anatomical knowledge, planning and incorporating a line of action are the main things you need to work on. Of course, all of those are huge, so take it bit by bit. There's some good info that could help you here and you can find the Loomis books here, that should be enough to get you started.

Also, learn to use reference. It'll save you a lot of headaches.

[LukasA]

Okay, this is something you can actually learn.

What do you mean by that?
And I'm going to go look at those links you posted and read them, but should I even continue with this sketch?

[Nezumi Works]

Oh, that was in response to "I don't know how to create characters though". You might not know now, but you can definitely learn it.

And I'm going to go look at those links you posted and read them, but should I even continue with this sketch?

I would say no, but you might continue with the character in the sketch. Different ideas about who he is, what he looks like, where he lives, what the tattoos mean (are they tattoos or connected to his possession, for instance), etc. There's potential to do stuff there, you just need to start playing with the idea to see what works and what doesn't. Should the things on his head be mechanical or biological? Would he look better with more? Or maybe on his body? Or would that look stupid? Do his clothes reflect his life? If so, how? Part of the process of creating a character is playing with this stuff, and sketching it to see what it looks like, so go nuts!

[LukasA]

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So it would be a good idea to write a short story about him? Like a story that mostly describes him

[Nezumi Works]

Can't hurt.

[wooden mango]

So it would be a good idea to write a short story about him? Like a story that mostly describes him

And also, just to make sure you got this part of what nezumi said. Do alot of sketches of him. Don't worry so much about making them all polished just work on developing what he looks like. Try alot of different shapes and details. That's generally the process that most illustrators go through. This way, Not only will you have a better sense of the character but it will give you drawing practice, which is really the only way to improve your skill.

[AngeUnge]

i can't encourage what's been said before enough. more sketches, feel him, practice him. then find a scene in your mind. let that scene unfold by being flexible with your drawing

making a flexible scene comes down to a lot of sketches and not being afraid to redraw things many times. rehashing may get tiring, but the more practice sketches you do outside of painting, the less re-do's you'll have during the scene creation itself.

if that makes any sense.