2D New to digital art, looking for feedback, any potential?

[ParkG]

Hello everyone!

I drew this to practice pose and basic anatomy/proportions, as well as clothing.

I did a lot of pencil line art stuff until I stopped about 10 years ago, but recently I decided to pick it back up and switched to digital art. This is what I came up with, took about a week until it reached this presentable state.

Let me know what you think! I am still new to digital art, and also colouring, any feedback on these regards would be appreciated! This pic also has many layers (clothed/underwear layers), so whenever I need to tweak or learn new things and want to fix mistakes, I can easily practice on it.

I'm also new here, and so far enjoy getting involved in 2D art progress threads! Looking forward to what you think!

 

[NUBESROJAS]

elegant

now try male protagonists, the classic fat or young

 

[somebodynobody]

I like the aesthetics of your work. The differences in clothing and some in fit, only real complaints I have is hands/faces not being great.

Other small criticisms. Some of the light outlines do odd things. Example is first lady. Looking to the left of the crook in her elbow you can see the white outline of a non showing arm which overlays the other white outline. You should probably treat the white outline similar to a shadow and have that portion not exist. Second lady has her outline on yellow which blends too much into the yellow itself. Far right lady and pant crotch pinch is not flattering.

Overall I like it, kind of reminds me of 90s era cartoons. Keep up the good job.

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This is just a general thing I post for people wanting to be better at 2d

Recommendations for materials of people who want to draw 2d better.

Andrew Loomis: His books are considered pretty cornerstone for an artist's education primarily "Fun with a pencil" for a beginner "Successful Drawing" and "Figure Drawing for All it's Worth" for intermediate, and "Creative Illustration" for Advanced. Other books can be woven in, but make sure the ones you take on are in your correct knowledge bracket.

Burne Hogarth: He was a master of Dynamic poses and his books on them really help to illustrate movement and action.

Bert Dodson: Keys to Drawing

If you want to spend some money. This is an online lecture program that has a huge amount of information.

You must be registered to see the links

You must be registered to see the links

Has a lot of book suggestions for drawing of all types.

You must be registered to see the links

Of course youtube has tons and tons of courses and videos from both professionals and amateurs on learning to draw, finding art style, etc.

 

[ParkG]

elegant

now try male protagonists, the classic fat or young

Thanks for the feedback! I do practice on anatomy for both male and female characters! I'll post a male sketch soon!

 

[ParkG]

I like the aesthetics of your work. The differences in clothing and some in fit, only real complaints I have is hands/faces not being great.

Thanks for the reply! The hands certainly need more work, I have been practicing hand sketches but not good enough yet to apply them these drawings.

If you don't mind, would you like to elaborate further about the faces? I do have some difficulties regarding faces, making mistakes such as focusing too much on one eye, ended up with imbalanced eyes and had to erase both and start over.

I'm aiming for a balance between style and realism. The anatomy and proportions, I aim to be somewhat realistic, but the faces, such as the semi-anime eyes, I aim to keep my style of drawing, although I do want to keep the eye proportions and such things realistic. I guess I want to keep the style that makes my artwork identifiable. Would love to hear your thoughts on the anatomy as well if you don't mind.

Other small criticisms. Some of the light outlines do odd things. Example is first lady. Looking to the left of the crook in her elbow you can see the white outline of a non showing arm which overlays the other white outline. You should probably treat the white outline similar to a shadow and have that portion not exist. Second lady has her outline on yellow which blends too much into the yellow itself. Far right lady and pant crotch pinch is not flattering.

Overall I like it, kind of reminds me of 90s era cartoons. Keep up the good job.

Ah, I see. Below I posted an image without the background.

I hope it has less distraction and gives more clarity on what the main drawing looks like.

As for the pant crotch, I do agree that it was overdone. Gonna have to make some changes since the pants looks like jeans, instead of the softer fabric pants that I was aiming for. Thanks for the resources you included as well, I'll check them out!

 

[somebodynobody]

Looking at the new post image.

The necks seem a bit too long.

The face thing isn't that they are bad, it is more of since you don't really define your faces outside of the major organs, they have similar looks because of it. Similar distance of the nose bridge, etc.

First lady cleavage. How the line is drawn makes it look like her breast with the arm on it is actually going under the other one.

I really like your accessory work, earrings, bracelets, belt buckle, necklaces. I think you should push a bit more into that.

This is more my nitpicking. I don't think your clothes have enough shading to them, nor really give the hint of the material they are made. First ladies color of her clothing being a bit too close to her skin tone for my liking, the yellow dress doesn't really fit well, just kind of frumpy. I just feel a lot of what is needed is shading and detailing of the characters, especially hair of the last girl. I also dislike the last girls free hanging arm, that might be better if it was tucked in a pocket.

 

[ParkG]

Looking at the new post image.

The necks seem a bit too long.

Agree, this is certainly the lingering mistake I haven't got around to fix, but I felt I should post for feedback else I'm gonna keep holding back. In particular the first lady and the 5th (pink blouse/ponytail). As for the 2nd lady, her reference does have that neck length, so I resisted in changing it. I draw from references, but with some minor tweaks as I see fit. There are some aspects that I could not nail, or am unable to draw accurately. The loss of the "3D aspects" of the reference also makes the 2D images look weird, at this point I am still improving shading/shadowing in order to better give the drawing better sense of "dimension".

The face thing isn't that they are bad, it is more of since you don't really define your faces outside of the major organs, they have similar looks because of it. Similar distance of the nose bridge, etc.

First lady cleavage. How the line is drawn makes it look like her breast with the arm on it is actually going under the other one.

Face variety is certainly something to work on. I try to tackle this with eye size, but I'm thinking that the face shapes, nostril and nose sizes and even the eye shapes could use bigger differences.

As for the cleavage, note taken! Oh as for the breast under arm, I admittedly unsure how to fix it. Since the reference have similar look, as her arm indeed rests on her breast. I'll tweak it around a bit to see what'll end up looking less awkward. I see, ok I get it now! This change will make a big difference. Will make the cleavage more straight down instead of towards the side.

I really like your accessory work, earrings, bracelets, belt buckle, necklaces. I think you should push a bit more into that.

This is more my nitpicking. I don't think your clothes have enough shading to them, nor really give the hint of the material they are made. First ladies color of her clothing being a bit too close to her skin tone for my liking, the yellow dress doesn't really fit well, just kind of frumpy. I just feel a lot of what is needed is shading and detailing of the characters, especially hair of the last girl. I also dislike the last girls free hanging arm, that might be better if it was tucked in a pocket.

Thanks! Will work more on the accessories! I'm pretty happy with the 3rd lady necklaces. Currently, the clothing folds do give a significant challenge, although I feel like they are necessary to give the drawings more "dimensions". The 4th lady, I was aiming for a summer dress, but it kind of look like she's wearing kitchen apron, which looks silly. Perhaps some clothing patterns/deco would help?

I'm still very new to colouring/shading, but they certainly enhances the drawing. I really appreciate you taking your time to help point out the flaws!

 

[somebodynobody]

Agree, this is certainly the lingering mistake I haven't got around to fix, but I felt I should post for feedback else I'm gonna keep holding back. In particular the first lady and the 5th (pink blouse/ponytail). As for the 2nd lady, her reference does have that neck length, so I resisted in changing it. I draw from references, but with some minor tweaks as I see fit. There are some aspects that I could not nail, or am unable to draw accurately. The loss of the "3D aspects" of the reference also makes the 2D images look weird, at this point I am still improving shading/shadowing in order to better give the drawing better sense of "dimension".




Face variety is certainly something to work on. I try to tackle this with eye size, but I'm thinking that the face shapes, nostril and nose sizes and even the eye shapes could use bigger differences.

As for the cleavage, note taken! Oh as for the breast under arm, I admittedly unsure how to fix it. Since the reference have similar look, as her arm indeed rests on her breast. I'll tweak it around a bit to see what'll end up looking less awkward. I see, ok I get it now! This change will make a big difference. Will make the cleavage more straight down instead of towards the side.




Thanks! Will work more on the accessories! I'm pretty happy with the 3rd lady necklaces. Currently, the clothing folds do give a significant challenge, although I feel like they are necessary to give the drawings more "dimensions". The 4th lady, I was aiming for a summer dress, but it kind of look like she's wearing kitchen apron, which looks silly. Perhaps some clothing patterns/deco would help?

I'm still very new to colouring/shading, but they certainly enhances the drawing. I really appreciate you taking your time to help point out the flaws!

It isn't just say folds that can make up clothing, think of camo pants, or jersey, or knitted (think virgin killer sweater), felt pants and how they are fuzzy, sweat pants, etc.

About the summer dress. I feel that they need to be light and fun, this can be patterns on the dress, or lots of stuff going on, but always able to spin in and have it fly upwards. As of now it kind of more looks like going to a club dress, short and not great fitting.

First lady feels overly made up (accessories and make-up) but is wearing clothes to clean the house or garden in.

Second lady is in a college library during the fall.

Third lady looks like she is the cashier at a hot topic and is being uncomfortably hit on by a weird customer.

Fourth lady going to the club in little harlem

Fifth lady works at a 50s era roller skate restaurant (as an aside I think the skirt is holding a bit otherworldly to her body)

Sixth is taking the end of summer I won't see you for another year picture

 

[ParkG]

Ha, love the descriptions! Indeed I was aiming for the ladies/character sprites to give out some sort of vibe. Clothings do play a big role in this, I must say.

First lady feels overly made up (accessories and make-up) but is wearing clothes to clean the house or garden in.

That's true, she started out with a dress, hence the accessories, but I didn't want her to stand out too much. Not that the characters are meant to "pose together" but rather individual work that I put together in the same image. Think I might need to ditch the fancy accessories, and fix her outerwear folds (the small robe thing, not sure what they're called, ).

Second lady is in a college library during the fall.

Great, the vibe I was going for!

Third lady looks like she is the cashier at a hot topic and is being uncomfortably hit on by a weird customer.

Ah, seems my landing is a little off here, as I was aiming for the "rebellious on the outside, actually is a shy introvert" attitude. But I'm glad I'm somewhat close!

Fourth lady going to the club in little harlem

Indeed, was going for the "walk in the park" vibe, but I might as well go for the dressing up to the "live music club vibe".

Fifth lady works at a 50s era roller skate restaurant (as an aside I think the skirt is holding a bit otherworldly to her body)

Ha! I can't seem to get her off of this vibe. I think it's the headband. Take a look at her first outfit version.

Sixth is taking the end of summer I won't see you for another year picture

As for this character, I was hoping she'd give out a casual/candid vibe. I think I'll keep her hands-free but I'll try to make it appear more relaxed.

 

[somebodynobody]

It is very hard to both state rebellious and shy in a character, especially when she lacks what are the normal rebellion articles (tattoos, piercings, unnatural color hair [which is hard to tell with your characters], and nudity). So it will have to be done much more in her speech and mannerisms.

This latest image moves away from the 50's era thing, I think a lot of it is color association along with the clothing, like a pink button up and the hairband with the ponytail pushes it in that direction.

This new version is more I would say the sundress you were pushing at, or meeting someone in the day on the boardwalk for lunch after her tennis match.

I don't see that with the sixth, the pose itself makes it look awkward. Not that giving a peace/victory sign is awkward but how she is turned away how the arm dangles, this feels like she was caught unaware and is uncomfortable and thus threw up the sign for a picture.