Working on shading

[yuai77]

What do you mean by "work on my lineart"? I don't fully understand some art words for I am only 14. I will take your advice and try to put it into effect.
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[Brianhjh]

Work on your initial drawings, draw from real life for a few weeks, draw from your family, friends, even magazine pictures are fine. Draw what you see, not what you think you see. Take that experience and try to draw in your own anime style later on, you'll notice that the things you learned from real life pops up in your otherwise stylized works.

This will improve composition and anatomy significantly, which is rather problematic in your works.


Ignore everything in this thread other than the first few posts, no one's out to get you, there's just this really annoying busybody running around, ruining everything. Nothing's against you, kid.
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[yuai77]

My only problem is that I completely suck at anything even close to realism. I'm more of somebody who expands her imaginatin. I draw a lot of pictures for my stories and OC's, but I suppose I will try.
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[color=#E0FFFF]I am a sky rose: one of those rare beauties in all Xauna.[/color]
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[Brianhjh]

Every drawing you make, you will get better. Keep practicing.

Also, imagination must be found upon a solid grasp of reality. How would you know what imagination is when you don't know what reality is?



Here's something I like to do nowadays:

Go to a coffee shop, order a cup of coffee that'd last around two hours. Just draw people in the shop, doesn't have to be detailed, just learn where the eyes meet, where the nose is in relation to the centre of the face, how the hair falls, the folds in their clothes. You can get a poor man's version of an actual artistic nude drawing session for a price of a literally, a cup of coffee.
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[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v233/Brianhjh/emesprani151.gif[/img] "Sarah's future makes me sad." - Benk

[White_Dragon]

I noticed your shading is kinda following the outline, and it makes it look a bit flat.
Try imagine there is a light source, it can be from the top corners form the front, anywhere, and sketch where you think you might see a shadow.
It's the same with highlighting, except you draw lighter where you think it will be lighter.

[thedudedisturbed]

I agree with brian except also when you're done sketching out the form to understand it's shape try shading it. people in life have shadows cast on their features, and these can be replicated on paper.

just practice like crazy.

but also stop using ms paint. it's...I mean you can eventually be good with it but geez pencils and traditional mediums just beat the shit out of it for ease of use and attractiveness.

repetition of answers weeee~
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You probably recognize a pattern beginning to take shape. Not of the Fibonacci variety either, where said repetitions are woven into the very fabric of nature in some kind of cosmic mathematical coincidence that makes you wonder if there really is a design to everything after all, but more of Grandmother's quilt variety, where said repetition makes you wonder where in the world people can purchase such hideous floral pastel patterns and why they think you'll want to display them in your living room.

[Tinkster]

if it's people that you are having trouble with, try drawing a certain part of their body over and over. Faces for example; eyes and mouths galore.
I did this when I was about 12 or 13. But it is kind of difficult on MS paint and gimp I think. Just use pencil and paper, I think it will look alot better.

But pretty much what everyone else has said. Just practice over and over and you'll get better. Frankly I didn't start shading until last year. It's alot easier to shade when its not digital. Try to focus more on the realsim and not the shading, casue in my opinion it's much more important.
Good luck!
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"Theory is the foundation of music;
Instruments are the tools to make it;
Music is the doorway to someones soul"
-ShadeArt