The Epitome of Mediocrity: Looking for Requests

wow...mediocrity, my ass. I wasn't expecting anything nearly this good.

the first thing I would suggest to you though, would be hand studies. your august entry work stuck out to me, because of the way her fingers were pointing - it looks a bit unnatural. also, you incorporated shadows beautifully on her dress, but completely left it off of her hands. hands are extremely complicated, and I'm sure they'd look more natural if you studied them for a while.

you've got some amazing shading on the one on notebook paper. but, you also may want to study perspective. at first, I thought she was standing, until I looked at the bottom of the picture and realized she had knees. since her knees are closer to the viewer than the hips, her knees should also be bigger than the hips - even if, by proportion, the hips would be bigger. the same goes for the cushion/armrests she's sitting on versus the back of the chair behind her. I also thought she was standing because all of the chair is one uniform size. it's an awesome design and beautiful detail work, but unrealistic visually to have it all the same size on paper.

so yeah, overall, hand studies for proper poses as well as more detail (you do such beautiful detail on everything else...), and some work on perspective (one-point perspective in particular - that's what you were working on with the girl on notebook paper).

keep going, you're doing great.

Thank you so much for the suggestions!

I'm already started on the hands as you mentioned...it's a tad embarrassing how much I leave them as an afterthought. Dx

In the background of my school sketch though, it isn't a chair but more of a background design (probably subconsciously meant to distract you from my flaws! ) similar to another artist's. Certainly doesn't make the perspective any better though, just thought I'd let you know. xD

I'll certainly try to keep all of this in mind in the future, thank you so much once again.

Hands, hands, hands....perspective, perspective, perspective...proportion, proportion, proportion....

Ick, I don't really like double-posting, but here goes. :I

I'm trying to make a picture for my friend's birthday (I'm late as usual) and I wanted to get some opinions on proportion, overall look, etc. before I actually start lining and coloring it. It's a female Stormtrooper, without a helmet...can you even tell? Dx

I know beggars can't be choosers, but I'd really like comments on this one since it's going to be a present.

(Text at the bottom reads: THE EMPIRE NEEDS YOU!)

Another pen sketch I did. I redid the hands about 6 times, but pen is kind of cruel, and it's really difficult to work on top of white out after a few layers (at least, it is for me) so no hands in this one. I liked the overall result though, I think she's kinda cute.


Now, back to hands...

Not that anyone's looking, but regularly updating this helps motivate me to draw more often, so I guess I'm going to continue to do so. xD


Here's another pen sketch from school, this time intentionally angled head-on. Hopefully I did slightly better with the perspective...

Anyway, I'm still looking for any suggestions for the Stormtrooper...

My, oh, my! That's amazing!

Thanks a ton Rainpelt!

I finally got my first project from my Sculpture/Ceramics class back.
We carved an unfired brick. I love carving...and this has definitely been my favorite of our assignments because of it. A little different than the majority of stuff I've posted thus far. Anyway, here it is:


(That's a brain, by the way. xD)
And here's a view from the side to get an idea of the depth 'n stuff:

(Please ignore my messy desk >_>)

I've also been working on a rather large watercolor. I'm not finished with it and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions. It looks super boring to me, but it can't be too outrageous because it's intended as a gift for my mom.

Just some cute doodles from school. Nothing especially exciting, but I thought they were kinda cute.

I like the bear the most.

Aladdin has been on my mind for a few months now and I finally dug out a VCR and the old VHS. I love that movie.

(Obi-Wan doesn't even look like this. D: )

Oh wowzas! Your stuff is so realistic, and some very stylish! Pro shading skillz, by the way! 8]

yeah sorry, it has been too long since I checked this thread ^^;

I do see improvement! YEEEEAAAAAHHH. your pen sketches are fantastic <3

keep going keep going keep going!

btw, you should join in the art contests here, if you haven't already. srsly.

This rocks! I love seeing a variety of thing from sketches to doodles to drawings to paintings. All of them are very good

When it comes to proportion, study this concept:
foreshortening

@Mold: Thank you so much, I'm tremendously flattered. I'm so glad to hear that from you, especially since your own art is fabulous.

@Shaelyn: Thank you yet again! I'm so glad you think I'm getting even a minuscule bit better. Oh, I am planning to participate this month for sure. I love Halloween. <3

@Margar: Yeah, I think I'm going to begin bringing in references to work from so I can practice more challenging things like that. It's really difficult for me to do much more than head-on pictures when I have no reference and am in class. I can't really move my arm around in the air to angle it and draw from like I can at home (I have to at least pretend to be paying attention after all). But thank you very, very much.

Thank you again to all of you, it really means a lot to hear positive feedback.

And here's some more stuff and such:

When I don't even have the capacity to focus on doodling in class, I do mindless stuff like this. I sort of liked this one, very relaxing.


I did this a while back for a friend, I noticed there aren't many boyz in this thread. I love Indiana Jones.


I noticed that I kept covering up a lot of the body or face with hair (usually to cover up flaws), so I decided to try not to do so...leaving her with barely any.

HEY EVERYONE, I NEED HELP WITH MY PORTFOLIO!

Please, please, please, please, please give me recommendations on what you think I should include from this thread. If you think you could be of extra assistance, I have several pieces that I haven't and do not intend to post for the general public that I am thinking of including. I would greatly appreciate it.

And some more stuff to consider:

A recent acrylic finger painting I did, I guess I'd call it "Faith." Lolololcliche.

OLD. Just a plain old acrylic again. I don't especially like it, but...

Also OLD. Tempra paint and ink done of a gesture drawing.

Old, yet again. An acrylic in which I was trying to shake realism a bit. I don't especially like this one either, but I want to put out some more options. Dx

A self portrait from last year that I finger painted in acrylic. I love me some finger painting.

An old acrylic in the cubist style. I don't know what to think of this.

And here are some doodles to lighten the mood



Clearly I cannot escape the thought of Disney.

I think you have a definition of mediocrity different from mine. Your art is excellent.

these two. they're excellent - especially miss blind Faith. <3

I can try to help you pick from the others as well, but I may not get back to for a while; I'm not on here often enough.

@Tsukuyomi: Well thank you so much! I really do appreciate it. I know I may say that a lot, but it's true.

@Shaelyn: Thank you yet again for your help and feedback! You don't know how much it means to me. I am so grateful for your continued support/criticism.

Plus art!
I've been really digging SHAG lately (I'm just all over the place Dx) and since he's so stylized and I'm generally not, I tried to incorporate a bit of his style just for fun/something new. It's always nice to totally mix things up sometimes, right? Anyway, here it is, straight outta English class:


I know, I know. The coloring job is just gorgeous. I tried to clean some things up, like the notebook paper lines running through her face and the black divides (they were scribbled in pen as well before), but nothing major. I'm too lazy. Anyway, I thought it was kinda cute. But isn't that how I always find things.

Here's what I can suggest about putting your portfolio together:

1: Get one of those professional art portfolios from an art store, those ones that are large and black with the handle on the top.. y'know? I don't know how large your pieces are but your largest pieces should go in there.

2: Choose 12-15 pieces that YOU think stand out the most. But do NOT choose the drawings on lined paper.. kinda seems a waste that you put all that effort into the drawing when you could've easily used an 8.5 x 11 sheet of plain white paper instead.

Lined paper is unprofessional and makes it look like a high school doodle in class cuz you were bored.

3: Put your BEST pieces at the beginning and at the end, and your mediocre work in the middle.

When the employer or client looks at your portfolio the pieces they will remember the most will be at the beginning and the end, so you want to make sure your last piece stays in their mind the longest. It's a kind of psychology thing.

I'd put the Blind Faith painting as the LAST work, and the girl with the umbrella as the first.

4: You seem to have a lot of different subject matter, so I might have TWO portfolios - one for your cartoon and anime works and one for your watercolor and acrylic.

Clients DO like to see that you have many areas of interest, but if you put all those areas into one portfolio the client will think you're all over the place and cannot commit to one subject.

So having two portfolios, one for each subject matter, is a good way to go.

Well, I just had a professor from the school I'm applying to look over my portfolio and he seemed to like it.

@Kveldulf: You're my hero. <3 Thank you very much for all of the suggestions, it was a great deal of help when putting this together. I think you were definitely right about the Faith and Umbrella girl ones, he was especially enthusiastic about those. Do you think my ladies on lined paper (the shaded ones) are good enough to go in a portfolio if I did begin drawing them on unlined paper (I would never dream of putting in something on notebook paper, don't worry. xD)? Anyway, thank you again and again and again. I cannot thank you nearly enough.

@Shaelyn: I'm not sure if you care, but I thought I'd let you know that the professor loved the background of the Leon picture and was very fond of the Faith painting, so thank you very much for those suggestions.

Aaaand...this isn't anything new, but this was my entry to the art contest this month. If you have any comments/suggestions that would be fabulous as always.

I loved that halloween one! I wanted it to win first prize!

Id like to add that this is freaking spectacular!

I'm not surprised he liked those...especially Faith. that really is your best work <3

I think the ladies aren't as good as some of your other stuff...but at the same time, if you do it on unlined paper and don't get lazy with it (fill it in entirely - no white unless it's meant to be white), then it may deserve its place in your portfolio. it does show good design and use of complimentary colors.

maybe these other guys like Kveldulf may have a better idea of whether you should or shouldn't, though. I am kind of on the fence about that one, mostly because I don't really know what sorts of things the people looking through your portfolio will be looking for.

your art contest entry was incredibly cute, btw ^_^

Originally Posted by Vynrah

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i19/LoZ_ILL/10-29-200990031PM.jpg

I love this one.

I have no idea what somebody would be looking for in your portfolio, so I'm not even going to attempt to give some advice. Great stuff though.