Ana's Art Returns!

[Garland Chaos]

Natalie's really pretty. :O

Are you taking requests by any chance? I have an OC that I'd love to see drawn.

[Anacybele]

Heh, I guess it's no surprise that another character is implied to have a crush on her then. lol Thanks! :)

And sorry, but not at the moment. I just have too many other things I want to draw. xP

[Garland Chaos]

And sorry, but not at the moment. I just have too many other things I want to draw. xP

I understand. Notify me via PM when requests are open, please.

[Anacybele]

Okay, though I honestly have no idea when that will be, truth be told. ._.

[Mew]

I've changed something about my lineart, btw. Can you tell what that change is? ;)

8D Color hooolds! Looks nice.

[Anacybele]

Yup, that is correct! :)

It resulted in lots more layers, but I think it was worth it. ^^

And thanks. :D

Edited December 6, 2013 by Anacybele

[Samias]

Yup, that is correct! :)

It resulted in lots more layers, but I think it was worth it. ^^

And thanks. :D

A tip for the future is that Photoshop has a function called "Lock Transparency" and it is super cool for doing things like coloured lines without having to set a lot of layers. The option to toggle it on and off is located above the layers, grouped in with other locking options. It looks like the transparency checkerboard that PS uses.

[spoiler=Photoshop CS2 demo]

Basically what it does is it detects where there are no pixels on the layer and makes it impossible to draw on blank areas, as opposed to completely locking the layer down so you can't draw on it at all. That means you can draw all your lineart on one layer, lock the transparency when you're done, and draw over your lines with colour instead of feeling like you have to get the individual colours right the first time when you draw them down. It's a huge timesaver and I don't know if you knew about this feature.

That said, I think the thin lines and pastel colours are really nice and it's a big improvement on your previous art. The areas you shade could be a little more liberal and cling less to the edges, like how it is in the back part of her tabard or the underside of her breastplate, but that kind of judgment will come with experience. So for now it feels a little flat, but areas like the bottom of her tabard actually have a pretty decent distortion to them.

[Anacybele]

Ah, I knew about that feature, I just wasn't sure exactly what it did. lol

Thanks so much, Samias, that's a big help! And I'm glad my art's improving too, thanks again. ^^

Just, uh, what do you mean by tabard, exactly?

[Samias]

A tabard is the piece of cloth that drapes over the head and covers front to back, usually depicting heraldry, though in Fire Emblem it's usually left plain or covered in trim if they have them. Though no one in Tellius actually wears a tabard and they just have parts of their clothes that look similar (Titania comes to mind). Sully and Stahl in Ylisse both wear them if you wanted an example, as does Emmeryn.

[Anacybele]

Oh, I see now. Thanks for explaining. :P

[Anacybele]

So, since I don't have my laptop and have been getting kinda bored lately, I made a new sketch instead of what I originally had planned to do first (to add the next couple of installments to my FE comic series). It's a holiday-themed too! I was still able to scan it because my mom's computer also has a scanner hooked up to it.

Lissa: *pops out of nowhere* Heya, Frederick, Kelli! Surprise!

Frederick: Aaah! W-What the--?!

Kelli: Ooh, Frederick, she brought us a mistletoe! *bashful smile*

Frederick: *blushing* H-Hey! Lissa!

Lissa: *a big smile on her face* What's the matter, Frederick? Anyone knows you two are close!

Frederick: What?! Th-That's ridiculous!

Lissa: Oh come now, I've seen how much time you two spend together! And so has Chrom. And so have the other Shepherds. Hee hee.

Kelli: *blushes as well* That is true, you know, Frederick.

Frederick: ...That means nothing! W-We're just friends...

Lissa: Suuure. Come on, kiss her! You know you want to!

Kelli: I wouldn't mind it, Frederick. *loving smile* It IS what you're supposed to do under the mistletoe. *giggle*

Frederick: ...Gah!

It's Freddy and my Avatar, Kelli, getting a little surprise from Lissa! Haha, Frederick's absolutely stunned and all "What the--?!" lol He and Kelli would both be blushing too, but I can't show that with just pencil. Kelli is loving the idea of giving Frederick a kiss while Lissa definitely thinks that should happen. Hee hee. Unfortunately, I won't be getting my laptop back until Monday, so I can't color this until then, but for now, I put a green hue over it for the holidays using Microsoft Image Manager. Isn't this just cute? XD

Oh, and yes, I'm aware that Frederick isn't quite on the log. I messed that up, though it was hard trying to get everyone's positions just right. I'll be adjusting them come the coloring phase though. Ah, Photoshop's layers are so handy. I also apologize for all the smudges, especially around the mistletoe. I actually had some trouble with it. So yeah. Lissa's pigtails are so annoying to draw too due to how crazy they are. But I think I'm getting better at them. :P

Edited December 20, 2013 by Anacybele

[Anacybele]

I've finished it just in time for Christmas! :D

Haha, this turned out so damn cute. <3 Full description here, including some slight changes to the dialogue skit. :3

But gods, I do NOT want to draw Lissa again for awhile. Those pigtails are so annoying! lol

Edited December 24, 2013 by Anacybele

[Anacybele]

A new update already! My mom bought a gingerbread house kit and I made it! ^^

This is the first time I've ever done one in my life, so bear with me. I don't think it actually turned out bad though! It's pretty nice, in fact!

It would've probably looked even better, actually, if I hadn't accidentally poked a hole in the stinking icing bag. >_< I have no idea how I did that either, I barely have any fingernails since I have a bad habit of picking at them a lot. But anyway, I love this little house anyway! I call it the Mary Lou House in honor of my departed grandmother. I loved her dearly.

[NobodiePichu]

next year make a ginger bread house from scratch [for fun]

above drawing comments:

Lissa stop leaning towards the screen and go make pies for kellam

hair and stuff looks standard, though not impressive.

actual character models need work. reference more art, of varying kinds and try to absorb the how there drawn. use real life references and if all else fails, get a senior artist to help you.

work on your ability to draw plants, and snow cause those trees and that snow don't look very good at the moment.

keep working and improve because at the moment, and i am going to be rather blunt here, your drawing's are bad. not the worst out there but it certainly wont turn any heads from any artist's that i know.

Edited December 29, 2013 by ShinyPichu

[Anacybele]

I don't know how to make a gingerbread house from scratch.

Lissa is supposed to be leaning. I drew her that way on purpose.

Also, insulting me and calling me a bad artist will not help me improve. Please do not post in my thread again if this is all you're going to do.

[Lenh]

Most of the points of advice Pichu gave to you seem legit (if not, just one way to look at it). I think it's an okay piece with a nice concept.

The lighting seems a little wonky: shadows being cast straight down onto the snow, straight to the right on the pine, up and to the right on Lissa's left arm and Freddy/MU's body shadows. If you have the line art still I'd recommend just trying it over again with only one obvious light source/direction (just as an exercise).

I tend to like your hard-edge between colors (the wedding pic) as opposed to the fuzzing you have here. The transistions/gradients are very consistent width, like they were done with one brush and not really blended in / given variance/shape.) Think just keeping it cel-shaded would fit best with your current style anywho.

Edited December 29, 2013 by Lenh

[Anacybele]

He didn't give me any advice. All he really said was "learn to do this, learn to do that, your drawings are bad." I don't see how that's acceptable at all.

Now YOU are giving me actual critique. Thanks for pointing out the shading thing to me, I do see that I could've done it better. But I don't want to stay with cell-shading or whatever, I don't like it as much as more realistic shading. Also, I have a pen tablet now (got one for Christmas), so we'll see what I can do on it.

But are you saying I should recolor the whole thing too? I'm confused.

Edited December 29, 2013 by Anacybele

[Lenh]

Not gonna get into too far into the critique politics but while it's not necessarily polite, it's still something to consider (and respect to some extent). Treating it like a pure insult is probably going to just provoke intentionally negative commentary. Even though Pichu outright called your work bad (which probably wasn't necessary and just drove in a point that there's a lot of areas you can improve on), he still explained his main problems with your work and offered a few solutions.

The colors are all right, just clear off all the shadows you have and try them again. (And congratulations on getting the pen tablet!)

[NobodiePichu]

...

[spoiler=@ Anacybele]

He didn't give me any advice. All he really said was "learn to do this, learn to do that, your drawings are bad." I don't see how that's acceptable at all.

... *face palm* BS that i didn't give you good advice. that is in fact basic advice, and blunt honesty.

the fact that you can or at least could read into the silliest and most insubstantial things like Ike and Elincia as the canon paring, yet not maneuver through some very basic wording to actually find the helpful advice and just take the face value of what you like or do not like bother's and infuriates me to no end.

I'll go over my points again just to give you a refresher.

1. reference a wide variety of art. basic anatomy and perspective and colouring apply in all most all forms of art. it will help you to try a variety of different styles or at the very least to examine how there constructed. it will help a lot because at the moment your drawing is subject to a few anatomy and perspective errors. [i will let you find them your self, in a show of skill]

2. reference real life. again this go's back to the first point in that art is still just a mirror of the real world, that can and often is distorted in order to make a unique perspective. and at the moment your art is not all that interesting of a perspective or even as a mirror.

3. Yes your art is bad. by non artist's standards your art is good. from an art perspective your work is either lacking [if the person is nice] or "Shit" in the perspective of one really mean art friend of mine. this doesn't mean i think you should give up it means i think you should actually TRY TO IMPROVE!!!

after all if one looks at your deviant art account the actual progression of technique in your art is miniscule at best.

if your serious about improving then actually try to change, if not have fun being trapped in square one forever.

sorry about the way i worded it but I'm just being true to my opinion.

Edited December 29, 2013 by ShinyPichu

[Anacybele]

Not gonna get into too far into the critique politics but while it's not necessarily polite, it's still something to consider (and respect to some extent). Treating it like a pure insult is probably going to just provoke intentionally negative commentary. Even though Pichu outright called your work bad (which probably wasn't necessary and just drove in a point that there's a lot of areas you can improve on), he still explained his main problems with your work and offered a few solutions.

The colors are all right, just clear off all the shadows you have and try them again. (And congratulations on getting the pen tablet!)

Exactly my point, it wasn't necessary to right out say my work sucks, which was an insult.

And I see. I will also admit that I did kind of rush on this piece because I wanted to finish it before Christmas and I was without my laptop for most of the month because it had a CPU failure and needed repaired. I'll work on it more next year since it's a holiday piece.

[Lenh]

Pichu's advice is still valid and worth some thought. Take the parts you can use.

I'll work on it more next year since it's a holiday piece.

I really really suggest you try the shadow excersize soon anyways, if not on this piece than the wolf one or another recent piece, or something where shadows on multiple subjects/shapes is the challenge. Even if it's something as boring as a pencil+paper still life of some basic objects under a lamp-light. You will benefit a ton from tackling the issue head-on (especially if you want to do more realistic shading).

[Anacybele]

Pichu's advice is still valid and worth some thought. Take the parts you can use.

I really really suggest you try the shadow excersize soon anyways, if not on this piece than the wolf one or another recent piece, or something where shadows on multiple subjects/shapes is the challenge. Even if it's something as boring as a pencil+paper still life of some basic objects under a lamp-light. You will benefit a ton from tackling the issue head-on (especially if you want to do more realistic shading).

No thank you, I'm going to take your advice instead. I'll do this shadowing stuff on a newer piece. I don't really like going back to older ones, I don't know why. I guess I'm just always too eager to move on.

[NobodiePichu]

No thank you, I'm going to take your advice instead. I'll do this shadowing stuff on a newer piece. I don't really like going back to older ones, I don't know why. I guess I'm

and the fact that you just decided to ignore my advice completely and not even consider any of it, shows me that you don't wish to improve. I'll be elsewhere crying about the idiocy of humanity.

[Anacybele]

and the fact that you just decided to ignore my advice completely and not even consider any of it, shows me that you don't wish to improve. I'll be elsewhere crying about the idiocy of humanity.

If I didn't wish to improve, I wouldn't have listened to Lenh either. Your logic fails miserably.

[NobodiePichu]

If I didn't wish to improve, I wouldn't have listened to Lenh either. Your logic fails miserably.

IF YOU WISH TO IMPROVE YOU SHOULD AT LEAST CONSIDER THE OPINIONS OF OTHERS WILLING TO GIVE YOU ADVICE.

I feel offended that you wont consider my advice. By ignoring my advice you're basically saying my advice is invalid or stupid, even when that almost any other actual artist would tell you pretty much the same thing. By saying my advice is stupid your missing one of the most important aspects of learning art. By doing that you're slowing your own progress, proving to me that you do not wish to improve, or at least not improve at a very steady pace.

if you wish to live in a little bubble of your own, where everything is wonderful then go ahead I'm sure my words wont stop you from living the way that you do. however if you actually wish to improve then you need to be ready to take various different kind's of advice, actually look at them in a considerate manner. if you do props, if not then in my eyes you're just another one of those pebbles on the road.