Anacybele Posted December 22, 2014 Author Share Posted December 22, 2014 (edited) I see. Yeah, I guess foreshortening is one thing that takes more practice. xP So THAT'S what that symbol is called. I never did figure it out. lol He's not a bard though, he's a singer. Bards play music. :P I didn't make it obvious enough that he's singing? D: Edited December 22, 2014 by Anacybele Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samias Posted December 22, 2014 Share Posted December 22, 2014 Bards sing! Bards do all sorts of things: play music, write poems, tell epic stories, the D&D variety even uses inspirational magic. Shakespeare is known as The Bard. The music theme was evident but calling him a bard just makes him seem so poetic. Sorry if that's what you weren't going for, though, but he looks like he'd fit the role well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anacybele Posted December 22, 2014 Author Share Posted December 22, 2014 (edited) They do? I'd never heard of a singing bard before. But that's probably because the only bards I've ever seen are in FE and they all play some kind of musical instrument. xP (Nils has a flute, what's-his-name in FE6 has a harp or something) I guess Ralph IS technically a bard then, but his class is titled Singer. Since we also have Dancer. He doesn't play a musical instrument though. He prefers to sing. :P Edited December 22, 2014 by Anacybele Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jave Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 I'd never heard of a singing bard before. Every heard of Asterix? It has one of the most popular bards in fiction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anacybele Posted December 23, 2014 Author Share Posted December 23, 2014 (edited) Oh, no. Never. o.O I made Ralph a singer for two reasons though. One is that it came to me when I was writing the tournament in Happy Together (mentioned above in the post where I posted the sketch) and in big sports matches in real life, they often have a singer sing the national anthem. And I wanted to give Ralph a talent/passion other than thieving. He wasn't good at anything except that thus far. So I decided he'll wind up singing in the tournament. lol The other reason is that I liked the idea of a male singer in FE. We've seen female ones that are supposed to have good voices, like Olivia, and even in other media, singing is more associated with women. And yeah, there's Reyson and Rafiel in Tellius for men since the herons sing. But they're still very feminine in appearance. Ralph is much more masculine and even has some muscle on him after a bunch of training with his pal Frederick. Not a lot, but still. Edited December 23, 2014 by Anacybele Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anacybele Posted December 23, 2014 Author Share Posted December 23, 2014 A special Christmas cookie I just finished earlier. :D Cause my Steelers are in the PLAYOFFS WOO HOO!! Talking NFL football. ^^ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anacybele Posted January 8, 2015 Author Share Posted January 8, 2015 (edited) Decided to do a quick sketch exercise. I'm working on being a little faster at completing pieces. I just feel I'm too slow for my liking. So I figure I'd start with something simple-ish, like this FE OC's cat form. I looked at a couple references first since this is also the first time I've drawn a cat, but yeah. I finished in less than an hour, which is pretty nice. But now I'm thinking that my sketching speed is just fine. It's gotta be my Photoshop pace that's the problem. We'll see later on how fast I can color this! :) But anyway, I named Kiara after one of the main characters in one of my favorite Disney movies. If you've seen the movie, you know which one it is. ^^ But I introduced this cat laguz character in the most recent chapter of FE: Dawn of Darkness as Ranulf's love interest. She's kind, but quite shy, especially around beorc. She has just had very little contact with them and is intimidated by their different weapons and way of life at times. For some reason, Ike scares her the most even though it's well known that he respects the laguz and is very good at gaining others' trust and friendship. Then again, he DOES have big muscles and a huge sword. lol (this amusing "Ike phobia" of Kiara's will become more apparent in the next chapter, as it isn't quite yet present in the latest one) Kiara is still capable of making friends though, she just takes time to warm up. And she may not look like it, but she's a competent battler too, and is the fastest of the beast laguz that join the protagonist army. I know, weird that I've drawn a cat since I don't like them. :P But dang nabbit, they look damn cute in bows! So I thought, why not insert one like that into my pool of laguz OCs? lol See these sprites for an idea of what this will look like in color. :) Edited January 8, 2015 by Anacybele Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragoncat Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 Haha nice cookie. And for never drawing a cat before, she turned out good :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anacybele Posted January 9, 2015 Author Share Posted January 9, 2015 Er, cookie? xP And thanks, Dragoncat. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragoncat Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 (edited) Er, cookie? xP The Christmas cookie with the steelers thing on it. Edited January 9, 2015 by Dragoncat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anacybele Posted January 10, 2015 Author Share Posted January 10, 2015 Ohhh! I totally forgot about that. XD Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragoncat Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 xD I also updated my art thread with a WIP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anacybele Posted January 10, 2015 Author Share Posted January 10, 2015 Yeah, I saw it. I just don't know what to say in reponse though. I mean, it's cute, but that's all I can think of saying! xP I don't want to just post "ooh, cute!" and leave it at that. I just don't like short one-liner posts like that. xP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragoncat Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 Fair enough. Cute wasn't the word I was aiming for, but maybe it'll be more epic or whatever when it's done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anacybele Posted January 10, 2015 Author Share Posted January 10, 2015 Yeah, hopefully! I just said cute because it has that chibi vibe so far. :P Well, I'm about finished with the colored Kiara cat. I started last night, but got too tired to finish. And I didn't wake up until almost 11 this morning because I got woken up by my dog earlier who was having a seizure in my brother's room. He was making all kind of noise. I damn near yelled at my brother for it. But I didn't know at all what was going on, so... But that was odd, the dog is supposed to be on seizure medicine. If he misses even one day of pills, he has a seizure the next. It's that bad, the poor thing. But anyway, I think this has taken me like two hours so far not counting when I walked away from the laptop. Yeah, not quite as quick as I want to be with a piece like this. But then again, I was experimenting with new lineart techniques, which was taking some time. You'll see what I did when I finish. :) So overall, not a bad timing, really. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragoncat Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 That sucks, I hope your dog gets better :( My cat usually wakes me up at around 5:30/6 in the morning, even if he still has food in his bowl. I have a 6 month old orange tabby named Cheeto at my place. At my parents house there's a black lab/newfoundland mix named Tyson, and Kay and Samba the cats. Yes, I named my OC after that one... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anacybele Posted January 10, 2015 Author Share Posted January 10, 2015 (edited) I don't know, epilepsy is a symptom of an underlying problem, not a disorder/disease itself, so it's not easy to cure it. I should know, I had seizures for years before they finally stopped. And I still think I will have them again if I expose myself to too much flashy stuff. I can see why you named the orange cat Cheeto. XD He must look something like the cheetah mascot for the chips of the same name. lol But you told me about Samba. I remember him. :P My mom's cat is just gray and white. But he's pretty because the way his fur is colored makes it look like he's wearing a tux. So I call him Tuxedo Cat sometimes. lol He lost the tip of his tail just before my aunt first found him though. She later gave him to my mom. Anyway, here's the colored Kiara cat! ^^ I experimented with line tapering to make lines of different widths! I remember being told that making the lines different widths throughout the pic can add depth and I can see how that's true. Edited January 10, 2015 by Anacybele Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragoncat Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 Actually he was named when I got him. Me and my brother volunteer at the local shelter, Cheeto was an owner surrender. The lady who had him figured out she was allergic to cats too late. But yeah I'm sure thats where his name comes from. I was interested in a black girl cat there. Was going to name her Midna...she got adopted before I could finalize everything to allow a pet in the apartment. Ended up with Cheeto and he's a good match. Back on topic. Out of curiosity, do you have a graphics tablet? I do but I still prefer drawing on paper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anacybele Posted January 10, 2015 Author Share Posted January 10, 2015 Ah, I see! Interesting story. I'm glad you got a cat that makes you happy in the end despite not getting the one you originally wanted. :) Yep, I have a Wacom tablet that I got for Christmas in 2013. I still sketch on paper though, because I'm used to it and it's easier for me to go over it in Photoshop when I scan it that way. I still use the tablet when doing the Photoshop part though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anacybele Posted January 30, 2015 Author Share Posted January 30, 2015 Mkay, I've finally sketched another character in the FE: Dawn of Darkness cast! His name is Eliot and he's the final Talgria knight (Natalie, Leyon, Marc, and Leona all already have art! Probably going to redraw the latter two eventually though, theirs are kinda sucky at this point lol). :) Something doesn't seem right about his proportions though... It seems like either his head is a tad too big or his legs are a tad too short or something. I just can't put my finger on it. I probably made that right arm (the one on our left) a bit too short though. Dang foreshortening... So difficult for some reason. Also, did I draw the cloth of his tunic on the ground right? I really had a hard time with that, and I'm still not sure it looks right. I tried finding some references, but I just didn't have much luck there. Advice? This is the first time I've drawn a kneeling pose like this too, btw, but I think I pulled it off pretty well after looking at a bunch of references and checking out dynamic posing. I like how that part came out. The armor too, I love drawing armor and clothes. ^^ (though designing armor is also difficult sometimes...erg) Anyway, Eliot is a lance paladin and is actually the oldest of all the named Talgria knights. Despite that though, he tends to get on General Leyon's nerves due to being somewhat clumsy and impulsive. In fact, it becomes a bit of a running gag for Eliot to cause an accident involving Leyon, such as knocking his tent over by accident or running into him and spilling stuff on him. lol Despite this, however, it's discovered that he has the heart of a true hero. He ends up saving the lives of both Leyon and deputy commander Natalie in valiant efforts that leave him seriously wounded. He manages to earn Leyon's friendship too when the general finally realizes how wrong he was about Eliot's potential as a knight. Oh, and yes, he has a scar across his nose. This idea kinda happened by accident when I was making his sprite mug lol. But I decided to roll with it. I haven't decided where he got this scar, but it was definitely from his clumsiness. lol Also, as you can tell by that brush in his left hand, Eliot is a painter! He's mainly a landscape artist, but he'll paint people on occasion as well. And he's noted to be very skilled here either way. And as you might notice in his pose, he is using a technique known as the artist's thumb. This helps the artist properly center their subjects, I believe. Something like that anyway, I'd have to look it up again. :P My co-author originally came up with the idea of Eliot being an artist, I just fleshed it out more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samias Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 I think your issue isn't so much proportion, but rather the position of the shoulders and hips. His torso is a bit too "straight". Also, the overlap of the leg bending is breaking the perspective a bit (the leg reads short as a result but if you changed the way the kneecap was drawn it wouldn't seem that bad), as is the wrist of the hand he's holding out to measure. My suggestion would be to raise the arm he's measuring with (in life drawing you're typically lower than the model, so you need to look upwards) and also to move it more inward to the body, so match the direction his face is towards. Then move the knee to be more inward to his body and match the angle of his foot. With the arm more centered, he'll feel more balanced and dynamic. I know pauldrons (the shoulder armor) are tricky to draw in perspective like that though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anacybele Posted January 31, 2015 Author Share Posted January 31, 2015 Okay, but I'm not sure how to fix the "straightness" as I wasn't trying to draw him leaning or anything. As for the knee, sounds good, I think I get what you're suggesting here. I dunno about raising the arm though, Eliot's usual subject is a wide area of land that he's looking at. Probably a few mountains or a meadow or something. Does what you're saying apply to this too? I'm also really not sure how to move the arm more inward... What overlap of the leg are you talking about exactly? The knee or where his leg meets his torso? If the latter, part of his tunic is sitting over the thigh, so it might make it appear that the leg is off at first. I'll do my best to fix everything though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samias Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 I meant the knee itself, the one that needs to be fixed anyway. I'd just put the kneepad on top and it should look OK. As for the arm, it just needs to be more in-line with his face in some way. It's far off to the side right now but he needs to have his thumb in his eye line by either turning his head or moving his hand. Since he probably wants to look forward from a logic standpoint, it means you should move his arm so his hand is more in front of his body. And his eye direction should then be staring up and off into the distance, since he's kneeling. He just doesn't seem as focused as he could be right now. I know it's a big undertaking but hopefully you'll consider it. It will require foreshortening though so you might want to try this out in a mirror, or if you have a camera with a self-timer (most do), put it somewhere where you can take a picture of yourself for reference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anacybele Posted January 31, 2015 Author Share Posted January 31, 2015 Ah, I understand now. I do try to pose in a mirror when I'm having trouble finding references, and I did that to try drawing his kneeling position correctly. Guess I gotta go do that again though (look in a mirror, I mean). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anacybele Posted January 31, 2015 Author Share Posted January 31, 2015 Okay, I think this looks at least somewhat better? (despite the smudges everywhere now... xP I really try to keep my lines as light as possible but still noticeable, but I have trouble with that too) I attempted to fix the knee and the raised arm here. But something about the arm still doesn't look right... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.