Art Archive Fan Art Class: Version 4.0 (Current Assignment: Coming Soon!)

Lookin' great everyone! Thanks to everyone who particapted this time around!

Now I'm off to work on the pile of critiques I have waiting for me...

 

Moving right along with these critiques. For the final critique of the Anakin/Padme images, we have Obi-Dawn Kenobi!

For your reference, here is Obi-Dawn's drawing of Padme:

Padme

First of all, kudos to you for posting in-progress drawings. Not only do I enjoy viewing them, it also helps others to learn about the process.

There's really not much to point out here except that it turned out very nice. Your lines are very bold and crisp, making the form itself to appear very stable in the space. And as you moved forward with the drawing, the pencil lines disappear - which is a good thing. It looks very sloppy when you have a finished drawing that still has the sketchy pencil lines visible. The color just appears to really fill in the space and make that effect happen.

As for the coloring job itself - overall, excellent job on the flesh tones and filling in highlights. The only thing I'm going to mention about the coloring is to expand a little bit. You have a nice sense of light, but it seems to be lacking extreme darks. Maybe try to expand your range here and I think it will make your drawings even more dramatic.

In the end, it's a very nice drawing. There's no denying who that is and some fine craftsmanship went into it. Excellent job!

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Moving onto the droideka/Grievous images...

First up in this round is [b]Esira[/b]!

Once again, here is the drawing for your reference:

[link=http://www.freewebs.com/tansy9/droideka.JPG][b]Droideka[/b][/link]

I give you a lot of credit for tackling this image. I know this was a tough subject to do and it must have took a lot of patience and time to complete and getting it to look just right. ;)

The first thing that pops into my mind while looking at your drawing is how much extreme detail you put into it. You seemed to have included every knob and cable visible on the original model. This really helps to make the image appear more life-like.

Some things to work on - I would make your lines a little bit darker. Maybe this has something to do with when you scanned it into the computer, but the lines appear fairly light. Adding a bit of shading would help the drawing along as well - or another alternative would just to vary the line widths. Other than those minor details, I think you did an excellent job on this particular subject! :D

 

I hate to do this, but I'm going to have to put the Fan Art Class on hiatus until I can get caught up with the critiques. No use in going on and getting myself more behind. With that said, over the next couple of days, I'm going to work solely on critques to get them done. If this all goes smoothly, I'm hoping to have this thing back up and running in a week - possibly before that. Hope you guys understand.

 

FalconFan posted on 3/20/05 10:29am

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I was hoping you would: you're soooo busy right now, with school and everything else, I'm amazed you have time to breathe and eat (...or [i]do[/i] you...? [face_wink] )!

FF
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[face_laugh] LOL!!! Nah, I'm not that bad - yet. :p

Seriously, I just felt really bad about lagging behind with these critques and instead of moving forward(and sending the message across that I don't care) I figured it would be wise to put it on hold for a bit. Of course, this is just till I can get things more organized and caught up. Glad you understand, [b]FalconFan[/b]! :D

 

Next up on the critique list is another by Esira(I should have done these at the same time - oh well )! Esira's second drawing is of the dreaded, General Grievous. Before I go on, here's her drawing once again:

The Good General

Your General Grievous, by far, blows your droideka out of the water. I'm not sure if you enjoyed doing this character more or just spent more time on him, but he definitely looks better crafted. You've taken a lot more care in the shading and the overall line work. In fact, the thing that sticks out the most for me is your line work - it is VERY crisp and clear. This was also present in your droideka drawing and I'm glad it was carried over here. But there is something present here that wasn't in your other(I think I pointed it out to you before) and it is that your lines are a lot darker and easier to see. And due to this, your drawing really appears to stand out and lift off the page.

The only thing I can really pick out to improve on in this drawing(and this is really a nitpick)is the appearance of the lightsabers. I don't know if there's much you can do with a pencil to create the glowing effect but at the moment, they just seem to disappear and they're lost in the background. If anything, maybe adding some values to the background would help to bring out those sabers. The one on the right would particularly benefit from this. Just a small suggestion.

Once again, thanks for sharing your work with us, Esira!

 

I think I did enjoy drawing him more actually, I think you can see the extra enthusiasm in the drawing lol!

Yea, you can definitely see it in your drawing. Then again, I don't blame you. I find Grievous much more interesting than a droideka myself.

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Moving along...

[b]Rocie[/b], it is now your turn to shine! :D

Rocie submitted her take at the droideka image. For reference, her drawing can be seen here:

[link=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v351/MarnaVeign/Fan%20Art%20Class/droideka1.jpg][b]Droideka[/b][/link]

I said this before and I shall say it again - I really think your high point is drawing mechnaical objects or things that require you to use a straight-edge(not something I personally like to do). You also have a nice understanding of perspective, which also falls under this category. In many ways, the two come hand in hand and in the end, they produce very nice drawings.

Your droideka drawing has everything I just went over above. It really feels like it occupies the space in which your drew it in and the clean lines make it look very professional. So, overall, nice job in that area. Your proportions, however, seem a little off. The length of the droid's body appears a tad bit too long and the "arms" too short. I think the mid-section is where the problem lies. Just shortening that length just a little bit can make a big difference where the proportions are concerned. Now, I know how hard this dang thing was to draw, so I don't expect you to go back and mess with it. All the lines are too neat and everything too tightly knit together to go erasing things. ;)

Now, the shading version of the same drawing heightens the linework immensely. Now we're really starting to get into some real depth. By just adding some dark areas around the "head", it makes the appearance like the top portion is moving backward into the picture, like it should appear to be doing. I also really like the shading you've done to the "ball" part of the frame. It helps that part of the droid to appear round and 3-D.

Overall, I really think you did a wonderful job on this drawing and it really lets your skills shine through! :D

 

Good, because I'd have to do the whole thing all over again! grin

Yea, after seeing how much time everyone spent on perfecting the droids, I thought it would be downright cruel to have you go back and redo it again. And remember, my critique is just one opinion. It doesn't mean I'm right and you don't have to take my advice if you don't want to. Just something to keep in mind.

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Okay, I know it's been a while since the last critique, but I'm finally getting around to them again. With that said, [b]_Artoo_[/b] is up next with her General Grievous.

For your reference:

[link=http://ic1.deviantart.com/fs6/i/2005/043/a/2/He__s_bloo__D_by_animamia.png][b]General Grievous[/b][/link]

[b]_Artoo_[/b], I applaud you again on your wonderful rendering. First of all, I want to comment that I really like the blue pencil you used - it adds some extra personality to the drawing. It also seems that you added something extra to his expression or something. It appears more organic or life-like than he did in the reference photo. It's like you literally fleshed him out. I really admire that touch and I noticed it is a trait found in all of your drawings thus far. And finally, I want to comment on the care that went into the shading. It really looks like you spent [i]a lot[/i] of time going through every nook and cranny of the drawing, getting the shading just right. It shows by how smooth the pencil work is - especially on the leg and around the dark areas of the head.

Now to some areas of improvement - this is something my drawing professor always harps about, but it's fitting the whole figure onto the page. You have a nice form going and then all the sudden we get to the feet and they're cut off. I'm not sure if you have trouble drawing feet and that's why you left them off or(most likely) you made the drawing too big and just ran out of room. Whatever the case may be, cutting off either the hands or feet tends to weaken the drawing to some extent. It could have been a lot stronger if you would have included them. Just something to keep in mind. :)

Overall, it's a very well-crafted drawing. Nice job! :D

 

I think I can see a light at the end of the tunnel finally. LOL!!! Anyway, onto the next critique for FalconFan!

Here are her drawing of the droideka again for all to see:

Line Drawing
Shaded Drawing

FF, I love the in-progress comparison you provided here. Like I said many times in the past(I think I'm beginning to sounds like a broken record ), it really gives an insight on what it takes to get a drawing finished. For the line drawing itself, I want to say that I like the nice, crisp use of line here. Very detailed and you can tell you put great care into making it look great. Everything seems to line up perfectly.

And then we move onto the shaded drawing and - WOW! It must have taken you forever to get it looking like that. Very intricate work all throughout it. It really has a nice sense of space - it actually feels like it's sitting there. Not much I can tell you to improve on except maybe making the final drawing a little darker(that may have been a result of scanning it into the computer). I know a quick solution to this is just to fool around with the contrast/brightness in a image editing program. It works quite nicely. The other thing is maybe add some kind of background - whether it just be some shading/shadow or if you'd rather go all out and add scenery. I think this would really enhance the 3D effect of it actually sitting there. But really, it's an excellent drawing. Very well done!

 

labpizza, it's never too late to join in on an old assignment. I have all the reference pics up to the present. If you're interested in a particular assignment, just let me know and I'll send the pics in your direction.

As for the thread itself - it's far from dead. Like FalconFan said, just taking a little break till I can get all caught up. My semester ended yesterday and I'm now free for the summer so I'd expect an update here fairly soon.