New Artist Here, Looking for some pointers.

[Excentric]

You May Recognize me from my like 6 price suggestions, but I've also recently garnered an interest in digital art.

 

I'm a complete novice. I'm using paint tool sai 2, and firealpaca. I'd say my main weakness is in colour.

 

Started in December. No prior experience in art, mainly an english lit. maj, really zero experience before a few months ago

 

Tips, tricks and some criticism would be appreciated. I'm not going to start circle jerking about "style", because style is uneccessary, the fundamentals are more important, I think.

 

Completely unashamed of my current work, but I do recognize lots of improvements can be made, I believe fearing that one's work is bad can staunch creatvity, and prevent you from broaching new areas of study. These are the only two I could upload.

 

 

[Knightfury69]

idk id probs start first from drawing on paper isntead of directly going digital and learn the basics that way

[● evan]

I would definitely recommend starting on paper if you are a complete beginner. As per your drawings, proportioning is the biggest issue. The faces are well done but the heads are too big and the shoulders are unsymmetrical as one side seems to be slouching. You should insert a picture of a human body into your drawing and proportion your characters based off that, eventually you'll understand how things should look and be completely independent. In my opinion, the best way to improve is to put a lot of effort into one piece instead of random doodles or reference sheets. You definitely could create something good if you took your time(however I don't usually color my drawings unless I'm super proud of it, since it takes a lot of time). Good luck!

[Excentric]

9 minutes ago, ● evan said:

I would definitely recommend starting on paper if you are a complete beginner. As per your drawings, proportioning is the biggest issue. The faces are well done but the heads are too big and the shoulders are unsymmetrical as one side seems to be slouching. You should insert a picture of a human body into your drawing and proportion your characters based off that, eventually you'll understand how things should look and be completely independent. In my opinion, the best way to improve is to put a lot of effort into one piece instead of random doodles or reference sheets. You definitely could create something good if you took your time(however I don't usually color my drawings unless I'm super proud of it, since it takes a lot of time). Good luck!

Thanks, been doing some anatomy studies, I've been doing some on-paper, but to be honest, I much prefer digital. Right now I'm doing some torso and shoulder studies, combination of quickposes and photos. Thanks again!

[KayEf]

I'd say that it doesn't matter too much how you start, just as long as you START.

Now, for the actual critique; the side profiling is nice, gives it a good silhouette. And the head anatomy seems correct (ear on the left one looks a bit wonky, but ears are wonky so that's forgiven). But I have to agree that proportioning seems like your most obvious weak point here. The shoulders on the left one are completely different sizes and it makes the man look as though he has a weird little hunch.

I'd say that the right drawing is much better than the left, as it seems the problems from the left have been fixed on the right. The shading also needs a bit of work, but that just comes with more observation and practice of how light and shadows work.

For someone who's beginning though, this is quite nice. Keep up the good work!