Animation Source Forums

Okay, so I need some tips and opions on my art please. I want to improve. I have an example below (I know it's lineart, so you can see it with out any colors, it's free to use, just don't spam the topic by asking) Please don't say 'OMG IT SUCKS!' if it's that bad, you can apearantly do better, help me out.

click image so you can see it better

I think you've got a really good style. I especially like the way you draw the canine's face/head.

but I'd like to offer a few tips .
-you might want to watch the pose, as it gets a bit difficult to see how he's moving.
correct me if I'm wrong but he appears to be jumping at something/someone. To do this he'd need a push off on those back feet, the way they are placed it looks as though he's leaping straight but the ground his back feet are standing on is just diagonal. Try to pull that farthest back leg a bit upward so that when the wolf does go to jump he has a bit of a push off.
-you also might want to watch the front paws. The front paws somewhat look as though they are hitting something. Try to have the toes point forward rather then up, when the canine is simply jumping straight.


Hope this helps a bit. Let me know if you'd like me to red-line the points i mentioned for you, I 'd be happy to.

it's not bad, I've always liked your style, you know it ;D you're improving a lot^^ I've modified your drawing with the red line, just to show you how, for me, it should have been =)

Thanks so much guys XD I'll try to work with those tips!

I'm not quite sure as to why, but a lot of Animation Source users tend to think that "style comes first." Unfortunately, that's not true. (Trust me, I found out the hard way!) See those two pictures I referenced above? You can use those -- and more -- to learn realism. I found those by going to Google Images and typing in "running wolf."

By referencing photographs for a short amount of time (or a long time, whatever your whim) you're memorizing the anatomy in the picture. You're training yourself to know where this or that is, what size this is on the face, how this part of the body moves while doing this, and so forth. Style should come last to anatomy! This is because, when worrying about style, you'll become distracted and your art will have a bunch of mistakes in it. And you and I both know that when there's a mistake, your eyes stay on that. It's like seeing a typo in a newspaper; it distracts you from the bigger picture.

Take some time, pull some photographs out (I've linked a couple of good on-line resources on the Internet; you can find more photos in books and magazines), and draw them. Take your time, try to make them look as much like your reference as possible. (Don't worry about detail!!) Trust me, you're going to fail a lot before you produce one content piece of art. That's called "progress," but don't let it discourage you. Keep at it; endure the jerks who are going to bash your work and use them to make yourself better. (Who best to point out your weak points than an enemy?) By identifying your weakness(es), you can smoosh them. Do that. Need to work on drawing noses? Take a sketchbook page or two and draw noses at different angles. After you make a picture, find a reliable artist (me, Kaylink, silver Deni, Midnightwolf) and ask for critique. Or even post on the forums asking for it. Someone can help you by saying, "Here's you're strong points, but there are some weaknesses. This is what they are, and this is how to fix them." If they're really nice, they'll even give you some resources to help you along.

Frankly, it looks like you're trying to make your style similar to that from the movies. Don't. Having a style that's copied from a movie is one thing; having one that lacks individuality is worse. Think of how many people have seen those movies. Now, think about how many people use the same or similar style to that in the movies. By working with realism, you can work forward instead of backward. You need to know what something looks like before you're able.

Sure, you know what an apple looks like. But do you know what a wolf looks like? It doesn't look like a husky, or a German shepherd, or the local mutt that roams the streets. Each animal -- even different breeds of wolves -- have different characteristics that make them identifiable. Learn those characteristics by studying photographs and drawing those.

Practice makes perfect -- but proper study makes for good practice.

Too Long;Didn't Read (TL;DR):
Study realism, then work on your style.




Resources:

http://wolfphotography.com/
http://http://gallery.wolves.de/gallery/
http://kiza.kcore.de/wolfpaper-archive/

Don't forget to cite your references! If you draw your picture from a reference, be sure to include that you referenced it. (Original Photo: ....) Otherwise, it's considered stealing. Also, look around the websites and see if they do/don't allow using their photos as artistic references. Monty Sloan (wolfphotography.com and wolfpaper-archive) allows artists to use his photos, I have already contacted him on this.

Thank you, This helps alot. I guess I rendered so much, my stlye looks to much like the movie I'm going to print out a few and work little by little and focusing on differnt parts at a time. I did this not to long ago of a picture of my puppy I took: /balto/en ... 3&dopost=1
I thought It came out pretty well.

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Please comment People

Your style is good, but like Kirada said, anatomy comes first. I see that is one thing you need to work on. But no worries. My anatomy used to be bad too. Still it isn't perfect. Not everyone is an artist. But if they really want to, you have to be willing to take the time to improve your work.