Some people may have noticed that my stick man tends to be facing different ways when I post work in progresses of him.

This is because I have this really irritating tendency to draw with a right-handed slant. There are two ways that I counter-act this. 

One is to flip the image horizontally. Even if you don’t notice a slant in your work, it’s good practice to look at something you draw from ALL angles, and make adjustments accordingly. It’s all a bit of a balancing act, and there are times where you’ll flip back and wonder what the hell happened. But with most things art related, with practice you’ll be able to sort out what is important to tweak and what isn’t.

The second way I deal with the tilt is the transform tool. Generally this is located in the Edit section of Photoshop, and it allows you to tilt, stretch, and overall adjust pieces of your work. Make the head a little big for the shoulders? Transform tool. Like the hand and it’s a little too small? Transform tool. It works particularly well with the Lasso tool for taking sections and adjusting, and is worth a play around with.

Just taking a break. Decided to make something without erasing any changes or corrections that I make in the course of doing line art. It was really relaxing.

Last post of a productive day!

I don’t know if this is advice, a rant, or a challenge. It may be all three.

There is no contest between Strength and Sensuality.

I’ve noticed a trend within my artistic lifetime, and it’s something that really gets under my skin in life-drawing. When in a session, I’ve heard many times that men need to have straight lines in order to look male, while females have to curve and look ‘softer’ in order to look female.

This does not make sense. Especially now that I’m older and realize it was just either laziness or lack of knowledge that drives teachers to say this.

First of all, no human has straight lines. None. Ever. Bones curve, muscles curve. The most ripped man will have literally hundreds of curves. Bony people will be far more subtle, but it’s there if you actually look. And I mean really look. The other side of this is falling into the belief that women need to be drawn with exaggerated curves in order to appear more ‘female.’

There are other ways of getting across a person’s gender without resorting to straight lines.

I firmly believe this is why people fall down when an older guy comes in with saggy man-boobs and a belly, or you have a slim female model with smaller breasts. All the lazy programing goes to shit and suddenly you wonder why you can’t draw a human anymore. Observation is really key and you can’t afford to be lazy with it.

Let me stress that this isn’t a dig at stylized work. When you start knocking back detail, and when characters become more androgynous, your audience will have a hard time working out which is which without stereotypes. But that’s where I’d say the challenge is, and why knowing how the body REALLY works helps you break out of conformity.

On a personal note: I want to see more sensual men and stronger women, damnit.

This worked a little too well… ^^;;;

Yay detail! Yay character!

COMMISSIONS:

I am open for Commissions. I also only have ONE that I’m currently working on so please add yourself to the list! My prices range between $25-$100 for pieces, though I prefer to discuss what you are looking for before I set an exact price. This is for full figure work.

If you have something that you’d like drawn, and don’t see any examples of such in my gallery or my tumblr, PLEASE ask me! I’m a really open artist. If I cannot draw what you ask, I do not judge, I will just decline.

PRINTS:

I’m interested in making a few pieces into prints, but I need to know if there is any interest in this, and if there is, what kind of theme’s would you like? At the moment, pickings of my own work are slim, but I plan on adding four of my own pieces that I’d be willing to sell. I’d love some suggestions for theme’s.

FREEBIES:

Now the part you’re all waiting for. Yes, I do freebies! If you’d like a headshot or a waist-up, please just ask! The only condition I have is that you spread the word and let people know that I’m trying to fund my artistic career. Your support can really help me out, even if money is tight!

Deviantart: http://sunstrike.deviantart.com

Artist Advice #9

With art inclusion today!

From previous work you can see that this is a figure from a much bigger piece that I’m working on at the moment. The background is going really well, and because I already planned where I would have this character walking, I can actually remove the “stick-man” out from the rest of the drawing, and work on the individual details to get him into character, as well as work on proportion and make sure that he sits right in himself as well as the rest of the drawing.

Taking apart sections of the drawing made me remember that you don’t always need to commit yourself to completely finishing one aspect of a drawing before you go onto another portion. In fact, better practice might be to work in a kind of circular detail around the entirety of the piece that you’re working on. That way if you get strung out with one section, you are able to move onto another aspect.

Stepping away from a piece and working on other projects also helps, especially if you keep yourself organized. If you struggle with your work, it doesn’t instantly mean that you’ve lost the ability to draw. It’s just an indication that your brain might need a break.

Not feeling too well this past few days, but enjoy a chibi sun!

artist-confessions:

Occasionally, I see confessions on this blog complaining about underachieving artists being big headed and acting like they’re the next Leonardo da Vinci, and sometimes I see confessions complaining about good artists putting themselves down and fishing for sympathy.

So I thought that I…

Work in progress for a one shot comic I’m drawing!