Asj's sketchbook (trying to figure out shading)

[Asj]

I was thinking about making one of these threads before, but then I didn't. ^_^" I wonder how much I'll use this...

I decided to enter the February Challenge, so the first several things I post will be from that.
I want to mainly work on my Decision comic for the challenge, but maybe also work on anatomy and backgrounds.

February 1st:
most of a (upcoming) page from Decision, in actual size. (today I traced the lineart over from the rough draft and did shading. I'm considering 'tracing' as drawing something because of how long it takes and how much it makes my arms hurt. >_> )

Spoiler! :

can you believe that no walking signal looked really good at first? I redrew it a few times because the shading kept bleeding over and now it doesn't look like a hand anymore.

By the way, if I don't have internet tomorrow (with tonight's storm where I'm at), I hope I don't get a point taken off for that.

[Piano-kun]

Good perspective! Although I'm kind of confused about the telephone posts in at the left and right corners of the first panel. I feel like they should be bigger? It just looks a bit strange against the buildings, I think. Also, your pencil shading looks great!

[Asj]

The ones in the corners should be slightly taller, but if I didn't draw the tops, I didn't think they'd be recognizable. Also, I just noticed that what's supposed to be windows for the far right building, that they look way too small compared to the telephone post (could that be why it looks odd? although they kind'a look like they could be bricks, too).
Thanks, by the way. I tried doing a perspective trick for the telephone posts and the sidewalk lines (and crosswalk), which I got from a tutorial I found on deviantart.com one time. I liked the shading in the top panel more before I scanned it, but I'm glad the shading doesn't look too bad. I usually adjust the levels more, but, for this, it bleaches (no pun intended) out some things.

[trenton_dawn]

I think those poles would still be distinguishable if you made them the proper size. After all, they're connected to the other ones with big ol' wires.

[Asj]

hmm... when I looked at them with a ruler, they seemed to match up okay... (I forgot that I added a second board on them after I first measured them. I think I had fixed the height when I did that) Maybe I just made them too wide? The others are like stick-poles, so those two might look a little off with that much wood on them.
Do they look better slimmer? I didn't white out the words this time, but they don't mean anything, anyhow (my comic's script is terrible. ^_^" ).

Spoiler! :

Also, something new for February 2nd.
I couldn't find my anatomy book today. v_v I think my dad might've put that box in his closet, because I couldn't find it anywhere else... I tried looking up some anatomy stuff online and going by that, but I didn't spend much time on it and it looks stupid. ^_^" ...maybe I should study heads more. For once, I think maybe the head looks worse than the body.
I wanted to try doing a pose that bends, since I'm usually afraid to make bodies bend in unnatural ways and then they end up straight and stiff.

[Asj]

February 3rd: some planning sketches for an upcoming Decision page, trying to think of the best dialogue and pictures. Suggestions welcome...

Spoiler! :

I labeled everything I couldn't get to look right. ^_^"

[Asj]

February 4th:
I was going to try practicing anatomy stuff, but I decided to try rewording the book first, so I'd better remember it. ...and then realized there was a lot of stuff, and the book left out some details and makes it confusing.

Spoiler! :

And then I sketched a character of mine that I hadn't drawn for awhile. ...it doesn't look like the same person in the two sketches. Why is that?

I just barely made it today... D:

[trenton_dawn]

And then I sketched a character of mine that I hadn't drawn for awhile. ...it doesn't look like the same person in the two sketches. Why is that?

I just barely made it today... D:

His mouth is lower in the left picture than in the right. In addition, he seems to have a more defined jaw on the left. It might also have something to do with the fact that the hair over his face appears to be transparent in the right picture.

[Asj]

His mouth is lower in the left picture than in the right. In addition, he seems to have a more defined jaw on the left. It might also have something to do with the fact that the hair over his face appears to be transparent in the right picture.

It's actually supposed to be a girl, but I probably draw girls and guys too similar. ^_^" (I don't want them different enough to where they look like different species or anything. I think a lot of animated shows over-do it) I guess the eyes and jaw were the things that most made me think the pictures looked different. The hair being transparent is just because I drew her face first and thought it was a pitty to cover her eyes when I think I got them almost symmetrical.

[trenton_dawn]

I think it's mostly her jawline that makes me think 'man', especially in the left picture (possibly the nose...female noses are generally more rounded, no?). I think there is also some problem with the sharpness of the edge where the shoulderblade meets the neck. It should be a lot smoother on the average female.

[Asj]

February 5th:
I didn't really feel like doing anything today... and then I read some fanfiction, and decided to draw another character I hadn't drawn for a little while.
He's a character in an FMA fanfiction of mine (on fanfiction.net), which I've wanted to rewrite for the past several years - too many loopholes. I used a few screenshot references to get the first 3 pictures to look right - the first I cut out of the picture and the other two are on the left side (forgot how to draw him - he also has a tattoo on one side of his neck, but I forget which side, so I didn't draw it ^_^" ) and then I wanted to see if I could get him to look the same if I changed his expression. (by the way, he, like most of my FMA OC's, are only part OC. He's related to someone in the anime)

I always draw his eyes a little too big... His eyes are too tiny for me to get right.

[Asj]

February 6th:
Hmm... does this count as one or three pictures? One? ...yeah, I guess so.
I wanted to try doing something with foreshortening and trying to use an action line or something. First I tried sketching what I wanted with the hand (and when I couldn't think of a reason to be randomly reaching out, I thought of him doing that), then I thought maybe the action line would follow the arm? And put a somewhat perpendicular line to position his head on. (and then I started thinking that pose looked really familiar...) Then I scanned it, and looked at a picture I did of him in the past for his arm because I didn't remember exactly what it looked like. ah...too much information...

oh, it's too big to fit?

[Asj]

February 7th:
I went to the public library of the town I moved to in December, and checked out seven books that had something to do with anatomy or perspective. If it's like the books I checked out where I used to live, I won't read much in them... ^_^" I didn't look at them yet, by the way.
I was reading some Smackjeeves comics instead. And I thought the first pages of some of the comics I saw today was pretty neat, and decided to try drawing some rough drawings of an idea I had awhile ago, based on a dream I had years ago. (I found the page I wrote a rough draft script on awhile ago and went by that, by the way)

Spoiler! :

transitions are hard. D: And, maybe it's going too fast already?

[Asj]

February 8th:
hmm... I started out thinking I'd work on anatomy and my Decision comic, and then I seemed to have lost track of time. O_o I drew a sketch, though. ^_^" (I think she might look a little off (didn't reference hands except what I could plainly see of mine), but I think I'm improving with clothing wrinkles for some reason... Tried doing a more painterly type of coloring, but I don't think I can do that type very well... perhaps I need to work with solid colors and mix them... like real paint... which I've always felt I was bad at...)

[Asj]

February 9th:
I tried working on a comic page, but I couldn't seem to get Orihime to look like Orihime. >_>" So I thought I'd copy a screenshot of her as practice. I might've learned a few things about her design, but again I have problems with eyes... (I edited them a few different times) How come every time I try drawing a person's face at an angle (even a slight one) the eyes don't match? And they should here because I copied them from a screenshot. I don't know what to do about it, besides redoing eyes if I'm inking a picture in Photoshop. ...but I have problems getting jawlines and everything to look right at angles...