Dissatisfaction

[avram]

I’ve grown dissatisfied with my artwork. I’m focussing too much on outlines, not enough on texture and shadow. My linework seems monotonous. Time for some changes. Time to hunt influences.

I decided the above after I did the following. And after I got about halfway through a piece in fine marker on smooth bristol board. (Which works pretty well, incidentally. I was worried that the smooth bristol might not take my non-photo pencil, but it worked fine.)


Not really happy with how this came out either. I laid down the blue wash a few days ago, then did the drawing on top of it in black and white Prismacolor pencil, which made it tough to erase, so I got her facial proportions wrong. What I ought have done is started out working in water-proof pencil, established my darks, then dropped a wash on top of that, then gone in with white for highlights.

Comments

[whumpdotcom.livejournal.com]

Modulo your criticisms on technique, I like this version of her.

But when does the comic start?

[kent-allard-jr.livejournal.com]

> I’ve grown dissatisfied with my artwork. I’m focussing too much on outlines, not enough on texture and shadow.

I dunno. If you're thinking of a webcomic, an emphasis on outlines seems appropriate. (PvP gets away with very simple shading, for example.) Plus, IMO, your fills are pretty good. (You seem more skilled at these things than I am, anyway.) I'd work more on the proportions, and getting the figures just right. They don't have to be naturalistic -- I think Melorn looks fine here -- as long as they're consistent and nice to look at.

[fairest.livejournal.com]

Re: her facial proportions, I also actually quite like her this way. Although it may just be the big-eyes-pointed-nose anime appeal at work; I don't have a good artstic eye for exactly what's different proportionally. But this is very cute as is. And I'm impressed by hair, horn, and ear.

Looking forward to seeing where you take it.

Reminds me

[(Anonymous)]

This one is reminiscent of Fiona as ogre from Shrek.

[mamishka.livejournal.com]

Personally I've really been liking the stuff you've been posting lately (though this blue one, not so much). I think your texture and shading has been great. What I've enjoyed the most is your ability to capture wonderful nuances of expression.

My recommendation is as follows. Don't let perfectionism be your stumbling block. I think it would be very easy for you to constantly find something you "don't like" about your work and then go spend time futzing with it and fixing it. Most comic book artists I've noticed go through that process as they make their comic. If I look at early anything - Cerebus, PVP, Aikiko ... pretty much every comic I can think of looks a bit primitive and rough when I go back to its origins. I encourage you to get going and make your comic book. Think of it as kind of like NaNoWriMo ... you gotta sit down and just do it at some point. Otherwise you'll never actually have a comic book. Just a lot of sketches and dissatisfaction. It's one thing that I've discovered with the whole mural thing. I can't be a perfectionist, because I have a timeline under which I have to work. There is always something I wished I did better, but overall I'm usually pretty happy with the work I've done, and those receiving it are generally even more so. Let go of perfectionism and GO FOR IT! I WANNA READ ABOUT MELORN! :)

[kent-allard-jr.livejournal.com]

> My recommendation is as follows. Don't let perfectionism be your stumbling block.

You're obviously someone who knows Avram well. :-)

BTW, hello, fellow-Hampshire-ite. (I'm F86.)