Forum posts by Sanne

Hey Mary!

Great progression so far. :)

I'm very proud that you posted your recent two sketches even though you don't like them. I agree that they're not your best sketches, but you learned a highly valuable lesson there.

Maybe you can break those sketches down into two sides and make lists? For example, list things you noticed went wrong, but also things you think turned out good and like. Having a good balance of both sides helps with critical evaluation and the learning process!

Hi skeplin! Welcome to Line of Action! :)

Your characters look pretty good, it's a pretty adorable cartoon style. I like it!

If I'm understanding you correctly, you want to learn anatomy and how it works in 'the real world' and then apply it to your cartoon style. Are you practicing this by trying to draw realistic faces and bodies, or are you focusing directly on your cartoon style?

I've personally found that the latter doesn't work that well. In most cases, it's necessary to 'ditch' the cartoons and focus on emulating real life as closely as possible. You don't have to create massively detailed, shaded and colored portraits, but knowing what 'real people' look like and how to draw them opens a hundred doors for your cartoon style.

For example, focusing on real people will tell you that the bridge of the nose and the forehead of the top right character don't work out so well because the eye is placed too high in the skull. The jaw also needs to extend further back and we're seeing an almost front-view on the mouth while you're aiming for a straight side-view in general. These contradictions throw off the eye quite a bit. Cartoons allow leeway, but your foundation is wrong, therefore the stylized approach is not based on reality and it will look odd to us.

It's definitely possible to improve and learn by focusing on your current style, but it comes with the inevitable realization that instead of a hundred doors, only a couple will open on this path instead.

If you're up for it, I strongly recommend making use of our drawing tools and focusing on face studies and body gestures. Try your best to draw <em>what you see</em>, not what you <em>think you see</em>. When we draw 'from memory' without copying what's in front of us, we inevitably get details wrong and don't learn much.

This page has a good explanation of what I mean. <strong>Please be mindful, the post I'm linking to contains a lot of swearing!</strong> http://imgur.com/gallery/0O7P8gu

I hope this helps, please let me know if I interpreted anything wrong or if you need more information. :)

Hey steviantoos, it looks like you're trying to link to images on your computer. Unfortunately that doesn't work, as we can't access your computer directly. Can you try uploading them to an image host site, such as http://www.imgur.com and linking us to those? :)

Hey AbyssalLizard!

Welcome to the site. :) I'm sorry to hear you're feeling so frustrated with your progress.

Janeel's suggestion is not a bad one, but something I'm noticing right off the bat is that most of your gestures still feel a bit stiff. Adding detail to stiff bases is not going to fix the problem of liveliness there. Your gestures will probably benefit immensely from more dramatic strokes as you sketch them.

<strong>Don't be afraid to make poses dramatic!</strong> Half the life in gesture drawings is the flow of the body, and the more pronounced the curves are, the better in this case.

Have a peek at Swen's gestures <a href="https://line-of-action.com/forums/topic/my-daily-gesture-drawings/page/5/">here</a>, he does some great work and his gestures have wonderful notes with them. The difference between your gestures and his is mainly that his poses are far more exaggerated. Why not give that a shot, see how you progress with that? :)

Hello Carrot!

We totally agree with you that the pause button needs to be less obtrusive. :) That's why we have a patch with a fix for it which will be applied in the near future.

https://line-of-action.com/forums/topic/known-issues/

We don't have a specific date yet but it's coming!

I just wanted to say that you're on the right path to nailing different facial features to make people look unique! Do you feel like you've learned from these sketches already? If so, can you define what you learned?

I like the jagged edges in your sketches style wise, but it does make them look more cartoonish. If that's what you're going for that's great! If not, I suggest trying to make more fluid strokes so they don't look like straight lines that connect for the most part. :)

Hey hoboriker! I'm so glad you're enjoying the tools!

The top right corner shows the timer + how many images of that particular time are left before you're bumped up. Do you use this info? If not, is there a particular reason as to why?

Hi rusapen! I'm so glad to hear you're enjoying the site and its tools!

I'm sorry to hear you're having some issues though. Is the timer in the top right corner not useful to help you time this? We typically see that people place multiple gestures onto one page so their experience is pretty seamless most of the time, is there any particular reason you're using a new page for every gesture? Knowing this will help us out make improvements so any info you can give us is helpful. :)

Hey everyone!

I checked with Kim, we have plans for releasing a tool featuring architecture and landscaping in the future. At this time we're focusing on ironing out the bugs for our existing tools and are going to release a patch for them first.

We don't know when this patch will be released, but we're working hard and will keep you informed of our progress! Hopefully after that we can focus on the tools you requested.

Let us know if you have any other questions, please!

Hi Jim, welcome to Line of Action!

That sounds like such an exciting project to work on with your wife! :) Is this comic online, or are you looking to publish it in book form? I'd love to see it if it's available to the public!

Fingers crossed you can make your change in career reality. Feel free to share your practice progress with us!

Hello axentis, welcome to the forum!

Your sketches look really good to me, there's not a whole lot right off the bat that doesn't look right. The full body figure holding weapons facing forward looks a bit wonky, mainly in the waist/hip area with some off proportions in the legs, but the rest of your gestures appear very well balanced. I love your face gestures!

Is there anything in particular you're looking to improve first? Any other goals you've set for your art?

Hi Lostghbear!

I see a lot of good starts in your gestures! Very impressed with the amount too, you're definitely on the right path to improvement! I agree with CloneEnjinear, there's a bit of a cartoony vibe to your hand gestures that seems to originate from a lack of understanding of the underlying anatomy. You could try to, instead of replicating the hands as you see them, draw their underlying structures the same way you would with full body gestures.



This artist gives a very good demonstration of breaking down hands into basic shapes. If you can focus on getting these basic shapes right, they will be the foundation of finished hands. A good foundation means a good end result! :)

One thing I'm seeing a lot in your gestures is that the fingers appear wobbly and disjointed from the palm of the hand. If you focus on these basic construction shapes first, that is something you will be able to avoid almost immediately.

Quantity is also very important for art (keep drawing lots!) but it wouldn't hurt to take 30 minutes every now and then to REALLY focus on one hand gesture and go all the way in-depth, so you can focus more on the structure and then realize the details on top.

I'm looking forward to seeing more of your work!

I'm so thrilled to see more updates from you! :) Your little notes are super helpful.

Welcome raumplan!

Your sketches look fantastic, what sort of history do you have with art? Is there anything specific you're looking to improve?

Welcome Syl!

I'm glad you got your registration sorted out.

I moved your reply to its own topic as to not hijack another member's thread. :) I hope you'll settle in well with us, please let us know if we can help you out!