Welcome to Gaia! ::

I think were all like that though. I never really noticed how much I loved learning new things until I graduated and didn't attend school anymore xd I sometimes wish I could go back just to learn more, because theres so many things I'd like to learn or explore that I just never got the chance to do 3nodding

Thank you for all the support! <3
Oh god.... math... yeah.... It's sad that I come from a family of crazy mathematicians and I can barely count on my fingers....
Aside from that though if money were not an issue I'd be come a professional student > w >;



Kai: Oooo, I'm loving the pose thus far. Tastefully nekkid ;D Huur huur
I agree with Nuna, it does have a pinup girl feeling to it. Simple grunge bg's always work great if you don't wanna do a detailed bg :O And I vote for the lip shaped grunge she suggested > w >

Thank you! I shall keep fighting on! scream


Nuna: Thank you X3
Honestly I think the coloring is gonna kill me..... I'm still trying to learn how to color gonk Must... persevere....!


Om: I'm hoping I can deliver to expectations! XD;;;
*nods* Indeed and I can't wait to be done with this XD;;; Partially due to the fact that I've already spent so much time into it.... @___@;;; Ffffft, I don't know how people are able to do art so fast.


Cactus: Ah I know how that can feel. I hold back a lot because I want to make stories better and want to work things out and and and.... ffffffft, the excuses keep piling up. I'll continue to research and to improve myself and maybe one day....
Even if it's not a huge mega million dollar success just try making your stories into comics for yourself and for your friends, and perhaps the little fanbase that will come, to enjoy. I've made a bunch of little comics just for myself and my friends and it's still an awesome feeling to know there are those that will appreciate your efforts 3nodding

:O I like it, it kind of reminds me of those little scratching art projects..... I forget what they're called... but you use a little pen scratcher to scratch off the black and reveals the colors under neath it? XD It's an interesting concept.

Cactus: I have to say, I really like the concept behind this. Its unique, and visuaqlly interesting, and I like that you're trying something a littl out of the box. I'd like to see you do more of these with different subjects. Choose characters you like, or browse peoples request threads. I really do like this style.

Gomeric: I personally find its easier to start with the background. I paint a vague messy idea ofthe colors i intend to use,which in turn gives me an idea of the mood i want the rest of the coloring to reflect. Take this old image mine for example: here

I started out with a big fuzzy brush and just added a bunch of blues and greens to figure out whee the light and shadow would be. From there it made it easier to start painting in the finer details, because I already had a visual reference for where the light was coming from. It also help me pick colors for the character more effectively because I had the mood and lighting of the background to rely on. I might be able to find you a couple tutorials if you'd like.

Another thing I do frequently to try and improve my technique is referencing the coloring styles of artists I adore. I take some old lines or something and attempt to replicate it to the best of my ability. I generally ALWAYS learn something new when I do this. There are SO many ways to go about coloring something, and they're all beautiful and unique in their own way, so its good to practice several different styles and become well-versed.


Kai: Grunge is a style. The term is used toward music, and art to describe something gritty, and vague, and with a very slight sense of the industrial. Think of the textures you'd find in an abandoned warehouse. Fading wood, scratched up dirty concrete, rusting metal, paint splotches... Somewhere along the line someone applied to concept to art and it transformed into what grunge is percieved to be in the art world today. The backgrounds on the pictures you references in your post would be considered a form of grunge. It's more a use of the textural qualities you'd find in these things when what they actually are. Here is a site with a bunch of examples of grunge textures. Grunge



So so, I have an exercise for you guys to do if you'd like. I found it really interesting. It involves a bit of life drawing if you're up to it.

So what you're gonna do is choose a model. clothed or not, but try to choose something visually interesting, or the shows the body from an angle. You're going to draw this model twice. The first time you get to spend up to half an hour on it. When you're time is up you stop drawing right where you've left ff. The second time you draw it you only get 5 minutes. when the 5 minutes is up, again, you stop where you're at. This exploration in visual perception is interesting in a couple ways. If you do it frequently you could improve the amount/quality/ and speed at which you draw, by teaching you to comprehend what you're seeing in a different way. A lot of artists get focused on small detailssuch as the eyes, or the hair, and forget that all the other parts are just as important andthat it's easiest, and fasted to take the entirety of what you're seeing in, as opposed to focussing on one small part at a time. This experiment is also interesting in that it lets you see what you as an idividual percieve to be the most important elements in a drawing, as well as areas where you struggle, or spend too much time. If you spend a lot of time on one specific part, it's entirely possible that, that part is also something you tend to focus on and find important in other peoples art. Or at least thats what I found with myself. Part of making yourself feel confident about what you draw is knowing what parts of what ou're drawing are most important to you, and behind able to satisfy that expectation of yourself. If you fail to identify those elements you could find yourself feeling dissatisfied.

Anyway, here are some resources:

Class timer A web based timer that emits a sound when it times out. Its simple and easy to use.

Pose maniacs I'm sure most of you already have this site bookmarked, but if you don't it'll make that pesky search for a model to draw all that much easier

I'd like to see them if you do more like this.

my problem when working with art is the environment around me! I grew up on an environment when art is consider as something that doesn't need attention. My parents hates painting, art performance, music etc. they think that those things is just a waste of money and time. My siblings, well, they have some opinions with my parents! Winning a soccer match or getting high grades in school is much more appreciated than winning photography competition! sweatdrop

while my friends, they don't either understand or care about arts. and I'm already too busy with my collages to join things like art or photography community.

this lead to another problem,, noone seems to respond on what I'm doing. I don't know whether my works are nice, so-so, or very ugly because I always have troubles on deciding how good my works are... sometimes I even think that my works are hideous sweatdrop

I always intimidated by the artists which able to produce a lot of works and require a lot of attention from what they do...

well, this one is my recently favorite, not the most, but well, newest biggrin :
Over The Hill

Gomeric Okay here goes.
This one demonstrates what mentioned about laying out your bg colors to set a mood before focussing on details Another example Another another

These illustrate the concept I was talking about. I wish I still had access to my WIPs. I would post them for you.


Yakki It must be so hard to have grown up in an enviroment where art isn't appreciated. It means you end up having to try all that much harder, and lacking encouragement from those close to you can be very discouraging. But at the very least you've managed to stumble on to the right kind of community and people that will appreciate your talents. I love everythingabout the photo you posted.It's is simple, elegant, and the background perfectly frames the couple, and draws focus to them. I know how you feel when it comes to your worknot being noticed. It can be very disheartening, I know. But when it comes down to it, what is truly important isn't the opinions of your family and friends, or the amount of responses you get. It's how you feel about your art personally. It's something you love, and you are very good at.

woosh am I ever out of shape XD lol I'm kinda really not satisfied with it, I think I did a better job at getting my formes identified in my 5 min drawing compared to my half hour drawing XD mind you once I started draing my 5 min pose I did already have a nice warm up : ). Hmmm lets see... I think I put maybe 10% more attention on the hands and face then I did with the rest of the body... and I hesitated to start working on shadow contours on my 30 min one, but only because I noticed near the end my line of action and proportions was off. But over all a nice little exercise : ) thanks, I think I really appreciated the little wake up call it sent me....