Yes, I'm finally posting again! And look! I have BACKGROUND! HOMFG! And I just love this piece. I'm sure in like, a year, I'm going to come up with something way cooler and absolutely hate this drawing, but until then - WHOO-HOO! *party!*
And there's a lot going on in this picture. So I guess I should start talking. Get a sandwich or something. You're in for a long one.
Miyuki is the best friend of the main character of a roleplay/story-type thing that I've been working on for as long as I can remember. It's based very heavily on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and Through the Looking Glass (and what Alice found there). I've been working on it with :pdwing: Cherry. Miyuki isn't that important, but sometimes she models for the main character's older brother, Terry. Hence the funky outfit.
This picture was ORIGINALLY going to simply be Miyuki modeling. Then I drew the little tree in the background (and I love that tree to death. It's my favorite part of the whole thing. :lol: ) Then I started on the hills, and the other tree. Then the path. Ooh, and the shading for the path was probably the best accident ever. I shaded it in, totally black. And I didn't like it, so I erased it. But my erasing was kinda sloppy, and it turned out the way it is now. I know. Lucky, right?
But anyway, then I added the two flowers in front of the little tree (they're arguing, if you can see that.). Then the mushroom with the caterpillar on it (he's too small to really see himself, but you can see his smoke rings.). Then I added the chessboard pattern on the hills. And after a lot of procrastinating, I finished the other tree (and I hate it so much.), and worked on the sky. I put in a mirror with the Jabberwock reflected in it (referenced from the book it came from), then the pocketwatch (referenced from my own), and last, the teacup (which looks like absolute crap). All in all, this took me a couple of weeks (on and off) to finish. This is easily the longest time I've ever worked on a picture. My Fairy picture (it's in my gallery somewhere) took a long time, but mostly because I put off coloring it for so long. That picture's crap, anyway.
Uhh...let's see. I'm totally open to a roasting, but please don't mention the fact that Miyuki's lopsided. I know. :cries: I found out when I was almost done with the background, and it tore my heart out. I'll have to fix it if I ever decide to color it.
And last, the shading. It's kind of crappy, and there is no definite light source. I'm hoping to get away with the fact that it's Wonderland, a land of nonsense, and therefore needs no definite light source...but we all know it's just because I bite at shading. :doh:
Thanks for looking! :wave:
Constructive Critique requested.
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Thanks so much! I'll try your advice out!
Thanks for the comments!!
You did pretty shading XD
*pssst* I'm kind of on a promotion for PD tangent. So GO HANG IN THE FORUMS!
Hopefully it helps.
I DO need to get some shading pencils. First I have to find a place that sells them. *sigh* Woe is me.
Thanks so much!
Thanks again.
What could be improved is contrast. There is very little change in value across the whole piece--there aren't any really dark, darks anywhere. The whole thing is comprised almost entirely of middle tones. There are a few really light areas but they don't stand out because the shaded areas are too light.
I would really recommending going back with a softer lead (I read that you usually work with regular mechanical pencils, right?--you may want to either buy some softer drawing pencils--like 2B or 4B--for shading if you're going to continue to work in graphite) and working in some deeper shadows.
In black and white, that contrast is really important because there aren't color values to add contrast. Right now your character blends into the background.
Also, right now there's no visible light sorce because we can't see any real shadows being cast.
I was going to sort of upload an example of what I was talking about but my programs are being difficult. So I thought I'd print it, shade the print out and rescan it back in...but my *printer* is being difficult. So meh.
At any rate, hope my thoughts helped.
(I just noticed the grinning face in the tree. Creepy...it looks kinda...evil.)
Thank you.