Lee- sketched

Yeah, I'm gonna play the colours by ear once I've got the base colours down. I mean, why make black totally black when dark grey also looks black in certain lights, but also seperates from other blacks around it? I try to complement the foreground if its not important (like in THIS pic!! If there is any landscape near Lee I'd be surprised ^^; I'll see what I can pull out in my heinous time table ^^; I gotta quit some of my social activities ^^;

Such a busy little bee Soozie. Well I am sure whatever you come up with will be awesome. And I think since you are going to be putting so much emphasis into the background than you don't really need any landscape around him. Not to mention the fire that will be in the pic as well. I think you will have a fine balance just with what you have planned. How does one achieve that balance anyway? I am always worried about putting too much into a picture because I don't want to over-work it and I don't want to put too little in it and make it seem empty either. I guess it just depends on what you have drawn huh? Well I will keep my out for the finished version of this one. All my love. ^_^

The balance is all to do with what you are wanting to focus on. It's a little hard to explain since alot of it wasn't explained to me, and I just figured out what looked best for most of my pics, butits all about focus. The brighter areas get seen first, so the focusing subject is always brightest- this doen't need to be a person. In this case, it'll be the fireball coming from Lee. Letsee-

http://www.paperdemon.com/rc_artview.php/id/3457.html In this one, the focus was the two elves, but to make them bright, the water needed to be obvious. The BG wasn't important at all, but needed to be there to give scenery cause you can still see it. I didn't put much detail into it, but made it darker to not notice it.
http://www.paperdemon.com/artview.php/id/2575.html This one is quite tricky to see what is the focus, but its the loneliness- darkness and rain a symbols of sadness/loneliness, and I silhoetted the demon as kind of how he sees himself type of thing. Only light in this is the rain.

Light, saturation, and also positioning- something key in photography is the 1/3s rule. Keep the key subject in one 1/3rd of the picture, and its always seems to look great. Unless its symetical, in which case, center is the best. Then it goes on about symitry and then I fall asleep... ^^; Does that clarify it a little more?

Oh yes sweetie. This is all perfectly clear to me now. You are always so helpful. I understand about that the brightest areas will be what needs to be seen first. You know, when I think about it, the different elements that we put into our drawings almost take on a certain kind of characterization as when you write. Alot of the time when I am writing, a powerful storm or whatnot will become just as important a character as the main human (or inhuman) characters I write about. So I guess it all really just does come down to focus and what we individually think will enhance the drawing. You have made it alot more clear to me now. Thank you so much hun. All my love. Mwah! ^_^

As EASY?! WHAT?! That kind of pose is soooooo not easy ^^; I spent ages tinkering that to where it is now ^^; Having the head looking up made it easier (downward pointing heads such almost as much as upward ones ^^; ) The legs I must admit were the hardest to position.... I'm not use to this angle at all, but it seemed like an awesom angle to try out for this one.... I'll try shafting his feet back

As for green fire- can he only do green fire? Or is this personal preferance? I'd rather change it for this one so we don't lose his hair. There's gonna be alot of ambient light in this pic ^^; The DOOM of ambient light ^^;

LOL, well, considering I'm not the one doing this, ya, it looks like it's easy to draw, from my view XD. lol. Meaning you make it look easy to me, cus I don't DARE touch a pose like that yet lol. So kudos for doing it XD.

As for the fire and light that's going to be going on, no, it does have to be green fire, I was going along with the green that you had mentioned in your post, perhaps a faint green aura instead? I know the combination of fire/bright light effect/green hair is going to be one rough job, so I don't want to make it any harder than it probably already is >_<.

Aha! Looking easy isn't nessecarily mean it is easy I know what you mean though- I don't normally go near this kind of pose, but I try to challenge myself with every pic. If I don't average something new in a pic in most of my stuff, I'd never get beter That's why I'm constantly lookign for critique, cause I'm not usually drawing a picture to wow people over. I could tell you what I was trying to improve in most of my pics if you asked. It's obvious in this one though. The desktop I did of my character Alex in pencil was to get that head angle right- I draw it so often, but it always looks like he's looking up, and I sort of know why now You should try it if you don't already :nods:

I'll see what I come up with the fire. I'll make green work. Just you wait

*grins from ear to ear* lol. Yeah, challenging yourself is deffinately something an artist should do to improve their skills, which I admire that when artist does try to do that. I'd try to myself, but my skill is still a bit down to try some of this stuff >_< that or I'm just to bashful about doing :/. Which is why I don't take requests yet myself, because 1, I'm afraid I might get a request with a pose like this type, and 2, cus I just dont think I'm ready to please someone :/. Don't get me wrong, I'd like to just..ARG, shyness of the unknown!!! lol

AnywAAAys lol. I can't wait to see what he'll look like hehe. Ohh, I shall superly love it even moreso because it'll have green, but there are other reasons that I shall like it as well hehe Heck, I'm alreayd loving it lol. Just keep up the good work and do what you do best

No seriously- you want to get beter, then focus on one weakness, and improve that. If your weakness is everything, then get a book on the basics and learn from scratch. If you have less things to worry about, then worry about them. My oldest POSTED picture is this http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/5706641/ a pic I drew in college... what... 7 years ago? I donno- I never dated anythig older than 2002... In those days I ruled mesurements straight from an art book and forced my brain to remember what they looked like. I could only do profile and prtrait type pictures for a very long time before I forced myself into 3/4 veiws (Between the two men's angles) and my men looked like they were early 20s at youngest, and mid 20s oldest at this point of time. Isidore( the black haired guy) is 30 odd years old .Alex (the guy in the armour ) is 16. Do they look 20 years different? No. They do now. You can do it. Draw from referances that are correct, and learn from respectable artists.

If you can find it now, "Drawing the head and figure" by Jack Hamm is what I learnt to draw from and is a VERY compreheincable How to draw book. MUCH better than the popular 'How to draw manga' books. It brushes on everything in a manner that anyone could understand. Thank you Mum for giving it to me ^^

*Has looked at the old deviant artwork link* Good gawd you've progressed alot! LOL, wow, I've not been able to see such a major development growth in ones skills like that before, wow lol. Believe me, I want to get better more than anything else, the one thing that gets me though, is I see all these different styles of artwork that people do, and I try to add just a little snippit in my own art sometimes, but when it comes down to it, I find that I'm liking SO many different styles, and I don't know how to incorporate it into one big ole' congolmeracy of my own skill >_<. Every time I find one, I go: 'Wow, that's sweet, must try that" *goes off and does it* then I find myself looking at another...I haven't gotton to my own little style yet where it all just aligns together XD.

Bleh, anyways, ones talents develop overtime anywho, as weve seen with yours XD. But gosh darnet, time sits still for far too long for me, talent-wise, and I would like to see my own talen and skill like you've shown me yours, in my coming years. I notice some from awhile back, but it's still not enough.

I'll try looking into that book you mentioned, any little bit helps. Wow..so much one has to do to get good at artwork.

Okay, I'll stop rambling your eyes off and get back to working on my drawing I got here >_>''.

!! You haven't seen my OLD old stuff!!! The pictures of my 'teenagers' that looked like 30 year old men with stubby bodys!! I HAVE SO BEEN THERE!!! XD Check this out http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/25954491/ I posted it on Deviantart just so you could see my first Dragon Twins picture. This is one of my first drawn straight from head after going through an art book pic (nothing is worth looking at before this pic- honestly ^^; unless you like contortion!!)

Well, how I look at it, its what you enjoy drawing, not what people tell you to draw. It's a bit hard for me to say anything, cause I've never been considered not good at art, or have a style that was desirable for my age when I think about it (I think its cause it was only realism back then- no anime), but I have many friends that 'copied' the professionals with lots of attention, but changed to their own style, and even though less watch them ,they get more kudos. Rest assured- no one style is definet. My suggestion is make a style out of everything you like in art. My art is majorly inspired buy a comic artist Greg Land (drools) and has alot of other influences. People have a hard time clasiffying my style, cause it's not realism- too exadurated, or anime. It's not like anyother artist I know either. It's my style

*laughs* you're right, I deffinately haven't seen your old stuff, till I saw that XD wow lol. I can't help but sit and laugh seeing the progress XD. You should take that, and re-draw that same picture, but with your newly aquired skills, and put like a before and after picture, or a then and now setup XD lol.

Hmm, pinpointing ones art is hard, but there's always a BASIC type to it, like yours I BELIEVE is comic style art, where mine leans towards anime style. *And I do like some comic characters ^^* The thing about your style that I like, IS the realism to it, as well as how alive they look, compared to the style of anime. I don't know why..but comic style art..for some reason uknown..makes me think of plastic characters..why? It's real, but fake >_< If that made ANY sense at all.. *shoots self >_<*

Lol, anyways, what I'm trying to say is, seeing you do my Lee in your style, is one that I like and really really want to see in a comic style like what you have. He will look much more real than he would be in anime form, and be given more life as he would have a more correct body anatomy ^_^ Not to mention the talent that's working on it XD lol.

Woo, I say a mouthful all too much >_< BLEH

Woah- slow down the soul train- you like comic style art but it looks plastic? Huh?

Anyways, how much american styled comics have you seen? You want to see some awesome artists that are non anime, I could name a HEAP. First thing, google serch Greg Land along with the key word Sojourn or Nightwing, and be prepared to fall in love with art again. He reinspired me to draw again in my new style after becoming depressed that the DBZ style wasn't working out for me. His art is not only gorgeous, but stuff drool is made out of. His women are drop dead hot, and men are sizzling in sex appeal. He works off photo referance alot to get them perfect and boy- is it WORTH IT!. He is my idol artist. I soooo wanna draw as good as him!!

Lemme re-phrase the plastic bit >_<. I think what O'm trying to say, is that, comic style art, gets such a realness to it, it's like looking in glass and seeing an image of whomever or whatever is in there. It's just so stunning with how real they can look, like virtual reality real >_< lol. Yeah, that's it I believe >_< *MASS CONFUSION*

Anyways, I checked out Greg Land, seems he has done some works with the Phoenix saga eh? That was one of my favorite characters from the X-Men series, granted, I have not read the comic, but watched the animated shows of it >_<.
I'll show you a Link of what I got brought to lol

http://comicartcommunity.com/gallery/categories.php?cat_id=169&sessionid=afcf5831feb30a6fc098f8b11115d5f1

It's like a gallery of a bunch of Greg Land's work I believe. And you're right, his art style is awesome . It's practically flawless, and the realness I spoke of earlier, is deffinately all here >_<. I think one of the best pictures I saw among those I was looking at, is this one:

http://comicartcommunity.com/gallery/details.php?image_id=11192

If that isn't most realistic piece of artwork I've ever seen, I don't know what is . See, art like his, is why I love viewing artwork to begin with, so much you can do and see with it, IT'S THE BEST TYPE OF EYE CANDY EVER!! lol.

... I'm talking my idol here- Eye candy, even when he wasn't THIS good!! Heck, his old stuff when he was drawing Nightwing was beter than my art!! His even older Supergirl stuff was dodgy, but stil had huge potential. I'm like- his biggest fan or something.

Don't you soooo love his art?! Doesn't it make you aspire to draw again? It did to me!! *swoons*

Hehe, I know what ya mean, and there's lots to love about his art, as I see from his works hehe. But dang blast it all, I've no art program yet to do that kind of work, ARG!! >_< I sware, If I do get an art program, I would LOVE to be able to do the type of coloring detail he puts in his. *Don't ya wish some artists had likes recordings of them going through a drawing, what they do, how they go about it..even if it's like 2-3 hours or more? XD lol* I'd love to see someone like Greg's work in the process, step by step. It would deffinately be much easier to learn something than seeing the final product :/

*clears throat* The best of Wizard- 'How to Draw' Page 114 to 118.

The BEST how to draw in comic styled book I've found . Has THE biggest names in the comic industry giving pointers on EVERYTHING about art. Greg's section is on Photo referance. has sketches and stuff I has a heap of other awesome artists like Jim Lee, Micheal Turner, Frank Cho, Adam Huges, Kevin Maguire (OMG- his facial expressions!! XD ) etc... There's no anime style in it, unless you include Pat Lee who is an awesome mecha artist, who has an american anime style.

*RECOMENDED*

Atleast look at the book. Ask for it as a Christmas prezy. Do what ever you can to get your hands on it!!!

Wow, I'll say it has alot of other artists, there's a effing' LOAD of sections from the basics to the advanced, to creating your world, characters, drawing the designs..layouts..*jaw hits floor* and there's everal artists each working together on it!! O_x. Geez, I'm on amazon.com looking at the book, volume 1, flipping through its pages...My eyes don't wanna stop..lol, thanks for showing me this ^^..and..OMG 200-300$ brushes, WHAT!? I didn't even know you used brushes in comic art!? Gawd..me walking into ana rt supply store would be both an treasure hunt..and a world of lostness for me >< only things I know of art supplies, are colored pencils, mechanical pencils..and regular ole' erasers =.= lol. Hmm *flips through the pages even more* OMG I can't stop looking through it, what have you done to meee!!?? XD.

I have broken your mind *makes weird cackling noises under breath*

Yeah, I know what you mean- BamboozledByAnime wants the fire green, but I'm not just going to make it green. Fire is pure when feeding off a pure sorce, sure, butits alot more interesting with other colours in it. I'll see how it turns out. I may do an off green to seperate from his hair more. Tahant, or do blue. Blue fire is sooooooo cool :3 I'll see what happens after I ink it and find time to colour it

Blue fire is a nice idea...like in Hellboy...yup...and with the green air wiping around, it should be nice! i do understand what you mean about finding time to work on a drawing, i have the same problem!

He's whereing a bucket hat- you can't really tell cause it's covered in hair ^^; The tteshirt I believe is either stretched and tucked in, or could be untucked cause of him sretching. I sort of know what you mean... its... errr.... man, its difficult, cause there is wind, but it isn't a directional one, it's more of a spiral. I'm not sure how to draw it if its not tucked in.... Errr.... Red line techinique if you have ideas? ^^;

oh yeah the red pen thing. ok let me see if i can get to that today. i have tons of homework though lol.

I don't know what's easier for you, submitting it here, or emailing me- my email is arkillian@gmail.com if email is easiest

I probably wont be able to get to it until next weekend. If you need a pen crit sooner, I suggest asking D.

I'm in no hurry This is a request- I'm not getting money for it *shrug* Besides, I'd rather an unrushed crit than a rushed one

oh ok cool.

*nods* This one keeps hounding me to finish it, and I will I just need a free week to catch up on art. Like I ever get THAT though XD Too many social groups...

This one I'd like to clolor or copy your pose

What do you mean by this? Colour or copy?

Well, If your gonna do a Black and white drawing of this. I'd like the chance to color it. But If you plan to color it. I like that pose. I'd like to use it in one of my drawings.

Ohhhh- Ok! Just wanted to be clear of what you ment. I'm TOTALLY open for anyone colouring anything I draw For me, the process of drawing the picture is ALOT more enjoyable than the colouring. I'm not particulaly good at colouring either, so it's nice to have someone beter at it than me give it a go. Give me a bit to find a high quality of this (or scan one XD ) and I can e-mail it to you- oh, you'd need to PM me your e-mail...