Critiques for "Miyuki"

You know what this reminds me of? Alice in Wonderland. Must be the checkered grass. I like the composition of everything. It kind of has that whimsical appeal. I like.

Yes, a lot of it is taken from Alice in Wonderland content. I mentioned that in my description of the piece.

Thank you.

Very nice work. Good composition, good character design and interesting background.

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.)

Sorry to post again. I was finally able to play with the image a little. I just added some crude shading to her torso and face just to illustrate what I'm talking about and give you the basic idea.

Hopefully it helps.

ooOOoOOOooOhhhhh. Okay. I totally see where you're getting at. Yeah, this was my first time at extreme shading, and I know I got a looongg way to go. And this helps a bundle.

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!

Well, I don't know where you live but even Walmart has little sketch sets in the craft department--and they have decent pencils (they're General's usually which is a pretty known brand as far as drawing materials go). Any other craft store would have small sets like that as well. You don't have to go to a fancy only art supply place.

True this. Now it's just a matter of getting to Wal Mart. I'll do my best.

Thanks again.

I'm so proud of you!!!
You did pretty shading XD

Aww, yaaay!

*pssst* I'm kind of on a promotion for PD tangent. So GO HANG IN THE FORUMS!

Sheesh! I will when I'm not in the library!

I think, going through your gallery that this is my favourite piece. I love the tree! and all the little details are awesome. If i was to give you one critique i would say that since you are trying to get into realism that you work on the preportion of the girl. I like the jabberwocky in the background but i only noticed it in full view. So maybe you could darken it a bit. However in saying that you obviously put a lot of time into the drawing.

Yeah. People keep telling me I have to work on my shading. I had to start somewhere.

Thanks for the comments!!

I don't see what's so bad about your shading, the only thing is you should focus more on your light source. Start with one (or even 2 if you're more daring) fixed light points, and basically "see" your drawing as it would be in 3D. At least that's how I do it. Think of how it would be in real life so to speak, I'd have to make a big tutorial to explain it in detail, but it shouldn't be too hard. If you want any tips just ask, I'd be glad to help =D

Yeah, I have a looong way to go. I can't seem to fathom how shading's come so easy for other people. I can't seem to get the hang of it. But I'm trying. Really, I am.

Thanks so much! I'll try your advice out!