Comment 88569

Don't force yourself to learn colour in a medium you aren't comfortable with. I'm VERY comfortable using pencil,s but not digital. I started learning digitally and found myself forcing myself to continue. That's not how you learn with art. The learning experience CAN be challenging, but if you can't relax and switch into instinct mode then you'll second guess and not look at your art with a creative view of things. You'll know if you're in the right mindset if you suddenly don't notice anythign around you and eyes stop looking like eyes, and look like a bunch of curves. That's a GOOD thing, and it's your right side of your brain taking the ropes. That's the side that does creative aesthetic. Let it go wild and see what it does. If digital is your preference, start colouring on 1 layer and force yourself to deal with mistakes as they come up. Mistakes can be beautiful. It's a technique a professional concept artist teaches for digital painting so that the creative process remains organic and non sterile. It's so hard with layers as a safety net to do.

The flesh tone blue thing... it's a lot to take in. That's why it's hard. it's why it sometimes has to come down to trial and error- see what works. I could tell you stuff if I knew, but it wont mesh till you try it. I suggest attacking one problem at a time, and making a doable check list of things to learn that are important to you, then isolating that one thing down. Linearts are hard? Find a pro artist's pencils, print it off and practice on that. Nice finishing techniques a problem? Copy an artist you like and credit them. Dont' like the effect of your medium? Find a new one and try it out on something you're comfortable drawing. The whole picture doesn't need to be a change if you're learning.

Giving her face shape... Urgh- I dont' know how to explain that all, sorry. I don't know what your light source is meant to be like, and what her bone structure is. I can say the generic planes of the face, but I think perhaps you'd get more out of it if you did some grey scale studies of faces in different angles or lighting conditions. It's *really* hard for me to give you confident advice on this cause the colour is a major part of this, as well as the face its self. I could only give areas I'd expect a shadow based on what you have here, and the face shape you're portraying may be in accurate to what you want to portray.

A suggestion I CAN give is for expression however I LOVE EXPRESSION! You don't have to be a comic artist to learn it though cause comics come in all forms and flavours. I own digitally painted comics done by Alex Ross which are very comic worthy and realistic, and some that are total toony. Knowing what the face does when it feels something is powerful. My expression bible is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Expression-published-Watson-Guptill-Hardcover/dp/B008V0XN3M/ref=sr_sp-atf_title_1_13?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389925447&sr=1-13&keywords=The+Artist%27s+Complete+Guide+to+Facial+Expression">The Artist complete guide to Facial expression by Gary Faigan</a> I CAN NOT SWEAR BY THIS BOOK ENOUGH. (I hope that html works here, otherwise the link is http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Expression-published-Watson-Guptill-Hardcover/dp/B008V0XN3M/ref=sr_sp-atf_title_1_13?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389925447&sr=1-13&keywords=The+Artist%27s+Complete+Guide+to+Facial+Expression

My advice though? Leave this picture for now and move on for a while. A big thing people have when learning is perfectionism and sometimes driving in the deep end first is not a good idea if you don't have a deadline. I often ditch a partial sketch, doodle, lineart, or coloured image half way or in the process somewhere if it gets too hard, and often I'll go back to it a fresh. Move on for a month or two and swat face shapes/ colour or what ever, and go back to the picture knowing for yourself and *understanding* what needs to be done. That's my advice. Keep all your art in a clear folder, revisit it often, and don't be affraid to abandon art you're not ready to draw. You gave it a really good effort, and you should be proud of it- there's no shame in leaving it for a while at all