A little tweaking here and there

[on:]

Ok to clear up any confusion this is a art help thread, of sorts, and not a lewd thread about our dear moderator Tweek (the different spelling should have given it away).

Ok time for a little explaination. I am producing a picture for the drawn art compatition here and to be honest it has been a while since I have sat down and drawn something. Now some of you may find (as I do) that things you have done often look better than they do. You speand hours on a pic only to realise that one part looks very wrong.

As such I figured the best way around this was to show people the sketch and ask them if they can see anything wrong with it or if they have suggestions to make it look better.

Also this can be used for general art tips and questiosn. For example does anyone know how to render feathers?

A few things to nte. This pic is a sketch and as such their is little to no detail, it's purpose is to give a general idea of the pic. Also I have not finalised some ideas in my head (ie should she be clothed or not). This also goes for the wings, I know I need to do some research into how wings bend and how they are feathered.

Anyway advice would is very much welcomed.



Incidently it is not meant to be in the Greoning style.

[Reply #1 on:]

Oho, a "Valkyrie", da?   
Ili nyet?   

I found this page that will hopefully help with how a wing should behave, based on the bone structure.
Also
this site, though in principle slightly squeamish has detailed photos of bird wings of many types, which should help with appearance of feathers. Personally whenever I drew "Valkyries" I based the wings on Hawks, since it fitted with the story, though you may want to go for Eagles for better symbology, though their feathers are more stark - ergo more difficult to draw - than Hawk's with which you can cheat slightly since they blend together quite well so you don't have to add much outlines.
In general, I always used to draw every single feather then shade them individually. Recently I've changed that to basically drawing lines, then Smudging them + Touching them till they looked like feathers. With Smudging them, there should be no need for black outlines, which should go very well with your style, though I would absolutely insist that regardless of background, both wings should be done in seperate layers. Also, always have in mind where the wing struts out of the back of the character. Personally, though my knowledge on the matter is quite limited, I would place the wings coming out of somewhere near the shoulder blades. There are probably quite a few here that could prove me an idiot though.
Last thing, Loki said to me while I was writing my story that any "Valkyrie" would feasibly have to generate tremendous muscle power to keep him or her in flight, if it were to keep any where near a true-to-real physics theme. My approach as you know was to give them extra muscles in their backs.

Right, that out of the way (   ), the sketch looks absolutely fantastic!   

[Reply #2 on:]

Ah my subtle hint worked then 
Yet I still speak no Russian ..ah well.

You know people usually complain that I make my female characters to muscular in my drawings. Ah well that wil depend all on artistic liecence I guess.

Thanks for the link by the way. That might help alot.

[Reply #3 on:]

You should either give her clothes or have her arm cover her right breast a little more.

(insert lame janet jackson joke here)

[Reply #4 on:]

If she's a Valkyrie, it will help her appearance if she is more muscular. They are suppoed to be beautiful maidens, though, right? Of course, It's quite possible to draw a woman as both strong and pretty. So far it looks very good.
One thing I noticed is that the curve of her breast starts a bit too far up on her chest. The breast doesn't really curve out until a little bit under armpit level[of course this is only a nitpick..].

[Reply #5 on:]

Ok I should probably explain things. The file name and general idea of the character was a hint for Zed. I will put this in spoilers just in case

Show spoiler

not only is it for the compatition but it also a piece of fan art made for Doug's fan fiction "Flight of the Valkaries"

As such she is not meant to be a valakrie but a woamn with wings. That Said however I may increase the the body tone when colouring it.

@ Venus
She probably will be clothed. It was just a little idea of mine to do the picture in high contrast black and white ala Frank Miller's Sin city.

@El
I think your right. Now I think we can all agree that the show always protrayed Leela as amply endowed. As such the crock of her right arm is pushing it up wards. Never the less I will adjust were it starts.

Thanks very much.

[Reply #6 on:]

Speaking of Zed's fic, any closer to a release date Zed?

[Reply #7 on:]

Not really, I'm still waiting for a few replies from beta-readers. 
The one I'm currently working on has been specifically designed not to depend on beta-readers 

[Reply #8 on:]

Wow people were slower than i was?.

Ok question time kiddo's.

I was looking at some of the art on here and I got to wondering.

What technique do people use for shading and high lights?

Looking at some pics on here I can tell that they are using the dodge and burn tools. Although I do use them I only use them for small adjustments. Although a useful tool it does not give realistic shadows. Just look at you skins shadow it should not be redish but a very darkblue.

I personally use layers. I have a shadow layer which is set to multiply and about 30% opacity then paint the shadows on using theoposite colour t the light source (ie for yeelowlight  the shadow should be dark blue, or blue light the shadows should be dark orange). Then use an overlay for highlights.

I was just wondering because this technique is quite labourious.

Little edit and a quick update on the pic. I decided to give her cloths but torn ones (bit of a compramise you see) and Thanks to Zed's site and this "How to draw" book I think I have the pose of the wings. Incidently I'll probably cover that foot up because I can not seem to get it looking right.

[Reply #9 on:]

Sorry for the double post.

This'll probably be the last production pic I'll post. I am not overly happy with the wings and I will work on the them. Any advice is more than welcome.