ArtSpots Forum Topic - KoOkY!'s Sketchbook

Feather Dancer

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 21:08:31 -0000

One thing I mentioned in my critter class which I think will be worth while for you as well: Draw something without worrying about the anatomy. It's hard to do as you do get into the habit of nit picking like crazy but just DRAW. Scribble lines and see what they do, use a different colour than normal... Make a mess. Less thinking, more doing. Strangely whenever I do this they enarly always turn into birds for some reason but hey :)

KoOkY!

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 17:01:02 -0000

Vizon said:
Well let's see...I know every time I look at your stuff that you are trying very hard - and sometimes I think you stress too much about getting it right. So perhaps you should post some quick gestures or doodles that don't take much thought at all. Fun, silly, anatomy-thrown-to-the-wind kind of doodles straight from your head that you'd create just to entertain yourself. Don't even have to make sense.

Doodles I do just to entertain myself? I don't know of these doodles that you speak of. ;) You're right though, I do stress it too much which makes my drawings very tight and stiff and not those loose flowing lines like I probably should be trying to use. Though can't say I ever doodle like that for myself. It's either anatomy studies or an attempt to do a finished picture. :P Probably not a good way of going about it.

Vizon

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 05:30:45 -0000

Well let's see...I know every time I look at your stuff that you are trying very hard - and sometimes I think you stress too much about getting it right. So perhaps you should post some quick gestures or doodles that don't take much thought at all. Fun, silly, anatomy-thrown-to-the-wind kind of doodles straight from your head that you'd create just to entertain yourself. Don't even have to make sense.

KoOkY!

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 00:25:39 -0000

Vizon said:
Of course! Sketch on, my friend!

Yay! ^.^ I enjoyed that though! Heaven knows I need to get nudged into trying new things! Any other challenge ideas, throw them at me! Hehe.

Vizon

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 00:01:01 -0000

KoOkY! said:
Awwwwwwws that is a horrible trick! I do like Chiss's logic there though. Hehe. Little update though. Cleaned up a few things I guess and adding little bits of highlight and shading though pretty minimal. Just wanted to fix some things that were annoying me. Hehe. What do you think Vizon?? I pass the challenge?? ;)

Of course! Sketch on, my friend!

KoOkY!

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 23:48:03 -0000

Awwwwwwws that is a horrible trick! I do like Chiss's logic there though. Hehe. Little update though. Cleaned up a few things I guess and adding little bits of highlight and shading though pretty minimal. Just wanted to fix some things that were annoying me. Hehe. What do you think Vizon?? I pass the challenge?? ;)

Vizon

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 23:26:58 -0000

WolfReign05 said:
hehe, I love this character kooky. Really cute! ^^ And that's gotta suck having to put all the quills back in. D: Especially if a predator is roaming the area.

It's worse than that in the story - the main characters take all Chiss's quills away so he can't use them ever again, leaving him completely defenseless. Of course, they make up for it in the story by saying he's a monster and that he cannot be killed, but then if you picture a naked porcupine with no defenses that can't be killed - well that's a perpetual, eternal victim of multitudes of cruelties. And I quote: "...it is my nature to throw quills, and every animal must do what Nature intends it to do. It isn't fair for you to blame me. If it were wrong for me to throw quills, then I wouldn't be made with quills to throw. The proper thing for you to do is keep out of my way." "Why, there's some sense in that argument," admitted the Shaggy Man, thoughtfully; "but people who are strangers, and don't know you are here, won't be able to keep out of your way." "Tell you what," said Scraps, who was trying to pull the quills out of her own body, "let's gather up all the quills and take them away with us; then old Chiss won't have any left to throw at people." ... So Scraps and Ojo picked up all the quills and tied them in a bundle so they might easily be carried. After this the Shaggy Man released Chiss and let him go, knowing that he was harmless to injure anyone. "It's the meanest trick I ever heard of," muttered the porcupine gloomily.

WolfReign05

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 20:29:47 -0000

hehe, I love this character kooky. Really cute! ^^ And that's gotta suck having to put all the quills back in. D: Especially if a predator is roaming the area.

KoOkY!

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 04:18:14 -0000

Whoo, it's a Chiss! What's a Chiss you might ask? "The Chiss resembles a porcupine the size of a ten-bushel basket and has the ability to shoot its quills from its body. It apparently does not have the ability to grow new quills, as it must gather up its quills and put them back in its body after firing them." For Vizon's obscure Oz character challenge. Hehe. Coloring was a bit quick, wasn't quite sure how to handle coloring quills. :\ But either way the idea that the things have to put the quills back into themselves sounded funny to me, thus the sketch. :)

KoOkY!

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 05:20:46 -0000

Oh really? well you are in for a surprise, as there is an entire series of Oz stories - it's not just one book you know. There are Winkies, Quadlings, and Gillikins as well as Munchkins, and it's all about as lucid as Alice in Wonderland. Of course, as this is just as simple challenge and not a reading assignment, I might recommend a few characters and you can wikipedia them for descriptions.

Jack Pumpkinhead
the Gump
Bungle, The glass cat
The Shaggy Man
Polychrome
Professor Woggle-bug
Scraps, the Patchwork Girl
Chiss
The Rak

or you could do one of those really creepy wheelers: http://www.poetv.com/video.php?vid=14804

For my part I am going to sketch the Woozy and the Sawhorse.

Ahhhh okay, yeah I was going to ask if you just meant the Wizard of Oz or the whole series. I do know OF the series but never actually read any of it. :( They have a fox too if I remember... King Dox? Though I should probably avoid doing just another fox, not the point of the 'challenge' if I just do same species over and over again. ^.^ Thanks for the links too, they'll come in handy for the reference!

Vizon

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 05:03:04 -0000

KoOkY! said:
Eeeeps. A challenge? Hehe. Okay! I can try though will have to find an obscure Wizard of Oz character first, never read that book I'm afraid.

Oh really? well you are in for a surprise, as there is an entire series of Oz stories - it's not just one book you know. There are Winkies, Quadlings, and Gillikins as well as Munchkins, and it's all about as lucid as Alice in Wonderland. Of course, as this is just as simple challenge and not a reading assignment, I might recommend a few characters and you can wikipedia them for descriptions. Jack Pumpkinhead the Gump Bungle, The glass cat The Shaggy Man Polychrome Professor Woggle-bug Scraps, the Patchwork Girl Chiss The Rak or you could do one of those really creepy wheelers: http://www.poetv.com/video.php?vid=14804 For my part I am going to sketch the Woozy and the Sawhorse.

KoOkY!

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 17:03:16 -0000

Vizon said:
I challenge you to draw an obscure Wizard of Oz character. In turn, I too will do the same, in my sketchbook.

Eeeeps. A challenge? Hehe. Okay! I can try though will have to find an obscure Wizard of Oz character first, never read that book I'm afraid.

Vizon

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 05:48:10 -0000

I challenge you to draw an obscure Wizard of Oz character. In turn, I too will do the same, in my sketchbook.

KoOkY!

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 05:32:34 -0000

Thanks for the tips Fru! And yeah I saw just what you meant with the spots. Hopefully they're at least somewhat better on this last (and final) version. And thanks also Aurora! ^.^ Glad to know that you're seeing some improvement over the time. But tried the 3 pixel brush again and got some fur texture in there now. Kinda looses the look a bit after I resized it though. :P But done with this one for now!

Aurora

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 19:38:09 -0000

I've just gone through this entire post, and I must say I'm inspired! There's been a lot of improvement. You have an incredible drive when it comes to artwork. Just wanted to say kudos, keep it up! :D

Fru

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 06:27:13 -0000

Hmm ... I think maybe the spots could follow the fur direction a little more, as of now you've got the mainly vertical pencil strokes used to make the spots, whereas it might look more natural (as if it's part of the fur) if you did the marks in the same direction with your pencil as where the fur is going. Does that make sense?? O_o I am not sure if I'm explaining it properly. On the front legs, for example, the spots look better because the direction of the pencil strokes (vertical) matches the fur direction at that angle (vertical), and on the cheetah's back, they look a tad bit off because the pencil stroke direction is vertical but the fur direction is horizontal. I know you were saying something about the spots, maybe this would help a bit. :3

KoOkY!

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:58:49 -0000

Ehhhh, I dunno. I think making the same mistakes again. Kinda has a.....plastic look again. :P

KoOkY!

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 14:43:59 -0000

Cool, thanks Feather Dancer. :) You know I never hate critique! Yeah cheetah are WAY stranger looking than I first thought. Tiny little heads and these huge, yet lithe, bodies. The reference I was using for this guy/girl though was a younger cheetah so that might explain the more roundish head and shorter limbs. OR that's my excuse for not getting the anatomy down right. :D But yeah I probably should've gone with an easier feline, if there is such a thing. Hehe. Thanks for the muzzle and face marking tips too! Hopefully can still get those corrected before I get too far into the coloring. Shape of the head still looks all wrong to me too so might end up redrawing a bit of this.

Feather Dancer

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 09:06:14 -0000

Small note I've noticed with Cheetahs (Being Big Cat Live this week is handy though I've seen this before...): http://www.milwaukeezoo.org/images/Cheetahs2.jpg Notice from the eye that the spots are like tear drops falling away? That and the bars above their eyes is very easy to miss but aside from the line drop along the nose it's one of the distinctive features in the face :) Their faces are also a lot more square than you'd think they are: http://www.theage.com.au/ffximage/2006/01/27/Cheetahs_060125040439310_wideweb__300x375.jpg Tis worth remembering they're largely their legs and tail also for obvious reasons, and thats what makes them such a pain in the ass to get right :) They're very oddly built as moggies go due to the tail acting as balance, legs being speed and trying to keep as areodynamic as they can for the main sprint which I'm sure what throws a lotta people but they're really beautiful cats to watch. You're gonna hate me for pointing this out now aren't you? Had to go with one of my favourite safari cats, I don't know. You're getting there as they do have this habit of just falling over to chill but you can still push for more cheetah, so you get to practice that AND mucking about with colour :)

KoOkY!

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 02:14:16 -0000

Thanks Fru. :D I dunno why green, I guess was thinking grass color or something. Hehe. And you're right, I do tend to lean waaaay red on my fox pictures for some reason. Lot more so than is realistic. Just how I've always done them I guess. :\ Hehe.