Well, odd question to some people out there. Tried drawing for the first time in my life due to boredom and a program on my computer I have yet to use in my photography manipulation: Corel 12.

I am wondering whether I should stop here and never try to draw again? I have seen first time artists on this site before and it is kind of nice to see people not sugar-coat comments.

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/11561785/

If you think I should try again another day, what skill(s) should I start working on first to improve. Like I said before, be brutal if you need for I like knowing truth.

Thank you for your time,
Waffles

--EDIT--

Did not want to start a new thread. Here is the second piece of work I have done. Messed up on layers badly. Apparently saving the image with multiple layers just makes a save as a single layer... lame...

https://e621.net/post/show/378479/abstract_background-ambiguous_gender-canine-cheek_

Can still use the criticism.

_Waffles_ said:
Well, odd question to some people out there. Tried drawing for the first time in my life due to boredom and a program on my computer I have yet to use in my photography manipulation: Corel 12.

I am wondering whether I should stop here and never try to draw again? I have seen first time artists on this site before and it is kind of nice to see people not sugar-coat comments.

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/11561785/

If you think I should try again another day, what skill(s) should I start working on first to improve. Like I said before, be brutal if you need for I like knowing truth.

Thank you for your time,
Waffles

... you say this is your first time drawing? Ever? Are you kidding me? This looks a lot better than a lot of stuff I've seen by people who draw all the time.

Did you use a reference (were you looking at something) when you drew this or is it from memory/imagination? (actually answer this please)

kkpkkpk said:
... you say this is your first time drawing? Ever? Are you kidding me? This looks a lot better than a lot of stuff I've seen by people who draw all the time.

Did you use a reference (were you looking at something) when you drew this or is it from memory/imagination? (actually answer this please)

Yea, first time. I am sure I had tried a couple times drawing as a kid, but never was any good and never stuck with it. Thus I dont remember ever drawing.

Overall it was imagination with set up, but I did use a couple references. Mostly on how shading works. Next time I wont use acrylic (have to find a better digital medium/brush)
I have a dual screen set up due to my photoshop and AutoCAD/SolidWorks use. I had used 4 images as references and drew it on my main screen.

In case you are curious, here they are:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/11459806/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/11441369/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/11425972/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/11399790/ (this was mostly just for the ears)

Advice: Keep drawing, thats good art :v

_Waffles_ said:
I have a dual screen set up due to my photoshop and AutoCAD/SolidWorks use. I had used 4 images as references and drew it on my main screen.

In case you are curious, here they are:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/11459806/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/11441369/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/11425972/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/11399790/ (this was mostly just for the ears)

Ok so I can see you use the last two as references for poses. Lets start with that. Firstly no do not give up, you're doing fantastically. Secondly, when you're first starting out you probably don't want to use other people's art as references. There are several reasons for this, the main ones being:

- If you too closely match a style or pose, it is possible (likely, actually, if you use fa or da) that the artist will find it and jump down your throat for tracing/copying. This can usually be avoided by leaving comments about how you reffed from them because that's giving them the credit they feel they're due. It doesn't always work though.
- If you learn to draw something in one stylized way, lets say you draw your eyes the same way as another artist, you might get stuck in a rut and not be able to figure out how to draw your eyes (or whatever) in any other style because you got so used to it. This is a problem because it's like memorizing your times tables without understanding how to multiply. You learn that 6 times 6 is 36, but have no idea how or why, which is why you can't figure out what 6 times 8 is.

Now you did an amazing job here, and you definitely have the talent. What you need to do though, is learn HOW to multiply, not just memorize the tables. I would suggest you find some photographs of real tigers and use those as references. Draw them realistically, or just sketch, it doesn't matter. What this will do is teach you to understand the way they're shaped and the way they move on a new level. Once you understand it (which based on the fact that you're already mashing together multiple refs, not just one, I'd say will come quickly and easily for you) you'll be able to start playing with your own style and have the ability to switch and manipulate your style to fit whatever you want. Understanding the mechanics comes first.

I'd suggest getting the free cracked version of Painttoolsai instead of coral. I don't know about photoshop.

I honestly like it. You should keep at it.

Also? Most artists who are any good did not start out that way. I cannot emphasize this enough. People get this notion in their head that real talented artists just set a brush or pen to paper and Awesome Shit started happening right away! I'm sure someone somewhere got that lucky, but for most it takes years of crap which slowly gets better, and sometimes backslides before it improves. But if you like doing it, then stick with it. Because you do have some talent, and I like what I see. It's called potential. And on a first time, it's also called talent. Not worth a lick in a bucket without a lot of sweat and practice to refine it. But there you go, now you know. Go forth and decide what you're gonna do about it.

So, when you get better, which I'm sure isn't too far into the future, can we upload your art?

For artistry in general, it's OK.
For a beginning artist, it's fucking amazing.
That would be all.

Renard_Queenston said:
So, when you get better, which I'm sure isn't too far into the future, can we upload your art?

I'm certain he'll be doing that himself. Right?

Definitely better than my drawings on my page. Keep at it dude

Renard_Queenston said:
So, when you get better, which I'm sure isn't too far into the future, can we upload your art?

Go for it.

ArdesCadaver said:
For artistry in general, it's OK.
For a beginning artist, it's fucking amazing.
That would be all.

I'm certain he'll be doing that himself. Right?

I could, but I dont post everything that I commission here, thus I probably would not post everything I try and draw. It looks like I will try again by the responses.

Are you looking for a normal asshole that would say "Wow, those stripes look like shit, try outlining them before drawing them in blue pencil"

Or a 4chan-grade asshole that would say "LOLOLOLOL WAT A NEWFAG GTFO YIFF IN HELL FAGGOTY FURRI LELOLOLOL"?

That being said, NEVER give up after the first shot at ANYTHING. It's literally impossible to draw something perfect without practice. No one's born with inherent artistic talent.

First time?
Wow this is VERY impressive for a first timer!
Keep going! Do more art!
With some practice who knows what you could accomplish.
Try asking around for tips and tricks. Buy a tablet, and you'll go far!

SirAntagonist said:
Are you looking for a normal asshole that would say "Wow, those stripes look like shit, try outlining them before drawing them in blue pencil"

Or a 4chan-grade asshole that would say "LOLOLOLOL WAT A NEWFAG GTFO YIFF IN HELL FAGGOTY FURRI LELOLOLOL"?

That being said, NEVER give up after the first shot at ANYTHING. It's literally impossible to draw something perfect without practice. No one's born with inherent artistic talent.

I was going for the First. I will work on striping.

As far as the second goes, I get that enough from family, haha.

Thanks for the recommendation on what to work on.

Bit late to the party here, but I took a quick gander and I'm impressed. I'm going to have to spout my typical, biased phrase for you though:

Ain't no Wolfy-nail.

Regardless, you have great potential and I think I can see some seriously incredible work coming from you. Continue to draw and edit and all that crazy fantastical stuff, and then start uploading regularly - I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say that we'd all enjoy one more high quality artist among the uploading ranks. Definitely well worth the shot and effort, y'know?~

Yes. Don't compare yourself to other aritsts who have had years and years of experience as that is a quick way to your artistic grave... It really takes a good couple of months (or even years) before you'll start churning out really fantastical stuff that you'll be super-satisfied with and that will get you #all the likes. But the ability to draw and produce art are extremely important parts of the fandom even on a small scale and in smaller communities, so even if you just sortof sketch a few things on weekends for practice and keep at it can help you make friends etc. etc.

It will also give you a good common understanding of the lengths some artists go to to be good just technically speaking (e.g.s see clean arts for Stype, Ecmajor, Tragelaphus, Alectorfencer, etc...)

If you can find some folks who are also learning at around your level at around the same rate and interested in some of the same things it's a good way to build contacts and keep them.

Drawing is also a great escape and can be more gratifying at the end of the day than surfing 4chan or squandring hours on youtube.

Cheers, Waffs.

For a beginner that's quite awesome. It pretty awesome even for some who have been drawing for couple years. I've seen people who have like 5% progress over 6 months. Keep at it.

Shaye said:
Bit late to the party here, but I took a quick gander and I'm impressed. I'm going to have to spout my typical, biased phrase for you though:

Ain't no Wolfy-nail.

If I was that good I dont think I would be doing anything but drawing, haha!

Second Image ever done: https://e621.net/post/show/378479/abstract_background-ambiguous_gender-canine-cheek_

about 4 hours of time and a lot of cursing at both photoshop and paint SAI....

_Waffles_ said:
Second Image ever done: https://e621.net/post/show/378479/abstract_background-ambiguous_gender-canine-cheek_

about 4 hours of time and a lot of cursing at both photoshop and paint SAI....

I like it. Keep artisting. :3

_Waffles_ said:
<snip> post #378479

Well, here's a list:

• The left eye (her right eye) looks rounder, when at that angle it should be narrower (y'know, look at a coin, cd or something rounded at the same angle).

The shadow and lightning on the shoulder looks a bit hard. You could soften them a bit more.
Uh... there's something in the muzzle that has to do with angle (I feel like I'm looking at it from the front [face to face])

But overall looks fine.

Apparently saving the image with multiple layers just makes a save as a single layer

Save it first in the app-specific format (psd, gfie, whatever-sai-uses) and then save --or export-- it as an image (png, jpeg)

Xch3l said:
Well, here's a list:

• The left eye (her right eye) looks rounder, when at that angle it should be narrower (y'know, look at a coin, cd or something rounded at the same angle).

The shadow and lightning on the shoulder looks a bit hard. You could soften them a bit more.
Uh... there's something in the muzzle that has to do with angle (I feel like I'm looking at it from the front [face to face])

But overall looks fine.

Save it first in the app-specific format (psd, gfie, whatever-sai-uses) and then save --or export-- it as an image (png, jpeg)

I will work on perspectives more on the next one. The eyes and nose did look off to be, but I could not really pinpoint what it was. Thank you! looking at it now it is definately a perspective problem.

As for the shoulder, I know.... I was planning on changing it the following day, but ended up saving it improperly and it just looked worse when I tried correcting it afterwards.

Thank you for the heads up on the multi/single layer saves. I will watch for that when saving my stuff next time.

Thank you again,
Waffles

_Waffles_ said:
If I was that good I dont think I would be doing anything but drawing, haha!

You'll get there though, I'd think. c:

_Waffles_ said:
Second Image ever done: https://e621.net/post/show/378479/abstract_background-ambiguous_gender-canine-cheek_

about 4 hours of time and a lot of cursing at both photoshop and paint SAI....

The mouth is the only thing that really bothers me - that and the black spot near to it. The shape is a bit off in both cases with noticeable indications of messing up. The lines to outline the maw are sort of... squiggly, I guess you would say, and as for the mark, it's not exactly distinctive or characteristic in its own way - seems more like a random shape than a marking of any sort, but I think that's particularly because it isn't meshing well with the fur that it's been placed on. It looks over-lapping rather than integrated.

These aren't bad things, because it's going to help you make a better effort to work around them. But they do require a bit of touching up, just for future reference. I can't tell you exactly how to work on them, I can't even draw nearly as good as you or anyone else, but I can honestly say that besides those little mishaps, you're doing a fantastic job and quite frankly, I'd like to see more from you as you go along.

Shaye said:

The mouth is the only thing that really bothers me - that and the black spot near to it. The shape is a bit off in both cases with noticeable indications of messing up. The lines to outline the maw are sort of... squiggly, I guess you would say, and as for the mark, it's not exactly distinctive or characteristic in its own way - seems more like a random shape than a marking of any sort, but I think that's particularly because it isn't meshing well with the fur that it's been placed on. It looks over-lapping rather than integrated.

These aren't bad things, because it's going to help you make a better effort to work around them. But they do require a bit of touching up, just for future reference. I can't tell you exactly how to work on them, I can't even draw nearly as good as you or anyone else, but I can honestly say that besides those little mishaps, you're doing a fantastic job and quite frankly, I'd like to see more from you as you go along.

Have been looking at what you were talking about. I am seeing now a few things that did not look right to be, but now know what they are:

1) The bottom jaw is a bit too far forward.
2) The front of the maw is incorrectly placed (perspective problem)
3) The triangle marking is too low. The marking is placed in the lip-line and throwing off the placement of the mouth.
4) The triangle marking is not shaded. I think this gives an illusion that it is not part of the fur (which is shaded)

Thank you for the heads up. With that I now know what exactly I did wrong. The only problem is now I can not un-see it, haha!

On a side note - anyone know of a character I can draw that I would not get in trouble drawing. This one was a character of Cresent's, but I would like to try a different character for my third try at the end of this week.

_Waffles_ said:
Have been looking at what you were talking about. I am seeing now a few things that did not look right to be, but now know what they are:

1) The bottom jaw is a bit too far forward.
2) The front of the maw is incorrectly placed (perspective problem)
3) The triangle marking is too low. The marking is placed in the lip-line and throwing off the placement of the mouth.
4) The triangle marking is not shaded. I think this gives an illusion that it is not part of the fur (which is shaded)

Thank you for the heads up. With that I now know what exactly I did wrong. The only problem is now I can not un-see it, haha!

On a side note - anyone know of a character I can draw that I would not get in trouble drawing. This one was a character of Cresent's, but I would like to try a different character for my third try at the end of this week.

Glad to see that you've managed to notice any mistakes or hiccups throughout the image and are willing to correct them and work on it. You're going to be a rather fine artist with an attitude - not to mention an eye - like that.

I would suggest talking to someone like Wolfy-nail about any of his original works, or getting into contact with his commissioners, because he tends to get a LOT of business, and so there will be a lot of different people who you could definitely talk to, provided he was actually willing to send you to them, or them to you. On the grounds of practice, I can't see any issues - really, it's you recreating a character or shadowing an image that's already been made, and so there shouldn't be any discrepancies. On the flipside, there can be issues and so maybe contacting an artist isn't the best idea. In which case I would advise you to find images where the artist is unknown or there is no artist to be listed, and no further art similar to their own. I have found one image in particular ( which I'd be hard pressed to find again without uploading it somewhere ) that had absolutely no artist and no recurring instances of the character, albeit, an original character left for loss. If I can find it, you can try drawing her - she is very detailed and well done, and her fine points would be hard to nail, but if you gave it a shot, I'm sure the extra practice could definitely work out. I'll see what I can do about finding it-

Edit: I found it. https://e621.net/post/show/221312/fangs-feline-female-looking_at_viewer-lynx-purple_ It /does/ have an artist finally, but there are no further posts here on e621. I'm fairly sure she wouldn't care, but you might want to talk to her anyway if you feel it's a pressing matter. Either way, give it a shot. It's not like you're stealing a copyrighted character, nor are you taking what's not available to you publicly. You have the grounds and the rights on which to use the image for practice by copying it in any way. If you get extremely close to the original work in terms of character features and what not, it might be best to give due credit to the artist regardless, or just in general doing that so as not to cause any issues or disturbances within this community or any other, but once more, it's open to you, so use it as you will, I say. Regardless, if you feel it'll be an issue with admins or you feel as though any discrepancies could come into play due to it, simply don't upload it here or anywhere else besides an image hosting site that sanctions the uncredited works of any and all. Then let us know what you've got.

Just if any admins, or the artist says anything, clear it away ASAP and you'll be fine. As a whole, just stay on the straight and narrow, and draw to your hearts content.

Shaye said:
Glad to see that you've managed to notice any mistakes or hiccups throughout the image and are willing to correct them and work on it. You're going to be a rather fine artist with an attitude - not to mention an eye - like that.

I would suggest talking to someone like Wolfy-nail about any of his original works, or getting into contact with his commissioners, because he tends to get a LOT of business, and so there will be a lot of different people who you could definitely talk to, provided he was actually willing to send you to them, or them to you. On the grounds of practice, I can't see any issues - really, it's you recreating a character or shadowing an image that's already been made, and so there shouldn't be any discrepancies. On the flipside, there can be issues and so maybe contacting an artist isn't the best idea. In which case I would advise you to find images where the artist is unknown or there is no artist to be listed, and no further art similar to their own. I have found one image in particular ( which I'd be hard pressed to find again without uploading it somewhere ) that had absolutely no artist and no recurring instances of the character, albeit, an original character left for loss. If I can find it, you can try drawing her - she is very detailed and well done, and her fine points would be hard to nail, but if you gave it a shot, I'm sure the extra practice could definitely work out. I'll see what I can do about finding it-

Edit: I found it. https://e621.net/post/show/221312/fangs-feline-female-looking_at_viewer-lynx-purple_ It /does/ have an artist finally, but there are no further posts here on e621. I'm fairly sure she wouldn't care, but you might want to talk to her anyway if you feel it's a pressing matter. Either way, give it a shot. It's not like you're stealing a copyrighted character, nor are you taking what's not available to you publicly. You have the grounds and the rights on which to use the image for practice by copying it in any way. If you get extremely close to the original work in terms of character features and what not, it might be best to give due credit to the artist regardless, or just in general doing that so as not to cause any issues or disturbances within this community or any other, but once more, it's open to you, so use it as you will, I say. Regardless, if you feel it'll be an issue with admins or you feel as though any discrepancies could come into play due to it, simply don't upload it here or anywhere else besides an image hosting site that sanctions the uncredited works of any and all. Then let us know what you've got.

Just if any admins, or the artist says anything, clear it away ASAP and you'll be fine. As a whole, just stay on the straight and narrow, and draw to your hearts content.

Damn. Contacted the artist and it is a no-go....

I was excited too, I liked that character.

_Waffles_ said:
Damn. Contacted the artist and it is a no-go....

I was excited too, I liked that character.

Well, here's the work-around for that. Draw it, but don't upload it. That's the thing, practice makes perfect. You don't need our opinions, because our opinions don't matter half as much as your own. I know, believe me I do know, that a second opinion works wonders - but trust me, you need to build confidence in yourself and in your own opinions, so start by doing that. Artist doesn't like that you're practicing in private? Well shit, it's private, it's you, yourself and all about youuuu. It'll never be seen by anyone but you. So it doesn't matter to them, or anyone else then. And while that sounds displeasing...

>Your opinion matters most.

Learn to love your own work for what it is, look for the mistakes and then make original works where you have worked out all the mistakes you could find, post them again and get yet another second opinion. Trial and error, process of perfection, practice makes perfect. Do your best, make your own, upload here and we'll have at 'em. And before you know it, you'll be working $150 commissions like the pros. Have at 'er!

me gusta, not bad.

Do what you want, if you feel comfortable with doing it.

Just don't be a cynical top artist bigot when you become a top artist and you'll be fine.