Iron man! Iron man! Does whatever an...you know what, it doesn't work.

[small_hen]

Art time! I promised Iron Man art, so damn it, I'm gonna deliver. Nothing slashy this time, just a practice sketch and a more detailed pencil drawing that took way longer than it should have.



First, my practice sketch (click to enlarge):


And a more realistic drawing (same):


Is it weird that I like the first drawing more? It's a kinda graceful little sketch. The second drawing, while more detailed, pretty much emphasizes everything I suck at when it comes to art. The background sucks, the line of sight is off, the character's position is awkward. It's an image cobbled together from several pictures, and it looks like it.

Still, it also looks like Robert Downey Jr, so not all bad.

Oh, and both of these were hand drawn in pencil, with a little charchol thrown in to darken areas of the second. Photoshop was used for resizing, brief clean up, and to compensate for my horrible scanner.

Comments

[ennui-blue-lite.livejournal.com]

Oh yes please, throw all of your art know-how at me! I want it! I haven't taken an art class in over three years now, and I miss it like mad. *sponges up comment* .

I hadn't noticed that his head was too short, only that his nose seemed a little too long, and his face maybe a touch too thin. I think you’re right, though. Oh, and the arm was a B*TCH! My problem was that I saw the whole thing in my head as his hand close to his face, elbow bent out away from his body so that he could see what he was doing (had I thought harder, I might have given him Dummy with the magnifying glass, like in the movie). I spent so much time trying to position the hand that I didn’t realize I had it TOO close to his body, and that his arm would probably hurt after about 30 seconds of that. :P

Backgrounds are my Achilles heel. I’m weird in that I can spend six hours straight working on face and hair, but get frustrated or bored after a couple of hours of background. It’s like I get it into my head that I want to draw Tony Stark, and once he’s drawn, I ask myself, “so what’s behind him?” and I have NO IDEA. I’m also constantly worried about too dark a background against a dark area like the hair, but also too light a background against too light an area. Medium tone, I’m worried, will neutralize the contrast. Probably better than the other two, though.

I thank you muchly for your wonderful advice, and for your encouragement. May I friend you? I think I’d like to follow you around the net gathering art advice. So few people talk art around here (which makes sense, as they’re mostly writers).

[alouette-sparra.livejournal.com]

As far as friending goes, sure. I mostly don't talk art (most of the f-list writes, and I do some writing as well), but I'm more than willing to talk art with you.

Having the head too short, even by a little, will definitely make things look strange with the facial features. It throws off all the proportions of the head. That, and three-quarters view is an awkward view to begin with. The face will always seem slightly too thin if you've done it right.

Actually, his arm isn't too terribly close to his body. If he's really focused on his work, he probably wouldn't notice the awkward position he's in until he's been at it for a bit (do I sound like the voice of experience with awkward positions?). That, and if his arm is resting on anything, it alleviates a lot of the strain.

Backgrounds are my problem too. I'm not so great at them, even knowing all the principles. Generally, a midtone won't neutralise the contrast, if there's enough contrast to begin with. A solid white background works to give a drawing "oomph", but it doesn't quite work in the sort of drawing the second one is. It works best for portraiture. A dark colour, so long as you keep either the texture or medium distinct from that of the hair or shirt, won't blend in too much. However, it's worth noting that in black and white photography, generally dark areas do blend to-gether a bit. So long as you can control the blending, it shouldn't be a problem if there's some fuzzing of the boundaries.

Also, the light source should remain constant between background and subject. That would keep some of the hair distinct. That, and most of the time the part of the background near the focal point is lighter than the rest, and gradates out to the full darkness. It mimics how eyesight works. The thing you focus on is always brighter and more colourful than what's in your peripheral vision due to distribution of cones and rods (but that's a lot of biology stuff, which I don't think you're interested in. This is also why a lot of art profs dislike photo references, as a camera lens does not work like the human eye). It looks more realistic to have that focal point, and then everything darken and lose detail away from that point.

Whew. I think that covers it. :P And I'm glad you're eager for the knowledge. I've gotten flamed before for running my mouth off about art technique even after the person asked for it. Reason #539 why I do not use devART for much anymore.

[ennui-blue-lite.livejournal.com]

Cool! I shall friend away.

Yeah, I went back to my sources and can see where the head was too short, and how it threw everything off. And now I'm sad, and don't want to look at the damn thing anymore. :) No, just kidding, but I wish I could still change it. Oh, and by "too thin", I didn't mean from a perspective standpoint. I really think I took too much off the cheeks. (Pinches RDJ cheeks).

I'm going to make an effort to consider your advice next time I try pulling off one of these drawings - including the light source thing, which I sometimes forget half way through the drawing. It's not that I can't do it, but I have a tendency to shade every item individually, not as a group. Which is stupid of me, but hell, I'm not an art major anymore.

Thank you, really, for your advice. I LURVE art talk. And I will never, NEVER flame people for telling me how to improve my drawings. That's how I learn.

[alouette-sparra.livejournal.com]

: / It happens to the best of us.

I shade things individually too. Normally my sketches all have an arrow pointing out the light source. :3 Stupid of me to not just shade as a group, but I majored in *looks left* *looks right* math.

[ennui-blue-lite.livejournal.com]

No fear. I'm a nursing student. Creativity is often needed, but in a different way. :) And my mother has a masters in math, so I have no prejudice toward math people.

[alouette-sparra.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, nursing. I could not do that. I can't even watch the surgery parts of M*A*S*H without feeling a little queasy, and they don't even show anything beyond a little red on the clothes.

w00+ for more female mathematicians. :3