Full Version: Improving drawings
How can I improve my drawings of animals?
Hi Ann 
I think : use of bright colors / apply more color, brighter highlights in the eyes and the nose, pronounced fur structure with narrow lines
best regards
I think : use of bright colors / apply more color, brighter highlights in the eyes and the nose, pronounced fur structure with narrow lines
best regards
Those are good suggestions! I wanted to add some practical tips to achieve precisely those things.
First, to make bright highlights, you have to make the surrounding areas darker. Contrast, not absolute brightness, is the only tool you really have. So you have to reserve the lightest values for those highlights, and make (for example) the white fur not quite so white.
Second, those narrow lines would come more easily with sharp tools and smoother paper. You don't say what this is drawn with, but it looks like a textured paper (Mi Teintes?) and colored pencil. A somewhat smoother paper, like the perennial favorite Rising Stonehenge, will make it easier to show distinct fur marks when needed. You have to get into a rhythm of turning the pencil to keep a sharp edge, then sharpening when that stops working.
First, to make bright highlights, you have to make the surrounding areas darker. Contrast, not absolute brightness, is the only tool you really have. So you have to reserve the lightest values for those highlights, and make (for example) the white fur not quite so white.
Second, those narrow lines would come more easily with sharp tools and smoother paper. You don't say what this is drawn with, but it looks like a textured paper (Mi Teintes?) and colored pencil. A somewhat smoother paper, like the perennial favorite Rising Stonehenge, will make it easier to show distinct fur marks when needed. You have to get into a rhythm of turning the pencil to keep a sharp edge, then sharpening when that stops working.
QUOTE (Ernest Friedman-Hill @ Nov 13 2009, 12:56 PM) 
Those are good suggestions! I wanted to add some practical tips to achieve precisely those things.
First, to make bright highlights, you have to make the surrounding areas darker. Contrast, not absolute brightness, is the only tool you really have. So you have to reserve the lightest values for those highlights, and make (for example) the white fur not quite so white.
Second, those narrow lines would come more easily with sharp tools and smoother paper. You don't say what this is drawn with, but it looks like a textured paper (Mi Teintes?) and colored pencil. A somewhat smoother paper, like the perennial favorite Rising Stonehenge, will make it easier to show distinct fur marks when needed. You have to get into a rhythm of turning the pencil to keep a sharp edge, then sharpening when that stops working.
First, to make bright highlights, you have to make the surrounding areas darker. Contrast, not absolute brightness, is the only tool you really have. So you have to reserve the lightest values for those highlights, and make (for example) the white fur not quite so white.
Second, those narrow lines would come more easily with sharp tools and smoother paper. You don't say what this is drawn with, but it looks like a textured paper (Mi Teintes?) and colored pencil. A somewhat smoother paper, like the perennial favorite Rising Stonehenge, will make it easier to show distinct fur marks when needed. You have to get into a rhythm of turning the pencil to keep a sharp edge, then sharpening when that stops working.
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