Neck too thin.

That, and the head seems too large.

I think the problem is a lack of muscle definition, it just looks kind of formless, although you made a good effort on defining the shapes before going into painting. It could help checking on some basic anatomy and making a sketch/blockout based on that. Not that I'm real good at that either. That's the problem: it's hard to get it right, but it's really easy to see when something's wrong cause we've been around human(oid)s all our life.

Btw, dabensta, awesome drawing/painting! I have no idea what that method is you described, looks interesting though.

Yeah, I was planning to do muscle/bone definition prior to moving on to complex texturing.
As far as the neck/head goes, I'm doing this for somebody who I have been in continuous correspondence with, they want it that way they get it that way.
I think the arms are a matter of muscle definition, right now they have little to no indication of form to them beyond "round" from the basic shadows.

I'll take this stuff into consideration, thanks guys.


This is actually the reason a lot of artists stick to animals/fantastic creatures, it basically means nothing is a "mistake" until it is clearly completely wrong. Anytime you draw human-esque things people have mental conceptions of how it should look based on their real-life experiences.

(Double post to refresh thread so people know I posted)

Ok guys, so I got off my ass, sat back down in my computer chair, opened SAI, and did some more work on my friends fursona.

I think it's pretty good so far, I just have two questions that hopefully any shading-accomplished artist's can answer for me.

1. Does the left(our right) ear look backwards to you?
2. If so. How. The ♥♥♥♥. Do I make it so the left(our right) ear doesn't look backwards anymore?

Yes, define the grooves of the ear more. Make some light edges where the light hits more and blend it into the darkness of the ear.

So possibly some more highlights on both sides and a smoother blend to emphasize the fact that it curves in and away from the viewer?

Yes.

The guy still looks like he's lacking all the muscles and bones.

Dredddd

Epicepicepic.

Only thing I can say is maybe add some light in the front since the foreground is rather dark overall. Since the figure is your selling point you want it to really pop. Really nicely done though!

hey I got a question for you guys, While I'm not really the "bookish" type when it comes to art, some things are really impossible to self teach, I was curious if any of you knew of a good resource for some of the more technical parts of art. Namely anatomy and color theory. The first because there absolutely isn't an easy way to self-teach that, the second because I like to know the basis behind "why" something looks good, not just knowing how to make it so.

In semi-on topic news, I found out my local college offers course scholarships in art classes for any hopeful artists who also qualify for an academic scholarship in a core class. Depending on how I do on my PSAT test next week I may be looking at 2-3 different scholarships and having to pay very, very little for college. (Not even planning to go to school for art in particular, it would literally just be a 'free' degree in art.)


And then there is this little thumbnail-esque scribble I did for somebody on the Starbound forums.

Good looking canine there. About your question on books: I can't name anything specific (cause I haven't read any ) but I would still recommend anything by Andrew Loomis, from what I've read and seen. I've been meaning to get some of his books myself.

Apart from that, You can do some photostudies as well if you're trying to learn how to draw specific things right. Just grab a picture from somewhere with a pose/bodypart/any other subject you want to study and try and recreate it.

Thanks and thanks, hadn't thought of basically doing reference drawing for that purpose in particular...

On the topic of Andrew Loomis books, my friend passed me this link just a minute ago.

Well, there's no easy way to truly learn anything about art, is there? But anyways, other than Andrew Loomis there, i don't really know any specific good resources. Look around, i guess? There's a wealth of things to be found on the intertoobs. I mean, just searching "anatomy" on deviantART alone yields 450k results, and likewise does "color theory" yield 17k results. The first dozen or so results are actually really good.