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burdge — know your limits
Published: 2009-10-08 21:07:59 +0000 UTC; Views: 49076; Favourites: 825; Downloads: 292
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i fell into a creative frenzy the other night.more to come! too busy right now! i can hardly find time
to get on dA anymore; it's very sad. :C
ps. coloring was quite rushed, may touch up later...
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Comments: 52
I chose this piece to critique because I think it exhibits many of the things you are very good at. You have a decent sense of color. You also seem to have a good foundation in figure drawing, and a good sense of how the human body sits and moves, and you portray that accordingly. You have a strong sense of character and emotion; it's very easy to be drawn in by the characters you draw.
However, something that your work consistently lacks (from my perspective) is shading, use of contrast/value, and a firmer grasp of the medium you're using (finishing techniques).
Shading and Contrast/Value: Looking at the skin, I can see some attempts at shading; the problem is, I had to LOOK for it, strain my eyes before I went, "Oh, there is shadow there." I think your work can have MUCH more impact if you push the contrast of values in your work. Doing some value studies (some in b&w and then some in color) of figures or still lifes would help you greatly. It's really important to observe how light plays off of objects, and how something can look completely different when a light source is moved; it makes the shadows different shapes, and thus you get a completely different image. Right now, the majority of your work is light and airy, pastel-y; even if you portray a character with high emotion on their face and in their body language, the feeling is lessened, the mood is altered by lack of dark shadows and deep value contrasts. Now, not all your work has to be dark and brooding; but it is evident that this is a new tool you need to add to your arsenal as an artist in order to keep improving.
Medium and Finishing Techniques: The way you handle the colored pencils, and even the line work on this honestly doesn't strike me as a finished piece, to me this would be more of a sketch. Looking at the lines, where they connect and where they don't, it seems haphazard, not purposeful; there's no difference in line weight or shape. Your use of colored pencil is not horrible, but it could also be pushed further. More even and smooth laying down of color can be achieved, and I think that would help it look less sketchy. When I was still using colored pencils I developed a style that made the result look more like marker or paint, but, using pencils, was still able to get the colors blended just the way I wanted; to do this I basically just had a heavier hand with them, layering and pressing down until there wasn't any white of the paper left. And in instances when a lighter color (other than the white of the paper) was desired, I blended with an appropriate lighter color or white.
One thing I see for this piece specifically which I think would help a lot is this: because she has that beautiful white hair and waves crashing up around her, making the sky behind her darker and brighter, like a medium blue or teal would help her to stand out and aid the composition of the whole piece. It's important to find ways of making the subject of your image the center of attention... and that doesn't mean just putting them in the center of the page, by the way. X3
In addition to working on those things, I might also encourage you to experiment with other mediums, such as markers, oil, watercolor or digital, anything, really; colored pencils are fabulous, and you could potentially create masterpieces with them; however, they are also limited tools when compared to the sheer expanse of colors, textures, and moods that can be achieved using other mediums.
So overall: you have great ideas, and your portrayal of characters, both original and fan, is great; that's where the vision and originality is. However, your technique is lacking, and unfortunately that takes it's toll on the impact. You have a lot of talent; I'm confident that if you keep working to improve you will be able to do so easily.
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Again, the emotion....For some reason I love these type of melancholy images....
I love the ear, too. XD
-MiddyK
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Deryn was quite astounding, really, and entirely worth throwing away an empire for.
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Mermaids!! I love it!! I've never been the biggest fan of them, but your instill a unique since of wonder and awe.
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This is so pretty, I love it
Anyone interested in drawings of mermaids is welcome to take a look at my attempt
[link]
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Nice... it reminds me of Hans Christian Anderson's The Little Mermaid.
Sadly, I don't like this one as much as your other pictures. The drawing ITSELF is great; the problem is colors. This whole picture looks kind of washed out... sorry.
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[link]
This drawing inpired to me to draw a mermaid... yeh not even that good, still practising
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oh my gosh, my computar spazzed out and clicked the send message button like 20 billion times. Can you delete the other posts? sorry.....
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[link]
This drawing inpired to me to draw a mermaid... yeh not even that good, still practising
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[link]
This drawing inpired to me to draw a mermaid... yeh not even that good, still practising
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[link]
This drawing inpired to me to draw a mermaid... yeh not even that good, still practising
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
[link]
This drawing inpired to me to draw a mermaid... yeh not even that good, still practising
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if thats rough coloring, id hate to see what you think of mine. O.o
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I really like this picture! I like how the colors fade from one to the next like in the fin, ear and hand. the only thing is I think the fin is slightly short, but the scales are nicely done. I love her hair! I envy the way you draw curls, they will never come out right for me.T^T
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The coloring was rushed?
I couldn't tell.
It's really amazing, you have talent.
You're really my inspiration.
I hope I'm as good as you by the time I'm your age.
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oh wow this is so beatiful! i love her ears^^
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You're right, the coloring does look abit rushed, but it's still great.
I love the hair and the expression in her eyes and just everything.
envy, envy, envy.
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Now THAT'S a mermaid. Seriously, fins and topless! Not these bedazzled media mermaids...
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nice title 
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This is very nice. It makes me feel very calm
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I really like the way you draw mermaids ^.^ very graceful!
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OOh nice!! The back looks a TINY bit off, tho. 
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Adorable! You are so uberly talented. I'm going to upload all the art I've drawn in a creative frenzy....I know how you feel.
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Yooooou should go buy some Prismacolor colored pencils. They're so amazing and color really smoothly.
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... i DO use prismacolor pencils.
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Really? hmmm. Maybe we use different sets or something. Is yours in a tin box with a sun on the front?
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i threw all of mine into a different
tin box, so i'm not sure.
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Awww. I hope I didn't offend you. I didn't mean to.
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oh, not at all! i'm just not sure about my... pencils.
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this is my critique< i really like your shoulder blades
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this is rushed? i don't believe you because this is amazing!
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Looks really cool
And you should try Holly Black, as someone suggested, she's really cool with fantasy characters.
I like the way you worked the colors in her nose
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really like it, especially the expression in the eye. reminds me on the book "Nauraka" (which is only avaiable in german. that sucks.)
Waiting for the day you'll find your way to Holly Black books… betting that won't be a very happy day only for me (:
sorry for the bad english *blush*
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I would die of happines if she did holly black fan art...
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