Random Self-Critique

[the_gneech]

Dear Gneech:

When you revamp your art style for the new version of SJ, you need to keep the following in mind:

• Cut back on those huge, horizontal muzzles. They get in the way of characters' eyes!


• Speaking of eyes, make them a tad bigger generally. Not anime-huge, but bigger than the little beads you tend to do now. (With the exception of Stretch Ferret, of course!)


• Use more photo reference. It always improves your art by 200%.


• Thumbnail first. Don't compose on the page.


• When possible, put at least a week between the draft and the final product.


• More shadows in the inks. Practice this muchly!


• Rulers are your friend. You know you can't draw a decent straight line without one. Don't be lazy!


• Ditto model sheets. Particularly since you're redoing all of the character designs anyway.


• Speaking of models, work out new marking/mask sheets and stick to 'em. Try to keep the markings on the hands/feet very simple, to avoid clutter around what are already difficult areas to draw.


• Study Sue, Vince, Herbie, iktis muchly, particularly the character designs. Look for underlying structures.


• Your perspective sucks, except when it's great. Tighten this up.


• Don't be afraid to get more expressionist. Make Dover skinnier, Katie chunkier, Tiffany curvier, etc. Not to the point of total distortion, but more than you do now.


• Try to be looking at good art when you're getting ready to draw. Think about what makes it good and incorporate that!


• Finally, don't get discouraged. Look how far you've come!

Your pal and second-harshest critic,
The Gneech

PS: Other critiques welcome. :) I'm mostly posting this here so I'll remember it.

Comments

[frostdemn.livejournal.com]

Those are all some very good critiques to follow, but must I say there needs to be more Leona??

Hm, have you considered branching into other art styles as well? Aside from drawing the way I've seen you draw, maybe draw your characters *coughLEONAcough* in styles you see in magazines and newspapers! For some reason, I'm thinking of the art style from Rhapsody in Blue in Fantasia. Lots more smooth curves for the characters and not always conforming to your regular proportions (i.e. the arms and legs can be drawn as fluid curves instead of showing the distinct angles the bones form).

I'm not sure where else you can find some inspirations for branching out into new styles, but there IS also the option for branching out in new mediums! I'm suddenly visualizing a Gneech wearing a paint-spattered smock with a brush clutched firmly in paw, a beret atop his head in the place of the trademark fedora!

Ooh, and animation. That's another idea!

Wait, these aren't critiques any more rather than ideas to branch out and uh...
More Leona, please?

[the-gneech.livejournal.com]

So, if I understand you right, you want more ... Leona? Is that it?

-The Gneech

[leona-lioness.livejournal.com]

Hey, the boy has good taste, you got to give him that!

LEONA

[frostdemn.livejournal.com]

I like to think I've got good taste. Leona makes for an excellent subject of art!

But I was also emphasizing the exercises for trying new art styles while you're working on your own! I think I've seen you parody some famous works of art with your characters before? I like that idea as well, y'know! Ooh, or more movie posters!

But yes, mainly Leona. Can't go wrong with such a winning subject!

if it was anyone else besides Frosty or Loxley

[mammallamadevil.livejournal.com]

I'd say you paid 'em.....

MLD

Re: if it was anyone else besides Frosty or Loxley

[frostdemn.livejournal.com]

Pft. Leona doesn't need to pay anyone to have people sing of her greatness! She's the real deal!

I wasn't paid for this, either...

[torakiyoshi.livejournal.com]

I'd pay for a watercolor or oil painting of Leona.

Have the best

-=Kiyoshi

Re: if it was anyone else besides Frosty or Loxley

[lowen-kind.livejournal.com]

Hey! I like Leona also. :=3

Though not quite as mach as Ti.... Watch the claws Leona!!!!!!

[hossblacksilver.livejournal.com]

A beret? What you trying to do, turn him into Jamie Hyneman? "Today on Furbusters, are tiggers tops made out of rubber and bottoms made out of springs?"

I will concur on more Leona though.

[athelind.livejournal.com]

Pick up Sue's CD-ROM. She has a lot of sketches that show those underlying structures.

[niktopolion.livejournal.com]

I suggest more Bats.

[the-gneech.livejournal.com]

Tell Byron to be more interesting, so I'll want to draw him more often. ;)

-The Gneech

[delphinios.livejournal.com]

Finally, don't get discouraged. Look how far you've come!

Best advice on the list! :)

[lowen-kind.livejournal.com]

Well, you know where I stand ... somewhere in Malaga, NJ. :=3

BTW, the H-O scale "The Watering Hole" may be ramping up again. :=3

[the-gneech.livejournal.com]

Kewl. :) I just hate to see your reaction when the revised version comes to light! ;)

-TG

[lowen-kind.livejournal.com]

Could you be a nice lion and send me some rough drafts of the new bar, especially if the outside is going to be changed.

Big pleading lion cub eyes. 8={

Of course it never fails. I finally find the brick sheet I need and get the one crucial tool to do it and you gotta change it. :=/

[the-gneech.livejournal.com]

It's gonna be a while, as the new design is going to go into the new series. :) I'm hoping to get permission from the bar it was originally modeled on to take all sorts of photos of the place for reference.

-The Gneech

[lowen-kind.livejournal.com]

Well, if you plan it advance let me know when you are going to do it. I'd love to see the building that inspired our beloved bar.

[aj-hyena.livejournal.com]

I think those horizontal muzzles have sort of become your signature myself.

And for some reason I think Comfort going off in Russian is sexy. Go fig.

Ageis J. Hyena, signing off, over and out.

[the-gneech.livejournal.com]

Heh. :) Well, I need to get rid of 'em -- they're too dang hard to draw around! Particularly in 3/4 views, one of the character's eyes is always blocked by the top of the muzzle and it mucks up expressions.

I had fun with the Russian argument! It was even semi-decent Russian, as I recall. It was translated for me by Terrence Marks, IIRC.

-The Gneech

[torakiyoshi.livejournal.com]

Why not try lowering the muzzle just a leeeetle bit? It is a clear distinction of your style.

Have the best

-=Kiyoshi

[the-gneech.livejournal.com]

1. Yup, yup, this has been on my mind for some time -- that's why I need to make the eyes larger. I do put the lines in there when I've got a close enough shot to do it without making the eye one giant black blob. (See P3 of today's comic as a ferinstance.)

2. Hikaru loves his bright, day-glo colors! ;D I've been weening him off of those since 2002 or whenever it was he came on board. He's come quite a long way, himself! He's also working from my diktat that the color should "look like anime," which is a stylistic choice made for SJ from the beginning and sorta forces his hand on that score. I'll pass the message on to him, nonetheless!

Thanks much for the input! :)

-The Gneech

[exatron.livejournal.com]

Make Dover skinnier

Sounds like someone is getting put on a diet.

Don't forget to study Vince's layouts. Crazy as they can get, they have an underlying order.

You may want to try doing a few really short stories in a comic-sized format, with a fixed pagecount, to get used to the medium.

[the-gneech.livejournal.com]

Believe me, I've made long and detailed studies of Vince's layouts since before Suburban Jungle existed -- and I expect I'll continue to do so as long as he continues to draw 'em. I've told Vince before, although I don't know if I've posted publicly before, that I have a motto of "WWVD -- What would Vince do?" when I'm trying to think of ways to add visual interest to an image or story.

The most direct influence, I think, can be seen in these two strips:

http://www.suburbanjungle.com/d/20040602.html

http://www.suburbanjungle.com/d/20041206.html

In both cases, I had information that had to be gotten across, but all I had visually was a bunch of talking heads. So I tried to imagine what Vince would do if handed the task, and came up with the kind of visual metaphor that he's so good at.

re: doing stories in the comic format, I have plans along those lines, including some Carpe Diem work, I hope.

-The Gneech

[sirfox.livejournal.com]

if you want to take a non-gaming saturday where we're both available (or maybe a sunday or something) to get together and just Art at things, i could probably use the practice, and we could point out areas needing improvement, and suggestions on how to do so.

[the-gneech.livejournal.com]

I've had in the back of my mind to try to set up some kind of "local art night," so yeah, I'm up for that! :D It just needs to be made to happen. :)

-TG

[laurie-robey.livejournal.com]

Me too! Me too!

[galadrion.livejournal.com]

So just out of curiosity, who's your first-harshest critic? *grin*

[the-gneech.livejournal.com]

It was another Keenspot artist, actually, but I forget who now. Not somebody I've met in person. But they ranted in their blog for a good two or three paragraphs about how rotten my art was. It was a couple of years ago.

-TG

I think you may fix this with smaller muzzle

[eddiecanis.livejournal.com]

but I never could rap my head around how tiffiny (and some of the other big cats) muzzle color are . It sometimes look like they have this black strip thing that they snap on top of their muzzle.

I know not a very good way to describe it and I am sorry I really do not have a suggestion to fix it.

At least you draw, I have stop for some odd reason.

Anyway sorry my two cents here.
Otherwise I like your art and really enjoy the stories.

Re: I think you may fix this with smaller muzzle

[the-gneech.livejournal.com]

All two cents are welcome, thanks! :)

-TG

[kylet.livejournal.com]

What's wrong with huge, horizontal muzzles??? XD
Or small eyes? Small eyes are sexy!

I do concur with thumbnailing and rulers, something I need to do more of. Not sure about ink shadows, though, that's dependent on the coloring.

Vince? That hack?

[the-gneech.livejournal.com]

Best hack evar!

What's wrong with huge, horizontal muzzles???

They block the small eyes, duh! ;P

-TG