>>2101>Are you really tracing, or just throwing in whatever you feel like?Good question. For a honest anwser, I think it'd be the latter. Though I have occasionally scribbled shit with automatic pen for several years now, it's even worse than highschool tier, though it aspired to be something more than such. Beyond that I don't really have any experience. That virtually makes it no experience at all. I got myself a graphics tablet only recently, hoping it will motivate me to do any work at all, since I've been reluctant to do anything serious on paper for a very long time now. Hence the thread.
>The photos have a lot of very dark places, but you're painting with a very soft and weak brush on a white background.Literally the first time I'm doing actual shading. I can't feel this concept yet so I'm not suprised I fucked it up. I was using soft brushes because I felt "safe" with them. I've noticed I tend to lean towards small radius + small opacity brushes because they appear safe and non-invasive, so I seem to feel better when darkening things softly, step by step instead of going all out. But as far as I can notice, "soft darkening" turned into "not darkening at all" That plus opacity.
Honestly, when I was tracing the gasmask photo, I didn't care about the background, I was focused on the guy himself, but I guess I should.
>You're painting sometimes in completely random places that do not represent the photo at all.I did "extend" his breathing tube for minor aesthethic reasons and drawn his bag completely differently because I failed to reproduce the original. The "holes" under his goggles do not reflect the original, I know. But apart from that, and apart from lazy shading, I think most of the lines I drew (not mentioning those I DIDN'T draw, for there are some indeed) do reflect ones in the photo, at least my impression. Feel free to prove me where and how much I'm wrong... I assume that I probably am.
>For some reason you're avoiding the lineart, which makes the drawing look very flat and dirty.The reason is because I simply have no concept of it. By looking at your version I can see what you mean by it but I would have to research it a bit. I'm yet to grasp how do those "step-by-step" sketches work.
>Here's a challenge for you: stop using opacity and see what happens.Right, I did mention "more transparency" in my previous post after all.
I'll redo this or work up something else later. Perhaps pic rel, I seem to hold some affection towards gas masks/hazmat suits. Stockpiled much of those recently.
Anyway, thanks for the crit, as well as your own illustration, it's lovely.