Maggie's Art Blog

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Hello there
So the last time I posted drawings in a forum was about ten (lol) years ago ... and his feels a little weird

I hadn't done any serious drawing/painting in years, since getting ready for my university entry exams ruined it for me - I had to draw all boring stuff and nothing fun for a year, and then came the actual higher education to endure. But recently I felt "healed" enough and remembered how much I love this.
So I've been doing a lot of traditional drawing and just about a month ago I started doing the digital thing seriously since I can finally afford it money and timewise.
I thought I'd share some of my old traditional work first (at least what I can still bare to look out without bursting out in laughter).
Sorry for the long post, here's the pictures The image quality on some of them is dreadful, I wasn't too friendly with photo manipulation back then.

And here's the boring stuff I had to do over and over:

[caffeinatedbrushes]

I really like the piano player. My eyes want to move between his face, the hands, and his tattoo on his arm. The work with the values has a lot of subtlety.

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Thank you I was really proud of it at the time, but now there are so many things about it that annoy me. I guess that's inevitable.

Here's my first and last (for now) shot at 3d sculpting. I kind of abandoned that sculpt, dunno if I'll ever get back to it.

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Today I worked on female anatomy with Marc's tutorial, here's the result:

Next step, clothing and shading.

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Finally, I managed to (somewhat) finish this one:

I'm still not happy with some areas, but I've been working on it for too long, so time to move on.

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Photo study: Eva

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A "Selfie"

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Here's a new one, I decided to attempt colour again:

[luckyyy]

Very nice work! Looking forward to seeing more =)

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Thank you very much!
So here's another, I'll call if finished (for now at least, critiques are welcome):

[rokdem]

Hi there!

I wanted to comment the last colored image first but i can't go pass the girl by the mirror in the traditional drawings part... I can't say what is about it but it really stands out to me for some reason. Love it!

Now to the last girl. She looks pretty and surprised/interested (i guess that was your intention, so well done!). But she looks more doll-like than real. I think it might be due to the low contrast on her face... Your black and white paintings don't seem to have that issue so it might be something else.
But, if the contast is the problem, i think fixing it wouldn't be that time consuming in regards to it's effect.

I know that could be some sort of a tattoo on her forehead but if it is not, some shadow would make it stand out more. I think stronger or perhaps sharper shadows could be used on her eyes/eyelids and mouth.

The hair looks really fantastic! It is black and white (almost)... Maybe you should just be bolder when using colors-like you are in B&W.

Long but hopefuly helpful.

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@rokdem thank you very much for taking the time to explain in detail what I need to improve. It helps A LOT
The truth is I have a lot of experience with B&W drawing from my "traditional art days". It's not much different drawing in B&W digitally, so I do OK there. I have close to zero experience in colour however, so I need to practice a lot more. So any constructive criticism is much much welcome.
For the last girl, I tried using a solid black layer in colour mode in order to check on the contrast regularly, however you're correct in saying it's still rather flat, I'll work on it some more.
The thing on the forehead is supposed to be a little crown/jewel or something, but I guess I completely forgot it needs to cast shadows
Thanks again!

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One more I started some time ago, I wanted to draw a traditional Bulgarian costume:

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This week I decided to take some old drawings I like and "colour" them in order to work on my issues with contrast in colour .. Here's the first one

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Here's another WIP (critiques are welcome as always):

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I decided to try out drawing some simple portraits on paper then colour them digitally, as my linework with the tablet is laughable and I need to focus on colour more .. I'm seriously thinking about investing in a Cintiq

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I feel like traditional art lately .. Literally getting my hands dirty feels good

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The last 2 portraits I did (references used):

[dee-lov]

Hey there! I see a lot of improvements with your most recent update. You've grown to use harder edges to go with your soft ones, and your colors are getting better. Keep on working with your digital synergy, like practicing brushes and blending. If you like, it may be helpful to work outside of portraits for a couple studies, such as with environments or something challenging like plants and their textures.

Anyway, love your consistency and effort. Its great to see you creating keep it up!

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Thank you for your feedback @ni0sh! I will definitely try what you suggested, I think I'll paint some flowers or something next
I wasn't any good at that the last time I tried (traditionally with watercolour) a few years ago, but I feel like I can do better now digitally.
I finished this one today (any comments or critiques are welcome as always):