Self Portrait

[K-chan]

Like the title says, its me self portrait. A bit... different.

Piccy!

[Chemical]

Pencil Sketch. It's well done.

Did you use a mirror?

I'm glad to see people stepping away from the cartoonish figures. This one pays good attention to the human figure, and everything emits a sense of realism.

I suggest, in the future though, instead of using pencils (they're really fine tipped, harder to control when you're doing sketches) go out and get some conte. It has a larger end and allows you to do surface planes with more ease.... just until you get used to drawing facial figures.

Otherwise, if you're going to depict humans using pencil you should be willing to take the time to go over all the lines, especially in the hair.

PS. don't smudge pencil, it's messy, use hatching, cross hatching and line work instead to define different planes.

[K-chan]

Okay! Thanks for the well-rounded critique! I'll remember to not smudge stuff. I get kinda lazy sometimes, so I do that instead of using cross-hatching. ^_^() But...what is conte?

[Gunblades]

actually i think smudging can be useful, but like all shadeing and toneing you have to work out when the right time to use it is

nice work

[VoodooChild]

I cant see it...It takes me to "deviantART Summit 2005"

[Chemical]

Conte is a drawing medium that is comparable to coloured chalk/ pastels.

They come in a variety of colours, but for portraits I would suggest using the Blacks, Greys and Whites... possibly even Sanguine (which is a rusty colour)

Here's an example of conte:



As you can see, there is more potential to highlight areas, and because conte is flexible you can press hard to soft to create different areas of light and texture...

here's a little blurb I found on them... sums it up I suppose? It's hard to say what conte is exactly... it's just conte... =P

[Quote] You couldn't have made it through art school without using them... they are conte crayons. Much firmer than a regular crayon, Contes are wax based sticks of concentrated color that are perfect for use when drawing on newsprint, bristol, toned paper, or just about anything. Use the corners for thinner lines or the side for a wide swath of color. Available in lots of colors! [Quote]

There far less messy than charcoal... but they leave a similar type of impression... and you can really get a broad array between large flat lines and skinny defining lines... helps out a lot for covering planes.

PS a lot of my teachers have frowned on smuding, because it looks dirty, finger prints can be left behind, it's very uncontrollable (you'll get darker areas and lighter areas in planes that should be equal) However, if smuding is really your thing you should get a smudge stick. It's pretty much like a softened rolled up paper that you use to spread colour in whisps... instead of hard lines like the fingers. (with fingers and smudging you may get permenent lines in your work from the edge of your fingers that is difficult to eliminate without involving an eraser... and erasers are usually tools that are seen as a clean up for light lights... =( I've made more messes than fixes when it comes to erasers.

[Yew-Yevon]

i cant see it ether

[Luthien Rogue]

Yu-Yevon:

You have to go to the bottom of the page and click "Continue to Deviant Art."

PS a lot of my teachers have frowned on smuding, because it looks dirty, finger prints can be left behind, it's very uncontrollable (you'll get darker areas and lighter areas in planes that should be equal) However, if smuding is really your thing you should get a smudge stick. It's pretty much like a softened rolled up paper that you use to spread colour in whisps... instead of hard lines like the fingers. (with fingers and smudging you may get permenent lines in your work from the edge of your fingers that is difficult to eliminate without involving an eraser... and erasers are usually tools that are seen as a clean up for light lights... =( I've made more messes than fixes when it comes to erasers.

Different people have different opinions. The majority isn't always right. As for using your fingers to smudge, that's generally not what people are talking about when they say "smudging." People use stomps/torillions to smudge pencil in most cases. Fingers are more commonly used with pastels because the oils on our skin can be helpful. Yes, it can look messy... if an amateur is doing it. If you're experienced it will look very smooth, and very clean. It's especially useful for realistic work.

[K-chan]

Thanks much everybody!

Different people have different opinions. The majority isn't always right. As for using your fingers to smudge, that's generally not what people are talking about when they say "smudging." People use stomps/torillions to smudge pencil in most cases. Fingers are more commonly used with pastels because the oils on our skin can be helpful. Yes, it can look messy... if an amateur is doing it. If you're experienced it will look very smooth, and very clean. It's especially useful for realistic work.

Actually, I did use my fingers to smudge it since I lost my smugde stick thingy. I think my dog ate it. 0_o

Oh, and thanks Chemical! I think I know what your talking about now! That pic you posted is awesome looking!