My first fanart

[Tanqueray]

Well... This is my first fanart about Katawa Shoujo.

Does it look alright? I`m little bit nervous...

[Daitengu]

If you want me to cretique it like my art teacher use to...

cloth wrinkles, check
general proportions, check
drawn in pencil, check

Pool cue is a lil bent, but it's hard to draw straight lines without a ruler. Cue ball isn't perfect, but circles are really damn hard to draw free hand. Don't be afraid of using instruments to draw.

Most clothing doesn't show off individual breasts either, but it seems to be popular in manga these days for some reason.

Highlights and shadows could use some practice. one trick to highlights in this medium is white out. or a really good eraser. so that you can just shade the whole thing, then cover up or erase part of the shading for highlight effects. Shading is what gives dimension to a picture. lighter and darker shading of the same area gives a 3D feel to the area. The hat for example could use a bit darker shading on it's underside to make it pop more.

Usually a softer pencil lead is better for shading, both for ease of highlighting, and you get a more true black. Personally I like to use hard charcoal for shading, but that's just because I like my blacks black.


Pretty good for a first attempt though. I'd be interested in seeing what you can do after a couple years of practice.

[alien.marksman]

Pool cue is a lil bent, but it's hard to draw straight lines without a ruler. Cue ball isn't perfect, but circles are really damn hard to draw free hand. Don't be afraid of using instruments to draw.

It's pretty realistic actually.
When was the last time you went to a bar and the pool cue's were actually straight?

[Linnie]

Really lovely picture

[Daitengu]

Pool cue is a lil bent, but it's hard to draw straight lines without a ruler. Cue ball isn't perfect, but circles are really damn hard to draw free hand. Don't be afraid of using instruments to draw.

It's pretty realistic actually.
When was the last time you went to a bar and the pool cue's were actually straight?

fair enough

[stanman237]

I personally think that an 8B pencil is dark enough for shading purposes without actually using charcoal. I think the best for shading is something that is lighter so you could smudge it with you finger to add a special effect to it

[-abscess]

I don't know much about types of pencils, papers or whatnot, but from experience I can say that trying to copy pictures doesn't really help much. If you are going to draw fanart try to make an "original" drawing, by that I mean you picking the pose, the "camera" angle, the clothes, etc., etc. and build from there. In my case, attempting to copy someone else's drawing caused more frustration than any sense of satisfaction, because I always found myself constantly checking if what I did resembled the original artist's work, when I saw it didn't then the eternal tweaking took place: erasing here, reshading that, redrawing there... all the while repeating the phrase "this isn't right" like a goddamn mantra.

If, in the off-chance, you happen to succeed in making an exact replica of the artist's work, then you've effectively become a photocopying machine. If anyone wants an exact replica of a drawing it's much easier to simply print it as many times as you want, instead of copying it by hand. Also, you don't really develop much of a style that you can call your own.

I've seen a number of people trying to copy certain CGs from the game and they always strike me as subpar because I instantly think of what the game artists did before, and did better. They more often than not say something like "I'm new at drawing", but if you're new at this then don't try (and fail) to photocopy another people's work, start with the very basics and build from there. It's okay to grab certain things you like from other people's style, but try to incorporate that into a bigger set comprised of other things you've grabbed from other artists and stuff you've come up on your own.

My only advice is this: draw what you want how you want it, but don't try to become a xerox machine.

[Tanqueray]

My only advice is this: draw what you want how you want it, but don't try to become a xerox machine.

Well... I`m just drawing for hobby when I have free time, not for profession. But, I will take your advice seriously. Thanks.