jacksoneligray's Sketchbook

[xelfereht]

Finally, something from today. Working from reference has always been a struggle for me, I don't know why. I think I've gotten into the habit of always trying to simplify things into shapes, and it's really difficult for me to break out of that mindset and just draw what I see. My sense of realism is incredibly flawed, and I'm not quite sure how to fix it!
Hope everyone is staying safe and getting good work done. 
:D

ok, so first of all good work
theres some nice moments of shape design and blends
things to consider:
some harshly defined lines there. its going to change the read of the forms and describe them as more severe
plane changes or just look like outlines.
these defined parts create contrast and if they arent where you decide hem to be they can draw attention to not so warranted areas, my eyes for example flick to under her nose and the forehead shadow

its looking a little hard surface for skin, if the style is consistent it can be ok,long as you mean for it.

i suggest as part of the study process, to observe how the parts interact during different expressions
in this case for example, how the mouth stretches for the smile pushing up the cheeks and in turn the lower eyelids
the lower eyelids which are very dark,
it looks like youre noticing the values changing, but over stating it
your eyes, when you focus on an area will adjust to see the values there, like how our eyes adjust to a dark room but can also adjust to a bright room
to get around this, switch your view between focused to wide view of the whole face to find where it sits in context after getting the detailed info.
im sorry if this is a bit overwhelming lol but its also why arts great and you just get better till you die
shes got one less tooth than in the reference.. thats a thing
her eyes are a but a stray too

i could have kept painting but just wanted to get the idea across enough
I hope it helps make sense of my words



Ok! and cool candy corn character.
the angle of the mouth felt maybe a bit at a different angle, i just bumped up the size and nudged it over.
slightly desaturated everything except the eyes to make them stand out cos its a form of contrast..
and make it a little softer on the eyes overall
i find it hard to look at wholely super saturated stuff, i dunno about other people
uhh tried to give it a bit more interesting highlight shape that worked with the forms and didnt gompete as much with the eye highlights
took away the blackness bordering the character, it feels a bit unjustified especially because of how light all the local colours are.
just did a quick pass of a possible rim job tharr.. which for i just panted orange in the spots it may hit, turned it into a divide layer and used a layer mask to soften it where it felt appropriate
(fyi ive never used this method before but i like how it turned out)
the divide layer turned it blue which because of its opposition to orange pops it and insta 3D

hope that helps
great work