Details

Closed to new replies
Posted: August 4, 2012

Link

Statistics

Replies: 149

How do you make drawings look finished?

~WilloweWolf Aug 4, 2012 Hobbyist Digital Artist

It always seems to me like when I upload a drawing to dA, it looks unfinished, like I forgot to do something. Like this one: [link]

How can I make my art look more finished or professional? For instance, these look finished: [link] [link]

-And sorry if this is the wrong forum-

You can no longer comment on this thread as it was closed due to no activity for a month.

Devious Comments

~DezzManX Aug 11, 2012 Professional Digital Artist

Art's only finished when you say its finished. If you're looking to beef up your polish, I'd suggest doing as much as you can with a pic until you think its done, stop, then go back and see what can be refined or should be added. Main piece of advice is "don't rush".

~iancanfield Aug 7, 2012

I don't do digital or draw animals really, but, try and make more contrast around the edges, for one. That is for starters. Complete is a subjective term, so, I wouldn't use that term. But, in your digital one, the fact that you made it a black spotted horse against a dark background makes the features stand out less and almost unoticable. I think one of the main things you overall need to work on in the picture you posted is contrast.

And heyriel gave you some generally good advice. That is the other advice I would have given. Definitely learn to draw from life. Even if there aren't horses, draw other things. Start with basic things you are familiar with. Once you get those down more fluently you can move to doing more advance things that have more complex form. For example, try starting with an apple or a soda can. And good warm up is your hands. Make excersizes out of it. Then once you feel a little more familiar with capturing form more accurately move on to drawing horses.

Also, learn about colour theory some. Just try and experiment randomly with colors until you find something harmonious. That's really the best way to learn. But, generally, a good principle to remember is the rule of thirds. Not just for visual composition of a peice, say being drawn, but also in color. You've got left, right, and middle. Top, bottom, middle. Red, yellow, blue. And so on. Try learning about the rule of thirds a bit more and train your eye. Practice makes perfect. But keep at it! Listen to heyriel. However, I would not necessarily say to work at bigger resolutions. Maybe that works for you, maybe not. I'm not familiar with digital, tbh. But, I think size is relative depending on what you're doing, how you're doing it, and what your style is. That is a little more lenient.

~iancanfield Aug 8, 2012

To answer the question a little more directly, "How do you make drawings look finished?" begin smoking cigarettes after you finish them.

*Heyriel Aug 7, 2012 Student Digital Artist

What you need are values and color theory. Draw from life, learn how to use different brushes and all that. Right now everything just mushes together, the colors you picked are nothing like what a real night-landscape would look like and the edges are all soft and wobbly. Get painting books, look at tutorials, observe other artists (youtube) and work at bigger resolutions

~WilloweWolf Aug 7, 2012 Hobbyist Digital Artist

I'd love to draw from life! Unfortunately there aren't any horses around here...

What would be some better colors?

*Heyriel Aug 7, 2012 Student Digital Artist

Literally drawing from life is tricky for beginners because the subjects are moving. But just look what an insanely large amout of horse stock we have on dA; *Colourize-Stock, *Chunga-Stock, just to name two of thousands. First you must study bone structure and muscle placement though, or you'll only be copying what you see anyway.

Purple, blue, green, dark red, brown, grey... Theoretically you can find every color in grass, just like you can find every color on the bark of a tree. There are millions of colors afterall. It depends on how many clouds there are, if the moon is visible, what kind of grass and tree grows there, how far away the object is from the viewer, what object is next to it and, and, and. That's why I say: Draw from reallife, do speedpaintings. You can only learn to choose the correct colors by observing nature.

~WilloweWolf Aug 8, 2012 Hobbyist Digital Artist

I do usually do skeleton guide drawings, which help a TON. But real bones...oh dear. .

Thank you

You're veeery helpful.

-quick noob question. Is a speedpaint actually drawing really fast, or is it recording the drawing process and speeding it up for others to see?

*Heyriel Aug 8, 2012 Student Digital Artist

Try getting the book The Art of Animal Drawing by Ken Hultgren. It's the most accurate and helpful book on drawing animals ever (the guy worked with Disney on Bambi etc).

Speedpaiting=Video is a weird association that popped up because the youtube community can't get their facts straight

You don't need to draw 'fast', but in speeds the goal is to get the basic forms, values and colors down instead of creating some super detailed, glossy painting. That's why they don't usually take longer than 3h max. Eg ones like this: [link]
=tanathe has done a great guide: [link]

~WilloweWolf Aug 8, 2012 Hobbyist Digital Artist

Sounds cool. I'll look it up.

Oh, okay.

Thanks

*LadyMatrona Aug 7, 2012

I've had the same problem a lot of times with my art. I think the biggest difference in in the lighting and the edges. The two finished examples you showed both have a lot of highlights and shadows all throughout the picture. You've got some of that too but it's more in the middle. The edges of the horse look a little flat and don't match the background because they aren't as detailed as the stuff in the middle. Because of the stars in your picture, I would expect to see more light on the edges (and both those other samples are great examples of that)

another thing you might try is punching up the contrast between your dark and lights. white is trickier to do so you might consider trying this could with another color first. In those examples there is a huge range of color within the same color. (a lot for different browns in the same drawn hair, some really dark, and some really light)

Details

Statistics

How do you make drawings look finished?

Devious Comments

The Journal Portal

Polls

What is your preferred drawing software?

deviantART [dee·vee·un'nt·ART]

Keep in Touch!

Deviousness

Add Media

Style