Critique - 21st March 2014 - by Leventis.

Critique - 21st March 2014 - by Kikis Leventis.

I will start by looking at a strength. Composition is good, nicely placed characters within the frame etc. There are many drawings with no backgrounds; you can add simple but effective shapes, lines, shadows etc to enhance the atmosphere of a drawing that has an otherwise empty backdrop. The background (when there are no details at all) should somehow represent the personality of the character (so for example, if the character is a wild beasty, the background could consist of wild looking, jagged lines to give the impression that is what the character is feeling at that particular moment, alternatively, you can have a calm background, softer lines and shading to represent a relaxed mood of the "wild" looking character.

Inking - I like your clean Inking style. Things you can add to this - thicker lines in particular places or areas on the drawing, for example, a character has a very heavy arm/bicep etc, add a thicker/heavier/denser or more stylised type of Ink line/curve, instead of a normal generic line. Make colour versions of Black and White pieces. Try colouring some of your ink works to create moods with carefully chosen colour selections (use a digital copy/photocopy of the Original Ink Piece to preserve it).

Shading and Outlines - these are good also, as with the Inking, you can build on this by darkening your lines at particular points to emphasise certainthings, for example, with pencil there are infinite shades of grey to almost black, or almost white, use these to your advantage, so the darkest shadow can be the hottest part of the drawing so to speak, or it can be the most dense etc.. Also try out different shading styles, check out the Artwork by 1980`s Artist who worked on 2000AD (Brian Bolland, Ian Gibson, Carlos Esquerra, Dave Gibbons), and a personal favourite - AL Williamson, who did alot of Flash Gordon stuff.

Paint and Colour/Color - your Colour works have a nice pastel quality tothem, I think that can be a good style to keep. Alternative styles such as more expressive (wild colouring, mark-making can be advantageous to a picture, depending on the subject matter). For example, richer/deeper reds for certain scenes (to stress anger, fear, madness etc). Brighter or deeper blues to represent a different atmosphere, and a cooler, sadder mood.

Filed Under: Critique Art Drawing