Tips for making or improving your creations.

[Buster]

I've been PM'ing back and forth with another user lately and it got me thinking, What if we had a thread just for tips to help newcomers make or improve their own fanwork? Each of us who've made fan content (Writing, Drawing, Music, whatever.) already, would pitch in some tips, or a tutorial or two. Something thats worked for us when creating our stuff. And any time someone needs help this is here.

What do you guys think?



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Quick links to Tips & Examples posted so far:
Getting the style right. One way of practicing. Shading tips.

[Mickey]

That sounds awesome! I would totally help out there!

[Civilization]

I'm one of those people that need help drawing. I'm not really creative and would like to know how to draw HP style characters. I did draw one thing and put it here. I guess I am asking how you draw your characters, since I can't use internet programs I am stuck to drawing by hand, I would really love some pointers.

[The-J-Man]

I'm one of those people that need help drawing. I'm not really creative and would like to know how to draw HP style characters. I did draw one thing and put it here. I guess I am asking how you draw your characters, since I can't use internet programs I am stuck to drawing by hand, I would really love some pointers.

I can definitely help with this. I too have been working on my art by hand and i developed my skills on drawing these character styles by tracing different characters in different positions until i can do it freehand with little noticeable difference between the drawing and the original image. this is a painstaking process, so i suggest listening to music while you do this to maintain your inspirational thoughts

[Mickey]

I draw it in my style first before attempting someone else's.

[Amazee Dayzee]

I can't draw period and the only way I write good is if I have a co-writer.

[Douglas Collier]

It takes time to get used to the Housepets! style. Here's a comparison of my first attempt at the style to my most recent attempt:



The trick for me was to look at how the characters look at each angle, and then build a sort of 3D mental image from that.

[Amazee Dayzee]

I actually think that both sort of look Housepets!-ish. A lot better than I could do.

[Buster]

Well, since this seems to be taking off, I figure now's a good time to post the thing that gave me the idea to start it. (also i'm making an index kinda thing up in the first post) This is something I did a lot in high school, though it's more of a general drawing tip.

Now that i think about it, maybe i should get back into the habit of that...

A good way to practice:
if you want your characters to have more consistent proportions and look (for lack of a better term) more alive, watch movies and while they're playing try to draw what the characters are doing without pausing or taking screenshots. try to do 5-6 a day. They don't need to be big, don't spend more than a few minutes per picture, and don't worry about the fine details the first few hundred times. it's not about getting the details for that one character right, it's about getting the basic shapes and movements down. Try to do this a few times a week, preferably daily but I know that's not practical for some people. It will improve your skills, shouldn't take more than an hour or so out of your day, and as a bonus, you have an excuse to re-watch all of your favorite movies, and plenty of new ones.

It's like practicing an instrument. It's about repetition, accuracy will come in time. The idea is that after a while you'll be able to draw those poses from memory without needing a reference picture. Speaking of repetition, get a sketch book. Cause even if you're putting all of your practice sketches on the same page you are going to burn through paper FAST. better to have it all in one place.

Also try to avoid drawing too many pictures in other people's styles you're copying. A lot of artists have a particular set of proportions they use that wouldn't carry over well to someone else's style, or to your own once you come up with one. You stick to copying one style too much and you get used to that proportion set, witch will wreak havoc on a little thing called muscle memory. fan work is fine, but at least half of your stuff should be your own.

Lastly, if you get up to a point where you don't seem to be getting better, or if you just want tips, show your work to other people. And don't get defensive if they nitpick it; believe it or not, that's actually a GOOD thing. You WANT to know where you've picked up bad habits, or have been making errors. That said, don't focus too too much on that side of things either, as it can get depressing real quick if you start tuning out the comments about what you're doing right and let self doubt sink in. That's why it's good to have someone like AD around; someone who seems to think everything is awesome.

[Babblu0]

Fido acted like he reeled in a fish from the ice before sighing and leaning back against the window, staring at the snow again. "My day off from the force and this is what happens…" He just stared at the snow flying by. The small amount of sunlight from the horizon that was still getting through seemed to shine on each snowflake. It was having a hypnotizing effect on Fido. He started to fade in and out before he eventually just fell asleep. It was still a while before they'd be back to their house, so a quick nap wouldn't hurt…

[Mickey]

Hm. Whatever this is for, I like it.

[Obbl]

Fido acted like he reeled in a fish from the ice before sighing and leaning back against the window, staring at the snow again. "My day off from the force and this is what happens…" He just stared at the snow flying by. The small amount of sunlight from the horizon that was still getting through seemed to shine on each snowflake. It was having a hypnotizing effect on Fido. He started to fade in and out before he eventually just fell asleep. It was still a while before they'd be back to their house, so a quick nap wouldn't hurt…

What is the purpose of copying & pasting a snippet of someone else's work here in this particular thread? Even beyond the fact that it's not exactly on topic, why not something you wrote?

[Amazee Dayzee]

I was just about to say how nice that snippet was until I saw that it was plagiarized.

[Buster]

the whole point of this thread was posting things that would help others improve... how is quoting a scene from a story out of context and with no comments or advice helpful?

[Buster]

Again, another general tip i'm reposting from something i said elsewhere.

Shading tricks:

-Hard objects tend to have more pronounced shading than softer objects because they're shiny.
-Fuzzy objects tend to look best if they have jagged edges to their shading. as if you're seeing individual hairs/strands/feathers/ whatever. shrink your brush down really small and make a row of tiny lines really close together, don't worry about being neat. messy actually works just as well.
- polished metallic objects pick up reflections, meaning they will probably have more than one highlight, making it look like there is no shadowed area just a band of alternating mid-tones between two or more lights. gradients work really well here if you know how to use em properly. also the highlights are always pure white at the center. things that shiny pick up a glare. (if you really want to go the extra mile, use the smudge tool and some dark patches to make it look like there are distorted reflections of actual objects in the 'band' part)
-dull metallic objects are just hard objects with glares.

[Amazee Dayzee]

Not a bad tutorial there! I think that it is very great!

[King Bailey]

Hey guys! I need some Beta readers for my fanfic before I post it on the wild internet. I don't want to get flame grilled! Here's the link!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qJH ... sp=sharing
I need as much feedback as possible, so feel free to criticize.