To Paraphrase …

Per the issues I’ve suddenly been having with my Jowan fanart now that I’ve picked the piece of paper up off my 5 inch x 3 inch desk space at work.

Okay. I narrowed it down to two things giving me problems with how he’s looking as of this pic. Well, I saw one thing and someone else pointed out the other to me. Having someone else critique your work is ALWAYS an awesome thing. They will notice things that you don’t (or things you’re trying to ignore because you aren’t good at them). Listen to these critiques and use them to grow. You don’t have to take it personally, which I know is an odd thing to say when talking about someone pointing out things that aren’t working in something as personal as a drawing/painting can be, but you should at the very least listen to them. For every one asshole who’s just trolling, there are probably ten people who are giving you an honest opinion that you could probably grow a lot from taking seriously.

1. What I noticed is that my scale and measurements are WAY off here due to the angle at which I’ve been drawing him. This is where all those little tricks artist talk about come in handy. Pick up the drawing and look at it straight on instead of looking at it from the angle of it laying flat on a hard surface. In a perfect world, we’d all have easels everywhere we might feel like drawing, but we don’t. So, pick up the drawing surface once in a while just to make sure it’s not gonna look unintentionally goofy at the end.

Holding your drawing in front of a mirror is another great way to see what is off. Something can look totally fine when you’re hunched over the paper, then you pick it up, stand in front of the mirror, and it’s like you were using your non-dominant hand with your eyes closed.

Doing this also helps when you’re measuring things out (because shock of all shocks, that actually helps too), which I also got all messed up on, but that you can’t really tell from this pic since it’s mostly just his face. I measure out by “heads”, but there might be other ways to measure the body out that would work for you better. Since I pretty much had to teach myself how to draw, I’m a late bandwagon jumper for measuring things out. Trust me though, it makes so much difference when you’re figuring things out. I think once you learn how to do all the traditional/standard ways to render a figure, it’ll make things easier for you down the line when you’re working on your own style and whatnot. That’s what I keep telling myself anyhow.

2. Jacen Burrows was awesome enough to give me the following comment. And I think if someone who draws comics for a living takes the time to comment on MY measly attempts at putting pencil to paper, I should totally take it seriously.

“Normally I’d just chalk this up as stylistic expression but since you mentioned it…I think the problem you are sensing with his head is his right eye (on our left). His left eye lines up with the edge of his nostril but the right one is set further out. It also appears to be ever so slightly lower. If you cover either eye with your finger while looking at it the piece, you’ll notice the rest seems to work, they’re just not working together. A little tweaking of that eye and I think you’ll be happy.”

I gave Jowan Sloth Eye!

In all seriousness, I do this all.the.time and it’s super annoying for me because I don’t even notice it half the time anymore. So, again, having someone who isn’t related to you, someone you don’t see on a daily basis, or someone who knows you’re not going to bawl your eyes out or tear their face off if they say, “Hey, that doesn’t look right” is a good thing. Again, it’s also a good thing not to get all butthurt when someone tells you, “Hey, that doesn’t look right.”

This still doesn’t help me with the Steve Perry hair …