Sirc's Art: Welcoming, even encouraging, critique

[Sirc]

Some of my more recent work can be found here at my new DeviantArt:
http://ultima-thule.deviantart.com/

As you may already see, I don't really have a correct understanding of proportion and perspective, my shading is monotone. This is because like I said, I've always just taught myself these things. I've never taken an art class in my life, but I want to begin to take some during my upcoming first semesters of college this year. So what I'm wondering is if anyone can point me towards some helpful beginner tutorials. What I'm currently trying to undertake is concept art for my game, and also other miscellaneous digital art such as battlers and face-sets. So if you know any tutorials regarding those, they would be helpful as well.

In my first attempt at a digitally colored (Photoshop CS2) face-shot of one of my characters, I just drew this as a foundation:

Original

Spoiler

http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/6090/ivarifacesketchss5.jpg[/img]

Update 2

Spoiler

http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/8953/ivarifacesketchmq6.jpg[/img]

Update 3 - Line art

Spoiler

http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/3118/ivarifaceinkedxv0.jpg[/img]

Update 4 - Color!

Spoiler

http://img476.imageshack.us/img476/2350/ivaricolored1nq1.png[/img]

Any critique on what I have so far and what I will be updating it to is encouraged.


Battler

Spoiler

http://img503.imageshack.us/img503/8346/megatsaruqb0.png[/IMG]

 

[Mascarpone]

How old are you. Because That'll change the way I talk about your work lol.

As for the head shot we have here, it's not awful but the nose feels flattened across the face. It's ok for it to stick out into space

Alos, Pez-Neck. He's got a neck like a pez Dispencer :p ... The human neck curves forward a bit. Look at a profile of someone you'll see what I'm talking about.

 

[Tohsaka]

Holy copic. That is some nice line art.

@Mascarpone: His age is irrelavent to his art.

 

[Cruelty]

the ear is just a bit too high up. other than that, it looks cool.

 

[Sirc]

Well, I'm 18.

Also thank you so far for the critique.

 

[Mascarpone]

Holy copic. That is some nice line art.

@Mascarpone: His age is irrelevant to his art.

His age is completely relevant. If he was an 11 year old, his art would be far more impressive. My sister who is very young draws better anime then some people I know that are my age, Age is very relevant.

As stands his work is not bad. There is plenty of room for practice and improvement.

 

[Sirc]

Update 3:

Spoiler

http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/2250/ivarifaceinkedhm4.jpg[/IMG]

Inked in Photoshop. I know I definitely need practice with varying the width of my lines correctly, but is there anything else that can improve?

 

[Mascarpone]

Nice clean line work, are you using illustrator? (i just picked it up recently and I've fallen in love with it.

The nose is much nicer now too. matter of fact the clean lines and new nose really improve the whole thing, as does the redraw. In general, redrawing something usually fixes allot of stuff because you're not making it up as you go the second time around. Keep working at it~

 

[Sirc]

Nope, I'm using Photoshop CS2. I've never tried Illustrator but I've heard a lot about it. Honestly I'm 'afraid' to try something new when it comes to that, as I've been working with Photoshop for years and I've become so accustom to it.

But thanks for the comment.

 

[Mascarpone]

Wow thats very clean line work for photo shop. Kudos. I'm miserable with cleanliness in that program o_o. Illustrator has a little man in a box that does all the cleaning for you, I love him lol. But yes if You're accustomed to photoshop, Illustrator is .. very very different, and doesn't achieve the same visual effects that photoshop does. Photoshop really is superior for fine details etc, but illustrator does fantastic pop-art looking things, which I like. I love it thus far.

 

[Ratty524]

Nice line art you've got there.

 

[AceJP]

I think his ear is too small. Anyone else see that?

Since it's line art, grab it with the transform tool and stetch it a little and see if it looks more natural.

 

[Sirc]

So I got my tablet today. And after screwing around a while with brushes and whatnot... Well, tell me how this looks. I don't know, I can't tell. I think my shading needs to be more vibrant.

http://img476.imageshack.us/img476/2350 ... ed1nq1.png[/img]

 

[Sirc]

A battler for my game.

http://img503.imageshack.us/img503/8346 ... aruqb0.png[/IMG]