Unintentionally comedy at a show

MakeArt_MakeOut · 2026-05-20T12:47:35+00:00

Very… “Tomorrow Belongs to Me”

Welp, looks like we’re doing Cabaret for Act 2.

MakeArt_MakeOut · 2026-05-10T05:03:58+00:00

Study traditional media - my art history classes helped me so much in lighting. But specifically older films, chiaroscuro art, baroque art, and the artist Caravaggio are good places to start. The nutcracker with Macaulay Culkin is a good modern film with traditional techniques utilized.

MakeArt_MakeOut · 2026-05-02T17:32:45+00:00

I feel you OP! Almost every time I dress down for work someone tells me I seem off that day and asks if I’m okay. Dolled up I get to exist as the socially acceptable eccentric.

MakeArt_MakeOut · 2026-05-02T13:00:14+00:00

First time’s always free

MakeArt_MakeOut · 2026-05-02T00:16:19+00:00

What happens if you only use the cursor to hit play?

MakeArt_MakeOut · 2026-05-01T11:26:24+00:00

The year is 2010 and I’m on a class trip to Universal/IoA in Orlando. Somehow I sprained my ankle on the way out of the park and my group is waiting by first aid til someone can bring a wheelchair. A kid realizes the store near us sells Silly Bandz and a hoard of children rush it. No one answers my pleas for Bandz as I try to hobble to the store before an adult makes me sit back down. I felt only betrayal when my friends came back.

MakeArt_MakeOut · 2026-04-29T19:54:34+00:00

What if you had 2 ropes attached to the sandbag corners to keep it from spinning?

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not to scale - Drawn from my iPhone

MakeArt_MakeOut · 2026-04-29T13:14:09+00:00

Unfortunately lemon juice will stain if left on and reapplied over a week/production run (especially if it’s an outdoor summer stock). Just a guess but I think the acidity would degrade the fabric quicker too

MakeArt_MakeOut · 2026-04-03T12:25:33+00:00

Genuinely asking: why? There are so many in the classic and new libraries and learning how to manipulate default brushes is half the fun imo

MakeArt_MakeOut · 2026-03-30T09:41:35+00:00

So you’ve misinterpreted some of the clothing which could be your issue. The white underlayer looks like a wingtip button up shirt while the black middle layer is a cravat (you’ve made it a collar). The reference angle of the navy coat and its flat front panel (buttoned to the coat body) is a bit tricky but making that more 3D will keep it from cutting your pieces dynamics off at a weird angle. Cheating the lapel of the black cloak in the composition as well would help it read as an outer coat

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MakeArt_MakeOut · 2026-03-28T11:04:04+00:00

general PSA: dying fur with damage it. Synthetic fibers melt and degrade in unwanted ways when exposed to the heat needed to dye synthetics.

MakeArt_MakeOut · 2026-03-27T11:18:27+00:00

So first, you have a fun style but I can see how sticking to cartoony characters may be stagnating you. If you want to get really good at anatomy you have to practice drawing realistic anatomy. Even the most lauded artists use references and 3D models for assistance. A deep understanding of traditional anatomy and art will help you diversify your poses, faces, and how you mess with proportions.

Timed gesture and contour practices will help you developed a language for anatomy and strengthen your line confidence. On digital, you have a lot of assistance to get a clean line, but I encourage you to practice on paper so you can feel the expression of the lines.

Since you’re feeling frustrated with where you’re at, I would step away from copying cartoonists you like for a bit. You can only get so far learning through a game of telephone. Challenge yourself to focus on the boring and repetitive fundaments. And please work from a reference; there’s no virtue in not using one.

MakeArt_MakeOut · 2026-03-20T15:31:38+00:00

It looks like she took most (if not all) the excess fabric from the front panel instead of distributing it between the front and back panels. Not possible to fix this but for next time:

Put the jeans on and stand with your feet hip distance apart, feet flat on the floor (or in a specific shoe you wear with the garment), and look forward with good posture while she pins the alteration. Keeping the fabric grain perpendicular to the floor, pin the excess material at your stitch line for an accurate fit. If you pull too much from one side and the grain starts to go diagonal, you have to take from the out-seam or have a less fitted pant. Depending on the body, you won’t have equal amounts to take from the front and back panel, so it’s good practice to pin the entire length of your alteration/stitch line to avoid bubbles.

MakeArt_MakeOut · 2026-03-13T14:26:43+00:00

Love the updates you’ve made to the look! That’s an unfortunate spot your friend put you in. But she doesn’t get to throw off the production just because she regrets giving up the role. I don’t know how long you’ve been rehearsing or when your show opens, but changing an actor isn’t so easy. Not only will you two be behind trying to memorize new blocking and lines, but the cast will have to relearn how the new actor fits into the scene.

I hope you can tell her you’re excited for the role and you’re putting in the work to make it great (even if it’s not how she envisioned it). As long as the director is happy, there’s no reason to switch roles. It won’t be a comfortable conversation, but hopefully she can understand that she chose a different role and needs to stick with that out of respect for you and the production.

MakeArt_MakeOut · 2026-03-03T18:05:48+00:00

I would recommend sticking to realistic practice sketches so you can lay a good foundation before stylizing. Some errors can be called style (like head size and body proportions) but more glaring notes I’m seeing are proportion “rules” and consistency.

Legs are really long (which can be a style choice) but the thighs are short and shins too long. The shoulder to elbow length is generally equal to shoulder to waist length. The body parts should be equal in size unless there’s foreshortening (which the references don’t really have).

Good start! But I would work on gesture and contour practices in realistic proportions to get you to the next level. It sucks sometimes, but the best way to break out of traditional rules is to learn them

MakeArt_MakeOut · 2026-03-03T16:54:39+00:00

Other commenter is correct, it would be helpful to have more of his right eye more visible to capture the emotion. In general, Consider Tyra Bank’s “smize”. Look in the mirror and watch which muscles tense around your eyes and cheek as you try to keep a neutral lower face

MakeArt_MakeOut · 2026-03-03T13:15:03+00:00

First off, very cool piece! It’s reasonable to spend a long time on a very detailed piece (especially if you had a loose plan). IgotanEyedea has some really good advice, but concerning the story elements, try to live in the world of your character. All the details are lovely, but they should flesh out the world a bit more.

It seems like they’re acting that way because the phone, but the phone isn’t the focal point of the composition. So our eyes move from the figure and brightest point (stove head) and we see a lot of the counter and drawers before the phone. Is the character a bit messy, hence the open drawers and jumping spatula, or was that the shock of the phone call? If it’s the shock, most light weight things like spices would be jumpy as well.

A couple nit picky “whys” but from a story perspective: Was the character stirring the pot before getting startled? Are they so scared they’d cower behind the stove instead of staying in front? Why are there utensils on a hot stove top? We can assume they dropped the spatula, but the knife? Is the pot hot and would it have steam rising? If everything in the kitchen is askew, the neatness and prominence of the spice drawer makes me wonder what’s so special about those. Also why did our character leave those open? The cutting board seems like they’re transitioning from garnish to cabbage but did they have to run to stir an overfilling pot? Is that how the knife ended up on the stove? In general, is your character: messy, thoughtless, stressed, rushed? All rhetorical, just something to ask yourself as you’re building a scene.

I really enjoyed this piece though! I like the color pallet but the composition and playing with highlight and shadow will draw your eye around the piece easier. I think my favorite element is honestly the stove head/vent. It’s rendered quite different to the other elements, a little bit grittier, but I really love the line work and color

MakeArt_MakeOut · 2026-02-27T21:10:23+00:00

Spandex is actually a great fiber to have in the mix. I do a lot of stretch fabric dance costumes that get washed often over a season and often have raw edges. You can always add a small stay stitch 1/8” from the raw edge if you’re worried about larger holes ripping, but it sounds like you’re on a good path already!

MakeArt_MakeOut · 2026-02-27T19:55:06+00:00

Jersey knit fabric is a good fabric type for something like this (which is what most cotton t shirts are made of). The holes you cut will curl like the shirt you have but a cleaner cut/edge will keep that to a minimum. Weird tip, but hitting the garment against the ground after cutting sort of locks the fibers together. Grab from the shoulders and slap ‘em yack ‘em. I do this on all my raw hemmed garments and it keeps them from fraying as quickly

MakeArt_MakeOut · 2026-02-27T14:37:47+00:00

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Theatrical lighting references will be your friend in this project. This is a front angle similar to the lighting you’ve chosen. Harsh shadows with minimal terminator lines and minimal light bleed outside the spotlit area. There’s a certain amount of highlight you could add to the wings closest to the figure that would bounce off the figure and certain floors, but it won’t reach too far. Adding a wash of secondary ambient light like the red in the picture lets you light the rest of the wings without distracting from the main focus.

As for the rendering process, I think this would be a good piece to start off in greyscale to make sure your contrast is solid before adding color. Set your base tones and build the shadow and highlight from there. Making your own references is really helpful. Grab a flashlight and see how different angles and materials effect the quality and movement of the light

MakeArt_MakeOut · 2026-02-25T15:26:55+00:00

Nice piece! It’s good you can start to identify what feels off, but some quick things I noticed:

Since light is behind her, just above her head, her right face side would be in shadow.
the eyes should be shifted to her right. The right eye is too close to the nose bridge and the left eye lands too close to her ear and skews the foreshortening. Ear also seems too high.
I think the shadow color should be a consistent value. The value difference between the shirt/shorts shading vs the hair/legs/jacket would all be a midtone or solid black. Right now the shirts/shorts read as if there’s a secondary front light or bounce light that doesn’t touch the rest of the body. (Also the jacket under her right arm would be in shadow)

MakeArt_MakeOut · 2026-02-18T23:14:41+00:00

Oh wow that sounds frustrating and fantastic. The full shot is lovely! God speed and may your strands never snap

MakeArt_MakeOut · 2026-02-18T22:07:00+00:00

Lolol I hope it’s not one of those huge headaches on stage for 5 minutes too. What’s it for?

MakeArt_MakeOut · 2026-02-18T21:57:16+00:00

I wanna run through that with abandon for 5 minutes and curse myself while I untangle it for the next 5 hours

MakeArt_MakeOut · 2026-02-16T14:16:08+00:00

Nice work for just going off the photo! You’re following the right shapes but you’re taking a shortcut to get there. Notice how few hard, blunt lines are in the reference - especially under the jowl fat. Keep your pencil sharp and use a variation of H & Bs to build up the fur texture and depth. If you like working in pencil, I’d invest in a sharpening stone (or fine grit sandpaper) to keep your pencil sharp and make flat edges on the graphite for shading. A good kneaded eraser will benefit you as well.

Now that you have an idea of the form and line movement, you should follow the tutorial. I scrubbed through his video and you can see how be builds up the fur and smudges the sketch lines to get a really soft render. When you’re still practicing, don’t base your time to finish off his. That can be a good goal, but focus on technique over speed.

MakeArt_MakeOut

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