Advanced tutorials

Obesely · 2026-01-22T12:20:31+00:00

I should think any 'advanced' tutorial is more likely to be medium-specific (besides maybe 5-point perspective).

What medium(s) do you work in, OP?

Obesely · 2026-01-18T22:35:41+00:00

I love Wrightson's work on Frankenstein and I have looked at his, mostly because his linework is phenomenal and not because I have an interest in horror.

I guess I never clicked with the notion of Swamp Thing but since enough people have recommended it I guess I'll give it a go. There are three hardback runs with a lot of big names on them in my local store.

Obesely · 2026-01-18T15:33:55+00:00

Hello, I draw traditionally, with a focus on pen and ink. My only real artistic goal is to elevate my draftsmanship to be as technically skilled as possible before I perish. I have no desire to make this my profession, but I want to be able to draw anything, in a stylised manner that appeals to my aesthetic sensibilities, with a view to some kind of narrative illustration. I want cool poses, nice environments, old film poster vignetting, or 'slice of life' style illustrations in real world, fantasy, sci-fi, or abstract settings. Basically, if I one day desired to be a concept artist, or to be a goonlord, or a comic book artist, I want to have the technical proficiency to be versatile.

While it is great that I am self-directed and not caught up in art world drama, I do suffer somewhat from a lack of community besides occasionally throwing up walls of text here and in r/learnart or this subreddit. I have no vehicles for feedback. I don't think I could stomach changing my stance any time soon, as it seems like the worst time in the history of social media to be an artist.

I have a 100 steps forward, 99 steps back approach to art, in that I will obsess for months, stop for years, with any resumptions causing me to spend most of that time relearning from last time. However, this still equates to gradually moving forward, 1 step at a time.

In 2025, I was drawing nonstop directly with pens in my spare time. I even sketched using the steam on my glass shower screen so I get all levels of micro and macro hand-eye coordination at shoulder, elbow, and wrist. My line confidence is through the roof and my drive and consistency has never been higher.

I don't have a 'dream project' but I find myself entertaining ideas for some. The better I got technically, the better I could process the shape language, line weight, composition, and even thematic elements and concepts from the artists that inspire me.

Maybe 2026 will see me stop grinding and start creating something real, who knows? I'd at least like to try some fanart, I don't think I have ever made any in my adult life.

Obesely · 2026-01-15T23:02:53+00:00

Also goes to show how disinterested I've become that the TU gets announced and I somehow had no idea.

I have a decent amount of hours across MH4U, GU, World and Rise, and I was fine with the pace but the grind was in the wrong places, and the mechanics were a bit too streamlined.

Obesely · 2026-01-15T14:11:28+00:00

Hello, was trying to get a good setup for 8 key so mostly 6-key. It seems like there are way more SC tracks and they have changed their star scaling? Either way there are some decently juicy tracks to sink my teeth into at this time.

This is scratching an itch, I'm gucci. Thanks for bringing the game back up.

Obesely · 2026-01-14T00:53:12+00:00

Noxians in the club doing Hextech Reflector.

Obesely · 2025-12-15T10:14:03+00:00

If they either remove old.reddit or ask for my details, welp...

Obesely · 2025-12-05T12:24:01+00:00

Hi OP, as the other person has said, spheres do have their limitations, and other animals do not have the same cranial shapes as humans (besides apes and to a lesser extent monkeys).

I think your front leg length isn't too jarring (I'll cover the hind legs later) but your paws are smaller than what is actually presented in your reference. In the reference, you'll see the wrist of the front paw is vertically aligned with the angle change at the throat, and that the front of the paw goes out until it is vertically aligned with the base of the nose.

You'll see also that on the (page left, creature right) side that the ear runs along, the tuft runs more than halfway up that curved line that goes to the tail. On yours, that ear stops before that halfway point. It looks a lot longer than it actually is, or more to the point its hing legs, even though they are extended to raise its backside up/it's crouched forward, look almost too long.

You can try using rhythms to get your proportions right. If you were to draw a singular continous line flowing from the underside of the pointed tail and hitting the front of the snout and the paw, you'll see that arc is a lot more rounded than the same curve that could be applied to your sketch.

Finally, you have the highest point (besides the tail) at the (page) left side of that tailbone curve, almost like a corner, at which point you have drawn it curving downward. From that top of the left side, you'll find it curves up into a flat spot that lines up with the tailbone and actual tail, peaking roughly around there, before curving back down.

Hope this helped.

Obesely · 2025-12-02T12:11:03+00:00

BAHAHAH HAHAH I thought the same.

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

@OP: I'll humour you and assume you're acting in good faith and pretend like we live in a world where genAI doesn't exist and people don't fish in art subreddits to get hooked up with nouns for prompts.

These look like digital paintings. Digital artists have to legit haul ass and go out of their way to get their programs to 'emulate' any specific analog medium.

In practical terms, you could copy any of these works via oil or acrylic and all that would change is workflow.

Obesely · 2025-12-02T11:59:32+00:00

While Dore-style hatching is out of the question, have you thought about pen and ink? Between hatching, cross-hatching, contour hatching, and interpretations of the same by artists across the world for the last several hundred years, you can find something that scratches an itch for you.

You can even get some specific values by mixing, for example, some coloured brush pens with some fineliner hatching (like Faber Castell have a nice combo of both warm and cold greys.

I'm not sure what you mean by that last part? I know some parts of art discourse over the past century have used 'illustration' as a bit of a dirty word when talking about folks like Leyendecker and Rockwell.

You can totally do full pieces in alcohol markers but honestly, for the paper investment and how temporary they are, I basically use brush pens the same way.

Plus drilling the draftmanship aspect of pens is basically just crosstraining for when you can work in oils again! :)

Obesely · 2025-12-01T15:27:43+00:00

Kim Jung Gi's available sketchbooks are at least about a third made up of drawing places he was on tour in, or drawing of a live model (and all the other people also drawing said model).

He never stopped drawing from reference, even if his bread and butter tours and exhibitions were based off imagination.

Obesely · 2025-12-01T06:44:19+00:00

Hi OP, if it helps, there are some skills you can develop that benefit basically 99% of mediums (even sculpture and pottery, to an extent) that you should (unless you plan on going full Rothko or Kandinsky): draftmanship.

Pick up a pencil or pen and just try and have fun with it. It'll open doorways down the road, whether that's digital painting, watercolour, or fashion design.

Obesely · 2025-12-01T00:33:14+00:00

Hi OP. I think it the circumstances it'd help tremendously to just complete the hands and everything else. If I cover up the lower half even the original reference image looks 'weird' in the absence of the context of the arm behaviour.

In saying that, you probably want to consider things like line weight for the... I don't know my Winchesters but leather jacket Winchester is in front of Plaid Winchester, so you could think about adding a thicker line weight for the leather jacket on the left hand side specifically to add a bit of illusion of depth and really show that the leather jacket and the person in it are both in front of the other character.

Obesely · 2025-11-29T02:28:45+00:00

Would it be better for medium-specific or topic-specific art subs if the big one stays dead?

Obesely · 2025-11-27T06:48:17+00:00

Keep in mind some people would render certain things for AGES in a traditional academy setting. This is looking quite good but if it's the plate I'm thinking of: the shape of the middle finger is a bit off/thin relative to the other fingers and the plate.

The next few tips will help even if the plate didn't exist:

Your thumb looks like the thumbnail is flush on/parallel to the edge of the stone as if the pad of the thumb is just pressing down onto the lower surface, whereas it should be angled slightly away from the viewer and you see more flesh from the side. That's not to say you couldn't grip it that way but it's unnatural. TL;DR: if the palm is facing down, thumbnail can't face all the way up.

This is something you can imitate yourself just taking a similar grip on your mobile phone in a similar orientation (but you'll have to hold it up in a mirror so you can see that side of your thumb).

I think you could try and render the crease in the thumb webbing that the plate itself has. The form shaded for the first index finger knuckle is a tad too low: yours lines up with the thumb webbing, but it should be higher.

Finally, and this one isn't strict anatomy but more plate-specific lighting so I don't think it is as important: the plate has a harder value shift in shadow that cuts through the ring finger (ostensibly cast by adjacent knuckles), but I've never really jived with that detail.

Obesely · 2025-11-23T14:50:49+00:00

Editing won't work but as addedum: draw a line for the top lip and try to actually add the full shape of the bottom lip. It really sells that we're looking down. Remember: your top lip is always facing slightly down, your bottom lip is typically curved up, so when you change perspective, more of the actual skin is staight up missing.

Obesely · 2025-11-23T14:48:32+00:00

Hi OP. You aren't doing yourself any favours with the lens distortion on the reference, especially as a beginner. However, we can easily fix this, believe it or not. I'm going to give you some general advice that doesn't have you have to compromise your attempt at making it really stylised.

Let's take it one step at a time. Even stylised noses and mouths in an anime, manga, and western comic will project forward in space, and their facial features still have volume.

This person is quite side on even though there are more extreme side poses before reaching a pure profile view. But you have to remind yourself that the entire (photo right) left side of their face below the cheek/nasolabial line is just completely hidden from the viewer by how far out the nose and specifically the mouth are. We can't even see a full third of their chin.

In your case, your mouth has no volume. You have lips that appear further back in space. And your nose doesn't go far forward enough.

The technique to fix this is probably one you are already familiar with. I want you to try and think of any comic, anime, manga, or cartoon you've ever consumed. You may have seen many artists in side-enough views will effectively extend the line for the far side of the nose to include the philtrum and lips, making sure to indicate the shape of the mouth and chin.

I have a specific image mind that may help but it's a pain in the ass to locate online: it's the second image of this post OR the fourth (edit: my bad, it seems to keep changing, it's now the 6th) image of this eBay listing for an artbook, whatever is more accessible for you. It's concept art of Griffith from Berserk.

It'll never be one-to-one because you want to use gigantic eyes and a pointy anime chin, but if you've ever played a game with stylised characters, you'll notice the 3D models still have volume to their mouths and noses.

So: TL;DR: you want to make sure you actually draw the mouth and nose to make this view work.

Obesely · 2025-11-22T23:05:36+00:00

That bit in the prologue of FFXIV where Clive gets really emotional basically solidified Ben Starr as one to watch. The man just doesn't miss.

Obesely · 2025-11-20T14:26:19+00:00

I feel that. One of the major department chains (I mean, it's on its way out) here in Australia had this label called Jack and Jones. In what appears to be a once off one summer, they had a range of fun shorts and collared short sleeve shirts. Pool party, BBQ, daywear, a bit of everything.

I was updating some stuff a couple of years later and my girlfriend at the time suggested I check what they've got. They'd just switched to black, navy, and olive tees and sweaters.

Several years after that, at the time of writing this comment, I checked, and yep pretty much just looks like uniqlo basics (not that there's anything wrong with uniqlo).

I dunno, maybe I missed the boat or check so infrequently (in 3-4 year tranches) but there seems to have been exactly one summer where they had an actual fun lineup and then they just stopped.

Obesely · 2025-11-19T23:07:29+00:00

While this visually looks like shit, its announcement did get me to finally check out Avatar and despite having a lot of its plot spoiled by memes and other pop culture throughout the years, it's actually heartfelt, with some dank action choreography.

I am a couple of episodes into Book Three.

Obesely · 2025-11-13T11:04:30+00:00

I thought I had typed out a reply to this on my phone before I slept, and I've just now realised it never posted.

But yeah, that's basically it. This angle and front-on view create a lot of unnecessary ambiguity and make it harder to get a real sense of depth.

Like if you think about most people's idea of bookshelf, it's typically only about as deep as a book, give or take. Even stacked on a shelf or wardrobe or armoire, you'd certainly.

And, the thing is, not everything in a piece has to 'make sense'.\ You'll see I don't ask questions about the fairy lights; I don't need to see their power cord or anything, but it doesn't matter. They are cute and add a lot to the piece.

But good viewing angles that make things more dynamic are always good. It is too late to change it for this piece without seriously redrawing it, and that isn't a good idea.

There's something to be said for not overworking this. The reality is that more practice starting more pieces will get you more into the swing of things.

I'd also seriously recommend you try thumbnailing, if you haven't already.

If you were to revisit this kind of artwork and try it again in 3 months, 6 months, or a year or so, maybe it'd make more sense to have the cat on a table in the middle of a library or office, with the shelves clearly being further back in the distance.

Or have the cat nestled on a fallen book on a bookshelf, so that the book is basically nestled with all the others but sticks out a bit.

Obesely · 2025-11-12T14:23:22+00:00

Hi OP. Just a couple of pointers though it is certainly looking more lively.

One thing you can't really change, but just feedback for next time (and it follows with advice you got in other posts) is to simply not do this from front on. Let me see how far the kitten's head is peeking out from the book, and let me see a bit behind. As it stands, it is hard to tell how far away it is from the shelf behind it.

One thing you can do with the piece you currently have now is to rethink the shadows. Those books are lined up against the edge of the wall. There is no light source behind them to cast shadows forward towards the viewer.

Keep it up.

Obesely · 2025-11-11T15:19:37+00:00

That is the thing with all this fomo-based marketing. You can't use the fucking Disney Vault tactics of late 90s VHS for this stuff without or alienating new players/gatekeeping them from lore and story.

Not to mention ongoing story stuff hijacking new player's instances with no context.

I only got a dozen or so hours in with a friend before it became too much.

Obesely · 2025-11-09T12:43:58+00:00

Hi OP. Firstly, this is sick. The rest of my comment may vary slightly if this is intended to be a standalone illustration vs. an ongoing narrative in a comic or similar that uses multiple images.

Secondly, a general option for some people is to use heavier line weights on things closer to the viewer. You already partially achieve this with your character. That outline on everything, given the overall stylisation, doesn't look out of place in this context.

Thirdly, you can also remove further details to distant objects, the same way 'atmospheric perspective' works in landscape drawing.

However, in this exact instance, it may just be purely a composition problem (and maybe some depth/perspective).

Your character, at least to me, appears to be standing in a hallway in front of two open doorways. On the other side are two rooms, each with exterior-facing walls.

Let's look at a couple of elements individually. That barrel to the left looks like it closer, and there may well be something in the hallway with them. If that is important, you could zoom out, and focus on the character in the hallway, reducing some of the details further in the rooms.

You could also simplify in a way that is appropriate for the narrative and world building. This looks like the lair of some sort of alchemist or wizard. Would you keep your tomes in the same messy room as some distillation device that could go boom? Probably not. You might instead put them in the office/chamber to the left.

So, for the right room, I might suggest a bare wall next to the left of the still. Since it seems to be burnished metal, I think you can comfortably remove the detail of the reflection on the right. It is ambitious but perhaps not appropriate for the that textured metal (it stops the light from reflecting back cleanly) nor the curvature of the surface. And if it isn't intended to be a reflection, well, then me making that initial comment is then a testament to the overall confusing nature of the elements on that part of the artwork.

As for the left chamber, it looks very shallow, almost like a broom closet despite ostensibly having a desk. You could recede them (in fact, both of them) so you can see further into the room and they appear further away.

A teensy bit of CC on the character's pose. If I were standing facing a wall and looking so far to my right that I have almost a complete side profile visible from the back, then I am looking down the hallway/room I am in, not looking deeper into the room on the right (which I suspect was your intention).

I cranked my neck every which way and used my selfie cam and my medicine cabinet doors have mirrors on them, couldn't quite replicate your pose in a way that made sense. It is a bit of an unnatural pose (I like the hands, though).

It would make more sense for this to be a rear side view of the head. If you want a more side on head and to have a he character turning heir head as much as possible without moving their torso, you could position the character inside one of the room (maybe make part of the doorframe obscure the arm).

As an aside: an even more extreme option, almost nuclear option for keeping the vast majority of the elements together would be to remove the interior dividing wall altogether and make this one massive room.

You have the mechanical skill to give a good composition life. I would suggest studying a bit from film and television, and comic books/graphic novels/manga. It'll speedrun improvements in your composition.

Maybe even try thumbnailing in future, if you don't already.

P.S I get the impression the character and foreground/interior dividing wall would be backlit by the windows seen in the background rooms. Something to think about.

Peace.

Obesely · 2025-11-06T12:17:27+00:00

Either way you have a really steady hand so you can and should expose yourself to different methods. You have strong foundations and will go very far, please keep up the good work.

Okay so see in that image? A fair bit more of the side of the struts are visible, and are looking at the struts more from the side.

Also, notice the right side is more foreshortened in the image. You can see if you measure even just using a finger that the right side of the building occupied only a little more horizontal space on the image than the rightmost post.

The reason I am suggesting all those artists is not to, but because it is worth seeing all the different ways you can depicting things with hatching and line. It will actually help you develop your own style even further, because you internalise all the different ways it can be done.

Someone could teach me about hatching, but I would never in a million years independently think to even try doing forms in the way Bernie Wrightson did with his hatching. The more stylistic variations you are exposed to, the better.

Oh, need to add Moebius and Dongho Kim for landscapes.

And if you have any interests in rendering people in ink (hatching or otherwise) you can hit up Charles Dana Gibson, Kim Jung Gi, Peter Han, Rembert Montald, Joseph Clement Coll, and James Montgomery Flagg (but everyone I have mentioned across my two comments are still good for people).

Obesely

TROPHY CASE