Happy New Year drawing
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Happy New Year!
I hope you all have a lovely New Year. Last year was tough for me, and I still feel as if I am stuck in the middle of a dark cloud, but I can start to see through it at times to a more clear future ahead. I made this drawing as a kind of wish. I wish that your year, and mine, will be filled with creativity and energy. It has been a LONG LONG time since I have done just a pencil drawing, so I am a bit rusty, but it was fun just to let loose and doodle.
Quick question though. I am a traditionalist, so I am uncomfortable making anything on the computer (one of my goals for the new year is to learn how to paint digitally in the second half of the year) so I am wondering what is the best method for cleaning up/improving pencil drawings in photoshop? I would love any tips on how to retain the white white of the paper without losing any nuance of grays.
Thanks for everything this year guys! I loved the classes and the feedback and I can't wait to participate more!
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Happy New Year! I hope this year will be good for you, too! Keep focused on that little clear spot and you'll get through the clouds. There's always something to be grateful for & looking for those things (even the small every-day things) helps me get through the difficult times.
This drawing is a great wish! It is full of possibilities & the characters are interesting. I especially like the bobcat and the pixies (or whatever they are called!).
There are a few tangents--the large bird's wing coming out of the bobcat's eye, the lamp looks like it could be hanging from the bobcat's neck but maybe is attached to the string in the pixie's hand? And the shine of the lamp might be better if it terminates before hitting the frog--&/or darken up the back end of the frog a little more. This frog also gets a little lost next to the bobcat's paw, as does the mouse overlapping the line of the pencil. The goat's horn is just barely touching the girl's hair. I'd also like to see the goat looking at the girl more--he seems a bit dead-eyed. But all the other characters seem so engaging!
It might be nice to have the beak of the large bird completely against the girl's hair--if it's head was tilted up a little--to make it a little simpler. And if the dog's nose came down just a bit, it would give a little more space for the girl's knee, but I really like how you fit the head into the negative space of the girl's legs. I also like the curves in the pencil line, and the way the girl's hair flows upward.
Overall, this is a very fun drawing, and really expresses hope & possibilities!
Uh! Yes, moving a pencil drawing to digital is a pain. I don't know much about it either, but I would suggest going to "Levels" in the "Colors" menu. (I think. I don't have Photoshop right now. I'm using GIMP.) Use the sliders--usually mostly from the right side to adjust the white (but play around with all three), and that can help get your background back to white. It also helps if the pencil sketch is nice and dark (which is my problem, since I often have some light sketchy areas!).
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@miriam Thank you for the well wishes and all the fantastic feedback! I really appreciate it! I can see what you mean, some of it is hard to read at a glance. This is certainly something I will be working on in the next year- making things more readable.