Well, hands and metal are pretty tricky things to work with. As far as I can tell, you're doing pretty well with both of them XD About the tree though. If you want to make it look ominous, it's all about presentation. To put it more into focus, keep the tree in the foreground the way you have it now and blur the background a bit. Objects in the distances have a slight tint of blue due to discoloration from air particles. Since the setting is a swamp, overlaying a greenish tint to the trees in the background should create a contrast to help bring more attention to the tree in the center.For comic illustration, go for the coloring style you think is less strenuous since comics are time consuming enough as it is. Personally, I would go for a cell-shaded style reminiscent of anime like Casshern Sins or Dead Leaves if I wanted a cleaner look I can create in a decent amount of time. If you're daring to tackle a painterly look, then go right ahead!
One last thing. I hope this doesn't sound too harsh, but I oughtta give you a good slap on the wrist for being too hard on yourself. You're a great artist, man! It's already impressive enough you already have a big story laid out since I find that much more difficult than the actual drawing. When it comes to writing a story and drawing comics, that's something I'm also having a hard time trying to get started with. What I'm starting to learn recently from one of my best friends and other artists in the industry that I look up to is this.
If you have a story and an idea laid out for a comic, just do it. I know how it feels when someone thinks their artwork isn't good enough for a simple story. The thing is that you can only learn by doing and letting your dissatisfaction with your own art will halt progress. Improving on technique comes with study and will definitely happen along the way as you continue drawing and learning a new thing with each piece. Remember that
art is not a competition and we all have to learn at our own pace. Some illustrators catch on faster than others. Others who aren't as experienced can still garner a butt load of fans who admire their work. Your art already has a ton of potential. Keep at it and you'll be well on your way to where you want to be. I'm trying to learn this stuff as well, so let's give it our all this year!
lol thanks for the pep talk.
This comic originated back when I was 14 (so..lessee...12 years ago), starting out as a "Man goes to hellish alternate reality" a la Silent Hill, where he slowly mutates too (Originated as a videogame concept, would have been able to choose from multiple mutations each playthrough). Eventually Prototype came out, which, the main character was similar to mine, conceptually, so I revamped mine into a traditional Superhero styled idea so I wouldn't be "copying" Prototype, then adding more characters fleshed out the world more, until I came up with my namesake Sylvie Argentus, and wound up focusing the story on her more, and dialed back the hero's role, so he wouldn't be a spotlight stealer. As of right now, its more along the lines of a fantasy adventure, with the "superpowered" ideas re-arranged to be "elemental" powers for specific avatars, with the only things kept from the original concept being that the main hero enters a world and goes up against the local Emperor.
On storywriting, the real hard part is the details. I have certain plot points laid out, but its the inbetweens that I'm ultimately going to just "wing it" with the story and let it write itself as I go along. Plus I keep designing new characters that I want to use, and implementing them, which grows the world and story even more. Heck, because I've been restricted from actually getting to them in the story, occasionally I make it a point to rewrite down the full roster I have so far to make sure I still remember all of them and their details, to keep the ideas fresh in my head.
Lets go it again right now, just for demonstrative purposes.
As of right now, off memory, I have ("Quotations" being placeholder names until I think of something better)
Jase Silvair
Sylviana Argentus
Marissa Malone
Wilhouer
Dio Monde
Michael Sinclaire
Vanessa Sinclaire
Lily Chomei
Obsidian
Blank
"Croc"
"Gale Sapphire"
Vermilion The Massacre
Amber
Slate
King
Rook/Norah "Crescent" (Norah Kaine? Norah Graves?)
Order ("Lorder?")
General John DeMera
Faux Chasseur
Ivor
Felicia Kaye
Spiral
Alex Spiral
Jackie Spiral
Sarah Spiral
"Amy" Spiral
Army
Veronica
Barbara/Barbie
Patrick
Nomad
"Shallow"
Bounty
Fetish/Marie
Fuel The Rampage
Estelle
Damien Ananciado
"Barber"
"Mako girls"
I'm not great with names lol. I just usually go with the first thing that comes to mind.
I also came up with the concept of a ghost girl haunting/paired with a shy girl, but those two I'm not sure if I should just give them their own comic or not. The base design of the ghost girl wound up being just her in her underwear under a poncho, so I'm debating if I should make their story "ecchi" or a regular haunting tale lol. Originally she was going to JUST be the fabric, face, and arms, like a Zelda ghost, but I decided I wanted to give her the ability to have a full "form" for more impact, but couldn't decide what the heck kinda clothes she would be wearing, since shes a ghost and just possessing the blanket, so I just kinda used the blanket to give off a "sleepover" vibe, and gave her underwear and socks so she wouldn't be naked. Normally the blanket is going to be long enough that youd only see her legs anyway, or they aren't even visible under the sheet.
Also, I've been trying some art in different styles. Not sure how I feel about them, kinda prefer just winging it on my own to come up with my own style.
Followed a quick tutorial to try drawing an eye.
And another WIP, trying to draw Nature Girl from the x-men in a stereotypically cutesy anime girl style. Used a reference pic for the pose.
So....eh? Trying different things to help with my art.
@Argentus i think you need to draw with reference, i see you draw without watch ref but its more easy with reference if you want work on anatomy (hand etc) check the link
https://www.facebook.com/marco.luna.148/media_set?set=a.4045374896927.174097.1358520470&type=1
Well for the big dude in the pages of my comics, his physique and proportions were originally DIRECTLY based on THIS
And I've been drifting back and forth between regular proportions (Hard to do poses with those massive hands), while keeping the somewhat exaggerated forearms to stay intimidating. Also making my guy a bit bulkier.
Thanks for the refs, though!
i dont know what kind of story you want draw but you must know when you draw something in a frame you need to show one information minimum and the better its two or third information so i dont why you draw the fisrt frame like the second frame its the same information a man alone a tree next, and a man surprised by a light but if you want sho the man go on an other place, area you need to do an other compo i think
you need to do lot of variation its better to the rythm of your comic
I don't really understand what you are getting at there.
Also, merge your posts, please lol.