Art on paint

[Cranky Guy]

I tried to make a jackalant art on paint.

http://crankyguy.deviantart.com/#/d3jx01s

It's horrible. Right?

[Tyrannigon64]

It's not that bad, really, it's just inaccurate. Maybe you should see Jackalant's front sprite for reference. (http://www.pokemontopaz.net/pokemonfrontsprites/)

[ImmunityBow]

Well, if you're going to start, may as well start with something simple, right? It doesn't look terrible, though it's not difficult to make a Jackalant not look terrible. It's okay though, gradually, if you feel like it, you can work your way up to something more complex. (May I suggest Phantern?)

[Cranky Guy]

http://crankyguy.deviantart.com/art/Jackalant-art-2-215007480

I tried the Jackalant art all over again. I might try Phantern but I think I'l do something more simple first.

http://crankyguy.deviantart.com/art/Tidasale-art-215033201

A Tidasale art,

http://crankyguy.deviantart.com/art/Duval-art-215033303

A duval art and.....

http://crankyguy.deviantart.com/art/Phantasomo-art-215177788

A Phantasomo art.

[zeroality]

I'd work on shading techniques.

Your art seems flat and needs better shading. A simple shadow on the side isn't going to cut it, unfortunately.

[Cranky Guy]

OK. Perhaps I'l try Paint.NET. MS Paint is kind of hard to use.

[zeroality]

Yes, good move. They have tons of tutorials. http://www.getpaint.net/redirect/tutorials.html

[ImmunityBow]

There is a certain fun quality to your drawings that makes me like them quite a bit. Though they aren't necessarily professional-looking they do capture the Pokemon quite well and all the shapes are there, if a little rough. I'm looking forward to improved quality of the lineart and shading, since those are really the only two things standing in your way. Good job!

[Cranky Guy]

Alas...... I suck at shading. But I do like making arts so I will just keep on making them and practice my shading technique until it is perfect. For now have an unshaded Engil. If you could, please help me shade it.

http://crankyguy.deviantart.com/#/d4ahmo8

[ImmunityBow]

Have you tried using a paintbrush tool or some form of anti-aliasing for your lineart? If you place it on a separate layer it can help smooth out your lineart so you don't get that jagged edge to your lines. As for helping you shade, it's difficult for anyone to help you unless you send a full .psd or the one Paint.net uses since without colours on a separate layer, any addition of colour will eat into the lineart looking really bad.

[Cranky Guy]

http://crankyguy.deviantart.com/art/Re-Duval-262372503

Just checking if there is any improvement in my shading. The one on the left is the new one and the one on the right is the old one.

[ImmunityBow]

That's a first step. The next one is to be consistent in where your light source is coming from. In this case it seems that your light source is coming from the top right so there should be more shading on the bottom of his left foot (our right), curved shadows by the base of his horns, at the part where the tail connects with the body, in general just keep it in mind when you do all your shading. I like the right one's head shape a little better as well. Keep it up though, I'm glad you're working on your art!

[Infinity]

Try saving as .png's! Makes much better quality :)

[Cranky Guy]

This is my old Tidasale art with new shading.

http://crankyguy.deviantart.com/art/Tidasale-2-263021270

[Infinity]

Looks nice! It would be great if you could use GIMP or paint.net!

[Cranky Guy]

http://crankyguy.deviantart.com/art/Slowpriest-264549731

Here is a slowpriest I made. I did this one just for the fun of it, but it looked OK in the end so I decided to post it. I am open to critisism, especially on shading (Which I am trying to improve) and the ears (Ears are terrible).

[ImmunityBow]

That's pretty cool! I really enjoy Slowpriest's expression. So, here's a bit of advice:

His right foot (our left) seems to be sticking out of the robe rather than from underneath. This is because its protrusion seems to have no effect on the robe itself. The robe should have some kind of bulge there to make this more clear.
Light source, light source, light source. Your light source seems to be from the top right yet somehow the shading is reversed on the staff, the left arm and the hat. The shade of magenta you used for the shadow on the robe seems altogether too bright.
As for the ears, you just need to focus on where they are in relation to the eyes and the hat. They should be nestles safely in between. Shading them to give them volume would also help, as well as making sure that your lines are cleanly curved.

[Cranky Guy]

OK. Thanks for the input.