Dave Foley is sadly confused...

Oh yea, and I can clearly see the reflection in the eyes now =) I don’t know why, but I was looking on the bottom right of them instead of top left. All the shadows and stuff would indicate that that is where the reflection should be but for some reason I looked on the opposite side ;) They are pretty small, but that would be caused by low light in the original picture (The brighter the light, or more directly the light is shined into the eyes the bigger the reflection).<br />
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*Wonders if he has typed enough yet to get someone to comment on the length again* <br />
*gets a kick out of that for some odd strange and unexplainable reason*

I have always thought that drawing, sculpting, photography or whatever form of art you do is allll about the details. It is what the people don’t see or pay attention to that really pulls them in. Whenever I draw realism that is what I do. I do the whole thing, darken it, darken it some more, darken it again (I draw extremely freaking light so I have to darken it several times before others can even tell that there is a drawing there lol. The benefit of drawing like that is you can modify whatever you want when you darken it more. If you don’t like how fat the chin is then you just don’t darken the areas you don’t need to. I don’t know, it is hard to explain and isn’t even my topic lol) and then darken it for the last time and then I start working on those details that no one will ever see. I spend about a third my time darkening, a fourth my time on the invisible details and the rest in actually forming the drawing. Lol, but then again I am a perfectionist and it takes me hours to do my good drawings (Which is why I don’t draw very much *Grin*.) Actually, truth be told, I have only attempted realism twice. Both times took me at least eight hours and both times I was amazed (because they were my first times). I really think that the reason why they turned out so well was because of these invisible details. But that is also the reason why I spent sooo long on it ;) Well, that and shading =D<br />
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I’ll go and lighten the outlines digitally (probably Monday) and I’ll e-mail it to you. There are more things I could do with it, such as fix the scanner errors, but that isn’t what the point of the whole thing is.

The shading on the hat I can tell is tricky. The thing is there is hardly any shading it would have because of being directly hit by light. When you have light the picture perfect realism then the subtleties of that can be shown more easily. But before you get capable of picture perfect drawings you have to work your way up. And while you do that I suggest minor changes ;) Such as saying the hat wasn't hit directly by the light so it would allow you to add a little more shading, or maybe the lip is at a less severe angle so it will show the shadow more or something. To do this you could just add a little shading to the bottom part of the front lip and fade it away upwards. It probably wouldn't extend too far (You don't want to get too different than the original because you know that the original is correct and if you tweak one thing then you might have to do something to something else that it modified). As for the top... I don't know, I'm thinking just adding VERY light shading and pulling out some of those lighter shadows that you can't see right now. Like if the shadows on it already are created by bumps then when the bump on the bright side turns flat again then shade the flat part (The different angle of the bump makes it hit more directly by the light and therefore lighter.) This shading that you are adding is very extremely minimal. Like you can only see it if you are looking for it minimal.

Lol its ok that you didn't make lighter out lines. At least now (when I get time) I can try to change it and so we can both see the difference (I am curious myself actually ;)). Oh, I am fine with working a lot, that just means I get more moolas *Grin*. A fellow employee I was working with today was whining the entire time she was there about working. I was actually enjoying it ;) It is all in the mind!

lol thanks! hehe i'm easily amused, too. ooo ok i understand- please don't get cts!<br />
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ack yea my scanner always messes up my attempts at shading and eye-shines! there is a glinting thing, but it doesnt really show (it's kinda small). and heh yea i knew his cheek looked weird- i think i got a little smudge-happy...<br />
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*smacks head* i forgot to make lighter outlines! i remember thinking about it when i first started the pic, but yea i guess i got a little carried away by frank and the gang. at least i got the nose... o and i think i tried having less definition on the chin, but i probably got caught up in another part of the pic and forgot to go back and fix it. hmm that stepping away from the pic sounds like a good idea, tho. or the leaving it alone for awhile thing. <br />
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sure, if you want to take out the dark lines, go ahead! lol i have no digital image-editing skills, so you can do whatever you like! aww sorry you're so busy tho. hope you don't get too loaded down with work<br />
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mm yea the shading on the hat confused me- i tried a little bit in the top-left corner there, but that's about it. and about the pose- hehe i just thought it was a cute pic. but yes, it was also simple and one of the few pics that i could find of him that were big and clear enough to be a good reference. plus, i'm kinda new to realism, so i've tried picking simple, static references. but i do have a couple more action-y realism pics lined up to draw (especially this cool one of catherine zeta-jones where she's spinning around and her jacket's flying behind her).

With the hat I can tell that the front is protruding, but it would help if you had some shading on it to help portray that. Did you pic a simple pose like this because of ease to draw? It would probably help the pic of there was more focus or motion. I don’t know how much harder something in motion would be for you to draw, but judging on your Gambit drawing not very hard (You did great on it ;)) But then again, there are pics of just plain poses and that is fine too. There are many different ways to draw the same thing, you just need to pick which one you like the best.<br />
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Lol, I just thought of something funny. I am posting with multiple posts because it can’t all fit in one. But what if I accidentally put my posts into the comment box from the bottom up and posted first what I meant to say last and visa versa *Grin*. Ok, maybe it is just that I am easily amused ;)

I don't know if you were distracted by watching Rocky Horror or you just didn't care, but you are outlining again ;) Not as bad as you were before, but I still think it would help if you used shading more to define your boundaries when drawing realistic art. You did a god job on this on the sides of the nose. You defined its dimension without resorting to as much of a defining line. I know a lot of the time it just looks funny or odd when you try something even though you know it should help. Whenever that happens (And actually it happens a lot for me) I do a section one way and another section the other then either work on a different part of the pic or walk away for a while. After I have not paid attention to it for a while I look back and see which one looks better. Sometimes stepping away from the pic and looking at a distance helps too.<br />
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If you want I can try to take out the dark lines digitally and e-mail that to you so you can see the difference. I, personally, don’t know how much of a difference there will be – I can just take an educated guess – because, unlike you, I suffer from too light lines instead of too dark ;) In fact, even after I darkened my lines, I added a little more contrast to one of my pics (Still not submitted, it is a girl and cat) so you could see it and this is the second time it refused it because of it being too dark from the contrast I tried to add ;) So yea, I could try that for you, I am curious myself actually. I won’t be able to do it till a few days from now because tomorrow I have work all day, day after I have school all day, day after I might have some time but I have to get some moving arrangements done but the next two days after that are full of work and school. Lol, so much for the days of having nothing to do *Grin*.

Coolness =)<br />
If I pointed out all of the good things about your pictures then I would develop carpel tunnel syndrome (CTS) because of how much I’d have to type and all the pics I’d have to do it on. Talking about what is good about a pic can help so you know what to repeat and stuff, but pointing out ways to make a pic better is slightly more productive, so that is what I’m trying to do (well, that and prevent CTS ;))<br />
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Proportions are great, sizes, shapes, shading, form and everything is all good too =) I don't know why, but I just like all the lines on the hat ;) There are a lot of smudges but that is probably just your scanner being all picky and picking them up. It helps the eyes look more watery if there is a shine in them, I can't tell if the shine is just smudged out or it just isn't there. Also his left cheek look like a small lump, just because of the small area in which you defined it in. You can make it seem more gradual by either increasing its surface area (take up more room on the face) or by making the shading changes more gradual, making the cheek look not as pointy. Or you could try both.

Love the shadoing! great job!