This is an experiment. I saw some beautifully clean line drawings by Cybre over at deviantArt. I noticed that she used a lot of blue pencil, and decided to see if that could be used to clean up my linework as well. I'm moderately pleased with the results, but my experience has been that a plain old colored pencil creates a slick and often smudgy surface. Cybre tells me that this is because colored pencils are designed for blending, hence the smudginess. She uses light blue Col-Erase pencils (also available in a non-photo blue color) that don't smudge.
After some minimal digital work, mainly to knock out the blue, my first impression was that the image cleaned up rather nicely. Looking at it again, I realize that it didn't turn out as well as I thought. There are some splotches that are more obvious after cleanup than they were looking at it on paper. Maybe the way I clean it up just makes them stand out more?
I've uploaded the raw scan [new window] so you can see the before-and-after. I also have a larger version, which I'll try to post soon.
Since I went with the same character and almost the exact same setting as an earlier drawing, this piece shows where I've improved over the last three years or so...and where I haven't. The linework's a little better, but now both of her femurs are too long. I also shaded inside the jacket on one side but not the other.
I also have yet to get the hang of directing the viewer's eye: The background outside the window is just too busy, so the character's face gets lost. I assume that's why I can't find a focal point. I can fix that if I ever get around to cloring it, but there's no guarantee that will solve the problem. Besides, it's rather disappointing that the line art doesn't look its best.
This image is tagged with: 2010, anthro, blue pencil, fox, lineart, pencil, and Sam.
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