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morrriigan · 4 years

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Any tips for how to do those fantastic DA:I tarot cards? I'd really like to draw one up but I'm not sure if my current skillset would make it recreate the 'look' the have. Any ideas/thoughts/tips? More breakdown the better, if you're willing!

Hi there buddy!I’m no expert in making tarot cards, but here’s some things I picked up trying to emulate one!

COMPOSITIONThe first thing you want to note is that with tarot cards, the most important part is that you nail a super strong composition. Normally with compositions, they’re usually guidelines that you follow somewhat, but here, they lean more towards rules.

STRAIGHT LINESFollowing up on composition, with tarot cards, you can use perfectly straight lines without making it look weird. Because you are trying to make it look weird! Step away from the world of reality, my friend, and embrace those oddly cool straight lines!

SHAPESWith tarot cards, shapes are godly tools. Where in a normal drawing you would have more assymetrical shapes, here you go bonkers with the pristine clean cut of it all. Look at how that moon circle doesn’t angle in any way, or how the robes of the armour just fall straight down. Shapes, my good friend!That said, don’t oversaturate with too much sturdiness, you gotta add in some curves like the gauntlets to ease the eye from thinking too much like cut out shapes.

FORMSpeaking of not everything needing to be shapes, most things in your card won’t actually have any form, but the one that almost always will is the face of your character. It’s kind of a cool effect when the body is in 2D, but the face is in 3D. Keep in mind not to use too much contrast in the face, or you will lose the beauty of elegance in the face!

BLOCK PATTERNSNow, as the cream on top, most tarot cards will have little shapes that seem unaffected by lighting/shadow. They will straight up be an opaque colour. Use these wisely, as they are as important as highlights. Use them too much, and they lose meaning! Just add enough to give that extra oomph!

Other than that, most of it’s just playing around and experimenting! Have a lot of fun with this, friend! Tarot cards are awesome because it’s more play than recreating reality, so go nuts!Good luck and have fun, my friend!(P.S. If you need to, here’s a link for a collection of the Dragon Age cards, for inspiration and reference! Be warned, some of them are kinda spoilerific!)

#art ref #q

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morrriigan · 4 years

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hello! can i ask for a tutorail in hands/arms and legs/feet?

Hey! Sorry for the late reply, I haven’t really had time to do the tutorial for you! But, I did one today. It’s kinda messy and not 100% anatomically perfect (I do several flaws myself) but I think I made some good points!

Arms:

Arms cannot be done without shoulders, so that’s why I will include them here. To know how one body part works, you need to understand the other parts too. I suggest drawing a stick figure, as shown above. Do it with shoulders and everything - don’t care about anatomy. Really, don’t - go mad! You can figure out how to deal with the anatomy AFTER you have figured how to draw the body freely.

I imagine most body parts to be shaped as tear drops, as shown above; especially the arms and legs. Draw them above the stick figure - don’t be afraid to overlap the teardrops. In fact, I suggest it! The best way to understand anatomy is to think of it as shapes and doll-parts.

After you’ve figured that out, do several, VERY tiny, small doodles like these. Go crazy - don’t bother with anatomy just yet. Do them also very quickly and so small you can’t think of the details. Just keep doing this until you sorta understand how arms work.

Here is a doodle of a “real” arm, and as you can see, how it’s shaped it resembles the teardrops above. A general rule is to constantly draw the body in curves - male AND female. NEVER draw a single line straight.

I mentioned before I thought it was important to include shoulders/other body parts to understand another. This is why. The body basically has a “flow” when you move. The red lines clearly shows the flow. This is also how you can create a dynamic pose: think of the flow. The muscles are formed that way to be able to function. Which reminds me, buy some good anatomy books. And I’m talking about more or less MEDICAL anatomy books - you think you won’t need it - but trust me, it’s more useful than you can imagine. I do NOT suggest buying “stylistic” anatomy books, like Christopher Hart (ugh NO), for example, as these can mislead you. Medical anatomy books CANNOT because they MUST be right.

And for the last part, here’s some “do’s” and “don’ts”. It’s important to remember the muscles between the neck and shoulders. Many, especially when drawing females, forget this. It’s true the most visible it is - the more muscular you will look. But even the most petite people have these. Your neck literally would not function if you didn’t have these supporters. Then, the arms below is just to show why it’s important to draw the body with curves. Many have probably heard “straight lines for males” which is a complete lie. They will look stiff and unnatural. Curves can both empathize muscles AND fat. Heck, even your bones aren’t straight.

Legs:

Legs certainly are the hardest. There’s a good reason for this; because they’re one of our most strongest muscles, and they are more or less dominating when it comes to poses (together with the spine). However, just like with the arms, draw a stick figure. I won’t suggest drawing them completely straight, as you can see here, as it will add weight. Do teardrops shapes. As for the hips - think of them as panties or briefs. This is not a MUST; but it will help; I think!

And just like the arms, do small doodles. Don’t be serious, play around until you get the idea.

As you can see, these legs easily can be turned into teardrops even when they’re detailed like this.

Now, what makes legs/hips interesting is that the way fat gathers there. Although not a must, seeing as we’re all different, females tend to get more fat there than men. Usually, however, it’s not at the SIDE of the hops, but at the thighs, calves and the “love handles”. (Excuse my english, aaah…) Women also tend to have bigger hips, but again, it’s not a must. It’s not uncommon to have small hips, either; or big hips for men, etc.

Of course, the legs too follow the “flow”!

Something worth noting is the “Standing point” The standing point is basically a straight line, and the further away you are from the line; the more unbalanced you are. To create a dynamic pose you should avoid that line as much as possible. However, if you want to look balanced/realistic, have the one leg stand there for support. The leg to the left is balanced, as you can see one of the legs is taking all the weight; with other words, it’s the support leg-making it balanced. The legs to the right, however, are likely to fall over if she keeps standing like that!

Now for some more do’s and don’ts. I already mentioned the barbie legs, invisible heels and micro-mini crotch in my previous tutorial, but these two are different. I see this mistake a lot; when you sit down, your thighs will become wider because you’re pressing all the fat to the sides. Now, this also depends on how you’re positioning your legs. How much it widens depends on how much fat you have in the first place; but it will always be there.

And then there’s this awkward “thigh gap”. Before I get any haters telling me how I “thin shame”, please, take a seat and read this. Good? Good. How much space you actually have between your thighs depends fully on how you’re standing, bending, angle, body type and everything else. However, the one to the right? Not likely.

Hands:

Okay, I’m getting really lazy now; so I’ll be quick. Draw a rectangle. Sorta like this; it doesn’t have to be exactly like this - since hands can be shaped VERY differently. Just compare to your friends.

Draw a little triangle attached to it.

Now, the fingers! How long they should be and etc doesn’t really matter either. But if you’re unsure, draw them as tear drops, too.

Now, draw the fingers! Starting to look like a hand, sort of.

Then draw the details and fix things you didn’t like. I really don’t like the way this is drawn but I’m just tired right now.

Just like the legs/arms, practice by doing that simple figure really quickly.

Guess what? Hands also follow “the flow”!

Feet:

Okay, I’m getting really lazy. Plus, feet are SUPER HARD- I’m just going to say this: think of them as triangles. Overlap them; think of it as 3D!

Practice practice practice! And medical anatomy books. And photo references. And real-life references!

Hope this helped! \o/ As I said, I’m nowhere near perfect but, ahh, I tried.

#q #art ref

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morrriigan · 7 years

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I’VE MOVED

so i deleted this blog like a year ago. i was unhappy here and wanted a fresh start. so i remade on a new blog in a different fandom, but i still missed this one. i came on here to reminisce and was surprised to see there’s still 2k of you following me???????