Art Station

Think of this as a lineart-trading station. Post lineart here and someone will color it. Post a colored drawing, people will shade it, add a background, etc, etc. You can also come here for a few lessons/demonstrations if there's something you're not too confident with!
If you post something here, expect feedback. The whole point of this is to get better at the basics of drawing- creating lineart, coloring, and shading.

Available Sketches:
Base sketches that aren't lineart yet.
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Available Lineart:
Finished drawings that are ready to be colored.
https://i.imgur.com/r4H46zH.png

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https://orig00.deviantart.net/c2f9/f/2018/013/9/5/untitled_drawing_by_maple81604-dbzw74o.png

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Available Colored Pictures:
Pictures that have base colors and markings already.
https://i.imgur.com/KbryQWn.jpg

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https://i.imgur.com/lIFCp1U.png

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https://i.imgur.com/RrHdIYt.png

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Fully-Finished Artwork:
Artwork that is shaded, has effects, etc.
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YeaaahHHH I wish I could upload traditional easier! I do LOTS of lineart on it. Like its filled with comics.

usually very sad and depressed, but I'm not going to get into that right now.

I just drew this and added flat colors. What's the next step?

Next I think would be elaborating on the eyes.
(white spots for the shininess of eyeballs[often called focus orbs], adding some dark and light textures(speckles, lines branching out, gradient, whatever technique you use) Then add some fur texture and shading.

Nice Maple! I'mma color dat


pff I suck at details in general
any tips for making the eyes of a character stand out (without looking too ridiculous)
Whenever I try, it ends up looking unrealistic and just plain bad. Also, where do focus orbs even go?

Another question: Where/How to shade? I know that certain things reflect light- how do I portray that?

Hmm well for the lighting problem I can't help but I can with the eyes. I've been doing a little bit of coloring research. Edit: The pics are your leafstorm one but with detailed eyes.

Ok so the focus orbs. Both are white of course. How I do it is there's one, about 1/4-1/2 the size of the pupil(if it was a circle pupil) partially covering the pupil, partially covering the iris. Usually in the general direction of where the subject's looking(or just anywhere). The second is 1/4-1/2 the size of focus orb number one, and it is on the diagonal opposite side, (ex: The big one is on the top right. Little one would be lower left. Big one is on lower right? Little one's top left.) although it is fully in the pupil, and sometimes in the center if you like.

To make eyes, there are 3 ways I've done it.
1: You have your base color. Make it a little darker, then color about 3/4 of the eye(leaving the bottom 1/4 the same color) that darker color. Make the darker color easily visibly darker. Then make THAT color a bit darker and color 3/4 of the slightly-darker. Repeat until you're almost out of eye. Sahel does this technique. Watch a speedpaint like this one(which is what I used to learn this). I played the eye part at 25% speed to really get it. You can add dots of another color(like the yellow spots on the green dragons' eyes).

Whole face- technique 1 and with fur technique I said:

2: You have your base color. Make it a little brighter(lighter and more saturated) and then color the center of the area(if looking up/down, the parts left over are on right and left. If pupil is anywhere else I usually let the top and bottom stay the correct color.) that color. Then repeat, until you have a sort of gradiance of color to a highlight in the center. This was a technique I used for the eyes on a picture of Cloudtail and Brightheart- I think I deleted it, though.

I forgot the focus orbs for this one:

3: The easiest. Branch out lighter and darker colors from the center of the eye. Then, you add speckles and other details as needed. This is the one I first used.

Your leafstorm eye for 3:

Once you've used your technique, (I use Sketchbook to draw) I would usually use the sharpen tool. AKA make the "brush" on the sharpen tool as big as the eye, then click the eye a bunch of times. You can use the tool all around to make your whole cat have, well, sharper edges. Less blurry. The eye sometimes looks better(especially on technique 3) when blurred a lot.

Oh, and to make fur(stripes) look good(this is terribly relative) like I did in this picture of Maplekit(paw) for Hazel, I used the web smudge brush(which is what it's called on Sketchbook I think) to sort of blend together the stripes and other color changes(except on eyes) to make it look like there are tufts of fur blending with each other and, well, looking a slight bit realistic. This is the only picture I've done it on yet. EDIT: I did it on the Leafstorm one too.

I don't have any art to post here at the moment, but I do have a quick question.

Does it have to be a cat, or cat related at that? I don't draw much other than cats, but other people might, like pokemon, or characters from movies, etc.

Drippy wrote:

Nice Maple! I'mma color dat


pff I suck at details in general
any tips for making the eyes of a character stand out (without looking too ridiculous)
Whenever I try, it ends up looking unrealistic and just plain bad. Also, where do focus orbs even go?

Another question: Where/How to shade? I know that certain things reflect light- how do I portray that?

KENT MANSELY, WORK FOR THE GOVERNMENT, HERE TO HELP.

For eyes, study the anatomy. Not in detail but, just understand what is going on. Pupils are not at the very front of the eye, they curve back like this: )( ) The middle curve is the pupil. That is to catch light. When you see a character that has a brighter color around the pupils, it isn't normal. It's called heterochromia. It's a common mistake for people to portray that as a stylistic choice but it's actually something real. To bring them out, have fewer details in the design or have the design focal point be the eyes. It the character has tabby stripes, make them lead a viewer to the eyes by getting closer together(or farther apart) towards the eyes or have them contrast the pelt. Even a brown cat with brown eyes can have an interesting shade of brown for the eyes. Mainly, just simplify other parts of the character.

For shading, understand the light source, strength and reflectiveness. If a light is from above, the eyes will be shaded over and cheekbones will be highlighted.  Dim light will cause more shadowing overall and a duller look while bright light will cause intense shadows. When creating light, the focus actually isn't the light, it is the darkness around it. Neon green background with a white light will note look like much but, make that a deep dark purple with a white light and minimal blending will indicate a very bright light.