Malte's Random LBT fanart

[action9000]

can practically feel what she's feeling, but not quite. There still seems to be something missing, but I can definately feel your art alot better. Strange how a lack of color can explain something better, huh?

Keep it up, and you just might make a true artist. 

Can you perhaps show me any LBT fanart picture which you consider true art? Perhaps I can get the idea of what you have in mind easier that way.

The fact is, art is based on both giving and receiving.  What Malte may interpret as good art, Pokeplayer may not necessarily, and vice versa.  The problem is, it's virtually impossible to "teach" somebody how to create art, as it comes from within the soul of the artist.  The artist needs to have some way of expressing what he/she wants to express, and the method used is completely down to the choice of the artist, based on what he/she is saying, and who the artist is wanting to 'talk to' with the art.

That's the kind of drawing I would love to see out of you. I don't want to just look at art, I want to feel it.

It appears to be almost impossible to define how this happens.  It's like any form of art; how does one judge Good art from Great art.  To me, the quality of the art is based on what I get out of it.  SOmebody else may get something else from the art I consider good, so they may not appreciate it as I do.  I agree with you, Pokeplayer that I want art to go beyond what we see.  The problem is how to teach someone to do that.  

Malte, I believe you are a very good artist; you have proven this with your visual art and poetic/written art many times around the Gang of Five.  I have little criticism to offer to your work, as I am quite happy with the artwork, and I am no visual art expert.  I can't draw to save my life!   I love the detail and vibrance that go into much of your work, and I do feel that your latest coloured image in this post lacks some of the vibrance in some of your other works you have posted here.  I like it, but it doesn't have quite the "enthusiam" that I would have hoped for.  Perhaps I'm looking for something in the art that isn't there.  Perhaps I need to look for another meaning in it.  Maybe something the Gang sees is "right" but "Not Quite Right" if that makes any sense.  Like they've found what they're looking for but it's not exactly what they expected.  That is what I gather from your latest coloured image.

[pokeplayer984]

Okay Malte, I've been trying to figure out how to teach you about feeling with art, and I think I have something.

Okay, we all enjoy music, right?  And when you listen to music, don't you, most of the time, feel something?  In that moment, when you feel something when you listen to the music, you are feeling the same thing the creator felt when they made it.

I want you to feel something.  Draw what you feel.  Don't think about what you want to draw and just let the picture come to you.  Don't think, just act upon what you feel.

As a tip, use color to help express your feeling. (ie Red for Anger, blue for sadness, pink for love, etc.)

Now, with these tips, let's see what you can do.

[action9000]

when you feel something when you listen to the music, you are feeling the same thing the creator felt when they made it.

That is a difficult question to answer, as how can we be certain what the original artist intended to say?  How can we know what they were thinking when they created various parts of the art?  Art is generally about interpretation.  Just because I don't get the same thing out of the art that the artist does, does that mean I'm interpretting it wrong?  I believe that art is based on how an individual relates to it and wants to see it, not so much how the artist tells the viewer to see it.  Of course, this is just me. B)  :

I want you to feel something. Draw what you feel. Don't think about what you want to draw and just let the picture come to you. Don't think, just act upon what you feel.

This, I do agree with for the most part.  My best work has been completed not with my mind, but with the feeling I want to express.  The mind is needed to put the feelings into a comprehensible (spelling?) form, but the mind cannot do all the work when art is involved.

As a tip, use color to help express your feeling. (ie Red for Anger, blue for sadness, pink for love, etc.)

While this may be good advice in some situations, I don't necessarily approve of static Rules in creating art.  If something feels right when the artist being created, go with it, whether or not the "rules" agree.

[tobeysan]

Okay Malte, I've been trying to figure out how to teach you about feeling with art, and I think I have something.

Personally speaking, I don't think that it's possible to teach someone how to feel. You can lead someone closer to understanding, but there's no way of actually making someone feel.

As a tip, use color to help express your feeling. (ie Red for Anger, blue for sadness, pink for love, etc.)

Color is one medium that can be used for art. Color is very powerful, but monochrome is another form of art, and it's not right to push your form onto someone else. What if I told you to stop using color film in your camera and only to use black and white because it's more 'artsy'?

Nothing against you Pokeplayer, but I think if Malte really change his style, he'll find a local professional teacher.

[Malte279]

I want you to feel something. Draw what you feel.

:huh: To be honest I'm wondering a bit what makes you think that I'm not feeling anything while I'm drawing. As a matter of fact my main intention is to tell little stories through many of my drawings. The arrangement of characters, postures, facial expressions etc. often make for a defined scene. It is up to the viewer however to invent an own little story about what's going on in the picture.

As a tip, use color to help express your feeling. (ie Red for Anger, blue for sadness, pink for love, etc.)

I tend to use natural colors and not change them from the way they would look in reality. I know that Charles Grosvenor makes frequent use of the color red to express danger. Personally I think he is exaggerating about this. The faces and postures can tell very clearly about a situation though more subtle than signal colors do. Unlike facial expressions in such drawings signal colors can be interpreted in many different ways misleading the viewer (you interpreted red as anger, Grosvenor uses it mainly for danger, and I think blue as a color of sadness is also an arguable point).

[Malte279]

Here is the next one, dating from May this year.
I have a black and white and a colored version of it, with slightly different backgrounds:

The colors in this version are not quite the way I would have them, not exactly smooth.

[action9000]

Nice one, Malte.  I like your use of perspective, as if Cera is walking towards the viewer.

I do agree that the colours have sharper edges than some of your other work, but I don't dislike it.  The image appears simpler than some of your images, but when one looks more closely at it, there is much detail in both the coloured and non-coloured pictures.

The main aspect I noticed about the coloured image is that the background seems to just "drop off" into nothing, like the edge of the world.  Perhaps if the colours were altered to make it appear like a hill or something.  The non-coloured image does not have this issue, as there is background detail.  Overall, I am very impressed with both versions of this one. B)

[Malte279]

The main aspect I noticed about the coloured image is that the background seems to just "drop off" into nothing, like the edge of the world. Perhaps if the colours were altered to make it appear like a hill or something. The non-coloured image does not have this issue, as there is background detail.

That's correct. I titled the image "Rushing through the gap". The title does not quite fit to the black and white version, but when I made up the background for the colored picture I actually had a narrow pass between mountains in mind. An entrance to the Great Valley perhaps. The ground is a bit to grassy perhaps to support that impression. The picture is smaller than some of my other pictures which cover a whole sheed of paper. The real picture has pretty much the same size as the scanned version. Regretably the small size also makes details less visible. For example it is hardly possible to recognize Petrie's look (he is clenching his teeth apparently struggling not to loose his grip on Cera's frill).

[pokeplayer984]

Wow!  Good pic, Malte.

And after looking at my earlier comments and realizing a little something I had forgotten, I must apologize to you, Malte.

I'm sorry for not seeing the true beauty within your creations.  They are indeed quite beautiful and show alot of feeling.

I had forgotten that when you scan the image onto a computer, it seems to take that feeling within away.  I don't know what it is about computers, but they just seem to lessen the beauty of a magnificent creation. (I've noticed this with quite some beautiful historic paintings that were scanned onto various websites.  As an example, the Mona Lisa just doesn't look as beautiful on computer then when you are up close.  Sad, huh? )

Anyways, great pic Malte!

The coloring is great and I love how Cera is leading the group to who knows where.

By the way, what is this pic inspired by anyways?

[Malte279]

I think when I made the drawing I just meant to create some kind of racing scene. I liked the idea of Petrie clinging to Cera's frill desperately trying to hold on while Cera rushes forward maliciously enjoying Petrie's struggle. This is not a scene I planed for any of my stories, but if there is ever a point where it fits in I might include it.
The way Littlefoot looks he seems to actually race Cera while Spike (and in particular Ducky on his back) don't seem to care too much about who is going to be first. When I drew the background for the second picture and made up the title about the gap I'm pretty sure that I had an entrance to the Great Valley in mind. Maybe they are returning after a long and dangerous adventure and simply enjoy being home again.

[Malte279]

For some reason our scanner scanned two colored pictures today in the correct colors :blink:
Our scanner has the unpretty habbit of using every color for a picture except for those which exist in the original drawing. The drawing I'll post here now is the most recent one I did. I took two points of constructive criticism into account while I made this drawing. Firstly I made a sad scene for a change (as suggested by pokeplayer) and secondly I made the drawings outlines stand out a little more (as suggested by Petrie in a chat) by retracing the outlines with a black ink pen; at least for the colored versions of the picture.
As this is the most recent drawing, there are quite a few more drawings yet to come which I made some time ago which don't sport the improvements suggested.
Here is the black and white pencil drawing:

While the story is not yet written the drawing does show a scene from a story I'm planning on (only the introduction has been written yet, as I'm still working on another story). The scene depicted is pretty much the one described in the poem The Flyer is gone which I might use in an altered version for that story.
Now here is the colored version of the drawing with the retraced outlines:

I'm very interested to know what you think about the stronger outlines. Are they an improvement, or are they too strong? While I think the stronger outlines work well on the characters I probably did too much of a good thing when using the same strong outlines for the background landscape. The outlines of the mountains, rocks, trees etc. seem to make too much of a contrast with the rathe soft colors. But please feel free to disagree, what is YOUR opinion on this?
I made a third version of this picture using felt-tip pens for the coloring:

When I made the Cougar Squadron Emblem I had a feeling that it would have been better if I had used felt tip pens. Now I tried using felt tip pens for a land before time drawing for a change. I can't say I'm pleased with the result. The colors are pretty and strong, but it is absolutely impossible to create a smooth surface of color with the felt tip pens. The same can be said about the colored pencils I'm using all the time, but somehow I feel it is not so bad with them. Also the felt tip pents make it impossible to correct any mistakes (you will find several flaws in the picture above) and there is no way to alter the intensity of the color by pressing down the pen stronger or lighter, making it almost impossible to create shadow effects that way. It is possible to darken a color by using it on the same spot repeatedly, but if you do so too often it will damage the paper. If you use a lighther color on a darker color the lighther pen will "suck up" pigment of the darker color, spoiling the pen. Perhaps my felt tip pens are just low quality and I probably don't have the experience necessary to use them properly (for awesome work can be done with felt tip pens, no doubt about it).
I guess the kind of coloring I had in mind when trying out the felt tip pens can best be achieved through computer programs. Some of you did some really awesome work in coloring pictures with a computer program. What program did you use? Photoshop? How expensive is that software and is it very complex? I would love to give this kind of art a try and would be most obligued for any hints or advices from the experts

[Petrie.]

Ah, I  see you listened to someone when coloring...namely me since I said dark outlines would work well, and I agree with you--it fits those characters nicely in the first picture.  The other stuff isn't as bad as you think it is.  The only time it looks even remotely out of place is on the rocks where you have a light gray color.  Otherwise, the dark edges keep consistency throughout the picture...you don't want to give it to some and not the other (exception: those longnecks way in the back there).

The pen version looks more vibrant than the pencil one, but I still favor the pencil one (perhaps because its finished, I'm not really sure).  I'll probably comment more once its completed.

Computer art - tried it, hated it, never looked back.    Its just not me.

[Malte279]

I have only a black and white version of this drawing.
I wonder if you can make any sense of it as to telling the little story / scene the drawing is supposed to tell. I think I told a few of you who saw this drawing before, but can anyone who hasn't seen it yet figure out something about what the characters are doing?

[Malte279]

The title of the drawing is pretty much of a giveaway about what is going on. It is titled "The Onehorn". Can you tell what it is about?

[Petrie.]

Well I do because you've told me about this story before, so I know the jist of the plot.  :  Its about teasing...namely on Cera because she hasn't grown old enough to sprout all three horns like her father.

It's been a long while since I've seen that picture.  Did you modify it since I last saw it and gave it comments?

[Malte279]

Nope, I didn't modify it. Yet I never posted the picture so only a few email friends of mine know it. It's a while ago since I drew it. I liked the idea of a scene in which Cera might exaggerate bragging about being a threehorn until somebody else points out that actually she doesn't have three horns at all. In the picture you can see Ducky immitating a threehorn (with the two horns her fingers provide), Petrie is making up two more horns for Cera, Spike and Littlefoot seem to gloat over Cera, and Cera herself seems to consider what she will be doing to Petrie  
While I haven't brought up the scene in one of my stories yet, I'm firmly intend to do that when it fits into a story.

[Malte279]

Now here is a picture I'm not too happy with. For once it would probably be better if the outlines stood out more (if I had retraced them as I did in the last but one picture upon Adam's suggestion) and secondly I messed up the proportions. Not only did Ducky choose a very small leaf for her "parachuting" attempts, but also it doesn't look like she was holding it tightly; Petrie looks kind of strange too.
Furthermore Ducky is falling rather far from the rocky wall in the background, I don't think that she would have been able to jump that far.
I like the idea of Ducky trying to get some flying experience (other than being abducted by flyers I mean) and I think that she might try out something like what she does in the picture. I might include it in one of the stories I'm planning.

[Petrie.]

You could still do the outlining even if its colored in.  I agree with you and myself ()...could probably use it.

[Malte279]

I don't like editing a picture once it has been signed, dated, and "declared finished". Also this picture has such a number of other problems (proportions etc.) that I would rather create an entirely new picture of a similar motive rather than editing the old one.

[Malte279]

I've been lazy about posting pictures here of lately
The following drawing was made last December.