The Gang of Five
The Land Before Time => LBT Fanart => Topic started by: Malte279 on June 01, 2006, 05:13:30 PM
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Hi!
Most of the pictures I posted here so far were illustrations of LBT stories I had written. However, there is quite a couple of drawings, pictures etc. which don't belong to any story. I will just post them in here and I'm going to begin with the VERY beginning. Recently I rediscovered a little treasure in a folder in which my parents kept some old drawings etc. of mine.
Among the other stuff there was a thin pad of green paper slips on which I had drawn dinosaurs with felt tip pens. The drawings must originate from the time when I was about 6 years old, for apparently I had asked a grownup to write a few words onto the paper (which I wouldn't have done by the time I could write myself). Now the words a grownup wrote on the first slip of green paper upon my request are "In einem Land vor unserer Zeit" which is German for the land before time. So even though I cannot claim with certainty whether or not the dinosaurs depicted in the child drawings are meant to be particular LBT characters, I certainly did have LBT in my mind when drawing the dinosaurs. This would make the following pictures the first known LBT fanart from me ;)
I won't post all of the pictures here, as there are many which even I cannot identify with certainty. I will post those however, in which something is recognizable. :lol
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Maltes%20first%20ever%20LBT%20Art/firstLBTfanart.jpg)
On the right we clearly see a longneck. It looks like it had an udder, but I'm postive that the "udder" are his legs. I cannot say for sure what the red stuff on the left is supposed to be.
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Maltes%20first%20ever%20LBT%20Art/firstLBTfanart2.jpg)
Now that's supposed to be a triceratops. Don't ask the six year old kid why it has that bufallo tail, that silly smily face and the strange arrangement of horns and frill. :DD
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Maltes%20first%20ever%20LBT%20Art/firstLBTfanart3.jpg)
A T-Rex. Not easy to recognize, but you can see the two fingered arms (or at least you can guess they are there).
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Maltes%20first%20ever%20LBT%20Art/firstLBTfanart4.jpg)
This one is relatively plain. A Rhamphorhynchus. While there is no representative of that species in the original movie (none of the sequels was even planned by the time these pictures were made) I remember clearly that I was fascinated by the look of that flyer with the funny tail.
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Maltes%20first%20ever%20LBT%20Art/firstLBTfanart5.jpg)
Another triceratops with a text bubble which I must have asked some grownup to fill.
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Maltes%20first%20ever%20LBT%20Art/firstLBTfanart6.jpg)
A six year old's view of a Great Valley like place. Trees with black rocks around them.
:)
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Now that's cool stuff. :) I was actually able to figure out some of them before reading the captions, but not the flyer one. I wish I had stuff like this saved somewhere to show off...I'm sure I do somewhere, but like you, I just have to manage to find it. :p
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Yes, it sure was a good deal of luck.
Regretably I don't have the first fanart I did after I had my LBT "renaissance" in December 1998. I know exactly about the motives (it wasn't free hand) but I'm afraid my Mum cast them away. So the first I have are probably from my sketchbook in which I practiced drawing LBT characters by copying them from the screen.
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Some of you may have seen the following pictures already as they are up in the LBT gallery. Therefore I put them all in one post rather than commenting on each one individually. I made all four pictures during the summer holidays of 2000, which we spend on Rab, a Croatian island, before I found the N54 forum. They are the oldest fully colored LBT aquarelles I have (I also have a sketchbook in which I practiced drawing LBT characters from the screen). While the backgrounds are all freehand, not all of the pictures are completely free hand, as I had one book with pictures from the original movie, and the scetch book with the drawings along.(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Random%20Aquarelle/Littlefoottreestar.jpg)]
This picture dates from July 11th 2000. Quite obviously it is not freehand. I had a picture of this famous "Littlefoot with his first treestar" motive in the movie book I had along with me on that island. The setting with a Great Valley like landscape is of course different.
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Random%20Aquarelle/DuckyPetrieSpike.jpg)
This one dates from July 12th and is completely freehand. Neither the characters' faces nor their postures or the background were copied from anywhere.
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Random%20Aquarelle/CeraPetrie.jpg)
This is the only of the pictures which has no date on its back. I'm quite sure though that it was the third I made. Landscape and Cera (with quite a few mistakes in the proportions of her various body parts) are completely freehand. Petrie's expression however comes from an LBT 6 scene (do you recognize from which scene it is?).
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Random%20Aquarelle/ChomperLittlefoot.jpg)
This picture dates from July 15th and was probably the last. Neither Littlefoot's nor Chomper's faces are free hand, while their bodies and the landscape are. Quite obviously this picture was inspired by the LBT 2 goodbye scene which I found (and still find) quite touching. On the back of the picture I wrote the German lines Littlefoot says during that goodbye. Apparently I meant them to be a title for the picture while all of the other pictures have such original titles as "Spike, Ducky und Petrie", "Littlefoot" etc.
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Great Drawings! :) That's interesting how your parents had a folder with all your drawings from when you were really young. I wish I could find stuff like that :unsure:
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This is a wonderful collection to still have around, Malte :) I say, I love the quality of the image of Littlefoot with the treestar. Freehand or not, it still loooks fantastic! B)
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Thank you all for your responses! :)
That's interesting how your parents had a folder with all your drawings from when you were really young. I wish I could find stuff like that
On the other hand they also cast some pictures away which I dearly miss today. I wonder by which system the parental system of picture selection works :lol
I say, I love the quality of the image of Littlefoot with the treestar. Freehand or not, it still loooks fantastic!
Thank you. I'm glad you like it. The reason however why I always point out whether or not a drawing or picture is freehand is that a freehand drawing is really much more of an own picture while the alternative even though they may be very, very beautiful indeed are always at least partly somebody else's work.
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Hey cool pics there Malte! ;) Some of them look familiar. I'm sure you've shown me a few of those a while ago. Liking the first few ones too. Shows your steps up to the creative genius you're displaying now! :^.^:
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Shows your steps up to the creative genius you're displaying now!
We are lacking a blushing smiley ;)
When I bought my copy of LBT 7 in March 2001 (it was the first LBT movie which didn't appear in Europe on US release date) there was a leaflet in it with the rules for a painting competition. They asked people to paint a picture of Littlefoot or one of his friends. The first price was a journey for four persons to Universal's Porta Ventura in Spain, the 2nd to 21st price was (I'm quoting) "a great surprise about the seven sequels of the land before time". Hoping for one of those mysterious great surprises (I'm still wondering about what it would have been) I painted the following picture and sent it to them:
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Random%20Aquarelle/Wettbewerb.jpg)
Come to think of it I probably violated the rules as I painted Littlefoot and his friends rather than him or one of his friends. At all events I never got a confirmation they even got the picture and the original picture is gone. Fortunately I scanned it so I can show it to you here.
One thing I really like to paint are land before time scenes to which the viewer may invent a little story. This picture is one example for such a scene. Look at the characters, look at their faces, postures etc. Can you make a story of the picture?
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No ideas?
Anyway, here is the next one. This scan is of very poor quality (yellow stripes all over it), yet with the original drawing being now in Australia I have no chance to get a better scan of it:
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Drawings/Birthday-cardcolourverkleinert.jpg)
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Cool pics! :lol I like the Littlefoot and Chomper one. :yes
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Thank you for your response F-14 :)
Here is another one, once just the outlines:
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Drawings/GeburtstagskartefrChristianverklein.jpg)
and here the colored version:
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Drawings/GeburtstagskarteChristianverkleiner.jpg)
This one doesn't tell much of a story, but looking at the characters faces you can still guess how they are feeling or what they are thinking. Any ideas?
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I'd say they see water or something edible. :P:
When you make pencil sketches, Malte, have you considered making a dark outline of the sketch (in black pencil or something else) when you color them in?
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I'd say they see water or something edible.
This may really apply to the picture that came out with the yellow stripes. Ducky is certainly pointing at something ahead, waving the others to follow her and from their looks Cera and Spike seem to be quite keen on getting to whatever Ducky is pointing at (could be a waterhole as there is sandy ground ahead). Littlefoot seems to be kind of amused about Cera, or perhaps he is making a teasing remark (she looks kind of grimly determined, but not like she was really angry).
When you make pencil sketches, Malte, have you considered making a dark outline of the sketch (in black pencil or something else) when you color them in?
Of lately I made a habbit of copying a drawing once all the outlines are there. Then I continue to "color" the drawing just with a pencil so the result is a black and white drawing. It is much easier to create light and shadow effects with a pencil only than it is in fully colored pictures. The copied outlines end up fully colored.
This last picture with outlines and colors is somewhat older though (summer 2003 or 2004 I think) and it was made on a birthday greeting card. All the characters seem to be cheerful on that one, with the only exception of Cera who looks like she was a bit embarassed by the others. Perhaps she considers Ducky's chasing of unreachable Petrie, or Petrie's looping the loop kind of "childish" while Littlefoot seems to be fascinated or even enthusiastic about it.
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Hey Malte, I really like all of your pictures, I think they're all great. :)
And I have a strange feeling that the one you sent for the contest just got lost in the mail. What do you think? :)
Now, I will say this unfortunate thing about them. I almost feel like some of your pictures are lacking in emotion. The one main element that makes the picture seem so real, it almost feels like the picture will come to life.
Call me crazy, but I feel like they're missing that.
Maybe you could do something like sadness for a charcter. I don't know. Something. Anything! Just try to display the emotion better, okay? :)
See ya later, Malte. :^.^:
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And I have a strange feeling that the one you sent for the contest just got lost in the mail. What do you think?
I don't think so. The post is extremely relyable over here. I suppose it may have been bad timing as I sent the picture in March and the contest lasted until August. Maybe they just threw everything away that arrived too early for their test. There was no whatsoever age restriction on participating in that contest but perhaps somebody saw the picture and thought that some grownup meant to win the Spain journey in a contest they meant to be mainly for kids (while I would have been just happy without Spain but with the LBT surprise ;)).
Now, I will say this unfortunate thing about them. I almost feel like some of your pictures are lacking in emotion. The one main element that makes the picture seem so real, it almost feels like the picture will come to life.
Call me crazy, but I feel like they're missing that.
Maybe you could do something like sadness for a charcter. I don't know. Something. Anything! Just try to display the emotion better, okay?
Ah constructive criticism. Suggestions for improvement are always most welcome :yes
It is a bit difficult for me to figure out what exactly you mean. The faces of the characters can tell you quite something about the characters' emotions (I'm still hoping that somebody may be able to make up a little story scene from the arangement of characters, postures, and facial expressions in the competition picture). Do the faces have to be drawn clearer? Can you pinpoint any closer what it is that makes these pictures lack emotion?
If it is mainly about the emotion of sadness (is it?), that is certainly one to be found but only in a few of my LBT pictures and drawings. Of those which I posted here the goodbye Chomper picture is the only one with sad faces. Happy emotions or sometimes some kind of grimness or quarellsomeness (mainly from Cera) dominate in my pictures. I'll make sure the next drawing I post here is one of the less cheerful.
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Ah constructive criticism. Suggestions for improvement are always most welcome :yes
It is a bit difficult for me to figure out what exactly you mean. The faces of the characters can tell you quite something about the characters' emotions (I'm still hoping that somebody may be able to make up a little story scene from the arangement of characters, postures, and facial expressions in the competition picture). Do the faces have to be drawn clearer? Can you pinpoint any closer what it is that makes these pictures lack emotion?
If it is mainly about the emotion of sadness (is it?), that is certainly one to be found but only in a few of my LBT pictures and drawings. Of those which I posted here the goodbye Chomper picture is the only one with sad faces. Happy emotions or sometimes some kind of grimness or quarellsomeness (mainly from Cera) dominate in my pictures. I'll make sure the next drawing I post here is one of the less cheerful.
What I exactly mean by this, is basically something that can't be taught.
You're pictures are very good, I will admit to the fullest. Even those that clearly show emotion. However, I just can't feel it.
I can tell that they are happy, sad, mad, etc., but I just can't feel what they feel.
This is what seprates the great from the master.
Have you ever looked at a painting and feel something for it when you look at it? Feel what the artist wants you to feel and not just something drawen in an unkown amount of time?
That's what I'm talking about here, Malte.
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. :)
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As promised here is a less cheerful drawing:
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Drawings/AlisArrival.jpg)
This one can be considered a tribute to Jason as it depicts a scene he wrote for a land before time story. Ali's herd arrives in the Great Valley, but it was attacked and rather battered in the Mysterious Beyond.
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Hmm, the black and white definately gives off the sorrowfullness Ali feels. I 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. :^.^:
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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.
I didn't make that lost drawing black and white to show Ali's sorrow. I simply planned it as a pencil drawing only. Of lately I have made a habbit of copying a picture once the outlines are there, in order to create one black and white and one colored version of the picture.
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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! :p 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.
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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. :)
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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) :P:
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.
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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.
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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).
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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:
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Drawings/Rushingthroughthegapblackandwhite.jpg)
The colors in this version are not quite the way I would have them, not exactly smooth.
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Drawings/Rushingthroughthegapcolor.jpg)
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Nice one, Malte. :yes 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)
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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).
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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? :)
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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.
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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:
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Drawings/Theflyerisgone33.jpg)
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 (http://www.gangoffive.net/index.php?topic=765) which I might use in an altered version for that story.
Now here is the colored version of the drawing with the retraced outlines:
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Drawings/Theflyerisgonecolor33.jpg)
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:
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Drawings/Theflyerisgonefelttip33.jpg)
When I made the Cougar Squadron Emblem (http://www.gangoffive.net/index.php?topic=688) 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 :)
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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. :lol: Its just not me.
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(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Drawings/TheOnehorn.jpg)
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?
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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?
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Well I do because you've told me about this story before, so I know the jist of the plot. :P: 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?
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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 :lol:
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.
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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.
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Drawings/Flyingattemptsblackandwhite66.jpg)
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Drawings/Flyingattemptscolor33.jpg)
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You could still do the outlining even if its colored in. I agree with you and myself (:p)...could probably use it.
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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.
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I've been lazy about posting pictures here of lately ;)
The following drawing was made last December.
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Drawings/KopfindenSand1.jpg)
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That drawing was made for a reason. I meant to tell a recipient of the picture not to act the way Spike does in the drawing. A final version of the drawing included two text bubbles making Ducky say that it was alright to bury your head in the sand sometimes, and Littlefoot adding that one had to remember to unburry the head again.
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Boy am I behind with commenting on your fanart. I'm sorry I haven't been so dedicated to look at your work, Malte. :(
I'll be giving a message to one pic per day in the hopes that I catch up. (Note: I count multiple attempts of the same pic as one pic.)
(http://mitglied.lycos.de/malte279/Random%20LBT%20Art/The%20flyer%20is%20gone33%25.jpg)
Stupid thing won't let me post the other two attempts, but I'm sure you can guess easily from the only one I was able to post.
I like the second one best out of the three attempts. I think I'll nick this piece, "The Flyer's Death."
From your poem, I understand this to be the reaction of the gang only moments after losing Petrie. Their reactions are very much in charcter. Through the films, I've known Ducky and Petrie to be quite close and the way you made Ducky react is very perfect for her. I'm betting that if the hand that's covering her eyes was moved back by some unknown way, we would see tears coming out of those eyes of hers.
Cera being the only one to not shed tears yet being rather upset about it all is very much like her. I bet Petrie was somewhat annoying to her, but she still cared about him. Then again, knowing her, I'd bet she would actually cry alone and not with the gang.
With Spike's incredibly limited ability to speak, we have to rely on the way he acts around him to understand how he felt about the little flyer. I understand Spike to be rather emotional with such a painful event. The tears are simply no surprise to me and what I would expect from the spiketail.
As for Littlefoot, the reaction is beautiful within all three pics. I'm not exactly sure how he would react to it all, but I would suspect at least tears if anything. Of course, with him crying, it puts his reputation of him being the leader of the gang on the line, but since everyone else is letting it out, why shouldn't him? :)
As for the background, I'd say that the broken and dead trees are rather perfect. Made it look like there was something attacking the valley moments before this happened and Petrie was somehow involved in it.
The only real thing I'm asking is if you ran out of ink for the third pic? Since I see a certian amount of it not colored in, I'm assuming that.
Anyways, very nice pic and a very sad one at that. If this was real, I'd probably say, "Farewell little flyer. We knew thee well."
Again, great job, Malte. :^.^:
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I must immediately emphasize that the picture is refering to a story in which the presume they had lost Petrie forever. Yet while it comes very close to this I wouldn't dare killing anyone from the GOF. "The flyer is gone" would be a better title for the picture as it is open to any interpretation including to the one the story will give.
However in the scene depicted Littlefoot and the others have every reason to believe that they won't ever see Petrie again and that Petrie is dead. I suppose the reactions would be extremely emotional, more so than even the reactions after Mo's presumed death and Littlefoot's probable departure in LBT 10.
As for Littlefoot, the reaction is beautiful within all three pics. I'm not exactly sure how he would react to it all, but I would suspect at least tears if anything. Of course, with him crying, it puts his reputation of him being the leader of the gang on the line, but since everyone else is letting it out, why shouldn't him?
Littlefoot is quite capable of sheeding tears even when nobody else does. We saw him crying or at least being very close to it, in quite a few of the LBT movies (after his mothers dead and the quarrel with Cera in the original movie, during the goodbye to Chomper in LBT 2, he was twice very close to it in LBT 4, and in LBT 6 too he seemed rather near to it. We had him cry about Mo's presumed death, reapeatedly throughout LBT 10 and (my memory may cheat me here) I think he cried in LBT 11 too.
Generally I don't consider the ability to sheed tears a sign of anyone being a better or a worse leader. I also object the frequently quoted concept of Littlefoot being the "leader" of the gang. While this formulation appeared even on official pages I don't think that there is a really established hirarchy within the group, same as there is not a leader of the Great Valley (as grandpa pointed out in LBT 7). Of course Littlefoot does show initiative more often then some of the others, but it doesn't necessarily mean that they will follow him (e.g. LBT 6). Cera is showing such initiative too. Even Spike made a decision for the others (for Petrie and Ducky at least) in LBT 4. This leader discussion is interesting enough I think to be continued in an own thread.
The broken trees in the picture and the ravaged Valley are in direct link to Petrie's disappearing in that story. The scenery adds to the desolate mood which would prevail in the scene.
I didn't run out of ink for the third picture, but everything that was decisive was painted. I didn't really like the felt tip pens and having come to that conclusion I saw now point in drawing out there use any more than necessary. I'd need a software which would allow me to create good pictures to get the kind of coloring which I hoped to get with the felt tip pens. They prooved to be too unsuited for smooth survaces as every single stroke can be seen.
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Good points you made, Malte. I guess I really shouldn't've overexaggerated and nicked it what I did, but I feel that it brings more emotion and understanding to the pic with such a title. :)
Now for the next pic. :)
(http://mitglied.lycos.de/malte279/Random%20LBT%20Art/The%20Onehorn50%25.jpg)
Okay, for some reason, Spike just doesn't look like the Spike I know and love in this drawing. Maybe it has to do with the angle or something. :lol:
Uh-oh! They're teasing Cera about having only one horn and not three. I'd say they're in big trouble. :lol
I'd suspect Littlefoot if anyone to bring it up. Of course, if that happened, we'd see yet another quarrel between the two. Hmm, wonder who would come out the winner this time? :)
Like I said, the only problem I find is Spike. He just doesn't look right. :)
Oh, and my official nick title for this, Tease the One Horn. :lol:
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You do have a point about Spike. It is difficult to pinpoint the problem, but he doesn't look quite the way he should. My best guess is that I gave him too high a forehead. As a result he looks somehow "bald headed" (he is of course, but the top of his head doesn't seem to be as prominent usually). It is just a guess, but I suppose he would look more like Spike if I had drawn the top line of his head low enough to touch the folds over his eyes. Perhaps his head just looks a bit too big in comparison to the rest of his body. Perhaps both of these problems are there.
While the scene doesn't yet occur in any story I have written I could imagine it to be included somewhere. I suppose the teasing of Cera might be a reaction to some particularly boastful behavior of hers.
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Okay, next one...
(http://mitglied.lycos.de/malte279/Random%20LBT%20Art/Flying%20attempts%20(color)%2033%25.jpg)
Hmm, wouldn't allow me to post the black&white one, but at least it let me post the much better looking colored one. :)
Ah, one of the old jokes in many old cartoons where the charcter uses something that can bend properly to make a parachute. I wonder if one can actually pull it off like that IRL? (For safety reasons, those that attempt I would suggest a real parachute just in case it doesn't work.)
Yeah, she doesn't look like she is holding the leaf properally in order for it to work if anything, which might suggest the scared look on her face.
And what do you know, after saving Ducky, Petrie can taunt her back after all this time by saying "You swimmer, no flyer." :lol: (Remember how she reminded him that "You are a flyer not a swimmer" in LBT 3?)
Ah, you gotta love Petrie for his bad grammer. Get rid of that, and he's just not Petrie. :)
Anyways, I think it actually looks pretty good. Good job, Malte. :)
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Thanks a lot for your feedback pokeplayer! I really do appreciate this a lot! :yes
I had never really thought about Ducky's reminiscence of Petrie being a flyer rather than a swimmer when I drew the picture. I think I had the LBT 2 scene in mind in which Ducky points out that they can't fly because they don't have wings. The idea to parachute with about everything that is large enough is of course an old one (and I recommend you not to try it at home. It wouldn't work even with bedlinen! It wouldn't even work with a regular parachute unless you are dropped from a certain minimum hight), but I think it could still be a laugh in an LBT story.
As for the drawing in general, as I said I'm not really happy with the proportions and Ducky's not really holding the leaf. Her face could be a bit more expressive too and Petrie too seems somehow wrong. While I think the basic idea interesting enough to pursue it further in a story I sure would have create a better "remake" of that picture if I really use the idea in a story. :^.^:
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So it wouldn't work, huh? Thought so. :)
However, don't you say that you don't put in unrealistic elements within LBT? I think this might qualify as one. :^.^:
Okay, last one. :)
(http://mitglied.lycos.de/malte279/Random%20LBT%20Art/Kopf%20in%20den%20Sand%2050%25.jpg)
Ah, the old joke that died some time ago. I did actually enjoy Spike burying his head whenever there was something that scared him. Let's see, when did that stop? I can't remember. :)
You were even going to include a text bubble to make it like a comic or something? I would've loved to see that out of ya. :)
I'd say that this is done rather well. I wonder what scared Spike enough to do that after all this time. ^.^
Keep up the good work. I hope to see another pic of yours soon. :D
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However, don't you say that you don't put in unrealistic elements within LBT? I think this might qualify as one.
I said I might put such a scene in. I never said it was going to work out :P: Ducky might end up rather battered from these attempts. Perhaps if she really found a very large leaf it might at least soften her fall a tiny bit (even from a low altitute as unlike a real parachute this leaf wouldn't need to unfold). I don't suppose that idea to be much less realistic than for example the wonderous healing the golden night flower provides. If there was really not a single element in my stories which was unrealistic from a scientific point of view, my stories would certainly not include talking dinosaurs ;)
I think it was in LBT 2 that Spike burried his head last time (I may be mistaken). There he even smashed his head through solid rock!
Ever since we have seen him only hiding his head under his forefeet.
I guess in that picture it would have been sadness rather than fright that made Spike bury his head. At least that was the reference in the text bubble which was meant as a kind of message to a person.
The original drawing, by the way, is considerably smaller than this scanned version.
Keep up the good work. I hope to see another pic of yours soon.
You will. Several more are in store and recently I finished a "bigger project" which I will show you one of these days.
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Alright, here comes that bigger project. It is an acryl painting which I thought to be a nice change between all the drawings. The depicted scene is not yet firmly planned into one of my stories, but it might be included. While I failed to take pictures of the earliest stages of the picture (pencil outlines etc.) I took pictures throughout various steps of the painting.
Here is the first one:
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Acryl%20Paintings/Waterfall/painting01.jpg)
Some outlines of rock and waterfall are already visible, as are some character outlines. I started painting the characters only when their surroundings were done.
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Acryl%20Paintings/Waterfall/painting02.jpg)
Basic color is added to the background mountains which still look very flat at this stage.
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Acryl%20Paintings/Waterfall/painting03.jpg)
I thought to add some structure to the rocks in the foreground by adding these dark lines which were supposed to look like cracks in the rock. Very bad move, isn't it? I got rid of those cracks again. The mountains in the background got a little more color looking slightly less flat now. Also some structure was added to the falling water.
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Acryl%20Paintings/Waterfall/painting04.jpg)
The cracks are gone and instead some moss or other plants as well as some more shading were added to the rocks and the mountains in the background. This is looking beter. Now I added some color into the characters, but so far mainly in order not to loose track of their position and posture (note that Petrie, supposed to sit on Littlefoot's head, is not yet even indicated).
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Acryl%20Paintings/Waterfall/painting05.jpg)
The ground below the waterfalls looked very boring so far. Just flat green, not even looking like a proper "lawn". I didn't mean to have lawn in the Great Valley anyway, it had to be a wood. It is amazing how much grey needs to be added to the colors (in particular to the colors of elements which are supposed to be far away) to make it look realistic. It took several attempts for the wood and some screenshots from LBT 3 proved very helpful here. I'm quite happy with the result. Some mist is indicated above the wood in the background and yet more green was added to the rocks.
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Acryl%20Paintings/Waterfall/painting07.jpg)
Now I began to work with the characters. Just like the other parts it is amazing how much their colors need to be paled by adding white to them. Even the way it is now Spikes green is perhaps too strong and too dark. I changed the brown of Littlefoot in this step too, but as you can see the color doesn't look like Littlefoot.
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Acryl%20Paintings/Waterfall/painting09.jpg)
That's better. Littlefoots color consists of lots of white plus light and dark blue, plus some red, plus some sienna brown. Like Spike Cera's color too may still be too strong, thogh the yellowish orange was mixed with quite some grey and light brown. Petrie has been added too now and the characters are no longer blind.
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Acryl%20Paintings/Waterfall/painting10.jpg)
This is what the hole picture looked like at that stage.
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Acryl%20Paintings/Waterfall/painting11.jpg)
This is the picture as it looks now. At this stage I added some water spray around the fall and added some clouds to the sky which otherwise would have looked too smooth. I considered making it a dusk or a dawn sky instead or add some rainbow in the water spray, but I'm afraid that even if it had worked out properly there would have been a high risk of the result turning out too kitschee.
I'm not a hundred percent certain if the picture is really finished. Perhaps the waterfall looks too smooth and blue (real waterfalls are white rather than blue and are rarely as smooth as shown in this picture).
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Mmm..paintings certainly are a different direction for you. I like how you show us the steps taken to the final presentation. You've worked hard on the detail and it shows in the end. :)
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I think it was in LBT 2 that Spike burried his head last time (I may be mistaken). There he even smashed his head through solid rock!
:lol:
I remember that! Boy, he probably has a head as tough as Cera's. (Which is saying alot based on what we saw her do in LBT 4. Smashing multiple times through big boulders and still going? Man she's tough! :lol:)
Now, as for the new art...
Well, the steps you have given us show that you worked hard on this. You get an A+ for effort.
As for the beauty, if I was an art teacher, and the beauty of your drawing was a big part of your final grade for my class, you would pass with flying colors. You'd actually be one of the top 3 students within my class of 100 students.
The charcters actually look like they would in the movies. Being able to duplicate that, down to the last detail, can be a difficult job. :P:
The trees nearby don't look right, but they are done quite well, regardless.
That seems to be the only problem I really have with your painting.
One of the top 3 out of 100 students? Now you KNOW that's good! :p
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Whoa! That's some impressive pieces there Malte! :o Dare I ask, how long did that take you to do altogether? I love the progressive stages you've shown there. I gotta hand it to you for your unique style. Paint can be a fussy character to deal with but, from the looks of this, it's a natural talent for you.
Nice job mate! ;) Was this piece an inspiration from one of your stories by chance?
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I remember that! Boy, he probably has a head as tough as Cera's. (Which is saying alot based on what we saw her do in LBT 4. Smashing multiple times through big boulders and still going? Man she's tough!
There are some scenes in which Spike is behaving in a Cera-like manner. Sometimes I wonder if good-natured Spike admires aggressive Cera and tries to imitate her on occassions.
Thank you all for your feedback on the picture. Receiving feedback (including constructive criticism) makes you much more eager to post pictures here. :yes
The trees nearby don't look right, but they are done quite well, regardless.
Can you pinpoint what looks wrong about the trees? I had used an LBT 3 screenshot as an example on how it would look and I was actually quite happy with the trees, more so than with som other points of the picture (while I'm quite happy with the overall result).
Dare I ask, how long did that take you to do altogether?
Not too long actually. I has some interruptions during the painting in which I was doing other stuff prolonging the time to finish the picture. If the interruptions were cut out I suppose it would be about a days worth of time (perhaps slightly more) to make this.
Was this piece an inspiration from one of your stories by chance?
Not yet sure if the picture was inspired by a story of if the picture will inspire a story. There is one I'm planning on in which such a scene might occur as a waterfall in the Great Valley plays an important role. There is only a very rough plot so far, so I'm not yet certain.
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There are some scenes in which Spike is behaving in a Cera-like manner. Sometimes I wonder if good-natured Spike admires aggressive Cera and tries to imitate her on occassions.
Really? :o
Never noticed. :P:
I would expect him to pick someone as an idol from the group, but I never expected Cera. :lol:
I'm not exactly sure what it is, but they just don't look right to me. Then again, it is difficult to draw a whole bunch of trees where you can tell one from another. :lol:
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Truly impressive work, Malte! Your effort and skill really shows here. B) Very impressive use of colour, especially on Littlefoot! :D I agree that perhaps Cera's and Spike's colours are a little too strong, especially compared to Littlefoot's colour.
As for criticism, I find that Spike's back end seems *slightly* larger than usual in this picture? :lol Sort of hump-backed, for lack of a better wording.
It appears to be a very slow-moving river going over that waterfall, as the quick, steep angle at which the water flows over the edge of the mountain suggests a low velocity. The water conforms to the plane of the ground surface quite perfectly and there is no turbulance of water on the top of the waterfall. I'm not sure if this was intentional, but it's just something I noticed :) the presence of mist coming up from the fall gives the impression of a faster-moving waterfall, but maybe that's just my interpretation, due to the art medium used.
Overall though Malte, I like this one very much! :wow
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I kind of forgot to keep up this thread for a while. This picture was done on June 13th of this year.
Here is the black and white drawing:
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Drawings/CerascoldingSpikeblackandwhiteverkl.jpg)
And here's the color version of the same drawing:
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Drawings/CerascoldingSpikecolor233.jpg)
There is a sequel picture to this one which I'm going to post here soon. Looking carefully at the characters, their expressions, and postures you may perhaps be able to guess what might be shown in the sequel picture.
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Hmm, I can't figure out what's going on with this one. Does it have something to do with Spike? :)
Poor Spike. He looks like he's stuck or something. B)
With how they were drawn, I expected nothing less from you. :) Good job! :^.^:
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I've just watched your images, Malte279, and I've got only one word to say...
WOW!!! :o
Keep up the good work.
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Thanks to everyone responding :yes
Any reaction both praise and constructive criticism is really welcome.
Here is the picture which I mentioned before as a kind of sequel to the picture I posted earlier. Actually I drew this one first, so actually the other one would be a prequel rather than a this one being a sequel:
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Drawings/DuckyscoldingCerablackandwhiteverkl.jpg)
And here is a colored version of it:
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Drawings/DuckyscoldingCeracolor33.jpg)
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What's Petrie laughing at? I don't remember.
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Look at everybody's faces and postures. You may be able to see what he is laughing about. I often try to make drawings which tell little stories of their own. The faces and postures are usually a giveaway about what the character's are thinking.
The last two images belong to the "same story" just with the latter being a later scene.
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^ I know what he's laughing at. It's only because I know of what Malte's last story he was writing is about and it revolves around Cera.
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True, but these pictures don't belong to that story. Actually I haven't posted any pictures from that story (Old Threehorns) yet except, I think, for a cover I made up for that story quite a while ago. Those pictures I posted here are not directly connected to any story of mine.
But what is Petrie laughing about Petrie?
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In the last but one picture Cera seems to be scolding Spike who is covering low behind a rock. Whatever reason Spike may have given Cera to be angry, Littlefoot, and Petrie don't look like they think Spike deserved the lecture Cera is giving him. Ducky seems to be positively mad at Cera for treating her little brother like that (we don't see Ducky's face, but she is looking at Cera, her fists clenched).
In the second picture Ducky's care for her little brother apparently good the better part of her over her natural gentleness and her desire not to be mad at anyone. I like the dumpfounded look on the face of Cera who is falling back from Ducky obviously not accustomed to be treated like that by somebody who barely reaches over her knees. Littlefoot doesn't conceal his glee over the lesson Cera is receiving and Petrie is rolling on the floor with laughter, while Spike smiles fondly at his big protective sister ;)
In the background of the pencil version Mr. Threehorn seems to be concerned about the safety of his daugther :lol:
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I have a little sketchbook which is meanwhile extremely worn out. It includes the earliest land before time drawings from the time after my "LBT renaisance" in December 1998. I recall that the first LBT drawings I made by that time was one page with three images of Littlefoot and one with three Duckys. Those drawings were made after the pattern of some shots from the land before time I had in a book dating from the time before my "LBT renaisance". Regretably those two pages are gone. I never cast them afraid, but I'm afraid somebody else must have :(
Therefore the drawings from the sketchbook are the earliest LBT drawings I still have except for those kindergarten drawings at the beginning of this thread. Most of the drawings in the sketchbook are from 1999 and in most (not all) cases I practiced drawing LBT characters off the screen. I was looking especially for striking expressions. Perhaps you may be able to identify from which movies and which scenes some of the drawings are:
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Sketchbooksketches/Sketchbook01.jpg)
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In those early days, seems like you had the most success with (surprise) Petrie. At least your drawing of him was consistent each time....that's what I'm going on.
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Funny, for altogether he is the one I drew least frequently (not on those two pages I posted here but as a whole). However, he is also the only one of whom there is a freehand drawing on the two pages I posted. The image of him attacking a sharptooth's eye (I certainly drew this because there was such a scene in the fanfiction I wrote back then) is the only one for which I didn't copy any movie shot.
I do not recall every single o those images, but most of them.
Petrie from the upper left is from LBT 3 ("We no act like that!") the Littlefoot face right of that is from the same movie (the scene when Cera's father forbade her to hang around with Littlefoot, the moment when she walks towards him from behind Littlefoot). I cannot pinpoint the Ducky head to the right, but I'm quite sure it is from a similar scene of the same movie. The smiling and shrugging Ducky on the right just told Littlefoot that he is not an influence whatever that might be ;)
The two Littlefoot heads with Ducky respectively Ducky and Petrie on his head as well as the Spike with Petrie on his head and the sad looking Cera are all from the scenes that go along with the song "Kids like us". The other Spike on that page is from the LBT 3 scene when they spot the raptors.
On the lower page LBT 5 comes in, but I cannot account for all those Littlefoot heads. The one to the left (which looks somewhat distorted; I did a bad job on that one) is from the moment after Cera proclaimed that she didn't want to hang around with threehorns only for they were to bossy. The surprised Looking Littlefoot right of that one is from the moment when he just heard Spike sniffing (smelling the Big Water). The angry looking Ducky below those two is from the scene when Spike almost ate her at the beginning of the movie. I don't remember about the other pictures on that page, but they are definitely not freehand. I suppose most of them to be from LBT 5 as well.
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There are two drawings in that sketchbook showing a scene from the fanfiction The Big Quarrel (http://www.gangoffive.net/index.php?topic=394). I drew that scene from two different angles but never made a more elaborate colored drawing of the scene.
It is quite literally a "cliffhanger" scene with Spike hanging on the cliff and Petrie and Ducky hanging on Spike. The first sketch shows the scene from above (I'm quite sure Spike's facial expression was taken from the scene in LBT 6 where he is stuck in that log while Sharptooth is approaching):
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Sketchbooksketches/Sketchbook05.jpg)
The other drawing shows the same scene from below so we see a bit more of Ducky who can hardly be seen from the other angle:
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Sketchbooksketches/Sketchbook06.jpg)
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There are two more drawings in the sketchbook showing scenes from the story the Big Quarrel which were never turned into a more elaborate drawing, at least not in the way they were lined out in the sketchbook.
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Sketchbooksketches/Sketchbook21.jpg)
This picture shows Cera accidentaly overhearing Littlefoot. Even this sketch isn't quite finished as we don't see Ducky, Petrie, and Spike to whom Littlefoot is talking. It is still one of my earliest freehand drawings. No character in this drawing is copied from any movie scene. I never worked this one out.
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Sketchbooksketches/Sketchbook22.jpg)
In case of this drawing I did make a more elaborate color penciled drawing (http://www.gangoffive.net/index.php?topic=394.0) (the image posted on January 4th 2006), but it showed the whole scene from a totally different angle. The idea in this scene was that Cera, after drinking from a lake, sees the mirorred image of Ali behind her own reflection on the water surface and mistakes her for Littlefoot at first. While I made this drawing I realized this would require a very, very steep shore for Cera couldn't possibly see Ali's reflection unless she stood close behind and high above her. Perhaps I tried to avoid this problem when I made the final drawing from a different angle leaving out what Cera sees on the water surface. I'm not really happy having avoided rather than solved that problem <_<
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Just viewing more sketches, I just have one question: why on graph paper? You said you never got around to coloring the pictures, but if you intended to later color these, you'd have lines through your drawing.
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Those are just very raw sketches from the sketchbook I mentioned earlier. The sketchbook (which was not designed as a sketchbook at all) has graph paper. Those sketches in the book were never meant to be colored but were mostly to either practice drawing LBT characters (remember most of the drawings are from the time right after my "LBT renaisance") or to get just a rough idea of what a picture might look like if done more carefully on proper paper. The last four drawings were never turned into better drawings on clear paper, which is why they might be interesting as I didn't show you any final versions before.
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This is a drawing I made last year for Aria's 19th birthday. It shows Ducky in her element. In spite of the frequent mentions of her being a swimmer this fact was of almost no significant to the plots of the movies so far. I'm thinking about a story in which her swimming abilities are of any real importance.
I'm not really happy with the underwater look of this picture, mainly because it doesn't really look like it was under water. If it wasn't for Ducky's posture and the air bubbles around her one might easily mistake the scenery for one above the water surface. I never did any under water drawings before, but I suppose their would have to be different light effects and a less clearly defined, darker background.
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Drawings/Duckyinherelement.jpg)
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I made another little drawing during some university's lectures. I appologize for the poor quality, but it is the best I can get it without a proper scanner at hand :(
(http://mitglied.lycos.de/malte2709/Drawings/Cera_prevails.jpg)
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I finished another land before time acryl painting. I had begun it last year, but almost didn't continue working on it at all for months because of university exams. Anyway, here it is from the begining to the result:
These are just the rough pencil outlines on the canvas to give a rough idea what is supposed to be where:
(http://mitglied.lycos.de/malte2709/Volcano/Volcano1.jpg)
First layers of color parting the canvas in a few "sectors":
(http://mitglied.lycos.de/malte2709/Volcano/Volcano2.jpg)
A rather greyish background for the sky and several more layers of color only roughly "brushed" onto the canvas surface to give the rocks a little more structure:
(http://mitglied.lycos.de/malte2709/Volcano/Volcano3.jpg)
Things begin to get "exciting". You can only guess the previous grey background of the sky in the upper left corner. The black smoke of the volcano reflects some of the reddish fire. The fire itself doesn't look too hot though:
(http://mitglied.lycos.de/malte2709/Volcano/Volcano4.jpg)
This looks more like you could get some burned fingers from it. The lava too looks more liquid when brightened up a little:
(http://mitglied.lycos.de/malte2709/Volcano/Volcano5.jpg)
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Now the characters get their first color. I began with those colors which in carious shades are used for several characters:
(http://mitglied.lycos.de/malte2709/Volcano/Volcano6.jpg)
And continued with the more individual colors. I had to completely redo Littlefoot as his color was at first way too brown. It is surprising how much white and / or grey is included in all the character's colors. I don't think I really hit the color mark in case of any of the characters but tried to get as close to the mark as possible:
(http://mitglied.lycos.de/malte2709/Volcano/Volcano7.jpg)
Some green stuff on the mountains in the background and some eyes for the characters:
(http://mitglied.lycos.de/malte2709/Volcano/Volcano8.jpg)
Volcano eruptions are supposed to be dangerous. I added some fire and glowing "bombs" of the volcano to point out that fact. I had meant to add a lot more of it (to demonstrate why Ducky is shielding her head with her arm) but decided I didn't want the whole thing to look too apocalyptic. This is the finished picture:
(http://mitglied.lycos.de/malte2709/Volcano/Volcano9.jpg)
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And here are a few closer shots at the finished characters.
Here is Cera. Note Petrie cowering down behind her frill:
(http://mitglied.lycos.de/malte2709/Volcano/Volcano10.jpg)
Littlefoot:
(http://mitglied.lycos.de/malte2709/Volcano/Volcano11.jpg)
Ducky and Spike. I'm afraid I stretched Ducky's left arm too far. Also her other arm doesn't stand out from her head enough:
(http://mitglied.lycos.de/malte2709/Volcano/Volcano12.jpg)
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Here is the colored version of the drawing I posted recently.
From her looks it seems like Cera somehow got something her way while the others don't seem to be too happy about whatever she did or may be up too.
(http://mitglied.lycos.de/malte2709/Drawings/Cera_prevails-colored2.jpg)
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This is the most recent LBT drawing I made. While the scene is not from a fanfiction I have ready in my mind a story may be built up around the scene. As I still don't have a working scanner at my disposal there are some strange light reflections on the picture which are caused by the flashlight of my camera (no flashlight made it turn out too dark and blury).
(http://mitglied.lycos.de/malte2709/Drawings/InSharptoothShadow.jpg)
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I didn't know what the heck an acryl painting was before, but now I do. Now what I like about that is how it gives the impression of three dimensions yet it really isn't and it all comes down to the colors chosen to represent the depth. :) That's really sweet.
The rest of these sketches I haven't seem before. What I have noticed through the years is your characters have become less blocky and more rounded especially in the legs and torso. This continues to improve. :)
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Thank you very much for the response :yes
I didn't know what the heck an acryl painting was before, but now I do.
You already saw one before though ;)
There is that waterfal painting you already commented on on (currently on page 2 of this thread). The colors are somewhat similar to oil colors but take much less time to dry and can be combined with water.
The rest of these sketches I haven't seem before. What I have noticed through the years is your characters have become less blocky and more rounded especially in the legs and torso. This continues to improve.
Thank you. Were they blocky? This is something I didn't yet pay attention too knowingly therefore this comment really helps :yes Something I often messed up in my earlier drawings are too long and thin legs and sometimes too small feed for the two-legged characters (Ducky, Pterano etc.).
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Very nice artwork. ^_^
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Sometimes I just forget to continue unfinished threads. Sorry about this, there is more for this one.
The next drawing is one I did in 2003 or 2004 upon the request of a fan who was planning on a picture with the same motive (he described me what he wanted to create and I made the drawing upon his description) and was looking for some inspiration.
I guess some may think of it as "suggestive" and I see where those are coming from who think of it that way. However, I have often stated my view on the Littlefoot / Ali relationship and the extend of it, so "Honi soit qui mal y pense" ("shame upon him who thinks evil of it" :lol:):
(http://mitglied.lycos.de/malte279/Random%20LBT%20Art/LittlefootAli50.jpg)
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freakin' good!
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Very nice! You got talent!
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That is a good drawing.
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Dang! Ya have quite some talent, Malte :yes.
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Thank you :)
Today I did some LBT sketches at the university. I tried to sketch Cera's father from memory. I rarely drew him before, so I could not rely on my memory too much and I didn't have any image to check out for comparison. As a result there are a couple of mistakes in the image of him. I hope to get a bit better acquainted with photoshop so I used it to color this picture:
(http://mitglied.lycos.de/malte2709/Old%20Threehorns/Tops2.jpg)
Thanks to Kacie I could resolve the coloring issues I had with the second drawing I made today. It shows a character from my LBT story "Old Threehorns":
(http://mitglied.lycos.de/malte2709/Old%20Threehorns/Tritus2.jpg)
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These are mind-blowing Malte! The one of Topsy is fantastic...and you had absolutly no reference pics for him. You are very talented. I look forward to more!
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From memory :wow?! That's quite some photographic memory ya have there :yes.
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You have drawing talent, I hope you further it.
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it shows a character from my LBT story old threehorns
could you give me a link to that fanfiction?
but very good!
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I guess I will start posting that fanfiction (it is titled "Old Threehorns") here once I finish the posting of "The Cold Time". However, "Old Threehorns" is not finished so far. I'm afraid it is not a very readable product. It probably is too long winded. I think only Kacie and Kor ever read as much as the 9 pages prologue.
I'm quite happy with the way Tops and Tritus (that's the name of the other character) turned out. As for the little mistakes, where my memory failed me when I was drawing Tops, he lacks the bony projections which he ought to sport below the end of his frill. Also Tops in the movies has a few lines running from his nose horn up between his eyes making his face look a little more angular (while Cera's face is very round). The sockets of his horns are smoother in the movie than they appear in this drawing. Haying established these points now I will remember them in future drawings of Tops. It is interesting to draw him as I think noticing these points may be helpful in drawing grownup characters in general, not just him.
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I think I learned a bit about Photoshop today :)
I have been experimenting with it for quite a few hours today and I'm quite happy with the result:
(http://mitglied.lycos.de/malte279/Random%20LBT%20Art/Cera_scolds_Ducky9.jpg)
Still I see why a graphic tablet would be a good idea. If only the good ones weren't so expensive.
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It's soo cool.. What's the story behind this..? Ducky being a bad girl ? =D
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Wow, Thats some talent you got there
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Thank you :)
Judging from Littlefoot's look I'm not so sure Ducky is the bad one ;)
A while ago I made the drawing of Cera getting lectured by Ducky (it really was funny to draw a picture with the roles so different from the expectations ;)). Maybe I came up with this one for the sake of the "accustomed order" :p
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You showed it to me before, but here's more feedback for you matey! :^.^:
It's looking greeeaaat! :yes
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Very well done drawing. Looks like you go the hang of photoshop very well.
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Nice picture malte :yes . The grass could be also used very good as a forest :huh:
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I did another drawing with Photoshop, experimenting with a few more features of the program.
It's titled "Morning Light and Evening Star":
(http://mitglied.lycos.de/malte279/Random%20LBT%20Art/Morning_light_and_evening_star9.jpg)
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Wow, Malte, that is very impressive!
Perhaps some of the subtle shading, specifically around the sunrise, should be a bit different than that on the mountains further away from the sun. Littlefoot seems to be lighter on the side facing away from the sun, too.
Shading and depth perception can be a lot of work and effort, for sure. These are really the only two places I find this picture could benefit from improvement.
I love the texturing on the mountains and the grass; great work!
Very pretty artwork and style, Malte! Very nice. :)
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Thank you for your feedback Tim! this is really helpful :yes
I certainly have to work on the shading. I don't like the way the shading of the foreleg / shoulder turned out either. Maybe I'll make a daylight version of this picture (without morning light or evening star). I suppose that would be a bit easier.
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Wow! Good job there Malte!
Shadings huh? Well, if you want any help, try and ask Littlefoot. He tought me how to do it in, what was it now? Less than 5 minutes? :yes
Splendid!
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It's good Malte. One thing perhaps you could think about though, is Littlefoot's head. I'm not an artist, but the way it's attached to his neck doesn't quite look right. An excellent picture Malte.
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One thing perhaps you could think about though, is Littlefoot's head. I'm not an artist, but the way it's attached to his neck doesn't quite look right
I was trying to decide if Littlefoot looked like he was older or if he was wearing a helmet. :lol
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This picture is impressive...as I can barely use Photoshop. I will be sure to keep an eye on this thread for future pics.
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Nice drawing. It looks like you are developing skill too like more then a few here have done.
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Maybe I can pinpoint the issue with Littlefoot's head in this picture. I guess the main problem is how the neck seems to be attached more to the back than to the lower part of his head. It was somewhat tricky to draw. Realistically the neck would have to form a kind of s-curve rather than what I came up with in the drawing. Sometimes they simplified the longnecks' neck in the same way in the movies by allowing themselves some liberty on where to attach them to the head. I must admit however, that this applies more to the grownup longnecks than to Littlefoot (in general the necks of the grownups seem to be more to the back than to the bottom of the heads).
A realistic s-curve might have looked rather unwieldy in the picture, but still I guess I should have gone for it seeing that the neck shape I settled for appears rather irritating too.
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You do have to allow for some artistic license. Have you tried looking at some longneck fossil pictures online, not sure if that would help or not. Though I do think the drawing is well done.
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It's very nice malte :)
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The next drawing is not quite complete as it lacks any background (but I don't know these days when I will find the leisure to create that background). The TV series came up with several scenes which revealed that in spite of everything Ducky doesn't feel a 100% at ease with Chomper (some basic instincts of survival are not abandoned easily :^.^:), a fact which inspired the following picture:
(http://mitglied.lycos.de/malte279/Random%20LBT%20Art/A_Sharptooth_Hug7.jpg)
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I see that someone has made use of the shading tools! :yes
Very nice drawing Malte! Ducky sure looks... unsecure? :^.^:
Keep it up!
/Lillefot
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Good job malte, I had already seen it a bit :) Lovely
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Well done drawing and a good scene of the 2 characters. I think part of the reason for Ducky maybe feeling a bit uneasy around Chomper is at times he looks at her sometimes when he tells the others he's hungry. Maybe meant to be a bit of comedy with the comedy coming from her reaction. Icwise it may come from that she was present when he hatched and he may have, at least, partially imprinted on her since I think she was the first one, or one of the first ones that he saw when he hatched so a part of him looks to her when he's hungry. Though his imprinting on Littlefoot may be stronger then his with Ducky since he saw Littlefoot longer and he did take care of Chomper at first, though he didn't like the food that Littlefoot tried to get him to eat.
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Ugh! I'm behind! :P:
Anyways, great work you've been doing with Photoshop. I can understand Ducky's uneasiness. As good of a friend as Chomper is, he's STILL a Sharptooth.
However, I must say that Ducky's face doesn't look right. I just can't figure out what's off though. -_-
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Thank you for your helpful comments :yes
I'm kind of mad at myself today for rather than continue the work on my university essay I just started to finish one drawing I had begun a while ago and I just couldn't stop before it was done, by which time most of the day was gone :bang
Well, I guess I needed the respite and I hope that the end justify the time that were required for the means:
(http://mitglied.lycos.de/malte279/Random%20LBT%20Art/Mocking_Cera17.jpg)
I have grown kind of fond of the idea of Cera being mocked by the others about having just one horn (of course only after a particularly extreme bit of boasting about being a THREEhorn) :lol
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Hey, good job malte. I like the idea, haha. I like the background too! And you did a very good job with the shading. I really like it :^.^: !
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Looks good Malte!
You've really got an adept hand for photoshop ;) The fact that they're your own creations also makes it that much more impressive!
Well done my friend! ;)
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Nice picture and coloring. I also like the various expressions on the character's faces. The break you took to do this picture may well let you do a better essay since everyone needs to take a break now and then, though most do not believe they need any breaks.
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Thank you for your helpful comments :yes
I'm kind of mad at myself today for rather than continue the work on my university essay I just started to finish one drawing I had begun a while ago and I just couldn't stop before it was done, by which time most of the day was gone :bang
Well, I guess I needed the respite and I hope that the end justify the time that were required for the means:
(http://mitglied.lycos.de/malte279/Random%20LBT%20Art/Mocking_Cera17.jpg)
I have grown kind of fond of the idea of Cera being mocked by the others about having just one horn (of course only after a particularly extreme bit of boasting about being a THREEhorn) :lol
:lol I like this one! XD
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good work they look nice.
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Hehe, I really like this one. xD
So true. :lol
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Cera lookes slightly ticked off in that picture. :lol
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I suppose she would lock more ticked off if Petrie and Ducky continue this. A few pages back i had a different drawing of the same motive but with Ducky playing a more active part in teasing Cera who certainly doesn't look like she's enjoying the joke.
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She looks like she may be a short time from charging at someone.
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^ She may be.
It would be tricky for her though to try to charge Petrie while he is sitting behind her frill. Come to think of it, I guess this might make for a really hilarious scene in a story. :lol
Here is another picture I finished some days ago. Some of you have seen it on MSN already, but I have done some final corrections by now. Special thanks go to Kacie who made me aware of one mistake about the coloring of Spike's upper jaw, which I had committed in several previous pictures already and which I corrected in this one. Thank you Kacie, that was really helpful feedback :yes
In this picture I was mainly experimenting with some light and shadow effects:
(http://mitglied.lycos.de/malte279/Random%20LBT%20Art/Scared_gang26.jpg)
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Nice picture. Looks like they may be on or near a volcano.
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Aye, they certainly are :yes
That eruption in front of them is probably just some minor "vent" of something much bigger that has already darkened the sky.
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Hello:
Well, it is a relief it is only a minor vent, but lava is lava and that horror in the Gang's faces is very well done, I would be scared in that way too :DD .
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Good job Malte :).
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I'm not really happy with the way this next picture turned out. The proportions are really messed up. Chomper's head is too small, Littlefoot's and Cera's faces seem to be "stretched" and Ducky and Petrie don't look alright either. However, this picture was mainly a reaction to the closure of that land before time office.
The German title for it is "Jetzt erst recht!" I'm afraid I don't know any English phrase that carries the same spirit. I guess the closest translation I can think of would "Now more than ever!"
(http://mitglied.lycos.de/malte279/Random%20LBT%20Art/Jetzt%20erst%20recht9.jpg)
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Well, despite these "proportion issues", I think this turned out quite good. :) Hah, they all look like they're all ready to fight back at someone. Probably a pack of sharp teeth.
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is that why they look angry because of what is going on with the land before time office? the colors look nice and bright. :)
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That or maybe the bullies are up to their usual stuff..
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I wanted them to look defiant, along the lines of: "Office closed? So what?! We will not be extinct!"
Note that although they look angry, they are also smiling at the same time.
Ducky looks a bit like she means to beat the heck out of someone :p
I like the idea of Ducky displaying that "unduckyish" gesture of hitting her palm with her fist.
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Nice drawing and sentiment.
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Heh, this looks cool. :^.^:
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i like the expression on their faces
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Exelent peice of art, Malte!
Their expressions really says it all about closing the office. :x
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I finished another drawing showing a scene resembling one from one of my stories:
(http://mitglied.lycos.de/malte2709/Old%20Threehorns/Fleeing%20Flyers15.jpg)
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Awesome drawing malte :D Maybe you should've added a bit more shadow to the wings.
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That is a good drawing. Thanks for showing it here.
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Hello:
It looks very good, it sure creates tons of questions like: is that Pterano? and is that the same volcano of your previous pic?
I hope both of them will get into safety unharmed, keep it up with these good pics!
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Yes, that is Pterano on that picture. As for whether or not it is the same volcano as in a previous picture, it depends on which picture you are referring too. One of my Acryl pictures shows the same volcano, but the more recent picture of a volcanic eruption was not related to the story this scene is from (the scene is not yet written down so in the story, it might vary a bit from the way it is presented here).
They will escape the volcano, but that one does not pose the most serious trouble they have been in and are still in for.
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Wow. That is really a good picture. o.O
Awesome volcano. ^^
Though, I'm missing some shadings on their wings.
Or it might be my really old monitor. ;)
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It is not your monitor ;)
Iris too was perfectly right to point out the insufficient shading. I guess I grew kind of careless towards the end. Maybe I should edit it once again to create a version with better shading. Thank you all for the helpful criticism :yes
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yay! precious art! :yes :^.^:
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Be sure to save the original so you can compare it side by side with any new edited version that you do.
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I did a few edits about the shadowing, but I can't say I'm really happy with the result. It is a bit tricky to determine what the light and shadow effects would look like anyway if we assume the sky to be covered by smoke from the volcano. I suppose the whole thing would have to look a lot darker to begin with with only "fiery" kind of lights originating from fire and its reflection:
(http://mitglied.lycos.de/malte2709/Old%20Threehorns/Fleeing%20Flyers17.jpg)
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You just have to do what you think is best. Go with what feels right I"d say, but I"m no artist. Still a nice picture in my opinion.
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Hmm.. Yes probably the whole thing would be a bit darker if you really would want to pay alot of attention to the smoke + fire. I made a drawing like that once. But it was just with pencil.
The shading is a bit better now
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I think out of every single drawing you have done, this one has to be my most favorite of all.
1. My absolute favorite character is in there along with my favorite character out of the "gang of five"(not the site, but out of original five characters). :P:
2. The fire looks pretty realistic. I mean not so much that I would go :wow, but still it's pretty close to 3-D.
I will give you no critique simply because I don't know how to make art like that. :p And I don't think it would be my place to.
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Thank you all for your comments :)
I do not take offense in criticism and I'm certain that people offering it (to help improving future art) don't mean any harm either; quite the contrary. Being unable to stand criticism, I'm not sure how worthy one would be of praise.
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you did the good thing by make it darker, its more realistic now, :^.^:
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Being unable to stand criticism, I'm not sure how worthy one would be of praise.
What do you mean by that?
Edit: Actually, nevermind, I'll pm you about it. :p
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I don't want to overload my PM folders too much (I prefer emails) and if it was misunderstandable I better try to explain it in the public sphere.
Not only in fanart but in almost every situation in life one cannot expect to get only praise and ignore or refuse any criticism. Many people tried and many people failed with such a stand. Criticism can help us to improve ourselves (same as praise can if we know what it is that we ought to keep up). Being unable to take criticism or live with the fact that other people have views and opinions different from our own means a real mutilation of our ability to communicate. If one cannot stand any criticism and won't accept anything else one should be aware of the fact that one is lying to oneself same as one will make others lie to oneself if they are aware that honest and well meant criticism will just make you angry.
There is but one way to avoid any criticism (whether spoken out aloud or kept silent) and that is to do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing. I suppose accepting and perhaps even cherishing the fact that we are not perfect and are therefore able to improve ourselves is more honest than to pretend to ourselves that we were perfect and that nobody thinks anything negative about us.
If I notice a person is pissed off about any form of criticism the same person will not receive sieved and semi-true praise from me either anymore. Sometimes being silent may cause less harm than semi-truths or outright lies.
There is even a scene in LBT 7 which goes roughly in that direction. Something is said along the lines that a good leader must be willing to take the praise when things are good and the blame when they go bad. The same thing (though "blame" would in many cases be the wrong term) goes for most things, other than leadership, as well.
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When you just said that, I also thought of something else. If all you give is just praise toward people or all you want is praise from people, it eventually isn't going to mean anything anymore and you start to wonder if what they are saying is true or not. So then you may start having that belief that words don't mean anything. At least I would think so.
Unfortunately for some people, *guiltily raises hand* because they have been critiqued for such a long time and always feel the need to impress people..especially themselves...that's probably one of the reasons why some people can't take too much critique, if any at all.
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It can be very difficult to accept criticism, especially if it is about something we did or said that we found particularly good. And not to be misunderstood I don't mean to condemn those who can't stand criticism (my choice of words was somewhat too harsh when calling them "not worthy of praise), but I want to encourage all of them to LEARN to stand well meant criticism. It is something that can be learned and learning this will be a great benefit to you.
I used to be unable to stand constructive criticism. When I was at primary school I was so addicted to praise that any suggestion that I could have done better on something drove me to the edge of tears (or far beyond it).
There are of course kinds of criticism which are more like offenses (e.g. saying that something is stupid without saying what exactly is stupid or why it would be), but if people can tell you what they dislike or why they dislike it (the later cannot always be explained as sometimes things are just a matter of taste) their criticism can be very helpful. Of course sometimes you need not agree with your critics but in any case it is very helpful if one learns not to feel personally attacked or offended by critical comments which are not meant to do just that.
Sometimes it can be very difficult to tell a person you like that there is something about his or her work, or sayings, or actions that you dislike. The receiver of constructive criticism should be aware that it may have been difficult for the critic to voice his or her honest opinion.
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While that choice of words, "not worthy of praise" may have sounded somewhat harsh so some, I must say, that was a REALLY powerful statement to say.
I do agree that real good criticism is saying what you liked about something and what you didn't like about a certain work, idea, etc.
And I think it's typical more for a young person to be offended by criticism. I suppose they just need to experience life more in order to take criticism.
I used to be unable to stand constructive criticism. When I was at primary school I was so addicted to praise that any suggestion that I could have done better on something drove me to the edge of tears (or far beyond it).
So was I, and...I guess I still am. :p
I'm trying to work on it though.
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I almost forgot about that Sketchbook of mine from which I have posted some drawings a while ago already. In that sketchbook I had practiced drawing LBT characters, often by copying from the screen. The drawings in that book are among the oldest of my LBT drawings I still have. Here are some more sketches from that book. Let's see who can tell from which scenes these characters are (none of them are freehand):
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Sketchbooksketches/Sketchbook02.jpg)
In this one the Cera and Ducky are freehand, but the Littlefoot is not. Can you tell where this face is coming from?
(http://mitglied.lycos.de/malte2709/Sketches/Sketchbook3.jpg)
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Interesting drawings. Some of those look like they may be from the 2nd movie, with Chomper looking like a hatchling & maybe Ducky running from him (or from the plot & such of the 10th movie).
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Hard to tell... dunno , from a rock or a tree?
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Or Ducky could be skidding to a stop as she finds a sharptooth blocking her path?
I like the picture of Chomper and Ducky in the upper left of the first page.
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heh nice :p
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kinda hard to see but its OK,
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The Littlefoot one reminds me of one of my pics of Sinuous that I did a while back. The eyes look kind of like my style of doing them. http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o191/Ba...randenemies.jpg (http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o191/Bat-Snake/Brotherandenemies.jpg)
Am I right?
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I cannot recall every single one of those drawings, but here are those which I still know.
The running Ducky is from the song "When you're Big". When Hyp is about to treat on her she is running away.
The sad looking Littlefoot beside her is from the Goodbye to Chomper scene of LBT 2, and so is the Chomper right below. The extremely happy looking Littlefoot is from the scene right before the goodbye, when Littlefoot notices the approaching grownups who mean to close the gap in the Big Wall.
The surprised looking Ducky is from the LBT 3 scene when Littlefoot is just about to tell about the vanishing of the Thundering falls.
The two Littlefoot faces on the lower left are from the scene where Ozzy and Strut mean to throw Littlefoot down the Big Wall.
The grim looking Littlefoot on the other page is from LBT 4. Right before his grandfather gets the nightflowers Littlefoot is cutting that face.
About the other faces and figures I'm not sure anymore.
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Here are another two pages from that sketchbook. I'm sorry the lines are not standing out to much. None of these drawings are freehand, but they are taken from scenes of the 2nd, 4th, and 6th movie (in a few cases I can't tell for sure). Do you recognize any scenes?
(http://mitglied.lycos.de/malte2709/Sketches/Sketchbook4-50%25.jpg)
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Nice drawings, and no I can't tell which scenes from which movie they are. Guess since I don't have the entire movies memorized. I'm sure some can tell.
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Hello:
I don't memorize the movies either,and I haven't seen most of them in quite some time already.
It is very nice that you keep your sketchbooks, it can give you later ideas for future drawing and also is an evidence of all of your progress :yes . I like your drawings of Petrie.
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mm yeah that is a great one indeed,
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Here is another page from my old sketchbook. I think the scenes are from LBT 2 and 5:
(http://mitglied.lycos.de/malte2709/Sketches/Sketchbook7-50%25.jpg)
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Here is another page of my not-freehand practices of old :p
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Sketchbooksketches/Sketchbook01.jpg)
Some postures may be recognizable (from which movie / scene they are I mean).
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Looks like you are getting pretty good at drawing certain characters.
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These Drawings Can't Get any Cooler than this Malte there Excellent.
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Heh awesome. I should realy sit down and do thesame thing once.
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Maybe some day some of the artists here could do a type of picture maybe with each 1 drawing a character.
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Thank you everybody :)
Looks like you are getting pretty good at drawing certain characters.
Thank you very much. Don't forget these are not freehand drawings and most of them will date back to the time from 1999 to 2001. They were early practices so to speak.
Maybe some day some of the artists here could do a type of picture maybe with each 1 drawing a character.
I love the idea. It could be a very interesting project :yes
After all those old drawings, here is something new at last. For the first time in a while I finished a photoshop drawing:
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Photoshop%20Drawings/Chomper7.jpg)
I wanted to add some rain to the picture (a possible reason, beside the desolate land, for why Chomper may look so unhappy), but unfortunatelly the rain lightened up the picture quite a bit so I am not really happy with it:
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Photoshop%20Drawings/Chomper8.jpg)
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Nice drawing. Hope you keep in practice and continue drawing. The filter on the picture does lighten up and obscure the detail indeed.
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Ah, so these are the artworks that you were referring to?
Whilst I don't pretend to be some kind of an art expert but You know, I have to point this out you've improved in every single picture that you've done and I'm not counting the ones that you did when you were six. :)
Good job, keep it up. Perhaps you may store them somewhere one day and look back and think "I have improved a good deal."
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Ah, very neat!
I think you did quite a good job on Chomper's expression. Rain is a very tricky thing! I think I've only attempted rain in a picture once before. It takes a lot of experimentation.
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Awesome job Malte! :) Nice on the shading too. I could help you with rain as I used it in this (http://mumbletothesky.deviantart.com/art/The-Battle-Of-Ages-110913083) drawing, if you want to anyway :p :)
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Thank you everyone :)
I could help you with rain as I used it in this drawing, if you want to anyway
Thanks a lot Iris, this would be really awesome. What did you do to create the rain effect?
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Nice to see you haven't lost your artist touch there Malte! ;) Lovin' the Chomper PS work :) Point to note (from my perspective) limb proportions look a little too big; particularly the arms. Still, constructive criticism aside, the expression is great and the overall shading of Chomper and his landscape is very well done! ;)
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I told some of you on MSN already about my current LBT project. I should like to play the little "guessing game" I played on MSN here in the GOF as well before telling what it is and posting some pictures of the (not so far finished) project. The guessing on MSN gave me some ideas for possible future LBT projects so perhaps continuing the little guessing game here might provide some more good ideas (so those of you who already know about the project please don't give it away yet ;)).
My next LBT project is not about drawing or painting and doesn't involve paper. Nor does it involve any kind of computer work. The project is not about writing either. There is also no 3d sculpturing, stone cutting, or metal molding involved. What kind of LBT art may it be?
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Wood-cutting? Cake baking? Live action roleplaying?
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A music-related project?
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Interesting ideas :yes
I forgot to mention it is not music related or audible in any way.
Wood cutting would be sort of sculpturing or at least involve paper if it was to be woodcutting as in printing (I did that one with the print of Spike and Cera which I think is somewhere early in this thread).
It is not cake baking either and not live action role playing. The later would require more people to play along, but I admit I couldn't blame anyone for thinking of me as utterly weird if I started running around in an LBT costume :p
Interesting guesses, but not the one I am working with so far. Any more guesses?
PS: Just to prevent any false suspicions, I promise this here got nothing at all to do with the current april fools prank.
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Ehhh...well, if it's not 3D sculptures, then you're not making clay, wire, or papier-m‚chÈ figures of the gang. I suppose it wouldn't be stained glass windows, since that requires metalworking for the framework.
Textiles?
Mosaics?
Etching? (there's metal involved, but it's not being molded)
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Maybe it has something to do with folding paper? Land Before Time Origami? Or, did we already rule out anything involving paper?
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I won't spoil it... guessed it a couple of weeks ago :P:
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This is just why I keep you guessing guys :)
Some of your ideas are really interesting for future projects :yes
One of your guesses goes in the right direction Pangea.
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Is that so? Which one? :p
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I wonder if I should really tell which one it is and thereby spoil the chance of potentially inspirational wrong guesses ;)
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^ Ah, fair enough. Never mind. :p
Umm...beadwork? Knitting sweaters with LBT characters on them? Tesselations?
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Dangit. Now I have to go look up 'tesselations.'
origami? No, I got it: LEGO.
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Good guesses. Tesselations is something I had to look up (I hadn't heard the English term for it before) and if I ever get hold of suitable materials I think this too would be an interesting thing to do. Thanks for the suggestions Pangea :yes
Your other two guesses were closer to what I am doing at the moment but not quite it.
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Is it one of those mirror-things that use reflections to create a three-dimensional image of something that you can put your hand through?
An example of a Lord of the Rings one: here. (http://www.lotrfanshop.com/lotrshop/ornaments/lordoftheringsoneringtrilogymi.asp?ReturnPage=/lotrshop/ornaments.asp)
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Wow, now that is interesting :wow
Alas I'm afraid I don't have the know how or the materials to come up with something like that :oops
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I'm sorry I totally forgot to continue here :oops
What I have been doing (still do as it is not yet finished) is land before time embroidery. The as of now unfinished embroidery may be the most time intensive land before time fanart I have done so far. It also took me some failed first attempts before I got down to the real thing. First failed attempt was this one:
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Embroidery/IMG_2740.jpg)
As you can see I tried to embroider onto a loose piece of cloth without any frame around it. This is very likely to cause the cloth (and the embroidery) to be distorted. Also I had just taken the whole yarn for it. The yarn consists of six individual threads. If you embroider on a coarse meshed piece of cloth this would work out, but with the piece of cloth I was using there wouldn't have been the space for all that yarn to fit in. Another thing was that at that planning stage I was going only for horizontal and vertical stitches for the outlines rather than including diagonal ones as well which would have made this one look rather "pixeled".
So for the second attempt I got a frame and was using less threads of yarn. There was a mess up with the colors (I tried to use various shades of color to create some light and shadow effect, but it looked really stupid so I gave up on that one).
Now here is the third attempt in which I used just two threads of a yarn:
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Embroidery/IMG_2894.jpg)
This is as far as it ever got. Now this one is not a total failure, but I had failed to take some things into account. One thing was that with the x shaped cross stitches that are used to "color" the parts surrounded by the outlines I wasn't really paying too much attention on whether the upper one of the two stitches making the x was slanted like this / or like that \ while perhaps this is not visible on the picture it shows when you look at the real thing. depending the on the direction of the upper one of the stitches the light is reflected differently. This can be employed to create some nice light and shadow effects without using more than one color, but if it comes randomly it looks rather chaotic. Moreover I wasn't happy with the color I had picked for Littlefoot who is "just brown" in this one while in the movies his color (as well as that of some of the others) is a bit more difficult to grasp. Also I had picked so large a scale that with the final motive (Ducky and Spike are to be in there too I would have had to shift the cloth in the frame squeezing some of the embroidered parts into the frame and possibly damaging them in the process). Last put not least, this huge scale really took ages to fill out.
Here is another closer shot of Petrie in this third attempt (here you might also recognize the different looks depending on the direction in which the upper stitch of the x is directed:
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Embroidery/IMG_2765.jpg)
At last the fourth attempt is the one which I consider a success and of which most of the pictures in this thread will be about:
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Embroidery/IMG_2796.jpg)
I had to make a few little adaptations when I changed the image to a smaller scale. For example unlike in case of the third attempt Petrie's beak is closed here as everything else would have looked rather pixeled in this scale. I also learned the lesson from the third attempt and now employ the light and shadow effects one can cause with the / and \ deliberately. The flat part of Littlefoot's is colored already but the parts of his head in the same color which are adjacent will be stitched "in the other direction".
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Embroidery/IMG_2823.jpg)
I did the same with Cera. I must confess mistake with her though. On her frill I accidentally picked a more yellow color than for the rest of her (in the poor light it was hard to tell the difference of the two very similar colors until it was too late). However in the end it looks at least somewhat as if it was intentional and... err did I ever say anything but this had been my plan all along? :smile
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Embroidery/IMG_2830.jpg)
So here is an overview from the time by which I began the outlines of Spike while Petrie and the heads of Littlefoot and Cera were fully colored.
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That's pretty awesome, Malte :o. Not only 'cuz this is the first time I've known a male who embroiders, but also 'cuz there's no pattern outline being followed (or is there?). I'm definitely eager to see where this goes :yes.
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I'm so sorry I'm so late with posting here. I'm guessing my feedback won't be much help at this point. :bang
The embroidery looks fantastic! :wow I think my mouth actually dropped open in the manner of this emoticon's when I saw these photos. (So I suppose "textiles" must have been the guess of mine that you said was close, huh?) I especially love Cera. She's close to perfect. :o You added the ridges to her frill and everything. Even her color palette looks just right.
I thought the version of Petrie with his mouth open looked good, but I agree that it does look a little bit “pixellated”, and the new version looks incredible as well. :yes
Not sure if you’d appreciate suggestions at this point, or if they’ll just annoy you. If they do, I’m sorry. If you’ve already progressed to the point where these details are impossible to change, just ignore me. I just thought that Littlefoot’s snout looks a bit long, and, more significantly, his neck is rather skinny, especially towards the base. If you were to change it, I would add more to the back of the neck, and possibly have it connect to his head slightly further to the back (left). Spike’s eyes look like they might be a little too far back, and his snout looks longer and deeper than it should be.
When you get around to Ducky (assuming you haven't already), be careful not to make her tail and beak too short, or her arms too long. Good luck! :)
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Thank you for your feedback and don't worry about annoying me or anything like that. I really welcome any constructive criticism. Even in cases where the errors can no longer be corrected in the current work (as I'm afraid is very often the case with embroidery as often it is very tricky to undo what has been done already without doing more harm than correction) they are still most valuable for future work and I really appreciate that :yes
Alas I fear you know me rather well as I think I did by know some of the mistakes which you anticipated I might make :confused
In case of Spike's head I made a lot of use of the aforementioned effects that can be created by altering the left or right slants / \ of the upper threads. One direction:
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Embroidery/IMG_2862.jpg)
Other one:
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Embroidery/IMG_2866.jpg)
The final parts are again completely in the other direction and I post this unfinished part of it only because I found it rather funny what Spike looked like with the tip o his snout left white. It almost looks like there was meant to be a beak in a different color:
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Embroidery/IMG_2871.jpg)
The same procedure as for the green parts were done with the ocker parts of his chin:
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Embroidery/IMG_2888.jpg)
In case of Spike's back I have conducted the largest so far correction. As you can see in the following image the crest on the top of his back is in the same color as the rest of his body (rather than darker, same as his back plates) and also I found his back to be too long:
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Embroidery/IMG_2902.jpg)
So I started cutting up the parts of his back which had to be redone. Unfortunately it is close to impossible to just "retrace" the earlier stitches. Either way the threads tend to fray a lot during the correcting work which makes it rather difficult. I used the scalpel blade on the left to do the cutting and I must confess that in an epic failure kind of action I cut up my chin when taking a picture for the GOF while still holding that blade :oops
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Embroidery/IMG_2903.jpg)
Anyway, here is the removed parts to be corrected... or rather here they are NOT anymore:
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Embroidery/IMG_2908.jpg)
As for Ducky I'm afraid your recommendations have been nothing short of prophetic Pangea. her arms are too long her leg would look more plausible if it was partly concealed by her right arm and though the end of her tail is concealed by Littlefoot's jaw it is still obvious that it would be too short with her leg being attached too low on her body :confused
I'm afraid the only thing that I can try to do about her is to add a few stitches to her tail to make it a bit thicker, but I don't know yet if it will work out. Unfortunately this scale is of such kind that one stitch more can be one stitch too much while one stitch less can be one stitch short of the goal. Anyway, here she is before she was fully colored:
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Embroidery/IMG_2847.jpg)
A full view of her in color was already in one of the previous images, but here is a closer shot of her head:
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Embroidery/IMG_2893.jpg)
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Looks like pretty good work. I bet it takes quite a while to do all that and get it just right to your liking.
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Hello:
I agree with Kor, it sure can take a lot of time, I remember I had to do one for a work in school ages ago :smile .
Keep it up!
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It is rather time intensive indeed. I started this one in January. There have been some interruptions during which I didn't work on it at all or only very little. By now I am a bit further than the last stages I posted here, but if I continue roughly with my current speed it might take for the rest of the year to be totally finished if I want to create some background in addition to the characters (which I plan to do).
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Sounds like quite a while, but it does look like you will be doing very good work.
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The next thing to do are all the legs and feeds of the larger characters. The following image of the first attempt at outlining Spike's right forefoot gives a good idea of how much just one or two stitches too much can mess up proportions:
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Embroidery/IMG_2945.jpg)
Here is the same foot partly colored in its correct proportions (still without Spike's left forefoot behind it):
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Embroidery/IMG_2947.jpg)
Here are the outlines for the legs of Cera and Littlefoot and Spike's left hindleg:
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Embroidery/IMG_2955.jpg)
Legs and feed are well suited to create effects with the previously mentioned technique of altering the direction of the topmost stich / or \. The following three images are all about the different sections of direction used on Littlefoot's leg and shoulder:
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Embroidery/IMG_2965.jpg)
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Embroidery/IMG_2967.jpg)
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Embroidery/IMG_2976.jpg)
Next thing were the leftside legs of Littlefoot, Cera, and Spike which were partly covered by their right legs. To set the legs apart from each other I used a darker shade to for parts of the legs that would likely be shadowed by the characters' bodies:
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Embroidery/IMG_2993.jpg)
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Embroidery/IMG_3003.jpg)
And here is an overview of the current state of the whole thing:
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Embroidery/IMG_3000.jpg)
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That looks very good so far. Looks like it takes a while to do.
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(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Photoshop%20Drawings/PleaseDont05.jpg)
I submitted an incomplete version of this image (which I didn't finish in time) for the video contest. I changed the background in this version, added some shadow, thinned out some lines etc. The scene is one from an unwritten story of mine. It would be interesting for me to know what you would interpret into the gestures and expressions of the characters with regard to the scene that is taking place (though the context in the story is too complex to be guessed) :)
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Looking awesome so far Malte. :)
Gah...I remember hating sewing so much growing up. :p I though it was too girly for my liking.
But heck, now I'm trying to make plushies. Anyhow, awesome work and that's awesome that you have the patience for this kind of thing.
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Hello:
Well, I might not try to guess what is going on, but the fact of Ruby making a facepalm makes me think something happened, both not the best but still funny to see in a tv episode.
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Hoo boy…it’s been WAY too long since I last posted here. :rolleyes
The progress you’ve made on the embroidery looks great! :yes Are you going to have room for Littlefoot’s tail, though? :unsure: I still think Cera and Petrie look the best. Littlefoot’s head, unfortunately, looks too large for his body, but I guess that can’t be changed now. (By the way, the reason I was so hesitant about pointing out areas for improvement in this piece before is precisely because it’s such a time-intensive project on which it’s extremely difficult to make corrections.)
Your latest picture is very nice. :yes All of the characters are very well drawn, and the background is surprisingly good given its relative simplicity (though I could be wrong; :unsure: maybe it was more complicated to make than it looks). You did a really nice job doing a dense forest with lots of trees close together. The texturing of the background isn’t bad, either.
Spike, Littlefoot, and Cera are all excellent, Cera’s eyes and frill, and her and Littlefoot’s dorsal ridges, being details I particularly like. Spike’s ridge looks a little wide, and the scutes or bumps comprising it are too large and unevenly shaped. Littlefoot’s snout looks too long for his head, and there shouldn’t be a line dividing it from his forehead. There should be an uninterrupted slope from his forehead to the top of his snout tip, with a slight bulge in it where his nostrils are (Speaking of which, he also has no nostrils in this picture).
As for Cera, her snout also shouldn’t extend so far forward, but also her toes are a little off. On her back feet, they are all aligned side-by-side, facing the exact same direction. As the quadrupedal characters’ feet are rounded, her toes should splay a little, and some should be farther forward than others. The front part of the foot itself should also protrude a little more from the front of the ankle. The same applies to her front feet, though the toe alignment is not nearly as straight. Also, there shouldn’t be so little space between the heel of her right front foot and her innermost toe.
Ducky looks very good here. :yes She’s more upright than I think she should be, and it looks like her tail is a little short, but other than that, I think it’s one of your best pictures of her so far. :yes The proportions of her arms and legs look pretty good (even though her hands are a bit small), and the proportions of her head and beak are great. Two things she’s missing, though, are eyelashes and the darker green stripe on her back.
Petrie is fantastic. That’s an interesting position you put him in: he seems to be leaning against Ducky, with one leg (his left) bent back at the knee. One minor suggestion is that his crest ought to be slightly upturned. Another is that maybe the bend of his right knee shouldn’t be so sharp, while his left should be the opposite; it should be more distinctly bent and perhaps with some shading or little flexion lines to indicate that the lower part of the leg is bent back. The last is that his right leg shouldn’t be entirely separated from his body by a line. Recently I had a discussion with Sky about an essentially identical issue with one of his pictures (links 1 (http://www.gangoffive.net/index.php?topic=7940&view=findpost&p=9196467), 2 (http://www.gangoffive.net/index.php?topic=7940&view=findpost&p=9196756), 3 (http://www.gangoffive.net/index.php?topic=7940&view=findpost&p=9196759))). The suggestions I made apply here as well, so I’ll just quote them:
Maybe it would look best if a bit of the body outline extended past the lines where the legs meet the body, but the center of the area of the leg was contiguous with the body, with no line dividing it (Basically, it would be what you have now with the center of the leg/body dividing line erased, but leaving a little on each side).
Chomper is pretty good. I think the overall shape of his body and legs is very well done. His right hind leg in particular looks very good. Maybe his tail should be slightly longer, and his arms a tiny bit shorter, with the hands a little larger and more distinct from the wrists. Also his snout and jaws should be longer and deeper.
I think Ruby looks great. :yes For some reason I really like how you did the shading on her beak. One potential area of improvement is the proportioning of her legs. Comparison to what Ruby’s accurate appearance aside, the legs you drew are very well done, in my opinion. Ruby, however, has much longer ankles, and very short shins. Her feet and neck are also a bit longer. Finally, her hands look too small, and have only three fingers (even though real oviraptorids were three-fingered, it would be truer to Ruby’s LBT design to give her four, especially if you’re still drawing Chomper with an extra finger).
Okay, here’s my idea of what Chomper might be saying in this picture: :P:
“I didn’t know Cera’s dad liked to nap in those bushes! I thought that tail belonged to a scaly creeper! Now he’s talking to the other grownups about throwing me out of the valley! Do you think if I brought him a bunch of ground crawlers as an apology he would be less mad at me?”
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Thank you all for your responses and feedback and sorry for me being so late about my own response :oops
Well, I might not try to guess what is going on, but the fact of Ruby making a facepalm makes me think something happened, both not the best but still funny to see in a tv episode.
Something did and something would be going to in that story, but it is a more dramatic live and death kind of matter than the picture may reflect.
The progress you’ve made on the embroidery looks great! in-yes.gif Are you going to have room for Littlefoot’s tail, though?
There would be enough room to complete the tail. However I must admit I haven't been working on it for a while. I admit being a little discouraged by the messed up proportions (especially about Littlefoot) which I had spotted too before. One of the major problems with this kind of fanart is that correcting is sometimes impossible and even if it is (especially in case of such matters as proportions) corrections are extremely difficult, time consuming, and come with a risk of damaging the parts of the embroidery that weren't meant to be touched.
Perhaps I'm going to start another one as I am too perfectionist (in spite of the awareness that perfectness is an illusory goal, especially in arts) to continue working with all spirit on something that I know is flawed.
You did a really nice job doing a dense forest with lots of trees close together.
Now that's something that I COULD correct ;)
In an earlier version of the image I had put way too few trees in the middle to far background resulting in the remaining trees looking like some downtown alleyway ;)
You are right about the proportion issues in the image as well as with the ridges on Spike's back. I guess one problem with my photoshop images is that I am scanning pencil drawings and then edit them on photoshop which sometimes leads to rather odd results. It would be really good if I got the hang of working with the graphic tablet instead.
There should be an uninterrupted slope from his forehead to the top of his snout tip, with a slight bulge in it where his nostrils are (Speaking of which, he also has no nostrils in this picture).
Aye, very often one sees but only one of Littlefoot's nostrils, but none at all... I'd be making excuses if I pretended for that one to be intentional ;)
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Hey malte, your art is fantastic! please keep it up.
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Thank you all for your responses and feedback and sorry for me being so late about my own response :oops
Oh, don't worry about it. I took ten days just to post my feedback in the first place! :p And five days to leave feedback on your feedback of my feedback! :P:
Something did and something would be going to in that story, but it is a more dramatic live and death kind of matter than the picture may reflect.
Uh-oh. Now I'm thinking that it still had something to do with Chomper biting something he shouldn't have, but a lot more serious. :unsure:
I admit being a little discouraged by the messed up proportions (especially about Littlefoot) which I had spotted too before. One of the major problems with this kind of fanart is that correcting is sometimes impossible and even if it is (especially in case of such matters as proportions) corrections are extremely difficult, time consuming, and come with a risk of damaging the parts of the embroidery that weren't meant to be touched.
Perhaps I'm going to start another one as I am too perfectionist (in spite of the awareness that perfectness is an illusory goal, especially in arts) to continue working with all spirit on something that I know is flawed.
Sorry to hear that. :( I know the feeling of being dissatisfied with something you put a lot of time and effort into. If you do start a new embroidery project, would there be any way of plotting out the shapes of the characters ahead of time, like with a marker or something?
You are right about the proportion issues in the image as well as with the ridges on Spike's back. I guess one problem with my photoshop images is that I am scanning pencil drawings and then edit them on photoshop which sometimes leads to rather odd results. It would be really good if I got the hang of working with the graphic tablet instead.
You could probably go back onto Photoshop and edit a picture that had a flaw in it. I also find thatóupon reaching a point in which a certain stage of a picture would be considered completeóit's helpful for me to take a long break (enough for the mental image of the picture to fade a little) before moving onto the next stage (which may even be posting the picture). Often, when I return, I see flaws in the picture that I hadn't noticed while working on it, and can correct those before progressing further with the picture. (Maybe it only works for me because of my weird memory, though. :unsure:)
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^ Thank you for your encouragement TITAMOSAUR.
Uh-oh. Now I'm thinking that it still had something to do with Chomper biting something he shouldn't have, but a lot more serious.
Not really ;)
Nothing that one can guess without knowing the story. So much I can tell, it is not about something that happened in this scene but rather about what is going to happen and not Chomper would be the causer what happened. It has not primarily to do with eating (though matter of life and death it remains). For reasons beyond guessing without knowing the story Ruby is in the very worst kind of distress in this situation without anyone else being aware of it.
I know the feeling of being dissatisfied with something you put a lot of time and effort into. If you do start a new embroidery project, would there be any way of plotting out the shapes of the characters ahead of time, like with a marker or something?
There is and when I started I did plot out on a piece of graph-paper. Not really sure if I'm going to resort to that in case of another piece of embroidery. I would have to come up with a new motive (something general LBT like the motive I have done so far, that should not take up too much space but at the same time be not so small as to get "pixeled").
You could probably go back onto Photoshop and edit a picture that had a flaw in it.
I admit that what perfectionism I have rarely gets the better of a certain sense of... laziness? wish not to dwell on something considered complete at a time? However to call it, I must admit that I have rarely picked up a "completed" picture again to correct the mistakes I realized at a later stage. This goes in particular for stuff like proportion issues which are the most tricky to correct.
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I made some creative use of the leisure suddenly optained by the finishing of the final exam for this semester last friday and did my first LBT drawing in a while. It shows a likely scene from a story not yet written (and unlikely to be written down any time soon seeing that it would be the third part of a trilogy of which not even the first one is written). Perhaps I develop some leisure to explore Photoshop a bit more some of these days as I feel that there are many possibilities I havent really got the hang of. Also it is kind of embarassing that I have a good graphic tablet but am never using it at all (this image too has been done entirely without the use of the tablet). Anyway, here it is (and I appologize to everyone I may have offended by being very silent during recent MSN "chats" conducted while at the same time working with this picture):
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Drawings/RubyChomperandeggeaters06.jpg)
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Ah, Malte, this is so cool! I really love it!
The textures and shadows add a great sense of depth! The character expressions and gestures are awesome! There is definitely a story to tell here, and the way you've rendered it makes it one I'd love to hear :smile
(I'd really like to go into more depth with that, but I've been a bit strapped for time lately :oops
So just wanted to briefly express my excitement :p )
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Your artstyle has certainly improved a lot since your last drawings, and I really like how you made artwork that was outside the original five of the gang and extrapolated on the story.
It's a shame that LBT is cancelled, as there sure would be a good scene to go along with this picture.
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Sorry double post.
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So glad to see you posting more artwork, Malte! This picture is great! :smile
I love the mountains and the edge of the rocky path the characters are standing on; they look astonishingly good. The grain of the rock; the faceting; the shading; the three-dimensionality. (There’s even little patches of plants growing on the mountains!) The forest below the mountains doesn’t look as good, I’m afraid to say; rather flat and blurry. Since a forest canopy is made up of thousands of leaves atop hundreds of trees, it should have a fair amount of texture detail to it even from a distance. Honestly, though, I wish I could do backgrounds of that quality. :wow
Nice job on the egg stealers. I like that you made Strut easily distinguishable from Ozzy. (In LBT II it’s often hard to tell them apart visually.) I can’t really find anything glaringly wrong with them, although their torsos seem a little short, giving them a rather rotund appearance. (Have they become more successful at foraging since we last saw them? :p) Strut’s legs are maybe a little too splayed-out, and the front of his right* leg (below the ankle joint), is curved in a somewhat unnatural-looking way. Ozzy’s left* knee also looks a little too rounded, in my opinion. And Strut’s frontmost wrist stripe should be just behind his fingers, not on them.
What kind of expression is Ozzy supposed to have? Maybe it’s me, but it looks like he’s biting his lip a little (even though egg stealers technically shouldn’t have lips :p) as if impatient, but otherwise his eyes and mouth look fairly neutral. Also, I don’t think Ozzy and Strut’s mouths extend far back enough; the corners of their mouths should be underneath their eyes. Speaking of eyes, while the bags under Strut’s eyes are much darker and more pronounced than Ozzy’s (and I give you props for including them on him :yes), Ozzy should have them too.
Ruby has a rather pronounced hump-back, her hands should be noticeably larger and thicker compared to the diameter of her forearms, and her legs might be a bit too strongly bent, but other than that she looks pretty good. :yes I like the way her right* hind foot looks from the back. And her head looks fantastic. :yes (I especially like her eyes and crest for some reason.) The only problem I can see is that her nostrils and eyelashes are missing.
The relative proportions of Chomper’s head show great improvement compared to your last picture, but his head is a little small compared to the rest of him, and his legs and feet are too large. And I still think his tail should be a little longer; maybe thicker as well.
Gee…I feel like I’ve done even more nitpicking than usual in this review. :unsure: Sorry about that. :oops Hope to see more artwork from you soon! :D
*Unless otherwise noted, whenever I use “right” and “left” when describing the physical appearance of a character, I am always referring to the character’s right or left, not the viewer’s.
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Now THAT is awesome Malte. Those guys look like they're up to no good again, and it's punctuated by Chomper hiding along a rock. (although I will say the way is he hiding looks kind of awkward)
When will your newer story be available to read?
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Well, I don't have much to add to Pangaea's analysis. Ruby's shadow looks quite realistic. It show's you have good depth perception. You drew it all with a mouse, right? How big was the original image (the worksheet)?
Becuase it looks smooth and liveable, very well done for pixel art!
Certainly superior anything I've done so far (I can give a link to my works to those who are curious enough to ask, as I'm a bit shy to show them in public.)
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Thanks to all of you for your responses and feedback.
Gee…I feel like I’ve done even more nitpicking than usual in this review. :unsure: Sorry about that. :oops
On the contrary Pangea. Your feedback and constructive criticism is very, very welcome indeed, especially because you rise so valid points :yes
I made some changes about the image to address those of your points which I could without the need to start over again.
The forest below the mountains doesn’t look as good, I’m afraid to say; rather flat and blurry. Since a forest canopy is made up of thousands of leaves atop hundreds of trees, it should have a fair amount of texture detail to it even from a distance.
Very good point :yes
I had done that cannopy by creating a patern of different green, brown, and gray shades, gradiated saturation (less saturation the further something is away), and finally blurred it. However, I totally agree that the final blur made it look too much like a flat surface which it is not meant to be. So in the edited version of the image I added a color pattern over the surface that I did not blur and I also edited a few light and shadow effects similar to that from the rocky walls in order to make the forrest look less "flat". I'm really interested if our photoshop experts have some recommendations for the creation of such backgrounds? Any help would be greatly appreciated :yes
I can’t really find anything glaringly wrong with them, although their torsos seem a little short, giving them a rather rotund appearance. (Have they become more successful at foraging since we last saw them? :p
I tried to stretch Ozzy a little and take a bit away from his and Strut's belly, but I'm afraid that this is something where I couldn't do as much as might be good to really fix it. However, indeed it is likely for the two to have been more successful at that stage of the story than we have ever seen them in LBT 2, so I always have that convenient excuse at my disposal ;)
I tried to do some changes to Ozzys left leg while I could not do much about Struts. I did shift the strip from his fingers there however (nice catch of an obvious mistake there, thanks a lot :yes).
What kind of expression is Ozzy supposed to have? Maybe it’s me, but it looks like he’s biting his lip a little (even though egg stealers technically shouldn’t have lips :p)
Awesomeness! For that is exactly what he is supposed to look like. He doesn't know what to make out of the situation but doesn't mean to reveal his uncertainty too distinctly :D
Also, I don’t think Ozzy and Strut’s mouths extend far back enough; the corners of their mouths should be underneath their eyes.
Right you are. Their kind rather than Ducky's ought to be labelled bigmouthes :lol I made adaptations in the new version of the image.
Speaking of eyes, while the bags under Strut’s eyes are much darker and more pronounced than Ozzy’s (and I give you props for including them on him :yes), Ozzy should have them too.
You should be right, but in this case you are not. It is kind of odd, but for some reason Ozzy, unlike his brother, does not sport these dark rings around his eyes. It is really odd, but I checked it out on several screenshots and Ozzy really comes without that "crook's mask". It is rather strange considering that this "mask" is a common feature of evil characters and Ozzy is often to be considered the more vicious of the two (though one ought not to miss that Strut makes the proposition on how to murder Littlefoot). Nevertheless Ozzy comes without the dark rim around his eyes. Here is a screenshot for reference:
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Screenshots/vlcsnap-259604.png)
Looking at that screenshot though Ozzy does seem to have the outlines of these rings though without any darker color in them. I saw this only late after I already uploaded the edited image, so there is no improvement in the edit in this respect, I'm afraid.
Ruby has a rather pronounced hump-back, her hands should be noticeably larger and thicker compared to the diameter of her forearms, and her legs might be a bit too strongly bent, but other than that she looks pretty good.
It is often problematic for me to figure out the right degree of standing up straight and bending forward with some two legged characters. I have a strong tendency to show them with too straight backs which sometimes makes them look to anthropomorphic. Screenshots of such characters often send "mixed messages" as there are some in which Ruby looks rather straightened up and some in which she makes pretty much the hump-back shown in this picture. When moving (especially when moving fast) they tend to be more bend forward than when they are standing still. Now obviously Ruby is standing still in this picture, but she is also not exactly at ease. While I haven't figured out every detail of the story yet she is certainly not having a chat about the weather in this image. The hump-back may be interpreted a bit like it would be interpreted when a human bows a little or ducks his or her head in tense situations. Therefore I left her back as it was. As for her hands however I'm afraid that some detail may have been lost while the picture was downscalled at photobuckets. Indeed in the small version of the picture her left hand (shown from a sideway angle so it is tricky to tell the fingers apart) looks rather short. In the larger version of the picture her hand seems to be better in proportion (her hand finger tips to wrist is just a little less long than her lower arm ellbow to wrist), so I did not make any changes there.
The only problem I can see is that her nostrils and eyelashes are missing.
This however I did change. Thanks a lot for alerting me to these blunders :yes
In the process I also made some changes about the outlining of her head. In fact I think the outlining is probably one of the major flaws in the image that for sheer amound of time it would take I'm little eager to change. You will find many parts (especially on the landscape) where I got rid of the outlines altogether. In other parts the outlines are distractingly thick and yet in other parts they are thin (which in many cases I would prefer). Outlines on photoshop are a source of continuous trouble for me. I draw my images on paper (DIN A4) to scan them and then edit them with photoshop, but I never get it right. I do my drawings with pencils only most of the time resulting in scans where the lines are either so frequently interrupted by gaps where the line was not caught properly during the scan or else (if I set the scan to dark) I end up with solid lines that are too thick to look good and come with many inwanted dots and spots which to eraze takes no less time and effort than it does in case of fixing the interrupted outlines. In case of this image I traced the outlines on transparent paper with black ink and used that one for the scan. However, I wasn't really happy with that one either as again extensive fixing work was needed to thin out too thick lines and worst of all the black ink (the thinnest I have come at 0.3mm which is significantly broader than the thin lines you can do with a sharpened pencil) tends to blot out fine detail (especially in case of such small and delicate parts like hands, claws, teeth etc.) and those details too need to be restored in troublesome detail work. Really, I would be most obliged to any photoshop expert who could give me an easy and time saving way to get my scanned outlines right.
The relative proportions of Chomper’s head show great improvement compared to your last picture, but his head is a little small compared to the rest of him, and his legs and feet are too large. And I still think his tail should be a little longer; maybe thicker as well.
I tried to correct as much as I could about this one. I think it is an improvement that I shifted his head down a little in the edited picture (shortening his neck). I added a little to his tail and I tried to shorten his legs a little. However, in case of the legs things don't work out right. They are simply too long which is a frequent problem in my images I'm afraid :unsure:
Anyway, here is the edited version of the picture:
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Drawings/RubyChomperandeggeaters08.jpg)
When will your newer story be available to read?
Not for a very long time I'm afraid. As I said, this image would be a scene from the third part of a trilogy and I'm only at the very beginning of the first part and also my progress in writing is something rather unreliable. Also while writing the story I sometimes can't help feeling that to some degree university has contributed to "corrupting" my language. I tend to use very complex and unwieldy terms and formulations that do not fit well to a land before time story :bang
You drew it all with a mouse, right? How big was the original image (the worksheet)?
I didn't draw it with a mouse (except for some corrections) but with pencil on a DIN A4 sheet of paper. I hope that in the end I may be able to get the hang of my graphic tablet to use that one for this work but so far I have been using it for corrections only.
I can give a link to my works to those who are curious enough to ask, as I'm a bit shy to show them in public.
I'm officially curious enough to ask. What is the link?
Also I want to encourage you to post your images here. If you take a look at the first page of this very thread you will find that the fanart section of the GOF is not for high quality art only :lol
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I had done that cannopy by creating a patern of different green, brown, and gray shades, gradiated saturation (less saturation the further something is away), and finally blurred it. However, I totally agree that the final blur made it look too much like a flat surface which it is not meant to be. So in the edited version of the image I added a color pattern over the surface that I did not blur and I also edited a few light and shadow effects similar to that from the rocky walls in order to make the forrest look less "flat". I'm really interested if our photoshop experts have some recommendations for the creation of such backgrounds? Any help would be greatly appreciated :yes
The forest looks a lot better. :yes The difference in shading where the vegetation covers the mountains makes it look much more realistic and three-dimensional. I especially like that the shape of the mountains is visible underneath. Unfortunately I'm a novice when it comes to Photoshop, so I can't suggest anything as far as creating backgrounds is concerned.
Also, I don’t think Ozzy and Strut’s mouths extend far back enough; the corners of their mouths should be underneath their eyes.
Right you are. Their kind rather than Ducky's ought to be labelled bigmouthes :lol I made adaptations in the new version of the image.
Mouths that extend all the way to the back of the face seem to be a trait of most LBT dinosaurs, I've noticed. Ozzy and Strut's mouths in the edited picture look much more accurate, but there's still something that I thought looked too “plain” about them. Looking at that screenshot you posted made me realize that they're missing the little sideways “T” at the corner of their mouths. Somehow, this tiny little detail does a lot to emphasize a character's expression.
Speaking of eyes, while the bags under Strut’s eyes are much darker and more pronounced than Ozzy’s (and I give you props for including them on him :yes), Ozzy should have them too.
You should be right, but in this case you are not. It is kind of odd, but for some reason Ozzy, unlike his brother, does not sport these dark rings around his eyes. It is really odd, but I checked it out on several screenshots and Ozzy really comes without that "crook's mask". It is rather strange considering that this "mask" is a common feature of evil characters and Ozzy is often to be considered the more vicious of the two (though one ought not to miss that Strut makes the proposition on how to murder Littlefoot). Nevertheless Ozzy comes without the dark rim around his eyes.
Looking at that screenshot though Ozzy does seem to have the outlines of these rings though without any darker color in them.
That's basically what I meant; that Ozzy should have the outlines of those bags/rings, but not the darker coloring Strut's have. (I personally interpret Strut's more prominent eye rings as signs of stress from the abuse his brother puts him through. :p)
Ruby has a rather pronounced hump-back, her hands should be noticeably larger and thicker compared to the diameter of her forearms, and her legs might be a bit too strongly bent, but other than that she looks pretty good.
It is often problematic for me to figure out the right degree of standing up straight and bending forward with some two legged characters. I have a strong tendency to show them with too straight backs which sometimes makes them look to anthropomorphic. Screenshots of such characters often send "mixed messages" as there are some in which Ruby looks rather straightened up and some in which she makes pretty much the hump-back shown in this picture. When moving (especially when moving fast) they tend to be more bend forward than when they are standing still. Now obviously Ruby is standing still in this picture, but she is also not exactly at ease. While I haven't figured out every detail of the story yet she is certainly not having a chat about the weather in this image. The hump-back may be interpreted a bit like it would be interpreted when a human bows a little or ducks his or her head in tense situations. Therefore I left her back as it was. As for her hands however I'm afraid that some detail may have been lost while the picture was downscalled at photobuckets. Indeed in the small version of the picture her left hand (shown from a sideway angle so it is tricky to tell the fingers apart) looks rather short. In the larger version of the picture her hand seems to be better in proportion (her hand finger tips to wrist is just a little less long than her lower arm ellbow to wrist), so I did not make any changes there.
I apologize; a little clarification is in order: what I meant by the “hump-back” is that her back looks much higher and more domed than it should be; almost like she has a low sail like an Ouranosaurus or Suchomimus. Sorry; I knew I should have worded myself differently. :slap Ruby's posture looks fine. In fact, I think it's just right.
I also made some changes about the outlining of her head. In fact I think the outlining is probably one of the major flaws in the image that for sheer amound of time it would take I'm little eager to change. You will find many parts (especially on the landscape) where I got rid of the outlines altogether. In other parts the outlines are distractingly thick and yet in other parts they are thin (which in many cases I would prefer). Outlines on photoshop are a source of continuous trouble for me. I draw my images on paper (DIN A4) to scan them and then edit them with photoshop, but I never get it right. I do my drawings with pencils only most of the time resulting in scans where the lines are either so frequently interrupted by gaps where the line was not caught properly during the scan or else (if I set the scan to dark) I end up with solid lines that are too thick to look good and come with many inwanted dots and spots which to eraze takes no less time and effort than it does in case of fixing the interrupted outlines. In case of this image I traced the outlines on transparent paper with black ink and used that one for the scan. However, I wasn't really happy with that one either as again extensive fixing work was needed to thin out too thick lines and worst of all the black ink (the thinnest I have come at 0.3mm which is significantly broader than the thin lines you can do with a sharpened pencil) tends to blot out fine detail (especially in case of such small and delicate parts like hands, claws, teeth etc.) and those details too need to be restored in troublesome detail work. Really, I would be most obliged to any photoshop expert who could give me an easy and time saving way to get my scanned outlines right.
I personally didn’t see any problems with the outlines in the image, but one problem I see with the edited version is that you seem to have (accidentally?) shifted the background to the right by one pixel, as parts of Ozzy, Strut, and Ruby’s outlines have been obliterated.
Thank you for your reassurance that my critique is not irritating. Glad I could be of help. :)
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As I mentioned before on Messsenger...although I can't recall when. If you are using photoshop, this might be useful for you:
DA: Photoshop Tutorials (http://photoshop-tutorials.deviantart.com/)
Indeed, it might be useful for others who are attempting to use photoshop.
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Mouths that extend all the way to the back of the face seem to be a trait of most LBT dinosaurs, I've noticed. Ozzy and Strut's mouths in the edited picture look much more accurate, but there's still something that I thought looked too “plain” about them. Looking at that screenshot you posted made me realize that they're missing the little sideways “T” at the corner of their mouths. Somehow, this tiny little detail does a lot to emphasize a character's expression.
I had very much hoped for that one to go unnoticed. I made several attempts to add such a T, but try as I might it always looked stupid. It is amazing how extreme and in this case devastating effect that little line has. No matter what that line always made it look like the eggeaters were smiling (while they are not supposed to) or else at least gave them a somewhat chubby looking expression which didn't fit either. In the end I decided to leave the Ts uncrossed.
I apologize; a little clarification is in order: what I meant by the “hump-back” is that her back looks much higher and more domed than it should be; almost like she has a low sail like an Ouranosaurus or Suchomimus.
Alas I'm afraid that is something that would take a lot of complex changing especially with the wood background. I am going to pay special attention to it in my next pictures though. One thing I did change in another version of this picture is to add a line and do some little changes to make a bump on Ruby's back that is supposed to be her right leg look more like that. I'm afraid it did not suffice for the main issue though.
I personally didn’t see any problems with the outlines in the image, but one problem I see with the edited version is that you seem to have (accidentally?) shifted the background to the right by one pixel, as parts of Ozzy, Strut, and Ruby’s outlines have been obliterated.
Accidentally indeed and not even aware of it :(
I'm afraid I'm far from having mastered the working with different layers and seem to get more problems from it than benefits. I tried to patch up some of the worst stuff in the final version of the image, but I'm afraid some remain.
So thank you very much for the link Katie. I might find something helpful there.
So this is the last edit I did.
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Drawings/RubyChomperandeggeaters08-1.jpg)
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I had done another drawing early this year, but after showing it to people on MSN feeling that it might be "misinterpreted" I initially decided not to post it on the GOF. I am thinking different about it by now and if anyone insists to interpret any "lewd activity" into this image then shame on you, not on me. Honi soit qui mal y pense (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honi_soit_qui_mal_y_pense)!
That being said the picture shows a scene from a story I am writing and depicts the first ever meeting between Ruby and Chomper, which in that story would take place a few days or weeks after the events of LBT 2.
But the moment she turned round she noticed a scent she hadn't yet noticed. It was the scent of a sharptooth and it was not brought to her by the breeze but had reached her against the wind. At the same time she heard a cracking noise from the thicket in front from which she had stepped just a few moments before. Ruby whirled around looking frantically for any route of escape she might have missed before or at least for some kind of hiding place. Neither was there and out of the corner of her eye she caught a motion as something was rushing towards her from the thicket. Ruby tried to sidestep her attacker, but it was a hasty movement causing her to trip and fall. This had never happened to her but Ruby had no time to course her clumsiness or her bad luck as she landed hard on her side. Immediately she rolled on her back to jump up again, but before she could do anything more there was some blurry motion in her field of vision and she felt a weight pinning her to the ground. Ruby squeezed her eyes shut and screamed while expecting for a pointed claw or a row of sharp teeth to descend into her neck.
But the stabbing pain she was waiting for did not come. After several moments the keen mind Ruby had acquired during her many ranges of exploration began to work again in spite of the paralyzing fear. By all likelihood she ought to be dead by now. But since she wasn't something must have happened that had saved her so far. And if it, whatever it was, had kept her from being killed so far it might continue to do so. Grasping at that straw of hope Ruby decided to open her eye to see whatever it was that had kept her alive.
But all that she saw when she glinted through her eyelids was a flash of teeth and a whirl of claws right in front of her face causing her to scream and squeeze her eyes shut again, numbed by sheer fear of death. But again death or pain didn't come. When after several moments her mind gradually returned beside the continuing mortal fear Ruby decided not to open her eyes again as clearly what she had seen did not provide any relief or comfort. She tried to suppress the fear and get control over herself again. She was panting heavily, barely able to breath as if she had just suffered a heavy blow in her stomach.
Ruby's frantic fear paused suddenly at an odd realization. A heavy blow in her stomach? She should have suffered just that with her attacker having pounced onto her and pinned her to the ground. She would expect to be squeezed under the weight of an attacking sharptooth that alone should have been enough to kill her. But the weight that she actually did feel on her belly and chest seemed to be relatively moderate. It surely wasn't this weight or any force of impact that kept her from breathing normally. There was yet another thing that her mind told Ruby. The jungle she had been wandering through before had been quite thick. Even if her attacker had approached her from a direction from which the breeze had carried his scent away from her, he still would have caused way too much noise for her to miss if he was of any size significantly larger than her own.
But whatever reassurance this might provide there was no mistake about the smell of dead meat in the breath of her her attacker that she felt on her face and again Ruby felt sheer panic trying to push away any hopeful thought. This creature had eaten meat and done so recently. Recently! Perhaps that was the reason why she was still here. Perhaps her attacker was full and not hungry anymore. Perhaps he was just playing with his prey for the time being. But this too wasn't a thought that was suitable to mitigate Ruby's terror. With neither her eyes nor her nose providing anything to relief her fear Ruby noticed that what she heard was kind of odd though. It was a cacophony of hissing, spitting, snarling, growling, and a number of vicious sounding noises for which no word she knew seemed to fit. But what was the point of her attacker snarling and spitting around rather than doing... anything? Was her attacker, the thought seemed so ridiculous that Ruby almost snorted about it, choking on anything?
Ruby took a deep breath and decided to open her eyes again and try to see a bit more than she had during her last attempt.
Teeth and claws were again the first thing that she saw and instinctively she started screaming again at the top of her voice, but she kept her eyes open this time. Instinctive panic again seemed to drive any other thought out of her mind. She was screaming and her attacker was roaring at her. At last she had to fetch breath and the same moment her attacker too fell silent picking up his roar again the moment Ruby picked up her scream again. So surprised was Ruby about this that she chocked on some of her own saliva. As her scream ended in a violent fit of coughs, so did the roar of her attacker or at least it ended in a series of growling noises that somewhat reminded of a coughing fit.
Ruby was so confused about this and so thrown out of balance by her coughing fit that she did not resume her scream when she had recovered her breath. Was her attacker mocking her? Did he try to mimic her?
And here is the image:
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Drawings/Makingfriends10.jpg)
In one respect the image is a premire for me, because it is the first time that I did an image completely with the graphic tablet on photoshop. There is no paper version of this image, only a very rough planing sketch that was not scanned to make this image.
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Oh dear, I'm afraid I sounded so defensive about the last picture that I scared off everyone from even responding. That was of course not my intention and I apologize for that tone :confused
Anyway, here is a new picture I have been working on for quite a while. It too shows a scene from that unwritten trilogy making up for many of the gaps between the movies and the series. This picture I drew on paper, scanned the outlines and then did the rest with the graphic tablet. I think using the tablet only produces clearer results, but I also like to work with paper and that's something I can do everywhere and at almost any time. Anyway, here is the picture which is called: Red Claws
(Same as the last picture it might easily be misinterpreted about some points):
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Drawings/RedClaws01.jpg)
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Hmmm...the pic with Redclaw and the gang isn't half bad. Some of the textures and layouts on the rocks and trees gives it a nice 3d look to them. Most of the characters in that pic have somewhat awkward stances but the colors and shading makes up for that. And is that blood on Chompers' right claw?
As for the picture above that....I really think you should redesign it. Yeah, yeah, shame on me but seriously this pic looks awkward. The kids are going to snicker (laugh), the adults are going to be confused of what they are seeing and we cannot change how people see or think of things anyways. Whether its on MSN or not somebody is going to have that "thought." My art teacher Mrs. Rosa told me that you should always draw a rough sketch and if possible, ask a friend what they think of the sketch. It is always a good idea to take a good look at a picture before you finalize it.
Here is a motto that I always go by; Check yourself before you wreck yourself.
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Oh dear, I'm afraid I sounded so defensive about the last picture that I scared off everyone from even responding. That was of course not my intention and I apologize for that tone :confused
Sorry; I was going to review your last picture, but I kept forgetting because I had so many other things to do, so I never got around to it. :oops
I had done another drawing early this year, but after showing it to people on MSN feeling that it might be "misinterpreted" I initially decided not to post it on the GOF. I am thinking different about it by now and if anyone insists to interpret any "lewd activity" into this image then shame on you, not on me. Honi soit qui mal y pense (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honi_soit_qui_mal_y_pense)!
That being said the picture shows a scene from a story I am writing and depicts the first ever meeting between Ruby and Chomper, which in that story would take place a few days or weeks after the events of LBT 2.
For the record, my first thought upon seeing the picture (having not yet read the post at that point) was “Ah, this shows Chomper and Ruby meeting each other for the first time”, but I can see how other people might…see it differently. (Frankly, I don’t think this is something you should submit for pokeplayer’s LBT fanart contest.) I think the image's potential to be interpreted as suggestive would be greatly limited if Chomper were standing on top of Ruby, rather than straddling her or sitting atop her as he is in this version.
Regarding your note that this scene is intended to take place shortly after LBT II: to me Chomper looks much older than he should; more like his LBT V or TV series self. Hatchling Chomper had much stubbier proportions (a smaller body and larger head), and not yet developed the ridge on his back. Still, Chomper is pretty well done; the detail on headóand especially his teethóis terrific. Ruby’s not bad either, although she looks kind of two-dimensional somehow; though I like her expression, there’s something about it that just makes it look “flat”, and not as expressive as it could be. Also, from what we can see of her left eye, it’s not looking in the same direction as her right one. On a similar note, I would suggest moving the pupil of Chomper’s right eye closer to the middle of his eye, maybe even all the way to the inner corner, to make him look more like he’s looking directly at Ruby.
I’m most-of-the-way finished with a post reviewing on the second picture (it’s very long), but I’m afraid I won’t have time to complete it tonight. Expect to see it soon, though. ;)
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The art you made is good. I like it a lot.
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As promised, my review for “Red Claws”:
I’m probably committing one of those misinterpretations you warned of, but the impression I got from this image was that Chomper has just given Red Claw his scar :! (I notice that Red Claw doesn’t yet have his eponymous red claw in this scene). Whether this is true or not, it’s an idea I’ve never heard or thought of before. It’s clear to me that Chomper has inflicted some type of scratch-related injury on Red Claw, as evidenced by the fact that his claws are bloody and Red Claw is recoiling in pain.
All in all, I think this picture looks very good, even though I’m finding it a little hard to appreciate the finer details due to the size of the image. The background is beautiful. I especially love the trees. I commend you for making each of the conifers unique, rather than just copying one and using it over and over. And the detail on the deciduous tree is fantastic. However, I can’t tell what that long, narrow brown thing extending horizontally across the background is. :confused
Littlefoot, Chomper and Ducky are well drawn overall, though Chomper’s head should be larger and I think Ducky’s beak should be a little wider. Littlefoot’s tail looks sort of odd (I don’t think the underside of his neck and tail should merge so smoothly with the underside of his body), but his legs and feet are very good. I like Littlefoot’s running pose, too, though for some reason he doesn’t look like he’s moving at a nearly urgent enough pace, considering what he’s trying to get away from. I also have a problem with both him and Spike, in that parts of their outlines (mainly the ridges on their backs) are much darker than the outlining of the rest of their bodies. I have a similar issue with Cera’s teeth; the darker outline between them, and the apparent lack of one separating her teeth from her beak, makes her expression look really strange. Other than that, she’s not bad (I especially like her frill and the detail on it); her body and legs look a little strange from this angle, but I’ll chalk that up to it being difficult to draw her well from the front in a running pose.
You did a fantastic job on Ruby’s head; it’s one of the most accurately drawn character faces in the picture, as well as one of my favorites. The only details I can criticize are that her nostrils don’t seem to be present, and her eyelashes appear to be a single short clump of black. Her right foot and all of her visible feathers are also well drawn, but her back is too low and not domed enough (Basically, she has the opposite problem as she did in the picture with the egg stealers).
Red Claw looks fairly good, although his tail seems to disappear behind his right leg; his upper torso looks rather narrow in comparison to his lower body; and although the detail you put into his mouth is excellent, his teeth may be proportionally too small, and the lips on the right side of his mouth (his right, our left) seem excessively thick.
Petrie looks awesome; almost 3D. :lol I love his expression; somehow it works better for him than it does for Cera (maybe because his beak is darker, so the outlining of his teeth doesn’t contrast so much?). You did a really good job drawing him from that angle.
Spike should have a bit more of a neck, his head should be smaller in proportion to his body, and his mouth should extend farther back (the corner of his mouth should be behind his eyes). However, apart from the outlining issue I mentioned earlier, his plates and spinal ridge look good, andósomething that applies to your style of drawing Spike in general that I don’t believe I’ve brought up beforeóI like that you include his tail spikes in your pictures of him :yes (Spike is drawn with no tail spikes in the sequels and TV series, which seems silly to me, given that they’re what he’s named for).
By the way, Malte, are these the full-sized versions of these images? Maybe it’s just me, but it hurts my eyes to look at these images closely, trying to make out some of the details. Would it be possible for you to post larger versions of your recent pictures (both these two and the egg stealer one)? They’re awesome pictures, and I’d love to look at them and enjoy every detail without causing unnecessary damage to my eyesight. :p If you’re concerned about the images being too large for people’s browsing windows, you can always use the trick I’ve been employing lately when posting members’ star day cards: posting a smaller version of the picture that is also a link to the full-sized version. Here’s the code I use:
- Code: on
[URL=*URL of larger image*][IMG]*URL of smaller image*[/IMG][/URL]
Thank you very, very much for your feedback.
I appreciate it a lot :yes
However, I can’t tell what that long, narrow brown thing extending horizontally across the background is.
It is difficult to recognize indeed. The characters are on top of a kind of plateau that is "cut" by a narrow canyon. That canyon is the narrow brown thing, but it is difficult to recognize indeed.
Littlefoot, Chomper and Ducky are well drawn overall, though Chomper’s head should be larger and I think Ducky’s beak should be a little wider. Littlefoot’s tail looks sort of odd (I don’t think the underside of his neck and tail should merge so smoothly with the underside of his body), but his legs and feet are very good. I like Littlefoot’s running pose, too, though for some reason he doesn’t look like he’s moving at a nearly urgent enough pace, considering what he’s trying to get away from.
Indeed, I still don't get my proportions right on too many ocassions. In addition to the cases you named I think Littlefoot foots feet (odd as it sounds) may be too little. However, in case of the undersized heads of Ducky and Chomper this is really a problem as it is not kids' proportions.
As for Littlefoot's looks there is part of the background of the story missing here. Thing is that to him the big roaring sharptooth in the rear may not be the concern that troubles him the most.
By the way, Malte, are these the full-sized versions of these images? Maybe it’s just me, but it hurts my eyes to look at these images closely, trying to make out some of the details. Would it be possible for you to post larger versions of your recent pictures (both these two and the egg stealer one)? They’re awesome pictures, and I’d love to look at them and enjoy every detail without causing unnecessary damage to my eyesight.
I used to have fullsized versions of both pictures, but unfortunately those (as well as a number of other drawings) were lost in the recent crash of my computer :bang
No way to recover them :cry
Littlefoot is quite capable of sheeding tears even when nobody else does. We saw him crying or at least being very close to it, in quite a few of the LBT movies (after his mothers dead and the quarrel with Cera in the original movie, during the goodbye to Chomper in LBT 2, he was twice very close to it in LBT 4, and in LBT 6 too he seemed rather near to it. We had him cry about Mo's presumed death, reapeatedly throughout LBT 10 and (my memory may cheat me here) I think he cried in LBT 11 too.
Finally someone listed the times a character cries! :)
But a few corrections: he wasn't "close to it" in LBT 4, he did cry, twice when finding out is Grandpa is ill.
He did cry in 6 when Doc left, remember?
Unlike most people assume, he did not cry about Mo's presumed death in 9---a least not that we saw. In fact, LBT 9 is one of the only LBT films where a character does't cry. :)
"Repeatedly throughout LBT 10"? He cried once, during the scene where he's sitting on the ledge before Bron comes up. What are you talking about? :huh:
And no, he did not cry in LBT 11. Although he should have seeing as everyone else (espicially Dutrike) did.
But still, good job trying at least. Seriously, good job. :exactly
Anyways, can you explain what you meant by that, Malte? The "repeatedly in 10" part?
It may have been a simple slip up and nothing more.
Was it, Malte?
Cause for some movies (like 11) you seemed to be "unsure" but for 10 you seemed perfectly sure, which seems odd.
Bruton, I don't mean to be rude, or to speak for another member, but I'm sure that Malte would appreciate it if you didn't keep nagging him about this subject in his fanart thread. This is a thread for commenting on (and politely nitpicking :p) his artwork, not fussing over details of offhanded remarks on unrelated subjects.
No offense, Bruton, but you seem to be a little overly obsessed with discussing the number of times the LBT characters cry throughout the series; I've seen you bring it up several times on the forum in different threads, and speak as if you expect everyone else to know how many times the gang has been shown crying, and in which movies. I doubt that most LBT fansóeven those who have seen all of the movies multiple timesócan recount such information as accurately as you can, because not many of them care enough about it to memorize such information. For instance, the most likely reason that Malte is less certain about the number of times the characters cried in LBT XI than in X (and made a mistake about the number of times they cried in X) is that he just can't recall all of the scenes of one or both of those movies in perfect clarity; it's as simple as that.
Frankly, it gets rather annoying when you fuss over subjects like this in threads where it's not related to the topic at all (like this one). If you know all about this particular bit of trivia, that's fine. Just don't expect everyone else to have the same knowledge, or attempt to drill it into their heads if they don't.
I apologize in advance if this post was in any way out of line.
Getting back to the topic…
I used to have fullsized versions of both pictures, but unfortunately those (as well as a number of other drawings) were lost in the recent crash of my computer :bang
No way to recover them :cry
Oh dear: I forgot to respond to this months ago. I'm so sorry about your computer and your lost art, Malte. :( That's a real shame. Just a suggestion: maybe in the future it would be a good idea to upload pictures in their original size in addition to the scaled-down versions that you actually display. That way you could not only link to the full scale, but you could retrieve the original pictures if your computer crashed again (though hopefully that will never happen).
On a more hopeful note, are there any other art pieces (of any style) you've worked on in the past several months? It would be awesome to see more art from you, :) though like me, I know you've been distracted by a lot of other things lately.
Alright. I wouldn't have even brought it up here if Malte hadn't been actually listing crying scenes for once, which people hardly do
Because most of us don't give a rat's fart about crying scenes. And you said before yourself that you cry a lot. Why do you attack a character like Ducky for her sensitivity, then? She cries because she cares, and you don't hear her going around bashing others for doing the same thing. Double-standard much?
Seriously, if you wish to drag out these absurd obsessions nobody else here shares in common, try keeping them to your topics and not ones they created for discussions other than your obsessions.
Anyway, sorry if I got us further off-topic. This is for Malte's fanart and his feedback ;).
First of all, Ducky was weepy in the early films, but in 3 and 4 she didn't cry at all---even when hearing that Grandpa Longneck was dying she was brave and didn't cry, and this made her somehow more likeable.
But then in 5 she went back to being weepy and cried TWICE, both for reasons less sad.
In 6 she was bland as ever and din't shed a tear, whereas in 7 she was really sweet and likeable and was likewise dry eyed. In 8 she cried briefly fairly early on but was otherwise OK, in 9 she was great, in 10 she didn't cry at all, and in 11...I'm not sure what they were thinking, other then it had been a while since she last cried and they thought maybe it was time they gave her another crying scene? :huh: Anyways she didn't cry in the last 2 movies and only in 1 tv episode as far as I know.
Spike on the other hand was dry as ever in the first 6 filnms...and then was shown being weepy at a rather comparably inconvienient moment in 7. He got away with not crying for 3 more films but in 11 erupted like a volcano, probably from holding back for so many films.
Petrie...seemed to cry in 1, but it was uncertain, so for a while it was unclear whether he was even capable of crying either. He got away dry eyed until about the 7th film where he truly did cry repeatedly. Like Spike, he managed to go without it till 11, where he too let the taps flow freely. He hasn't cried since though, I think.
Cera rarely cries. She had that memorable moment where she breaks down by the waterfall in 1, and the understandable crying during the talk with her dad in 3. In 6, she even breaks down in front of her friends while they're looking for Dinah and Dana, but otherwise gets away tear free til 11...but it's not during the bawling bash, it's just tears of frustration at having to adjust to her Dad's girlfriend.
And then there's Littlefoot. Clearly he cries repeatedly after his mom dies, and also at least once more in the first film. 2 had him crying twice, and four had him crying repeatedly too (very understandable there as well) and at least once in 6. Since then, though, he's only cried once.
Wow, that's pretty much all the times the gang cries
After looking through your thread I can see a marked improvement over the years! Good job! :)
I do have some suggestions about the Ruby and Chomper picture, if you don't mind me saying:
I think that if you drew Chomper smaller and had him sitting more on Ruby's chest than her stomach the picture wouldn't be interpreted as being "questionable". I didn't see it that way on my first glance, but I can understand why it is viewed that way.
Also, on your most recent picture, the only thing I would say to improve upon it would be to redraw the outlines to be thicker, but since you said that the full-sized versions were lost I guess you can't work on it anymore. :cry
I hope I don't come off as too caustic :unsure: but I do like to critique art (in a constructive way).
I hope I don't come off as too caustic :unsure: but I do like to critique art (in a constructive way).
Not at all :)
I'm glad about any constructive criticism :yes
It is not through praise alone that people can improve their work. Alas the full sized version of that image is really gone for good. It has been quite a while since I last did any LBT art beyond some hasty scribbling. I haven't gotten around to do any in quite a while.
Looking forward to some new drawings soon.