Drawing Pandas and Proportion Problems

I'm admittedly not the best guy out there when it comes to drawing. There's more to it that I'm still unfamiliar of. One of this is drawing with the right proportions.

There's a technique I've read about somewhere  You can tell that a drawing is effective when you flip the image horizontally and the character still looks okay.

Let's take an example.

This here's 'The Key', something I made a few months ago. I really like how it turned out. I made this by drawing the character on a sketch pad first but I really had no idea about the proportions. You can tell that his other eye seems a lot bigger, and his hair looks awfully odd. But the mistakes aren't that noticeable. 

Now let's try flipping the image in horizontal.

The character looks a bit odd and the mistakes are noticeable now. I'm honestly guilty of most of this, even for previous drawings. Hopefully I could do something to work this out and think about the proportions a bit more.

I'm taking this intro practice and seeing if using grids will help, instead of just randomly sketching body parts with estimates.

So I drew this little panda right here. His name is Julian.

Using precise shapes and following a grid, I colored him in but didn't exactly follow the drawing I made, instead just used it as a guide.

For the face, I created a circle and extended it a bit to make a face shape. Then made the mouth and nose, making sure those are at the exact center. The left eye and right eye are the same, just flipped horizontally (except for the white highlights).

The rest of the face is pretty much consisting of different shapes for the shadows, a lot of circles adjusted. I only did the LEFT part, and then flipped that towards the other side.

I also changed the mouth since I didn't like the first one I made.

Pretty much same goes for the lower half. This is going to take a while.

So...yeah! Just showing you this process and hoping I could do this, not just for basic poses but for a lot more. 

Here's the final photo of Julian.

So, that's it! Please subscribe to my blog if you like. Have a nice day!

Artist Stories: A Message for Beginners

art by tacticianjenro

This is a message for people who'd like to try and make art of their own.

First of all: Art is fun! The feeling of creating, for me is very rewarding and I hope that your interest to make any kind of art you prefer gives you that joy. I believe to create an image that was once only in our minds for others to see - it is both very powerful and amazing.

We all start somewhere. From a place of unknowing, and we further our skill and excel in that area of art. With learning new things, we confront the unfamiliar and step out to new places. If you are thinking of making art like I do, think of it as starting a great adventure.

It's an adventure where we are free to create what our hearts have been wanting to.

Back when I was a kid, I ventured into creativity with just a simple pencil and a notebook and drew my first ever character - Timmy. I had a passion for drawing and telling stories that were from within me at such a young age. And while I'm not the best out there, it's great to see that I have improved.

And to improve requires time and practice.

Choose one thing you want to be good at and do it. Learn from other people and observe what they do.
And there is no certain standard to meet for something to qualify as art.

And most of all, it is not about how much following you get. Don't worry about those just yet. Well, I know I'm not really that good yet so I am hoping to get better too.

This comic by Zen Pencils might also encourage you to go out there and do your best.

So, well, that's it. :) Thanks for visiting my blog! Don't forget to subscribe!

Artist Stories: Comic Strips and Me

Venturing to the World of Comic Strips

I recently started making my own comic strips. The inspiration came from visiting a site called Zen Pencils, where cartoonist Gavin Aung Than creates cartoons quoted from inspirational people. It really made me want to step out and share some stories of my own through making the strips. Although they're not professional, I really enjoy doing them and are from my personal values.

Here are some of them. You can click on a picture to view the full comic on my other site.

 My strips often have the theme of struggle - a thing that I constantly deal with. I'm not exactly the brightest out there and the future is quite unclear as well so I mostly plan to write about those. The strips also have themes about hope and faith - things that I really hold on to that comes from my faith in Jesus Christ.

I know they're not the best and there are a lot of other great ones out there. If ever you support my works though, I'd very much appreciate it! I'm also only starting out with a few comics around so subscribing for updates would be a great idea too!

Where can I find your comic strips?

You can read them here.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. Also, don't forget to subscribe to the blog if you're finding my posts interesting! Thank you so much. :)

Artist Stories: Tactician Jenro

Portrait of Jenro.

The inspiration behind the name Tactician Jenro came from the stories I wrote, and Jenro is one of the characters from there and I decided to take up that pseudonym for myself.

While I'm not really that much of a talented person, (you would find a lot more talented artists out there), I'd still like to share whatever I know and help out. I hope the posts I share would be a great help to you who would like to try making artwork and would be an inspiration.

I see art as a way of expressing myself and a message I would like to share to others. I don't think it is about trying to be better than anyone else, or being popular.