I've been drawing for about a year and this is about where im at when i balance time of a piece and qaulity of the piece together.
http://projectblackmanga.deviantart.com ... -Chapter-1
I would really appreicate it if i could get critisizm on my anatomy and how specificly i can get better with it. If you could also give me a link to something you drew that would be a good example of what i need to work on (if you dont have a link to any of your works thats cool to though). Thanks so much

draw from life and/or go to life drawing classes if you can afford to/are old enough to get into em. Life's the best teacher man, you just gotta take the initiative to learn from it.

in early stages of drawings also I don't think you should be trying to find a balance of speed with completion. The harder you push yourself to your absolute limit (and by that I mean, go so far on a piece that you actually ruin it by going too far, so you know where your max limit is -> and then push THAT) the better off you're going to be. Time is a factor only for those with deadlines, and while you'd ultimately have them in the future, i feel its better to work up your speed on your best effort, rather than work up the quality of your work while always going fast, if that makes sense.

also books can't hurt on anatomy - but seriously make sure to supplement with life.

http://www.amazon.com/Force-Dynamic-Dra ... 679&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Bridgmans-Complet ... 711&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Anatomy-Lessons-G ... 750&sr=1-1

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DDF2013 - ORAORAORAORAORA

First of all, I just want to say good on you man asking for critiques like this. Other people's honest judgement of your work is a great way to improve, especially with the hard asses in these forums haha.

Echoing what Ciurczak said, life drawing is EXTREMELY important. It improves anatomy, line quality ,shorthand, shading ,form perception, perspective, etc. So basically just drawing the human figure from life can improve not just your anatomy, but all aspects of your art. If you have any classes or open sessions nearby, seek them out and do it up.

I recommend you pick up a book by walt stanchfield called Drawn To Life. He was a life drawing teacher at Disney studios and the book is amazing for help with pushing poses to eliminate stifness in your drawing. Something I notice in your figures is a lack of movement and fluidity, so this could help.
http://www.amazon.com/Drawn-Life-Classes-Stanchfield-Lectures/dp/0240810961/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1279153679&sr=8-4

Another useful book, if only for visual inspiration, is Stephen silver's life drawing book:
http://www.amazon.com/Passion-Life-Stephen-Silver/dp/0974570133/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1279153767&sr=1-1-fkmr1


For muscle anatomy, definitely check out Strength Training Anatomy. It's the best book I've seen in terms of muscle detail, and also muscle function, and has awesome illustrations.
http://www.amazon.com/Strength-Training-Anatomy-3rd-Sports-Anatomy/dp/0736092269/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1279153865&sr=1-1

Hope this helps man, and welcome to the forums!

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DailyDraw2013!!

Thanks for the critiques so far! I will definetly start doing life drawing and work on the things you guys said.

I know this is way late, but i hope it'll help a bit, too.

I'll suggest something that is not always accepted by some people, but it holds a lot of merit: Copy other artists.

add that to your regimen of life drawing and anatomy-book reading, and you'll see yourself developing faster and better than you thought. Part of the issue with copying other artists is that you'll also be copying their mistakes. So, by additionally doing life drawing and reading the anatomy books, you'll hopefully overcome that.

I just saw the pages on your dA account. You really have to consider drawing realistically before getting into anime. I think the figure work isn't very good at all, and the facial proportions isn't right. It's not a bad thing because you seem to want to improve. The reason it's off is because you haven't studied the real thing. "To break the rules, you must first learn the rules."

Your story telling isn't up to par. I found myself lost sometimes. Not a lot, but sometimes I had to guess where I had to read next. Nothing in the page layout was intuitive. Study a lot of your favorite artist's story telling, and see WHY what they do works. There's a formula. If you're showing to a western based people [with people who have languages like english, french spanish, german etc], we read LEFT to RIGHT, so things move faster and better if you send things in that direction.

Another thing to keep in mind is panel breaks [like on pages 3,5, and 6]. I'm personally biased to this, because I don't really like panel breaks too much, but in your case, It makes the pages hard to read. I think a general rule to follow is that if it's closest to you, or the action is too great, break the panel. You can amend your own rules, but I personally try to keep those two in mind. Sometimes you want to isolate a moment, like on page 5. I think that the face on the bottom is not important, since its behind something smaller. If you reverse it and make the head super impose [break the panels and what not], it lets you see him as a key character.

One thing, that I've been told in my art as well, is that your not getting "the hook" right. There isn't one thing in the page that grabs you. Nothing that makes it memorable, so our stuff can be pretty bland. Try to think of it as a pinup turned into a page. It has to be subtle, but it helps for it to be there.

Don't be discouraged. If you want to be good, you gotta destroy your mistakes. I read on dA that you and your friend are on a sabbatical to get better. That's the shit right there. Post on this forum a lot. these guys are the best. and while we can be harsh sometimes, it's all to be used to better your art. You can't be the champ if you pull punches, so knuckle up and get in there and kick some major ass ^__^

-PeZ!

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I do not believe in a fate that falls on men however they act; but I do believe in a fate that falls on them unless they act.