critique and tips?

Working on a redo of a character for someone... and I absolutely cannot make the hooves look right. I know what hooves look like. I know what they SHOULD look like. My brain and hand don't exactly want to cooperate with me on this front though.

Secondly, I'm trying to shade a little bit. I didn't do the whole neck since mane will be covering it, but any spots that are still showing I'll go back over. My real question is what are your tips on shading? Any specific brushes? What strength smudge do you use? Everything I do turns out looking a little funny, even this. And it's not even very bright; if I up the opacity then you can see what a nightmare it looks like.

And anything else you have to offer would be great!

Last edited on 2016-03-31 at 12:46:16 by ₸ayzz

1. draw duck feet on the hooves instead

2. cry

what's the reference you used?
also when I can't hooves correctly I tend to draw them off to the side
and draw random hooves and transform them to fit on the horse :)

They look fine, just too small for the build of the horse

Haha that's my problem buck. After staring at it i think it's the angle thats throwing me off. The horse is moving a bit uphill and o drew it that way too without thinking about it instead of trying to keep it flat.

I'll have to redo the lower legs I think... It's a normal horse with pony sized legs.

And I don't have the link currently. Ive been relegated to phone usage for a few days.

Anyone habe any tips or tricks for highlights and shading?

Last edited on 2016-04-03 at 17:35:15 by ₸ayzz

I think the shading looks fine, you just need some more highlights and lowlights. The horse looks great! :)

About the hooves, I can understand that it might be a little difficult aspecially in the position the horse is walking. I could draw you a reference sketch on this horse so you could use it, but I am not sure if you want me to do that, or you really want to completely do it yourself hihi.

Would I be able to use that ref sketch too, June? :3

I could use all the help I can get too. I am horrible with perspective drawing

Of course Buck! :D

Will draw that tomorrow. Everyone can use it. ^^

That is really awesome of you to do! :D

I wouldn't mind. I would definitely still do my own but being able to see what it kind of should look like might help my brain stop shorting out. It should also help if i change those legs a tony bit.

As for the shading like I said in the main post i know it needs more, it just looks awful if i make it brighter and idk exactly how to not make it look like a hot mess.

hoof-be-gone!

I hope this helps a little. :)

Click to enlarge.



Last edited on 2016-04-04 at 15:24:34 by Juneau

Hahaha Dox!
Juneau I envy your hoof skills.

Loving the sketch. Phone makes shading hard to see but that's just my phone. -pets-

THanks guys. And that helps a lot. XD Like I said I know what a hoof is SUPPOSED to look like, there was just some stupid disconnect between my head and my hands.

I appreciate all this help. Anyone wanna help with the shading though? >_< Still can't quite clean that up any more than I could before, and my tablet acting like crap isn't helping.

dox i died XD

honestly i think your shadows are good as is but try highlighting with white and you can change the opacity if its too much :)