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Ginnunga — Atanu Reference 2010
Published: 2010-07-19 18:01:40 +0000 UTC; Views: 1001; Favourites: 41; Downloads: 0
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Description
one of several primary characters for my upcoming graphic novel.
Advanced critique please, if anyone knows feline anatomy well?
all artwork belongs to
textures courtesy of Cgtextures.com.
ref photo: [link]
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Comments: 30
Sooooo sorry this took so long! Here we go!
I have to say, I want to highlight some of the best parts of this piece, first. Your style is beautiful and so is your colouring - I would love to see a graphic novel done in this way. It would look amazing in print. The character is easily distinguishable from most other 'realistic' snow leopard characters I've seen just by colour alone.
Here's the critique. The reference is my biggest con on this piece - this is easily the most copied/referenced photo of a snow leopard on DA, to the point of being instantly recognizable. I don't really understand why - but I get at least one or two versions of this photo in my inbox every few months. Search 'snow leopard' on DA and [link] and [link] are some of the first to show up, though there are countless more. One pro about this though, is that it's a lot easier for me to do a redline on this piece, since I practiced from it several times in my own notebooks in the past. lol.
I would say don't use direct references in anything you're going to print. Practice is fine, but give proper credit (I know you credited now, but when I first viewed the piece I didn't see any).
The other cons are very slight and also depend on one thing...do you want it to look exactly like the reference or no? If no - the back feet are slightly misaligned, but nothing anyone would notice- it looks as if his feet are splayed in the back. The only things that really stand out to me are the front leg and the shape of the feet. The foot in the back looks near the photo reference, however, the shadows on that reference are slightly obscuring the ankle bones. Most of what gives the foot mass on the base is the fluff, and better defined bone structure will improve their appearance. The toes on the front foot are also a little "flat". The front shoulder /seems/ right, but it is missing a few vital lines of definition to show that you know where the muscles are folding - especially since it appears the neck extends back to the shoulder bump, instead of having the muscle splay out further up.
The lower jaw is pushed back slightly - which, could just be his appearance, as it looks good, just a little different. Same with his ears - which are kind of on the smaller side.
All in all, it's a perfectly agreeable image and even the anatomical imperfections are not going to be that noticeable to anyone who is not depthfully familiar with cat anatomy. The only reason I mention them is because if you are planning on making up your own poses, you will need to know how the shoulders move.
Redline:
[link]
Should be pretty close - though I still have issues with my front paw there.
A lot of the variance you give it adds character though, so as long as your studying structure - with your type of style most can be messed with without much notice by the public.
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awah!
you really think so? I have always thought that my coloring style was too...I dunno, nostalgic? for print; too rough, too rustic.
but if you think it would look ok printed, that gives me some hope.
aha! Yeah, I should have thought of that! I felt like doing a crouching pose,a nd came across one. Never thought about how many times it had been used. (and reused. 
and yes, i am guilty of neglecting reference photos, it isn't that I just don't care about where I get my references from, and mean to rip them off or something, I just don't even think about it, unless I referenced the photo from DA and asked the artist's permission to use it as such. I'll try and keep track of my references in the future!
Yes, I understand completely! The reason I usually reference while I draw is for a lack of knowledge of feline anatomy. I must study further!
And yes, if I ever get to the point where I might want to try getting my work published, i'd be sure not to directly reference as I work through the novel.
Thank you
so
much!
This has been very helpful, and has helped pinpoint the places where I am making mistakes frequently!
OH!
I think something happened to thh reline where were kind of enough to do for me- darn photo bucket claims that 'the image has been removed or has run out of bandwidth'
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Oh no problem! The redline probably clarifies 
[link]
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ack!
it would if photobucket wasn't being its usual jerk self.
It insists that the image has been moved.
curseeeees.
Sure, I would love to chat too!
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thank you!
but now you are building up his ego.
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Welcome c:
Even animals need an ego boost every now and then :'D
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har har harrr
now atanu loves you muchly.
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i love painting eyes.
thanks!!
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ahaha!
well
if you wanted to, you could commission a ref sheet like this for 8$.
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Damn it all, I wish i could 
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that's ok, dear!
anytime ya can, tell me and i'll save ya a space!
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pssst don't forget to credit your reference P:
[link]
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aw, sorry
I usually don't credit photo refs since I'm the one actually sketching on paper from the image of a real animal.
plus I usually don't often remember where the ref photo was/look at it again, unless it was on deviantart, then I remember to credit because the artist usually requests it.
now, sketching from some one else's own drawn art, would be a different story because the artist made the image herself ...in my opinion at least. XD
but if it bothers ya, i'll add that link.
thanks for finding it! I always forget where they were. <3
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aw no don't worry about it, and glad i could help a little xD
really like how this turned out btw <3
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yes indeed, thank you!
thanks dear, i'll keep workin' hard!
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dawwwww what a snuggable character!!! 
umm anatomy wise oh gosh... ummm i could give youa red lien ? itd be easier for me to explain that way
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ohhh thank you!
awww, darn.
but please do that
i would appreciate it!
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[link] THERE YOU GO MY LOVE :iconilovepyouplz:
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