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Jon-Moss β Raven Inks
Published: 2013-06-30 19:28:19 +0000 UTC; Views: 5453; Favourites: 388; Downloads: 188
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Description
Here's the inks for another super heroine, Raven from Teen Titans.I know the character is known for not smiling much, but I sketched her with a smile and she looked so happy I simply didn't have it in me to go back & give her a serious expression. So maybe her emotional state is not totally true to the character but it makes for a fun pin-up! I also based her costume on the Cartoon Network version of Teen Titans.
I'm having a great time doing these, so expect more soon. Colours will be up shortly!!
Raven & Teen Titans are copyright DC Comics, Warner Bros. Animation & Cartoon Network
**UPDATE** Now corrected and reposted after pointed out the error I made in drawing a mask on her. The black area on her face has now been corrected to make it look more like a shadow and I have handed in my geek card
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Comments: 43
Raven has to be one of the darkest heroines in the DC canon, and this picture certainly conveys that impression. Let's look at it in detail.
The fact that it's in black and white fits with Raven's character: concentrated on the essential and objective. Her uniform is shown accurately, from the black body covering to the round brooch (which displays an excellent example of highlighting) to the cape with the distinctive bird's head hood. This casts a well-defined shadow that reveals just enough of the face.
And that's where the real strength of this picture lies: in the face. The mouth on its own is pretty captivating. Only knowing Raven's character from the Teen Titans cartoon, I can say that it isn't out of character for the Raven I know. Unusual, yes, and it doesn't signify the same open approval that it would on another face, but it still looks accurate. The dimples add a touch of extra reality.
And then there are the eyes. A pair of almonds containing a pair of colourless irises, a reflection each and a pupil, looking directly at the viewer. I think it's the combination of the bleached irises and the eye shape that makes these eyes so captivating.
So. All in all? An image that captures the mystical, attractive and dangerous character that is Raven.
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Thank you 4ScarfAce4 for taking the time to write this thoughtful critique! You've really looked at each part of the image and given an in depth, well-worded and thoughtful analysis.
It's always lovely for an artist to hear exactly why someone likes their work, and this feeling is only amplified when they're told they've managed to capture the character so well!!
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It's no problem at all! I believe that a critique should be written with some thought, and get to the heart of a work's qualities. It's worth taking some time to achieve the degree of analysis that a picture deserves.
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Sharp clean edges, expressive lines, bold approach! Even took a risk and throwing a broad smile on her as the artist see's fit! A+ for audacity!;D
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Thanks for your kind words!
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Colored! Great job on the piece, my friendΒ
rcknp.deviantart.com/art/Ravenβ¦
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She has a very nice smile, but can't show it much.Β Only those very close to her ever get to see it.
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I take it fainting is a good reaction?
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VERY *faints again* XD
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Oh you poor thing, you seem to be spending an awful lot of time on the floor lately!
**runs off to fetch some smelling salts to revive her**
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She looks great, but that particular smile looks like it belongs on Harley Quinn. and I can not bare to think of raven as a villain's side kick. because let's face it, if she turned bad She would be an Archrival. that's part of why she's awesome. But I'm sorry, this is all just speculation. you're style befits the DC comics and I approve of how you've matured her. She is a perfect Raven, just not my kind of Raven.
4 stars. More power to you.
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Thank you for the thoughful comment la-iya,
Funny thing is I wasn't sure the smile suited her either, and to be completely honest it's not really keeping with her character, so I totally see where you're coming from there.
I've had a run on drawing girls with smiles as I've been trying to make my pin-ups more appealing. I drew a smile on Raven when I sketched her up fully intending to replace it with a more serious expression, however I as I was drawing the pencils I liked the energy the smile gave the image and decided to keep it. Maybe I should try Harley Quinn next as I've totally mastered her smile
Thanks again for the comment though. I really appreciate it when people can combine valid criticism and positive feedback, it's becoming a lost art as most people either criticise or simply exclaim how much they like something!
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you're very welcome. I like the sketchy, but clean style. ^~^
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beautiful, the smile makes this very beautiful
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No way, the smile is very cute. Even the broody can be happy sometimes
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Exactly,
I simply couldn't bring myself to give her a serious look after I drew that smile on her!
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Actually, aside from the amazingly clean line art, the smile was what caught my eye while scrolling through the group deviations
And I know what you mean about awesome "mistakes" that you just can't bring yourself to change. They usually make for the best pictures.
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I like that confident look you gave her.
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Thanks,
It's probably a little against character as from what I've read she's more introverted and distant, but I think the confident look works for her
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It's good, but for some reason Raven looks like she's wearing a mask under her hood.
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Gah!
Thanks for pointing that out, you know I could've sworn that was a mask she was wearing, never realised it was merely the shadow from her hood!
Might have to amend that and repost, it'll bug me now and I'm sure more fans of the show will notice
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I was just about to mention it, when I saw someone already had.
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Thanks, I'm currently correcting & reposting thanks to the wonders of digital inking
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Sweet lines Jon! Deep rich blacks... is that illustrator you're using?
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Thanks!
Nah I could never get to grips with Illustrator, so I freehand all my digital inks over my scanned pencils in Photoshop.
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Whoa! These are really tight especially for freehand! I could never get the damn things tight at angles less than 30 degrees without first drawing and erasing on different layers first - then merging down - which kinda bugs me no end! Or alternatively, cheating and using the pen tool!
Just come back to Illustrator myself - and I'm kinda liking it now more than I did before! Brush tool set to pressure, pressure, pressure - miles better and if you reselect the line you've just drawn you can restroke it however many times you like until you get it right!
All in all, not bad, much better than adjusting stupid points, nodes and bezier control points (or whateva they're called) with a mouse! Colourings still done in photoshop though!
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Cheers, sounds like you've found a way to use Illustrator that works for you.
I could never get used to Illustrator though, spending ages playing around with all those control points to get a curve that isn't quite what I wanted was too much. It always felt like I was creating some technical drawing and then overlaying it over my pencils. My brain just doesn't work that way
I tried it several times and never really felt like I was drawing, plus you also tend to lose some of the flow and dynamics of the original pencils.
I've used my Wacom for so long now that inking in Photoshop is like drawing on paper, I can ink over my pencils and get EXACTLY the line I want really quickly. I have my pencils on one layer, inks on another layer and off I go with the airbrush tool. None of that playing around with the pen tool ('tis truly evil and it will drive you insane).
The one bonus of Illustrator is that you can resize your images without quality loss, but I do my inks at quite high resolution (500 - 600dpi) so they're plenty big enough for prints etc
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