JAVA - Free pricing and art advice

Are you an artist?

Yes! ^_^	86.0%	[ 361 ]
Nooo	3.6%	[ 15 ]
I'm a poll whore!	10.5%	[ 44 ]
Total Votes:			[ 420 ]

[JAVA mule]

[Still hiring! If you are interested in joining this shop please stop by the recruitment thread!

Welcome to J.A.V.A., or Joint Art Value Appraisal! The purpose of this thread is to help the artists on gaia not only by pricing their art, but also by educating them on how to improve their art. J.A.V.A. is a great place for artists to meet, hang out and improve on their art! For everybody's convenience, we have separated the volunteers into categories of their artistic specialty. Each category has a maximum of three positions except for General Helper, which has no limit, so if there are two or less members in a category that means you can apply for it in the recruitment thread! Every volunteer can make a difference!




~ Please do not take offense to any critique given. All critique is delivered with your best interest in mind, so if a volunteer takes the time to give you critique, please accept it without a fuss.
~ Constructive criticism only - don't be rude for no reason!
~ Works In Progress (WIP) are always allowed, but it is almost impossible to price them. We can give you a very rough minimum price for WIPs, but nothing accurate.
~ Phantomkitsune has the final word, followed by any listed members. Respect them.
~ Follow the ToS - that means no full nudity or porn, and artistic nudity must have a warning.
~ No fighting! Everybody is entitled to their opinion.
~ Tips are never required but always appreciated; art appraisal has real value too. Also note, we will be donating 50% of the tips received to random contests and charities!
~ If you want to tip an artists, please send in a trade with the word "tip" in the title to the artist, not the mule!
~ DO NOT PM THE MULE. Only PM volunteers who offer PMs in their description.
~ DO NOT TIP THE MULE.
~ Do not make an image post over 400x400px. Collapse all larger images into URLs please.
~ Chat, bump, hang out, whatever. You can even advertise, just not repeatedly. If you want your link posted under the Links section just PM phantomkitsune or post in the thread.


~ You come in and post this information:

name:
art in question: (in links please)
pricing?: (yes/no)
crit?: (yes/no)
specific artist?: (do you want a specific person to help you? If so, who?)
anything else:

~ We give you advice and/or pricing for your work.
~ You feel free to stay and chat, discuss your work, or just hang out.
~ If you feel like somebody deserves a tip for their advice, you send them a trade with the word "tip" in the title. Tips are never required.
~ If nobody is around or you want a one-on-one discussion of your art, find an artist listed on the front page who offers PM (PM: yes) and they will help you.

/Intro&Rules//CG&Traditional//Cartooning&Realism//Graphics&Pixelated//LineArt&Expensive//Anthro&Animations//GeneralHelpers//Events&Charities//Links//tips/

[JAVA mule]

{phantomkitsune
Good with: "Anatomy, shading, animals, sequential art."
Bad with: "Graphics and expensive art (I've never paid more than 100k for art, and probably never will, no matter how awesome it is)"
Favorite tutorials: sword anatomy
Art: "da"
Online: "All the time"
Gaia member for: "Since 2003"
PM? (yes/no)
Other: "Let me know what degree of crit you want - i can be very gentle, or very thorough."



{Alexandra Supertramp
Good with: "Anatomy, coloring, lineart."
Bad with: "Mecha, animal, anthro and anime/chibi."
Favorite tutorials: I have many favorites
Art: "shop, freebie thread"
Online: "Everyday"
Gaia member for: "Since 03"
PM? (yes/no)
Other: "I love the way you guys critique, it's inspiring me and has made me re-think the way I critique! I love it and I really hope you accept me into your thread."

{Left Butt Cheek
Good with: "Copic art, manga, chibis, pixel art, cartoon styles, colored art"
Bad with: "Furries, mecha, scenery, graphics, animals, pricing under 10k"
Favorite tutorials: [one][two]
Art: "Gallery"
Online: "every day"
Gaia member for: "3 years+"
PM? (yes/no)"

/Intro&Rules//CG&Traditional//Cartooning&Realism//Graphics&Pixelated//LineArt&Expensive//Anthro&Animations//GeneralHelpers//Events&Charities//Links//tips/

[JAVA mule]

{ Kleinflammenwerfer
Good with: "CG art, traditional art, macabre art, gore, pin up, ZOMBIES D:<, anthro art, pixelated, MS Paint art, line art, animations. "
Bad with: " SUPER KAWAII DESU ANIME. I will price you LOW as all get out. I just...don't like it. "
Favorite tutorials:" here and basically everything by alexds1. "
Art: " "
Online: "Every night from around 3 - 8 on weekdays and longer on weekends."
Gaia member for: "A year or two?
"
PM? (yes/no)
Other: ""



{ barefoot friar

Good with: "digital, all styles"
Bad with: " pixels, graphics, traditional (b/c I don't buy the whole, COST OF MATERIALS stuff) "
Favorite tutorials:" x"
Art: " not all recent but w/e"
Online: "ahhh too much"
Gaia member for: "since... 05, I think"
PM? only if it's really neccassary
Other: "ilu java <3"

/Intro&Rules//CG&Traditional//Cartooning&Realism//Graphics&Pixelated//LineArt&Expensive//Anthro&Animations//GeneralHelpers//Events&Charities//Links//tips/

[JAVA mule]

{Artifect
Good with: "All types of graphics and anything to do with graphics (signatures, thread layouts, profile graphics, applications, theories, typography, colors, etc.) I have tons of experience with vector graphics, and I know these three programs quite well: Adobe Illustrator, Inkscape, and Macromedia Freehand. In fact, all of my current designs are done in Inkscape."
Bad with: "Photoshop -- I've never taught myself how to use it in terms of making graphics, so I don't know anything about pre-made brushes, filters, and stamps and how to troubleshoot them."
Favorite tutorials: --
Art: "Madness Graphics Threadless"
Online: "Once a day"
Gaia member for: "Since 2006"
PM? (yes/no)
Other: "Been making graphics for at least five years. I've taken graphic design classes, but for the most part, I'm self-taught. I study a lot portfolios of professional graphic designers and artists and I keep up with trends in design. I was also the Graphic Design Editor of my high school's yearbook. I've had a graphics shop here on Gaia since 2007."

~~~

/Intro&Rules//CG&Traditional//Cartooning&Realism//Graphics&Pixelated//LineArt&Expensive//Anthro&Animations//GeneralHelpers//Events&Charities//Links//tips/

[JAVA mule]

~~~

{David Keju
Good with: "I'm fairly experienced at anything in the drawing/painting gambit."
Bad with: "Less so with graphic design, pixels or animations. "
Favorite tutorials: " hands "
Art: "dA"
Online: "Not terribly often."
Gaia member for: "'bout 4/5 years"
PM? (yes/no)
Other: "I'm an Illustration student and particularly love unusual styles, so do poke me if you'd like yours looked at!"

/Intro&Rules//CG&Traditional//Cartooning&Realism//Graphics&Pixelated//LineArt&Expensive//Anthro&Animations//GeneralHelpers//Events&Charities//Links//tips/

[JAVA mule]

=

~~~

/Intro&Rules//CG&Traditional//Cartooning&Realism//Graphics&Pixelated//LineArt&Expensive//Anthro&Animations//GeneralHelpers//Events&Charities//Links//tips/

[JAVA mule]

{iDazzles :: PM?(yes/no) ::
{Divine Revolver :: PM?(yes/no) ::
{Chap Ice :: PM?(yes/no) ::

/Intro&Rules//CG&Traditional//Cartooning&Realism//Graphics&Pixelated//LineArt&Expensive//Anthro&Animations//GeneralHelpers//Events&Charities//Links//tips/

[JAVA mule]

10 May 2010 Approaching the 1000 page mark, phantom strips the inactive volunteers from the front page.
16 Jan 2010 Artistic Licence, our founder, leaves Gaia.
15 Jan 2010 [.TwilightRain.] wins our first auction
31 May 2009 sayou-chan donated 200k to our art contest! :heart:
S p i f f e h CupcaKe donated 200k toward our art contest! eek heart
Friday March 13 2009 - Thread Opens! 4laugh

/Intro&Rules//CG&Traditional//Cartooning&Realism//Graphics&Pixelated//LineArt&Expensive//Anthro&Animations//GeneralHelpers//Events&Charities//Links//tips/

[JAVA mule]

**All affiliate images must be 200x40 pixels or smaller.

[url=http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/t.48057311/][img]http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c73/hkz11/200.png[/img][/url]

[url=http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/t.48057311/][img]http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c73/hkz11/small.png[/img][/url]

/Intro&Rules//CG&Traditional//Cartooning&Realism//Graphics&Pixelated//LineArt&Expensive//Anthro&Animations//GeneralHelpers//Events&Charities//Links//tips/

[JAVA mule]

1. Read lots of tutorials and play around with many techniques as you learn and improve.

2. As the Romans would say, everything is based off the human form. Yes, even anime. That means no matter what style you are drawing, if you are drawing humanoid figures you should ALWAYS study the actual human form. Proportion and anatomy can drastically help even the most simplistic or abstract styles. In fact, abstract art in itself is extremely difficult to create without first studying other forms of art to get a feel for design techniques. Anime artists, don't feel that if you draw a real person it will ruin your style. You can always go back and give it a pointy chin and distorted features, but first you must understand how the body works to capture its essence.

3. Anatomy is awesome. In art school you are required to learn the skeletal structure entirely as well as all aspects of technical design, and most artists also have to learn muscle structures, joints, ligaments, tendons, how fat builds and falls on the body, the nude figure, and facial expressions. Even if you never draw a naked person or a skeleton again, it helps drastically.

4. A great artist never settles for what he/she can already do.

5. Pricing can be guess and check sometimes. Also, note that any art valued at 100k or more by your peers can be elevated to double the original price or even millions of gold if you get very popular. Brand naming does work with art.

6. The customer is always right. xD If you are making commissions, try to capture what the customer wants most of all. Some artists hate working with constraints, but if you do commissions you must either submit to the customer's wishes or get so popular people are willing to let you do whatever you want.

7. Obey the copyright laws. If you use any texture, brush, image, reference, base, pattern, etc. that another person has made, you must put a written reference to the artist IN THE PICTURE unless they give you permission otherwise. Make sure first that the artist has already offered permission to use their work and whether or not it is a strictly non-commercial tool. Failing to give another artist credit and/or using their work and pretending it is your own is ILLEGAL, even if it's just on Gaia. That means you could be fined. Don't do it.

8. Practicing drawing from life is the most rewarding thing you can do as an artist! If possible draw people, places and objects when you get the chance. If actual people won't stay still or you're being lazy *cough* get some magazines and photographs and draw from them! Take a towel or cloth and drape it over a chair and just draw it at least 3-5 times, then again from another angle. Make observations of life and try to capture what's really there, instead of what you think you see. And when you go to draw a pose you're not completely familiar with, find a photograph of it and/or look at yourself in the mirror, or you can even force your family and friends to pose for you. Just don't draw from other art! No matter how skillful the artist is, and no matter how good their anatomy seems, you should draw either from life or as a backup from photographs.

9. Having trouble drawing couples, foreshortening, or rounded looking figures? Think of two-dimensional art as a 2d mean to reach a 3d end. If you use skeletons, or rough marks for where the character anatomy will be (which you should), try making skeletons out of 3-d shapes like spheres and rectangular prisms, instead of 2-d shapes, and you can even scribble inside a skeleton to give it a sense of depth or mark depth with hatching as you go.

What Makes Good/Popular Art?
~ Mastery of anatomy!!! Understanding the human form and how it moves and reacts to environment always improves the value of art. Stylization can never make up for a knowledge of the human form, and no matter how stylized, anatomy knowledge is key.
~ Consistent and desirable style. Especially when cartooning, style is important. Most people enjoy original styles, though the most popular style on gaia by far is anime. Whatever your style, make sure it is consistent and that people enjoy it.
~ Attention to detail. Detail always brings up the price of artwork, whether it's a nice background, deeper shading, or simply more detail in the appearance of clothing and features.
~ Bold, aesthetic and finished. There are many popular styles with a faded look, but fading your artwork too much can be detrimental to a piece. Make sure artwork is bold enough to pop out at people. Also, aesthetics and unfinished looks can be a real issue; when you draw someone with an arm or leg randomly chopped off at a corner of the picture, it looks messy and unintentional. When leaving out parts of the body such as in half body pieces or busts, try to make it part of the picture, like by putting an object surrounding the top section of their body or have the bottom of the hips fading off artistically or chopped off in a neat circle, anything to keep it from looking like some sort of corpse or like you ran off the page.
~ Clarity and high quality rendering. What makes so much art look "high quality" and professional? Most professional artists work in a very large screen size (or in traditional larger canvas sizes and/or smaller/more expensive tools). In digital art, a good finished size is at least 2,000x2,000 pixels, and high quality images are often worked on in at least 5,000x5,000 pixel formats so that they can later be resized. Working in such large formats allows artists to make their images appear crisp, clean and detailed without having to be immaculate in the actual finished size. When changing an image, it's always easier to make an image smaller than larger.


What Makes Bad/Unpopular Art?
~ Bad scanning/rendering. One of the biggest issues with traditional art is scanning, and many people pinpoint bad art purely by how badly it's scanned. Avoid taking a photograph (especially a bad quality one) of your art at all costs. Use a real scanner and edit it in a photoshop or arcsoft program to make sure the lines are all bold and the background isn't blurry or half gray.
~ Bad anatomy. Though there are some people who price art by technique instead of proportion, most will pay much less for a piece with bad anatomy. Bad anatomy is never stylization, and trust me, we can tell the difference.
~ Awkward, "timid" line art. Many new artists start off making line art with a shaky hand, not adjusted yet to the muscle memory involved in inking. This can also translate into shaky coloring and shading. Shaky lines are normal in the beginning, but it is important to work past that stage and develop more confident lines. Sketchy art is not a problem, as long as the lines are still confident and do not waver. Ideally, if you want to make clean line art you should make a rough sketch of the art and then ink over it in another layer, either using a curved line tool and/or with the screen zoomed in (or for traditional artists, ink over a pencil drawing and erase the pencil.)
~ Poor coloring/shading quality. While expensive art does not always have a very detailed coloring quality, it usually is still very clean, precise and intentional, and fits with the piece. Poor coloring and shading, such as using pastel colors and a tint of black to shade (unless completely relevant to the style) can be very harmful to a piece. Other big issues include using the fill tool to color line art (never ever use the fill tool by itself), poor understanding of shading/lighting (people who shade/light inconsistently and/or in a non-linear fashion), and abusing the sparkle shape. While in some cartoon styles it can be fun to use a little sparkle shape (*) every now and then, covering a person in either sparkles, unconventional white dots and/or big red/pink spots is not a very useful way to express lighting, nor is covering an image in small white lines.
~ Awkward/impossible posture or lack of a pose. While not all good art is full of dramatic poses, bad art tends to incorporate people in unrealistic positions, such as sitting on the edge of a rounded surface with no grip, looking over their shoulder with the head turned way too far back, legs twisted at uncomfortable angles, and the most common: people floating aimlessly in a white space with no sense of weight shift and their limbs floating in random directions. Perhaps equally awkward is artists who try to imply foreshortening (the way the body appears to shrink/grow when positioned at various angles) and fail to make it look natural. If you are bold enough to attempt foreshortening, there are a few tutorials on DA. That aside, all artists should consider learning about Contrapposto(warning: wikipedia article contains nudity), and studying basic weight shift principles.

/Intro&Rules//CG&Traditional//Cartooning&Realism//Graphics&Pixelated//LineArt&Expensive//Anthro&Animations//GeneralHelpers//Events&Charities//Links//tips/

[JAVA mule]

[JAVA mule]

[JAVA mule]