Drawing Thread

Time for me to post my drawings in here

 

Track so far:



PS: radiumRC I was wondering if you had any tips

 

any tips on background detail?

 

Dm tmr and I can help u

 

imma do this track by myself because it is gonna be like my "renewal" track I guess, kind start on a clean slate...but yes I would LOVE to make a track with you...dm me

 

who's tmr?

 

Tomorrow

 

ah. thx. sry for being an idiot and not knowing what tmr meant.

 

*insert this tomorrow because I will probably forget to tell you* HAPPY BIRTHDAY yay woo hoo

 

Ur fine lol

Ok thank you

 

i don't know what is possessing me right now, but i feel like taking the time to make a lengthy and serious post! now, i am by far not the best artist on this site nor will i give the bestest advice, but i thought i would voice a bit of my personal process because i am bored. also, your clouds sort of reminded me of clouds i drew a while ago, so this is a personal attestment to my growth as an artist. (so meaningful and poetic... ). although i am not really directing this post to you, this post is more general. also i am not just going to give a step-by-step tutorial on how to draw stylized, bubbly, round and voluptuous clouds. given your brief description, it is clear you want more grungy and darker, wispful clouds that sort of blend into the sky, rather than clouds that take on a clear three dimensional form with solid contours. i will be keeping that in mind during this tutorial, but i think that this tutorial can apply to anything you draw!

1. references

it is important to build a visual library. this involves conscious observation, so whenever you are somewhere and can remember, just take time to really look how objects and things look and behave. maybe you are going for a walk and notice a cool cloud formation, maybe just take a moment to really look at how each tuff is situated and how the light hits it and how the colour shifts. (clouds are never purely white or gray, they have subtle hints of colour and tone!) maybe even take a picture and use it as a reference later. idk.

although this is free rider hd, a 2D drawing side, it is important to understand how objects behave in three dimensional space, and it's important to know how to capture them realistically. so what this means is never use cartoon / stylized art for a reference to your own pieces (different from seeking inspiration, will get into that later!). it's far more beneficial to learn how to draw things realistically and then build off of that to create your own style.

with that said! it's important to find a good reference. i chose a bad reference because i was too lazy but it's still workable. it's really only bad because it's overcast (unlike what is shown in your screenshot), which messes with the lighting a bit. but for a free rider hd track it is not that bad in my opinion. i am just focusing on the individual cloud at the top right and not bothering with the big wall of overcast clouds in the background.

reference image (open) reference image (close)

2. style/technique

ok you have a reference image and a general idea of what you want, but how do you translate that into a free rider hd track? drawing clouds (especially soft clouds with no clear contours like the type you are trying to draw) is difficult. what you have done and what many have done including myself, is to just draw the outline of the cloud, and maybe thicken some parts to imply shadow. i guess it works but it can be better. it is nice to look at other tracks and trackmakers to see how they depict clouds using just lines. a good source of inspiration is crypt's track "shadowland", because it has those similar wispy clouds. although his are more whimsical and don't really fit the dark, pollution theme you have, it's still a good starting point i think. (also needless to say he filled in the sky and made his clouds white so you are just thinking of the reverse of that).

crypt's clouds (open) crypt's clouds (close)

since there is no transparency/gradation and one solid line width in frhd, you will have to rely heavily on the use of lines. every line should have a purpose. while you are drawing, you should always be conscious of what you're drawing. ask yourself what each line is for.

gradients/transparency is important for shading. to give the illusion of a gradient, line spacing is important. darker parts will have lines closer together, and as the object gets lighter, the lines get more space apart. quite intuitive! we can see this in crypt's drawing, how closer to the centre there's more white, while it gets to the edges it gradually gets filled with more lines. and keep in mind, this doesn't just mean keeping the edges dark and the exact centre light with an even gradation. this is where your visual library and understanding of how light affects 3D objects plays a role.

this is sort of what i mean (open) this is sort of what i mean (close)

it's also important to keep a rhythm to your lines. many people say "connect your lines" which is good advice for people who don't really know what they're doing (like me) because when every line is connected somehow, they are intrinsically part of an overall flow. (unless u just scribble randomly idk. just be conscious of what you're doing and where your lines are going.) point is they have to have a flow, a general movement. breaking your lines makes these small dashes that often don't really fit in the overall structure of an object, and your piece ends up looking scratchy or messy (messy is not a style. that is something i learnt too late...). crypt breaks his lines, but he does so in a way where they're able to keep a flow, like they're actually still connected to the lines around it somehow.

obviously every person has their own style and own way of shading things. cross hatching, for example, is a technique that works on free rider hd that is different from the examples i showed, but the concept remains generally the same.

3. constructing the drawing

constructing a drawing on free rider hd is different because you can't really sketch and you can't really block in values or anything like that, so do not really apply this advice outside of the context of free rider hd.

if you're working with black lines, it is beneficial to sketch out a general shape to help you position your drawing and to help with proportions. if you are drawing with grey, you can still loosely sketch a general outline of your object, but just be sure to try your best to erase imperfections and sketchy lines. this may take time, you may have to redraw certain parts over and over again to get a nice clean shape. (never be afraid to erase, never be loyal to any part of your drawing.) the sketch/outline can be super loose or super precise depending on how confident you are. if it is not precise, again, obviously, erase it. and by "outline" i don't just meant the outer edge of the object, but any crucial areas that you want to map out. exactly how you want to map it out just depends on the person, just whatever feels best for you, its just a tool to help you!

this is when you can start detailing or whatever. its important to keep zooming out and observing the object as a whole, as well as how the object fits in with the rest of your track. i like to zoom out all the way very very frequently and just stare, to see how everything looks as a whole. its easy to get tunnel visioned and hyper focused on one area (which you do not want because things will become less connected or something idk . it's important to move around the object and your entire track too, do a little bit of detail here and a little bit of detail there. i also like to map out my entire track before i start to refine and detail things.

obviously i can not and will not tell you exactly how to detail. i am just trying to provide a sort of foundation to help you practice and to help you grow as an individual artist . it takes time and it takes practice.

4. finished product

this is something i quickly came up with. obviously it's not perfect, some parts are messy and clunky (i.e. top right) but i am satisfied with it to an extent. if you hate it, then good, that means you have your own artistic voice and you can work towards achieving your own personal art goals, hopefully keeping in mind some of the general advice i gave, or at least using it as a sort of foundation . i'm just sharing it as an example / demonstration, and if you happen to like it then it can provide a source of inspiration

zcyerak cloud (open) zcyerak cloud (close)

one last thing to point out is that a lot of my edges are floating off the main body and are not really connected to it, but it still (tries) to fit the general flow of the cloud. lines are your friends but the space in between is equally important. i think i could have even exaggerated this more, and made the edges break and flow off and fade more into the background. crypt does a good job of this. closing off the edges can make it seem like you plopped your cloud onto the canvas and it becomes its own isolated entity instead of being a part of the atmosphere. just food for thought!

anyways : - P, take everything at your own discretion. this is a very generalized tutorial. in reality art has no rules, but there are certain ideas and concepts that may help guide you (and you know what they say.... you have to know tje rules before you break them or something). this entire post was made because i was bored and didn't feel like sleeping. maybe this post sucks and all of the people who are better than me think that i am leading young artists down a path towards failure. but whatever, i dont really care. hopefully this tutorial wasnt too long and boring and awful and incomprehensible. i may edit things if people end up caring. any questions? LMK!!!! thanks zycerak out!

e: forgot to clarify you don’t always need a reference for every little thing , especially if you have a lot of practice and experience and confidence , but also please do not shy away from references , but also don’t be too dependant on them either

 

i needed this tbh

 

I know this is not good but its something that I been working on:

Before (open) Before (close)

After (open) After (close)

If anyone has any pointers that would be great

 

Thanks zycerak How do these clouds look

 

ill show you what i do

 

the right was a super quick and crappy representation of radiumrc's clouds. i prefer the left...but im no master artist

 

Nice clouds man

 

mmm...nah dude made that in like a minute. lemme show you what ive been sketching in science. planning on adding it to the track i showed you yesterday. sry if you can't distinguishe the foreground from the background, i kinda made it for me to understand. here you go!

 

sry bad lighting. the robot part is the foreground. you can't really tell. ll show you when i draw it on freerider

 

mmm ill stop posting the whole track so you guys can experience it when I publish it... but what do you think of this? also here is that sketch converted to free rider...