You did this in line while waiting in line?! Absolutely Spiffing!

That's pretty damn neat-o.

Nice work!

This is an incredible drawing! I can't believe you could just whip that up. You have real talent.


Also... you are *so* down with the kids.

Don't dis yourself that's good.
I know what you mean about College bookstores I waited in line long time to buy a block of paper that cost $22 dollars and was sold at $40

IronClad, We artists are always the most critical of our own work aren't we. I know that feeling when others are telling you how great it is and you agree it's good but you are able to see the teeny tiny flaws (if only i done this differently etc...etc...) with it. Well cheer up, from one artist to another, this is a very well executed sketch (9+ IMHO) especially if this was drawn while standing up and moving rather than sitting. There is a great resemblance to Mal, and very clean line work. My only constructive criticism I could offer would be:
1 The eyebrow is okay, however the shading above it and below it are the same dark tone. That perhaps is what makes it look "not quite right" to you. There should definitely be two different separate "planes" there lit differently depending on where the light source/sources, is/are.
This pic by kenshinvamp illustrates what i mean. http://www.fireflyfans.net/bluesun.aspx?bid=2006
2. There is too much shading here. Where are your whitest whites? Every part of the design has shadows on it and his whole background is "white of the page" it makes for very low contrast. Some really white whites would punch it out nicely. Sometimes that is difficult depending on what kind of pen/ink you are using.
These are intended to be constructive suggestions, hope you are not offended.
Keep up the good work.
Christopher Robin

Everything ChristopherRobin said, I would agree with. I gotta admire the tenacity it took to draw this while standing in line at a book store. I whiled away the time in an autograph line drawing a quick sketch of Robin Curtis once. Entertained myself and two or three people in line behind me who got to peer over my shoulder. The look of awe in her eyes when she recognized herself was well worth the wait.

CR is also bang on with his critique about the whitest whites in the composition, but those can be hard to differentiate on the fly. There's an awful lot of texture here, and I would suggest a comparable background rather than leaving it white, but that's just me - I LOVE drawing on black paper. As it stands at the moment, it looks like a metal plate etching for press work.

However, you caught the life in Mal's eye, and you caught the mood of the moment. I presume this is taken from the scene at the beginning of Serenity when he says "Yeah... we win."

He's got an awfully nice mouth, too, doesn't he? hmmm.

Dearest 'otter:

I'm no critic, but I really like what you've achieved here. It's the best sketch of Book I've ever seen... (*dodges a bit too slowly and catches decomposing vegetation squarely in the gob*)

Seriously, I immediately recognized it as Bene ('Good... in the Latin'). Since you've related you drew it whilst queueing for textbooks, I'm gonna contradict Channain and bet you drew it from memory, as opposed to from a still pic... Who's guessed right?

If it's strictly from memory, it's especially awesome... Either that or someone's got a pretty deep fixation with a certain Canadian actor.

v/r,
zed

Oops! Almost forgot!

Next time you're lined up around the UC looking at the line snaking through the bookstore, couldja whip up an Inara bathing?

Just a guy thought...

zoid

Sorry Zoid, i didn't post it above, but even before Channain said anything i knew the scene it was from and was thinking the same as her. Watch the scene again you'll see it is far too close, the pose, the look on his face, it's a spot-on match.
Unless IronCladOtter has a photographic memory this can't possibly be drawn entirely from scratch while waiting in line and be so close.
I would go a step further than both though and guess what more than likely happened is IronClad drew the outline (or basic underlying sketch) from a pic or while watching that scene "paused" on the screen then went to stand in line where she did the shading and detail work.
Perhaps that is what happened to the eyebrow? No longer had the image in front of him/her and was doing the shading from memory? That is my guess.
Who guessed right?

But Zoid, I am right there with you on that last part, i strongly second the whole Inara bathing. How 'bout it IronClad (kidding...maybe)

Thanks for the feedback, guys... the criticisms are spot on, and much the same as the thoughts I already had in mind before I started work on my next sketch. (Which is of Christopher Meloni, incidentally, and not Inara bathing, but I'll keep that idea in mind for future works.)

I do all my drawing from pictures... sadly my greatest weakness in my art is drawing purely from memory or imagination. I'm a fair hand at mimicking what I see on screen or paper, but I have a hard time creating anything with that kind of texture when I'm going purely from my brain. I had a screen cap I printed from "Can't Take The Sky" and used that as my reference; I carry my print-outs and clippings around in a little satchel with my pens and sketchbook so I've always got them on hand to reference if I need to. I also do a rough in pencil and then do the pen over it, but the rough thing with pen is once you do too much shading, you can't take it back. :D I've only recently started drawing again after about five years without picking up a pen, though, so I'm expecting my first few compositions to be more than a little rusty. There's a couple more of my latest sketches here, if you want to check them out... you'll see what I mean about the lack of depth without a reference when you get to the alien critter. :) http://www.fadedpress.com/art

AHH! I think this is fabulous. Some time ago I had taken a lot of life drawing and never did the nice work you've done in pen. I was more an oil pastels (luv!) and acrylic person when I could still make a likeness.
Because its your art, you'll be hardest on yourself. Critique yourself all you want, but I think everyone likes it! :D

Inara bathing... Mal... bathing...

hey... I just got an idea...