Hello Steemians,
I bring to you on this fine day my finished drawing of Luffy Gear 4th from One Piece.
This is the reference I have been using for this drawing, it is the first time gear 4th is revealed in the anime. Followed by a sequence of scenes that are pure awesome.
This reference is a screenshot of the frame from the anime, I do not own it and I recommend watching One Piece if you have plenty of time. Episode 794 was release today I believe.
The Final Drawing
Stage 1 -
Blocking out the general shape and size of things, using a blue pencil.
Stage 2 -
Refine the blocked out shapes using the blue pencil for the last time.
Stage 3 -
Pick the line that really make up the character. Earlier in the week I talked about skipping stages and this is where the skipping happened. I would usually pass over the blue layers with a H2 or H3 pencil picking out the lines I like before repeating with a HB but this time I went straight onto the HB pencil.
Stage 4 -
Using fine tipped pen set in the lines that make the character trying no to miss any as once this layer is done I usually pass over the entire page with a rubber. I missed a few lines in this stage and didn't notice until I had gaps in the line work, this isn't really a problem and it is easy enough to drop them in without the pencil work but I do prefer getting the all before erasing the pencil lines.
Final Stage -
Shading time, after erasing the old lines drop some shading in.
I'll be honest I've taken to a lot of skipping by the end of this drawing as I wanted to get it out to you today. In the shading stage there is also the highlighting stage which I skipped, really these details should be in the drawing so forgive me on that. I also skipping a primary layer of pencil before really deciding on the lines and I mentioned doing this earlier in the week and to be honest it works fine, so I think I can get away without doing multiple layers of pencil line work in future.
Critical Analysis ( I can't promise this for every drawing )
The major issue with this drawing is that I got lazy towards the end and started skipping stages. A major aspect to drawing is being able to put the time in to focus in on the small details that make it shine. I feel a little bad for doing this but I had a second reason other than just being lazy. As the drawing progressed I had a feeling of being cramped in on an A4 page and that meant when I looked in to add highlights and small details I just didn't have clearly enough space.
There is another major problem with this drawing that I chose to leave in even though I spotted it during stage 1. Firstly sorry for leaving it in but I did that so that I could explain it now.
Mostly this drawing has decent perspective and the proportions of the character seem to fit well, I wont go into all the actual proportion and perspective issues but there is one clear big one. Luffy's left arm( right on the drawing ) is damn awful in both perspective and proportion.
How did I spot it? easily with a neat trick I learnt at uni.
If perspective and proportions are correct then the drawing should look and feel the same reversed. The easiest way to do this when work on paper is the hold the drawing up to a decent light source, the window or light bulb later in the day. On photoshop or another image manipulation package there is the handy flip canvas tools which do the exact same trick. I have in the passed become victim to flipping the image that much I've forgotten which way I started and also end up with 2 separate areas with issues even though I started with 1.
When trying the neat trick for the first time do not get hooked on using it, it is a really good trick but it doesn't always solve problems but creates them.
This drawing was requested by 
If you'd like me to draw a character make sure to leave a comment with your requests.
Or save your idea.
As I am fast approaching 300 followers I have decided to do a requested drawing event where the person who made the request gets 50% of the payout for that drawing. More details should be posted about this soon, hopefully I get time before I hit 300 but don't worry if I don't I will still be running this drawing request event.
Until next time,
Stay well.
