Can you draw Astro

[Astro Forever]

Originally posted by Strange Wings@May 7 2005, 02:38 PM
I just categorized my prefered 80's episodes which all are featuring similar drawing styles of Astro:

- Astro's First Love
- Uran The Tomboy
- The Transformation Robot
- The Robot Stuntman
- Uran's Twin
- The Monster Of Clarken
- Lilly On Peligro Island
- Blackie Young
- The Great Meltdown
- Uran's Quest
- Save The Carolina 3
- Outer Spaceport R 45
- The Robots Nobody Wanted
- The Greatest Robot In The World Pt.1&2

Similar drawing styles in those bunch of episodes:

- Save The Classmates
- The White Planet
- The Rainbow Comet
- Speeding Through The Storm
- The Robot Vikings
- The Genie From Outer Space
- The Runaway Subway Train
- The World Of Odin
- The Anti-Proton Gun
- Atlas Forever

Similar styles in those ones:

- Frankenstein
- The Light Ray Robot
- The Wreck Of The Titan
- Goliath's Head
- The Liar Robot

Interestingly, I too made some "style lists". However, I had Blackie Young with your Frankenstein list.

I didn't classify all the episodes either but I got:

1)

Blackie Young
Frankenstein
Goliath's head

2)

Save the Classmate
The White Planet
The Rainbow Comet
The Genie from Outer Space
The Runaway subway train
The anti-proton gun
Atlas forever

(Same as yours)

3)

The secret of Bee city
The hijacked airship

4)

The death ballons
the red cat
the human-faced rock?

There might be less or more lists. I'm not too sure about the last list.

[DrFrag]

Originally posted by Strange Wings@May 8 2005, 05:38 AM
However, it's a good thing the scanner didn't nail the rubbed out pencil traces. If you'd run your finger across these sheets you'd think of a relief map.

I have to watch for this when I'm doing shading in pencil. If I've pressed too heavily on the erased lines, the shading picks them up like hidden code writing.

[Strange Wings]

Yeah, it really takes a lot of practice drawing with light pressure. When I concentrate myself on drawing somehow my hand tends to become too cramped and the lines end up as pressed too heavily. Like that, they are harder to rub out and regular shadings are almost impossible to do.
That's why I left out shadings yet, first I have to learn to use the pencil with my hand loosen up.

I just finished doing a cheery Astro:

I found myself rubbing a lot on that one, but I think it turned out not too bad.

[dannavy85]

Here's Atlas Boy with Adrian's designer hair.



He does however have one flaw...a thurst for drawn out dramatics.

[Danny]

Just wondering are you guys grawing these images from reference? I mean its obvious Dannavy is doing his own thing, but what about the rest of you?

I am an absolutely TERRIBLE drawer. I have been trying to draw characters for around 25 years and I simply can not do it. If these are your first attempts then I am totally blown away with the quality AND improvement seen in each new attempt.

I will not criticise the images as it would be hypricitical of me to do so when they are far superior to anything I could do. Judging from your conversation I may be able to offer some advice.

1) Sketch with a softer lead pencil. Drop into your local Newsagent or Stationary supplier etc and pick up a 2B pencil. Possibly a 4B if you really want to train yourself to sketch lightly.

2) Yellow pencil lines will not show up on a scanner. If you wish, you can scetch all you want with Yellow, then once you are satisfied do the final lines with your HB pencil (or better still, get a fine Inking Pen. I use a 0.5 nib) and the only thing the scanner will see is the final lines.

3) The softer the eraser the better. Any Stationary outlet worth its salt will be able to tell you which erasers are the softest. The ABSOLUTE best is a maleable / pliable eraser. These are sort of like putty. They will erase almost anything and do not leave shavings behind. They are also less likely to damage the paper.

[jeffbert]

The thing I do with line drawings to clean up any smudges is to crank the contrast way up. Or, if you can reduce the color depth to 1 bit, you will have the same result: clean lines, no smudges.

[dannavy85]

If these are your first attempts then I am totally blown away with the quality AND improvement seen in each new attempt.

I've been drawing Astro since I was based in Japan in the 1980's. Working the arms and hands in perspective angles is still rough.

[dannavy85]

I have to do this...

Tamao: OH ASTRO! IT'S BRIAN JOHNSON! Darn....I left my autograph book back home!

[DrFrag]

Originally posted by Danny@May 9 2005, 10:15 AM
Just wondering are you guys grawing these images from reference? I mean its obvious Dannavy is doing his own thing, but what about the rest of you?

It's a mix for me. For 3 of them I followed drawing instructions, for 6 I looked at the manga/anime and copied (not traced), and 4 I did from my imagination.
Generally I'll use reference for the first time I draw a character, then try to draw it on my own, then use references to help with mistakes.

I photograph my drawings for posting, so I have to increase the contrast. It also helps to convert it to greyscale, since the camera give it a bluish tint.

[LuanaTF]

wow! I think you all are great artists ^^ I've still to try to draw Astro (I only made some practice with Atlas, for now..)


by Luana