Drawings: Please Critique me

[Thinktink606432]

First off thank you to everyone in my former post who helped me understand why my drawings were not showing up.

Okay here is a video of some of my work. Don't mind the music just turn it down. I am on my little brothers laptop and all but around five of my drawings are on here. Please critique me but attempt to do it in a helpful way. I am only in high school and I have only been drawing regularly since I was thirteen. Just about two years ago.
Here is a linkhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwOLTWVDjnk









Please god let this show. Okay tell me what you think. What can I improve on besides showing more character emotion. The main issue I have is that my characters don't seem to have much "squash" or "stretch" in them I believe. I mean my drawings turn out looking nice so stiff. How can I work on this? I know this is not the animation technique spot but well.. Oh and sorry the pictures are so small. I was forced to either use the thumbnail view and have them tiny or have them full size and way to blurry.

[Rodney]

This won't be much of a critique...

I like 'em.

You've immediately conveyed a story between the boy and girl and added a lot of nice details as well.

I have no idea what the snake has to do with the story but time will tell?

My suggestion would be to ink some of your drawings.
This will help in your mastery of composition, design and layout.

More please!

[arif]

Hello Thinktink60..
i have tried with one of your drawing uploading my photobucket account and paste the image link here and it worked.....see the result...just make sure that 800x600 pixel ration would be ok for highest resolution.in this way, we dont need to go other website to see your pics......so, have enjoy and upload your drawings

[Rodney]

I just reread your post and saw this:

The main issue I have is that my characters don't seem to have much "squash" or "stretch" in them I believe. I mean my drawings turn out looking nice so stiff. How can I work on this?

To better understand Squash and Stretch definitely look into the lessons on the Bouncing Ball. Don even has a video dedicated to it. (If you haven't seen the free video tutorial... go watch it!)

There are countless examples of the bouncing ball to review (do a search or two on google and youtube). The lesson a Squash and Stretch is present everywhere you find squash and stretch in the real world too.

Your snake will be an ideal candidate for springy squash and stretch action. (Study the character Kaa from Disney's Jungle book!)
My suggestion would be to exaggerate the straight lines (mostly for stretching) and the curves (mostly for squashing).

[OwenWelsh]

Thinktink, this is a great start. I like that you opened the mouth on the snake character. I think what will help you avoid some stiffness is to put a line of action through your characters. Study these images below.

[jeremyhopkins]

Okay tell me what you think. What can I improve on besides showing more character emotion. The main issue I have is that my characters don't seem to have much "squash" or "stretch" in them I believe.

If you don't mind my suggestion, maybe I can help you organize your thoughts a bit better so you understand how to present your work more clearly. The first thing that stands out to me is the emotion or communication - Sorry, I know that's not what you asked for first - My first question to you is what are you trying to say with your work? Who are your characters and why are they having this conversation. That's the acting or character side of the equation. The next half is the technical, the squash and stretch, knowing where the weight and force is in the character.
What I like about your work is you put characters in a situation. You can push it more now by knowing your characters and writing a biography about them and their situation. That will help you make unique poses. You don't have to get too technical with the drawings because even stick men/stick women can communicate ideas. Good luck and hope you post updates to your work.

[KlarkKentThe3rd]

Good enough for a start. Nau du moar!

[Thinktink606432]

Oh thanks for reuploading it!

[Thinktink606432]

WOW, I never thought of really giving my characters much of a personality but I think now I will. I think I tend to forget about the acting portion of animation. For now on when I draw characters I will start getting personality traits form my members of my family.

[Thinktink606432]

Hmmm....A line of action would actually help a lot. Since I don't think about my drawings before I do them (even though I know I am supposed to) this may help me become better organized.