Batman Advice #1 - Batman

[Stu]

Now then everyone (in case you are all wondering by now, that is a Yorkshire saying of "Hi")

As of late, I have been drawing more Marvel characters than DC in hopes to encourage others to draw them in the future. But, since I decided to pick up my beloved pencil and draw any Batman characters (which I used to do a lot) I noticed something lacking in most of them. So, as I did in my previous thread, I was hoping some of you could give me advice on drawing Batman characters. It would be rude not to start with The Dark Knight himself, and this is my latest drawing of him, done for the sole purpose of this thread

Batman (http://groups.msn.com/PeterParkersPortfolioTZ/shoebox.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=21)

I also hope to do threads on Robin, Nightwing, and The Joker in the upcoming future as they are already in Peter Parkers Portfolio (thats my MSN groups name, clever eh?)

[TimTwoFace]

Hey dude, nice pic here.

My words of advice:

-Cowl Shading:
The colours look good, but the shading should curve with the shape of his face, not just be direct line down the middle (like my namesake, for example).

-Body-Shading
The colour choice is also good, but don't draw lines that outline the shaded area - it just looks weird. Either just leave that dividing line between colours the same colour as the shaded area, or just blend them all together.

-Limbs
Watch the lengths and widths of the limbs. Some of them are a little too rounded at the joints, and some are way too long and thin for a muscular guy like Batman. He's got the right height, just beef him outward a little and he'll look all good. :)

-Tim

[Stu]

Thanks for responding Tim

Cowl Shading:
Yeah I see what you mean. A straight line makes him look too flat.

-Body-Shading
I have also noticed I need to stop inking the shade lines but, for some reason I feel compelled to do it.

-Limbs
I'm not too fond of drawing over musculer people, and I personally think the likes of Superman SHOULD look more like Christopher Reeves, as it makes Clark Kent much less odvious. No one would actually believe he was a Kansas farm boy with the body of a GOD. Same applied to Batman, but to a lesser extent.

[Outlander00]

The only thing that I can see wrong with it, is the shading... the light is reflecting all over the place, which makes it rather artificial. also, because of the nature of the character, that you should have stuck with the black on the grey as well.

It just comes down to planning is all.

[Nightflower]

Your proportions are a little off. I'd make the length between the knee to the angle much longer- it should be roughly the same length as the thigh. Same with the length between the elbow to the wrist- it should be roughly the same length as the upper arms. It's true that they'd be shorter if you were foreshortening in the pose, but I don't think you are. The head needs to be a little smaller too.