group d all I can see is a funny startled face

This is NOT a Psych test!!

I see the face again! XP

Wow this is actually helpful thank you.

I must be broken none of them grab my attention. though D looks like boobs. :3

not the only one

Heh... the thickest, darkest circle caught my eye almost immediately. I'm reminded of a little bit of something I have been learning as I tweak and re-tweak the linework on my most recent image... not only will line interaction effect... I dunno... visual gravity? (attracting the eye to a part of the image more often), so will line "thickness"... In fact, I think the cross-hatching creates a denser area, which the eye is drawn to, followed by the eye following the offending line or shape responsible for adding the additional density or thickness.
Now... The trick here now is... if you know how to guide someone's eyes through an image... where are you supposed to guide them? Obviously, you might want to guide someone's eyes to part's you want noticed... such as the sexier parts of a pinup image... or perhaps the "closer" parts of an image in a picture that makes use of a lot of foreshortening.
Ah hah... another use might be more dynamic "action lines", such as swipes, squiggles, spikes, etc. that indicate motion, growth, impact, etc.

*shrugs* I'm reminded of an old exercise, where you look at a picture while your pencil is held on a blank piece of paper, then try to move the pen or pencil across the blank canvas in a way that matches how your eyes move across the picture, which, if done well enough, can give you an idea of the most "attractive" part of an image, as well as what makes your eyes divert, or even give up and slide off of an image. Lots of study about this sort of thing in, say, visual advertising, where its all about conveying deliberate emotions based on the given product, as well as keeping the viewers eyes glued on the image for as long as possible.

Heheh... frankly, I notice nowadays that when I see an advertisement, I look less at what the ad is selling, and more about the feelings it is trying to convey through these visual tricks... and feel a little jaded because I realize that they are trying to "trick" me... but that's more my natural cynicism than any real fault of the advertiser... everyone has to make a living after all.

I am slowly learning to increase and decrease the thickness of the lines in my work in order to guide the viewer's eyes to "favorable" locations, tho admittedly I am learning through thought and practice, as opposed to book learning... I am sort of learning as I go to just draw, erase, draw, erase, and basically tweak lines based on if they "feel" off or correct, rather than if they match something accurately in another piece of artwork (though I will copy favorite art styles sometimes just to see how my "offness" feelings are effected...)

Aaaallll that said however, I realize what my biggest "flaw" is in growing as an artist, and just generally becoming a "successful" (I.E. popular and well paid) artist is. Art is just a curiosity and minor pass-time for me, as opposed to a way of life. It seems to me that the most prolific artists are the ones who draw habitually, who are, indeed, almost addicted to drawing, and who do artwork for fun every day the way instead of what most mundane people have fun doing... via reading, television, movies, and videogames, for some common examples.
Sadly, I pass time mostly via videogames and internet browsing, as opposed to a more "productive" means like drawing. I often wonder if there is a way to mentally transform myself into enjoying drawing more than video games... Indeed, I occasionally outright wish for such a solution. Books... counseling... hypnosis... drugs?.... brain surgery??? what could make me go through such a fundamental psychological alteration in order to make one of my few "talents" into something I pursue habitually? If such a radical treatment isn't going to happen, then how do I develop my self discipline so I can "force" myself to change so fundamentally? Ultimately, the solution is likely a hard and painful one: Sell all the videogames... essentially force closed the "easier" forms of entertainment. This would probably be easier if I had a mentor or friend who could keep an eye on me and keep me away from the "temptation" of other forms of entertainment.
Even if this was attainable... is it psychologically healthy?? My gut feeling is that it isn't.

Sorry if this one is a bit long winded, but your pseudo-rant struck something in me that I think about alot: essentially, how does one "improve" as an artist? You sound a bit like a grumpy old man, so I'm guessing you get a lot of wannabe artists asking you for help on how to let them draw as well as you do... and I imagine being pestered for magical, arcane secrets can get old (hell, I pestered artists for secret techniques, or simple advice when I was younger...), especially if you truly had to learn your talent the hard way (which I have little doubt you did ;) )

hmm... End-rant/ramble... hopefully you find my comments relevant enough though... this stuff drags on my brain enough. *smiles sheepishly*

Ah-ah... slight addendum to my observation in Part D. of your picture... The smaller dot with the larger circle is the *first* thing to catch my eye... but they are held there for only the briefest of moment before the thick, circled dot holds my eyes. The small, uncircled surrounding dots don't catch my attention much at all..... but they seem to enforce holding my eyes in part D once they have been attracted there.

... Is that a reasonable analysis, Professor?

Well about drawing verses games.


If you are set money wise then draw as you please. If money is a issue then you should work harder at art. I think your art level shows that you are capable of anything.

thanks for that... :D It's actually encouraging to have someone tell me I can relax a little, and I am happy you think my art has potential:) I'll keep the art tips in mind too.

The circle on the right in D sticks out more for me because it's bigger, has more white space in it, and the dot is right in the center of it. Has more negative space or something. It's like a fruit with more flesh on it too, so it's more interesting than the smaller one with a fat seed in it!

Very good Vorry!!

You got some good art bud, don't be afraid to go beyond furry.

Thank you! :> I'll try sometime! Going to try out traditional mediums again to make some art to sell or at least show around soon.

Huh.... maybe that's why the thicker circled dot kept pulling my eyes in... a lack of symmetry creating a sense of being "off"? ah well, I gave my guess my all... I still think there might be some merit to it.

Frankly, I thought the lack of symmetry was just because Alex was doing a "rush job", based on the earlier examples with less than pristine lines. I didn't think that he might deliberately muss some of his lines...;) so yeah, awesome bit of observation there!

In D, the circle with the large black dot in it grabs more attention to me... it looks more like an eye with a dilated pupil which has an emotional connection the others lack.

I appreciate something like this a million times more than any 'step by step.' There's just so much theory and technique to the actual process that I don't grasp and it's never really shown in a step by step... it's like I'm being shown the destination but not the route to get there (and I get lost easily). I'm still trying to understand whether art is more about tricking the eye into seeing something real, or using identifiable symbols to put together a coherent image...

You have a really unique and well developed style, I'd really like to see more tips and pointers like this!

The larger circle with the dot in the middle grabs my attention first but I keep going back to the other (larger dot) with the circle if I look at it. Visual gravity!

For me, in D, the big circle with the tiny dot on the right and the medium circle with the big black dot draw my eye about equally, so they sort of end up fighting each other. That's just me, though.