Is This An Acceptable Art Style for a Dating Sim?

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T4R4F13D
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Is This An Acceptable Art Style for a Dating Sim?

#1 Post by T4R4F13D »

I was wondering if this would be an acceptable art style for a dating sim, as most sims I see have actual manga/anime styles while my style is a bit different. Any and all feedback is welcome.
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~EDIT~<br />(He's supposed to be a ghost, thus is why he's slightly transparent.) I added shading and fixed the eyes, any new opinions?
~EDIT~
(He's supposed to be a ghost, thus is why he's slightly transparent.) I added shading and fixed the eyes, any new opinions?
Would this be a good art style for a supernatural dating sim? (Ghosts?)
Would this be a good art style for a supernatural dating sim? (Ghosts?)
Last edited by T4R4F13D on Thu Mar 31, 2016 10:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Is This An Acceptable Art Style for a Dating Sim?

#2 Post by SundownKid »

I'm not sure if the art style is the issue here, but rather the level of overall drawing skill. The art style is okay but the shading and overall level of detail is lacking, it doesn't exactly scream "go play my game". So, it may be acceptable for a freeware title, but for anything commercial, probably not.

In any case, that art style looks pretty darn anime to me. Maybe retro anime but anime nonetheless.

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Re: Is This An Acceptable Art Style for a Dating Sim?

#3 Post by ChronoWorkS »

Create a game in any way helps a lot to improve your art in the process. So go ahead! do it
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Re: Is This An Acceptable Art Style for a Dating Sim?

#4 Post by gekiganwing »

ChronoWorkS wrote:Create a game in any way helps a lot to improve your art in the process.
Use any category, style, or type of art that you want. If you want your art to look like Fist of the North Star, that's fine. If you want to use Junko Mizuno's Cinderalla as artistic inspiration, that's also fine. Anything is feasible, including photorealism, pictures of people in costumes, retro 2D sprites, rotoscoping, underground comix drawings, or whatever else you enjoy.

Overall, I would recommend focusing on creating your story. Ask yourself questions such as who the fictional people are, what specific goals they want to achieve, and what's standing in their way.

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Re: Is This An Acceptable Art Style for a Dating Sim?

#5 Post by Renmiou »

Well, manga in particular have very varied styles anyway - you can't really say that Takehiko Inoue's Vagabond is the same stuff as Doraemon. And as Sundownkid's pointed out, your style isn't actually far removed from what is widely considered to be manga or anime. So long as your art in general is suited to the mood of your story, it should be fine.
The problem I see right now is that the quality itself is OK for a freeware title, but not for a commercial one, if you were to want to go that way. I'd particularly tone down the very bright green eyes and work on line variation to improve the drawing easily. To further improve it, anatomy and gesture drawing studies would be my first attempts.

That said, if you have a story that you absolutely want to narrate, go for it! I found that when I actually finished my first NaNoRenO project I improved dramatically! Instead of worrying about it, go and do! There's no better way to improve your art. :)

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Re: Is This An Acceptable Art Style for a Dating Sim?

#6 Post by T4R4F13D »

Do you guys have any websites or guides you could recommend to help me better learn anatomy and shading?

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n0tgin
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Re: Is This An Acceptable Art Style for a Dating Sim?

#7 Post by n0tgin »

T4R4F13D wrote:Do you guys have any websites or guides you could recommend to help me better learn anatomy and shading?
We have a thread right here on LSF! Happy drawing and good luck!

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Re: Is This An Acceptable Art Style for a Dating Sim?

#8 Post by AshenhartKrie »

Keep in mind that even though you may still be a beginner artist in comparison to many people on here, often times if the story is well written it can make up for what the art may or may not lack. I actually prefer the colours on the transparent version; bright, saturated colours often hurt the eyes and seem unnatural, so it's good to tone them down a little.
There's a really good tumblr that has a lot of resources and offers critiques.
Most importantly, keep drawing, keep practising. Use reference images to get the pose/anatomy right. Play with colours and styles of colouring. And don't feel pressured to conform to a certain style. You can play around with your style as much as you want and find what's right for you.

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Renmiou
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Re: Is This An Acceptable Art Style for a Dating Sim?

#9 Post by Renmiou »

For anatomy, I would recommend Proko's series of Youtube videos, Helpfulharrie on Tumblr also has a lot of easily digestible stuff on their Tumblr.

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Re: Is This An Acceptable Art Style for a Dating Sim?

#10 Post by MoonByte »

You may also wanna browse through tumblr and deviantArt with tags such as "Anatomy", "Shading", "Tutorial", etc.
A lot of artists are willing to share their processess there with very elaborate guides that I occassionally found very helpful.

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Re: Is This An Acceptable Art Style for a Dating Sim?

#11 Post by SundownKid »

RE: Your new question, the character doesn't scream ghost to me.

I think you would be better off doing a design similar to Joey from the Blackwell series, where he is simply a single shade of color like blue or white.

Still having his original color scheme makes it just seem like he is using a cloak of invisibility rather than being a real ghost.

However, it is of course possible to make a ghost like that too. The movie Ghost had a ghost who was basically the same as a person, besides being able to phase through stuff. He could be indistinguishable from other people, save for the fact that they don't notice him.

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