Armor Nick's art evolution thread

[armornick]

Hey everyone

As you will see in this post, I'm a terrible artist. However, I'm also afraid to depend on anyone to do my art for me. So, I'm trying all kinds of things to fuel the visual part of my visual novel(s). Previously, I showcased some oldschool rpg sprites. Next in my eccentric quest for a suitable art style is the traditional stickman, as some might have seen in Order of the Stick or various online flash games.

Same question as last time; is this a viable art style for visual novels?

Thanks in advance.

[Tsundere Lightning]

Short answer: No.

Long answer: There is no reason why you couldn't get an artist to help you. If not from this comm, surely you know a friend who keeps a sketchbook? Ask them.

[armornick]

Alright. Thanks for your opinion

[lordcloudx]

Yeah, I'll second Tsundere Lightning. Just no as to the stickman. Not only does it look bad, it also has all sorts of jagged edges despite looking like everything was made digitally.

I'm going to say that drawing/creating anime art through various photoshop/whatever-photo-editing-software-of-your-choice methods isn't as hard as it might seem.


Using myself as an example, I was never really a digital artist but look at the progress of the art from top to bottom. This is my first VN and one that I've made multiple cosmetic remakes of http://vndb.org/v941

[KomiTsuku]

Truth be told, I'd laugh hysterically at the screenshot and be on my merry way. v.v I'd REALLY avoid going with that style. It looks highly unprofessional and, as a reader, a potentially major waste of time.

[lordcloudx]

Of course, if you manage to make a GUI that fits that style along with a story that sorta justifies it, you could make it work. IMHO, Scout (probably better known as Christine Love outside of LSF) has accomplished that with this game http://vndb.org/v3906

[Ventara]

^ Wow, you can definitely see the progress of improvement there. (referring to lordcloudx's first post)

Anyways, I'm still a noob, but I say that as long as you're not going for something serious and you try to give the stickman artstyle some charm, it should be fine. But I don't like that stickman art very much. If you want to go simple, why not go all the way and just do the regular stickman and use varying stuff to distinguish the characters (hair, pants, etc.). You can probably even do some simple animation if you do that.

But if you want to try doing some more detailed drawings, you can try saving up and buying a pen tablet. It really improves your drawings. Take a look.

Before


After

[LVUER]

Using stickman as style is not really a problem (as long as you can pull it in right way). I've seen several manga and anime that using only stick figures as their characters (often ridiculing their similar appearance and how readers wouldn't be able to tell who's who, effectively breaking the 4th wall). The real problem is that your art looks very unpolished and unfinished.

[kkffoo]

I love it!

He looks as if he is up to some mischief and there's more skill to this than it first appears.

I would say it very much depends on consistency and creating a believable world for your character.

All the characters should have the same look, keeping the same degree of pixelation etc.

Then all depends on the writing, can you keep people interested, turning the page?

Maybe traditionalists may not even pick up the novel, but the novelty value is helpful, and there might be another audience out there who would like this better than the traditional look...
Younger boys for instance?

Go for it!

[armornick]

I'm going to say that drawing/creating anime art through various photoshop/whatever-photo-editing-software-of-your-choice methods isn't as hard as it might seem.

Actually, I think drawing digitally might be the problem. I don't know what my problem is, but I can't draw a straight line when using a mouse. My hands tremble when I'm drawing

I'm going to try drawing something on pen and paper and see how that turns out. Who knows, maybe something nice will turn up

Also, I'm probably not going to buy a tablet. I'm not an artist and it seems strange to pay money for something I'm not using for my profession. With all respect to people who do, of course.

So, unless I'm banned for making strange threads, my next thread (or post if I can somehow recycle this thread) will be some handmade pen&paper art.

[Taleweaver]

There is no reason whatsoever why you shouldn't be making an Order of the Stick visual novel If you like the fantasy setting.

[Ventara]

I'm going to say that drawing/creating anime art through various photoshop/whatever-photo-editing-software-of-your-choice methods isn't as hard as it might seem.

Actually, I think drawing digitally might be the problem. I don't know what my problem is, but I can't draw a straight line when using a mouse. My hands tremble when I'm drawing

I'm going to try drawing something on pen and paper and see how that turns out. Who knows, maybe something nice will turn up

Also, I'm probably not going to buy a tablet. I'm not an artist and it seems strange to pay money for something I'm not using for my profession. With all respect to people who do, of course.

So, unless I'm banned for making strange threads, my next thread (or post if I can somehow recycle this thread) will be some handmade pen&paper art.

You find it strange to pay for stuff like hobbies?

Anyways, keep at it and something good probably will come up. And I don't find your threads strange. A lot of people make threads asking for comments on their art.

[LVUER]

It's normal for people to spend lots of money for their non-profession things, namely their hobbies.

- A man like golf and spend thousand of dollars to buy those expensive golf clubs and club member fees.
- A man who loves philately buys and hunts for rare stamps, spend perhaps his entire life and fortune to get that one little old stamp that have letter $10 on it.
- A man who likes anime (ex: like me) and manga (ex: me again) and video games (ex: another me) spends hundreds of dollars to buy all those anime and game discs, anime related merchandise (figma and revoltech, woooo >o< ), and with rooms full of manga books (literally from wall to wall).
- A man who loves to draw despite unable to draw nicely (especially when compared to professional illustrator, his drawing looks like shit... ex: (I hope you're not bored yet) like me). Spends hundreds of dollars to buy art and manga papers, expensive pen and markers, lots of "how to draw manga" guide books and reference materials, scanners, and finally... a tablet.

[Tsundere Lightning]

There is no reason whatsoever why you shouldn't be making an Order of the Stick visual novel If you like the fantasy setting.

Order of the Stick, however, is very good art. It's very stylized to be sure, but it has cleaner, crisper lines than the example you've given. Weird as this sounds out of context, it's professional looking stick-figure art.

I wouldn't mind giving a VN with OotS style artwork a shot, but frankly the OP isn't there yet.

[armornick]

You find it strange to pay for stuff like hobbies?

It's normal for people to spend lots of money for their non-profession things, namely their hobbies.

Yeah, I guess you're right if you look at it like that. To me, a drawing tablet seemed more like professional equipment, and I would never pay €5000 for Visual Studio just because I like to program. However, I guess a tablet isn't as expensive and as such can be seen as a hobby thing. People who buy Photoshop just because they like to make CG's in their spare time, however, that I will never accept.

I wouldn't mind giving a VN with OotS style artwork a shot, but frankly the OP isn't there yet.

I agree. However, I'm dropping that art style since I've discovered a cool feature in my image editor that allows me to make nicer graphics.

I'll be hijacking this thread some time in the future when I finish my first drawing, and I'll be turning this into a more classical 'rate my artwork' thread. It seems more forum-space-friendly to me, since memory costs money