Space Opera art - critique encouraged

[Tsundere Lightning]

Working on some stuff for a VN project, set in a shared-universe... thing I made a while ago.

At least some of my reason for posting is for critique, especially anatomy critique. This has some anthropomorphic animal aliens in it - Draconians and the feline Suil.

So, Suil space pirate. Her sidearm can act either as a plasma blaster or as a plasma cutlass, as needed; the latter is mostly used in boarding actions, to slice through blast doors.



And the three major stellar superpowers of the setting, in battle dress. Okay, maybe calling the ConFed girl's uniform 'battle dress' is a bit much; it's a mecha flightsuit.

[Fawn]

Do you do base sketches? It looks like you just draw the lines straight on there... That's not a way to go unless you're professional and have a lot of experience drawing. It makes your drawings look messy and unbalanced.

Are you going after a realistic style? You should really start learning from anatomy books. This book should help a lot: http://www.scribd.com/doc/2433698/BRIDG ... -from-Life You can learn a lot faster by taking a little time to study from it.

Also, your (human) noses are pretty odd. From what I've seen from your other drawings, they're usually the same hook shape. I could understand if you're trying to make characters that look different; but you should learn how to vary your body and face proportions. They'll make much more interesting characters. Doing studies from photos helps too.

[Tsundere Lightning]

Do you do base sketches? It looks like you just draw the lines straight on there... That's not a way to go unless you're professional and have a lot of experience drawing. It makes your drawings look messy and unbalanced.

Are you going after a realistic style? You should really start learning from anatomy books. This book should help a lot: http://www.scribd.com/doc/2433698/BRIDG ... -from-Life You can learn a lot faster by taking a little time to study from it.

Also, your (human) noses are pretty odd. From what I've seen from your other drawings, they're usually the same hook shape. I could understand if you're trying to make characters that look different; but you should learn how to vary your body and face proportions. They'll make much more interesting characters. Doing studies from photos helps too.

Sometimes I do base sketches, sometimes I just draw on the page. It's the latter for these pics. I'll try to pencil, THEN ink in the future.

Semirealistic. Your advice still applies.

"Same hook shape?" That's bizzare. I barely draw anyone with a hook nose, at least deliberately, and I thought I had some variation.

[mooo]

i agree with fawn, i think you have a solid idea and the codtumes look great it just needs anatomy and line touch ups. your off to a great start and can't wait to see what you make of it. i love the 'crybaby' on the females helmet

[Fawn]

"Same hook shape?" That's bizzare. I barely draw anyone with a hook nose, at least deliberately, and I thought I had some variation.

The shape you draw kinda looks like a flat fishinghook. The line under the nose turns upwards, giving it a round shape. Real noses are usually up-turned or flat on the bottom, and have nostrils. Here's some examples of varied noses to consider: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Y1T120TBk6k/R ... k+king.jpg , http://www.snowsource.com/LAHindian_lg.jpg , http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ldde1 ... o1_500.png .
I can see that you're trying to simplify the nose's shape, but you're leaving out details that give them variety (Such as nostril length/size, shape, ect) and fit your characters.

Hope this helps

[Tsundere Lightning]

i agree with fawn, i think you have a solid idea and the codtumes look great it just needs anatomy and line touch ups. your off to a great start and can't wait to see what you make of it. i love the 'crybaby' on the females helmet

Callsigns, despite what Wing Commander would have you believe, are almost always jokes at the pilot's expense. This particular pilot doesn't so much cry as wail like she's Sailor Moon.

Agreed that I need to work on my anatomy.