Arowa-kun

[Arowa]

Nothing? I wonder why? Please, I need to know if this can be used as sprites! And it never hurts for some critique!

[Lotus]

I did a redline of the guy you just posted. If I come off as mean I apologize ^^; that is not my intention.

With his proportions, if he were to exist in real life he might be similar to Sulphurspoon's Daddy Long Legs. The guy's torso and arm are way too long and consequently they make his head look too small for his body. I was initially going to change the head size but after shortening the torso and arms and making adjustments to the legs, I found it wasn't necessary. All I did was use the free transform tool to adjust the proportions.

[Nimuell]

Oh, I kinda wonder why noone commented, but things happen slowly on these forums, so yeah.

Edit: Oh, while I was writing this Lotus already pointed out the mistakes about guys proportions. :'D Than I'll focus on other things.

Actually I like the last picture you posted, it looks better than one of a girl and it definitely can be used as a character sprite. But the lines of the body under lines of his clothing are kind of distracting. That's the problem with girls drawing too, I get pretty confused by so many lines, maybe if you want to show all - from her body to her clothing it would be better to just show it on different images? Or on one - but more like "set" of sprites.

Other than that you are making really good progress, I can tell. I especially like how you did guys clothing, and the pose looks nice too. His hand is also well drawn, unlike girl's.
Her hand is too short. I mean fingers. And they also are a bit round, well... like sausages? I don't try to be mean and I know, hands are not easy to draw. ^^; Just practice more at drawing hands and you'll become better at it.

Hmm... what other advice can I give... Try to draw hair a bit differently... Like you know... showing more where it starts growing and flowing in different directions. I'm not that good with explaining stuff like that in English, but I hope you understand. Hmm... Maybe I should try just drawing it for you?
I apologize if you find this offensive. I thought you might find this useful, so here, have a look:

[Lotus]

I did a quick redline of the girl C: Going on Nimu-chan said, her hand is too small in proportion to the rest of her body, and to me it looks like it's in an unnatural position. In addition, her waist is too low and she lacks hips. I also made her head a little larger.

[Arowa]

Whoa! Critique explosion? Well, I guess I'll give some of the reasons why the chars looks like that, and why I drew them that way.

Stelphia, she has a short and small stature. I think people might see her hand as out of proportion is probably because of how loose or big the clothes I drew for her are.

Rowan, He's tall, one of the tallest, if not, the tallest character I have to draw for, in the story. He's about 180+ centimeters tall? Yeah, around there. The idea is to have him look tall, because the main char is shorter than him. I drew heads for each sprite to be the same size, so changing the head size will screw up a lot of things.

If you guys still think they are too out of proportion, then tell it to my face once again, and force me to change:) Also, if you guys haven't notice, I'm actually drawing the same five characters I drew a few months back. The next girl is coming up soon!

[Nimuell]

Yeah, even after all given explanations they still feel too out of proportion. More girl than the guy. I would make his shoulders wider though. Also while I'm still on the guy, it's more legs than torso that make tall people tall. I believe that's how it is. No really. Naked he seems more out of proportions, but I think clothed one is okay... maybe. For now, that is.

Proportions really are important. I myself refused to follow them many years, but in the end still had to. It's not too hard to learn them and characters really look great if you sketch out their proportions. More like real people, less like lifeless dolls.

About girl's hand - its is too small for her face. I usually compare the hand with face, because it's easier to. Go, look in the mirror. Try holding your hand up to your face as a reference. Hand is usually about the same size as face.
If your girl is small - her face would be also smaller than the guys. Head too.

[Lotus]

Again, this might come off as rude so I apologize in advance.

If you're just going to brush off our critiques and redlines unless we reiterate that yes, the proportions are wrong as we previously mentioned and demonstrated in our redlines, what was the point of us wasting that time redlining and critiquing? You pretty much ignored what the both of us said in our previous comments (including my pointing out her hand is in an unnatural position, her lack of hips (even short girls have hips), and her waist being too low).

As Nimu-chan mentioned, the length of taller people is usually in the legs, not the torso. As a tall person myself (relatively speaking) I know this from first-hand experience. It's part of the reason taller people usually walk faster than shorter people; they have longer strides because of their longer legs.
http://obi-quiet.deviantart.com/art/Bod ... -100398041 is good tutorial on body and style.

[Nimuell]

http://obi-quiet.deviantart.com/art/Bod ... -100398041 is good tutorial on body and style.

Whoa! That's a good one!!! *O* *bookmarking* I found it useful myself, thanks!

You pretty much ignored what the both of us said in our previous comments

+1 Lotus, thank you for saying this.
I kind of felt insecure if I should say this too and in the end decided to just shut up. If the person doesn't seek improvement, he or she will never understand, regardless of what you say.
I was pretty hurt by my critique being brushed off and to think I just wasted my time too...

[Fawn]

Sorry to butt in here, but you can improve much faster by using anatomy books and photo references. I use them for my drawings a lot. Learning how to draw realistic bodies first makes drawing people a lot easier, and it doesn't take much time.
This book by Loomis is very handy for anatomy: http://www.scribd.com/doc/2433658/Andre ... -its-Worth You don't have to read the text if you don't want to, but try studying proportions and copying some of the diagrams.
Then, for fun, get some pictures of your favorite actors/actresses and copy them. You'll be amazed what you've learned.

Yeah, it might seem boring at first but it's very helpful! The time you spend studying will be made up by how fast you'll be able to draw bodies later.
I refused to do these things for awhile because I thought my "style" was fine, but you never realize what you don't know until you start studying. I used to take hours on one anime picture, but with a little studying I can make a great picture in no time flat!
Hope that helps!

[Arowa]

Okay. Fine. It may just be because of my personality. I can be pretty stubborn. Maybe I just felt that I needed more reasons, more opinions, as well as my own reasons had to be stated and made clear, before any change is to be made. I never said I would be good, so I needed advice. I never knew if what I did was right, so I needed critique. Styles change and different people can give way different opinions.

The path into Visual-Novel making is daunting. Maybe I'm just afraid. Maybe I just shouldn't have waited. Or maybe, I just shouldn't have posted that last post.

[Nimuell]

We weren't trying to be mean, we just wanted to help D': that's why being ignored is a bit painful
You shouldn't be afraid, noone is going to blame you for your mistakes. And btw, noone said you drawings suck. They are fine, they are good, it's just that you could do better, if you seek perfection off-course.

Being stubborn is fine too (I was also like this), but well... in that case just put your drawings aside (drawing something new at this time) and look at them two weeks later. Maybe you'll see your mistakes yourself. That worked for me just fine.

[Fawn]

I know exactly how you feel Arowa, I used to be just like you. It's hard when you like your ideas a lot, but you know they could be better. Everyone has to put a lot of effort into being an artist... Sure people always label good artists as "having talent", but, in truth, there is no "talent", just a lot of hard work and love for art. The true talent is patience and the will to work hard for what you love.

I used to be stubborn too, but you don't need to be. It's not okay to label yourself something negative just so you can make an excuse not to work, that just makes you and everyone else around you feel bad. So, take your time, don't be scared. Just work hard and you'll be fine!

[Arowa]

All right, I guess I should be serious. Stubbornness is the dominant face of my personality. This means I'm a guy who's cynical and blunt on my words and actions, or so my friends say. I'm the sort of person who would never go back on my word, or never give up on something I set out to do. I brush off criticisms and comments about me from others as easily as they come.

Perhaps that why I was so reluctant to change. I find it difficult to realize what should be done, or what I did was wrong, until I truly believe and understand why. If this aspect of my personality is going to make my life as an artist difficult, then so be it. I will never change myself for the sake of others. I guess I'm lucky that my belief of myself being on the side of good prevented my personality, attitude and behavior from stagnating over the years.

Still, I consider my progress acceptable, considering I only started drawing two years ago, doodling in the first year, and going for classes in the second. I lack the practice, but with school, work and life in the way, I find it hard to pull out time for our VN.

~I also never copy. I look at pictures for reference and study, but never directly use them for my works.

[Arowa]

I'm finished with Estelle's clothing. Bump.

[Arowa]

Also, a little something I did in the holidays back in March. The main thing was that this is my first step into CG coloring. I know I got the proportions of the face wrong, it's slightly shifted to the left and the eyes are different in sizes, but I want to know if the coloring looks alright.