Need critique on art and colouring style

[Aqueous]

Hello, I am new to making art for visual novels. I am making this sprite at the moment and I would like to know what people think of the style of colouring because it is a bit tedious, so if it isn't a suitable for VNs, I might change to an easier style. I would also like critique about the work in general. I noticed that the hip is too narrow, the arm width is uneven and the hand is a bit unnatural I have a feeling I am missing a lot of my mistakes. >_<

Thanks!

[MaiMai]

I'll try and make corrections over your sprite in a few hours to help you out.

First off though, there isn't necessarily a "suitable" style for VNs. Generally, what people look for is "consistency." If you can achieve that you're partway there.

You mentioned that this coloring style you have is tedious and I can see why. You're focusing too much on the details of the hair. I'd say try to find a different way of coloring the hair itself. Overall, the sprite doesn't look quite finished in terms of coloring so I can't comment on the rest.

Anatomy-wise, you are correct in your suspicions with the anatomy. Head and shoulders are okay, but the arms and torso are too small. This is a common mistake and can be fixed by using references of actual people so you can see the basic shapes and proportions.

EDIT: What program are you using? Because now that I zoom up to the picture, I see that there's some pixel/binary brush you used for lining and I wouldn't recommend that brush unless it's for stylistic purposes.

[MaiMai]

I made my correction, mostly focusing on anatomy. Coloring, you might want to ask yourself what kind of style you want to paint and look at other artists to get inspiration.

[Aqueous]

Thank you Maimai for taking the time to improve my work, without you all those mistakes would have gone unnoticed. I will take into account the size of the head, the positioning of various body parts and I'll make sure there is no invisible wind (although, isn't all wind invisible?) the next time I design a sprite. (Because I'm too lazy to redraw the line art and recolour again) Regarding the hair, I really want to know whether it is nice looking or not because, it is my preferred style, although there is no point if it is ugly. As for getting references from artists and google, because I am an amateur, I already frequently find references, without them, my art would be at least 2 times worse. Oh well, I'll just have to spend more time going through google.
For my program, I use Gimp on my laptop because I don't have enough money to buy a good program or get a tablet, although I really want both. >_< What sort of brush do you recommend for lining? Do you mind describing it?
Here is an attachment of my sprite, I consider this level of colouring to be finished. (I tried changing the colouring so it would match the hair a bit more)

[MaiMai]

If you're going to do digital sprites, I really, really, REALLY recommend a tablet. It's a damn good investment and your wrist will thank you in the future. Save up money, I think the cheapest good tablet is a Wacom Intuos small, (75 USD last time I checked on Amazon).

Technically, the coloring is okay, but I can't say much since this is the only example of your art that you have. I don't know Gimp well enough to "describe" the brush types (I use Paint Tool Sai and Photoshop).

I made a list of digital art tutorials here: http://lemmasoft.renai.us/forums/viewto ... 46&t=24440

Although most of them are for SAI and Photoshop, the techniques can apply to Gimp as well. What I'm suggesting here is you look at the steps people take to draw lines and color to see how you can apply it to your own stuff so you can develop your CGing style more.

[Aqueous]

Thanks again for your opinion Maimai, it is good to know that my colouring is okay. Thanks for linking me to those tutorials, I'll give them a good look through. Haha, if you so strongly recommend getting a tablet, I'll give getting a tablet more thought!