Sayumi's Amateur Art Stuff [Want opinions for VN sprites]

[Sayumi101]

I'll basically use this place to litter random drawings.
But for now, I really need opinions on these sprites of mine (especially for the blond guy). I'm working on them for my new visual novel , 'Kiss and Tell'. Awkwardness in anatomy aside, will they work? OwO (Or do I need to redo the shading? Or maybe even redo the entire thing?)

Redone




This here is intended to be the main character


Please give me your input. I'm especially iffy about the blond guy >.< If someone could maybe help me colour, that'd be awesome too! *is kicked*

[ofdawnandtwilight]

Hi there! I've seen your visual novel idea before and I've been wanting to say how I love love love it along with your super cute art! <3

As for critiques, I'll put up some points that could use improvement (aside from the anatomy) :

- Lineart could be neater and tidier. Try to do more research on the clothes' wrinkles (although I'm actually really bad at them myself OTL). Perhaps draw the wrinkles with just simple lines and not big overlapping folds, for example the blond's right sleeve where the first wrinkle goes into his arm too much and makes the shape of his arm look weird. His left sleeve's wrinkle is also folded in a wrong direction which gives his arm an odd shape. I think the folds on the main character's clothes look great though! The boys' ones need a bit more work. Oh, and play around with the lineart's colour! You can either use dark brown instead of black or even match with the colours of the clothes.

- For colouring, try not to blend or airbrush too much. Use bolder shading and bolder colours, don't make them fade in too much with the base colour. Instead of using a darker shade of the base colour for shading, try experimenting with a dark yet different hue (eg. blond hair with pink shading, green with dark blue shading etc.) On another note, purple fits in with almost every colour so you could add that as an overlay to make your final product more polished as well!

- I suggest doing more research on how clothes work, just the basics will do just fine. For example, the blond's collar doesn't look like fabric, same for the purple haired where they look like paper instead. Their shirts should have buttons all the way down as well. Different fabric should have different shading. Softer fabric like the shirt would fold more while harder fabric would have a more linear shading and less wrinkles. Pants usually don't have so much wrinkles and folds down the legs except for at the parts where the knees and the zipper/buttons are.

These are general notes really, so they can be applied on almost anything. Sorry if they're not really helpful, I'm bad at explaining things ^^;

But overall, I really like your art and it's adorable! If you'd like any example on anything you'd like to see, then feel free to ask and I'll try to batch up a quick sample to help as much as I can!

You're doing great, keep up the good work!

[chocojax]

Nero gave some great, great advice! So, basically, I agree with most of it. :P

Just a few things I'd like to add:

- Wrinkles: Something I love doing is leaving the lines for wrinkles/folds out of the finished product. 'Cause most of the ones I draw are really fine/subtle folds, so having lines+shading for that makes it sort of "strong," in a way. I'd only leave in lines if it's pretty "strong," kind of where it overlaps the underlying cloth. Definitely use coloring to your advantage whenever you can to show form and stuff.

- Hands: Force yourself to draw hands whenever you can! Hands have a ton of personality in them, so it's always good practice to choose to draw 'em and wonder, "well, how should they look in this sort of situation/expression?"

As for whether or not you should redo 'em, it's really up to you. They look fine, but everything can always be improved. I'd say just keep them like this and continue to learn.

Although, if you draw something new (a sprite, CG, etc.) for the VN itself, and it looks so out of place compared to the others (due to it lookin' so fine since you've most likely improved), then I'd suggest to redo them.

[Sayumi101]

These are general notes really, so they can be applied on almost anything. Sorry if they're not really helpful, I'm bad at explaining things ^^;

Oh no, I wouldn't say at all. I read through your message a few times and each time I found myself looking back to them sprites and nodding in agreement. My coloring is still a work in progress so for some reason rather than shading I tend to blend things in excessively (going to control that urge here on out.)
Aw, them paper collars DX. Being a rather slow person I don't know how far I'll be able to grasp folds, wrinkles and how they work but for now will try to not overly complicate things in ways I don't know. But this is something that has to be worked out for the future, so I'll try my best! (don't want to draw disfigured limbs forever)

But overall, I really like your art and it's adorable!

Thank you! :') (despite the obvious defects, I'm glad they look remotely presentable)

- Hands: Force yourself to draw hands whenever you can! Hands have a ton of personality in them, so it's always good practice to choose to draw 'em and wonder, "well, how should they look in this sort of situation/expression?"

Right! The hands I draw are next to train-wrecks so since they wouldn't really show when hidden with the text box, they were made out vague. Will work on them alongside my anatomy exercises.


Thank you both ever so much for taking the time to type out such amazing and relevant advice.

For now, I think I'll keep the girl sprite and redo blond-y from scratch. I'm not sure what I'm gonna do with the purple haired guy but I'd modify him if I get time Or if it comes to the point where I feel like bashing my head through a block of cement.

[MaiMai]

Since everything else has been critiqued on, I'd like to give advice on clothes. I think the best way to draw them is to honestly research and keep a folder of clothing references on hand so you can look and observe your reference as you draw from it. I've made it a habit of mine to collect and bookmark websites that have clothing that I want to draw from. Pinterest is another great way to look around for clothing images and save them to your account.

Another thing to keep in mind about clothes is to think about the time period and the setting of your story; modern romance set right now in 2014? 1800s? Fantasy? Sci-fi? Europe? North America? Asia? Fashion is a very important detail that should be taken into account when it comes to drawing characters.

EDIT: Actually, I do think I would like to critique the noses. With anime style noses, they can be simplistic enough so detail isn't the issue; I think you're drawing the noses in the same direction which doesn't make sense if they're facing forward (3/4s view is okay like it is for the main character sprite)

You could probably benefit from trying out different styled anime noses that are cohesive in all profiles: http://www.deviantart.com/browse/all/?q ... nime+noses

[Sayumi101]

I think the best way to draw them is to honestly research and keep a folder of clothing references on hand so you can look and observe your reference as you draw from it.

Ah, of course. Why didn't I think of that before? ^^; That should help with the fabric looking like fabric as well (I reckon).
And you totally caught me with my noses >.< No matter which way I draw the chara I tend to keep the nose in that one same shape. Will take a look at the tutorials. Thank you.



So.... revamped mr.blondie (with a lot of help regarding the anatomy)
I played with my brush settings and it ended up thinner than the other two...and no matter how I try it wouldn't revert back to my previous settings.... So he ended up looking rather different... Story of my clueless life.