MaiMai's Art Thread [Critique Appreciated]

[MaiMai]

PICARTO ART STREAM: OFFLINE

I've been a part of this forum since 2009 and aside from a request thread, I haven't really put up a personal art thread. If anything, most people probably know me as that person who gives fairly blunt and succinct art critique and provides resources from the depths of the Internet. Art wise, I've come a long way since then trying to research and apply the knowledge I've gotten from tutorials and my current art education at college.

2010 vs. 2014

So what now?? Hopefully the beginning of 2015 is the year I finally apply my skills to a visual and/or kinetic novel. Currently, I have commissions to fulfill and to help keep myself inspired, I've hand written down a list of things I've wanted to draw. It's helped a lot and you can see most of my recent pieces in my art Tumblr. I'll probably post work-in-progress shots here and actual VN concept art. My goal is to draw more complex scenes with backgrounds or more character interaction and then get to working on my unfinished NaNo project, Flight of Memory.

I tend to be fairly aware of my own shortcomings, but critique in the form of drawing over my own work or suggestions to make my pictures better is more than appreciated. Sometimes, I'll even stream myself CGing so that's what the link above is for. Let's move onward to better art!!

[MaiMai]

So to kick this off, here's a self indulgent WIP fanart(ish) of my PC from Dragon Age: Origins probably gonna be a while until I get Inquisition, but I guess I'm waiting for things to simmer down

[MaiMai]

Fanart of Saber. I drew the other main Fate/stay night heroines too, but no need to post them here.

[DarkSin]

Very nice, I like your last two works, especially

My only critique would be the colouring, as can be seen in the first two pieces. It doesn't compliment or... add to your linearts, whereas it should. You have very good sketching skills. My only advice would be to try a blend of well-defined shading, and soft shading. Also don't let the lineart restrict you in the colouring process. That's the reason why I never espouse the idea of the various phases in an illustration, e.g; lineart, colouring, shading/lighting etc. For me it is one complete process. If the "lineart" is limiting or causing problems while colouring, I just adapt the lineart to better compliment the colouring. The way I see it, nothing is complete until the entire illustration is complete.

[netravelr]

I drew the other main Fate/stay night heroines too, but no need to post them here.

No no need. I'd like to see them! Btw, love your line art! Would like to see high res of the CG, at this res the colors kinda muddle the lines to me, but that's just my opinion. Keep up the great work!

[MaiMai]

Very nice, I like your last two works, especially

My only critique would be the colouring, as can be seen in the first two pieces. It doesn't compliment or... add to your linearts, whereas it should. You have very good sketching skills. My only advice would be to try a blend of well-defined shading, and soft shading. Also don't let the lineart restrict you in the colouring process. That's the reason why I never espouse the idea of the various phases in an illustration, e.g; lineart, colouring, shading/lighting etc. For me it is one complete process. If the "lineart" is limiting or causing problems while colouring, I just adapt the lineart to better compliment the colouring. The way I see it, nothing is complete until the entire illustration is complete.

Thanks for the critique! I'll definitely keep this in mind when I do more soft CGing since my main issue is that I don't have a consistent technique that adapts to my lineart. Also, I abuse textures and overlays like crazy so hopefully as my coloring gets better, I can use those things more subtly.

I drew the other main Fate/stay night heroines too, but no need to post them here.

No no need. I'd like to see them! Btw, love your line art! Would like to see high res of the CG, at this res the colors kinda muddle the lines to me, but that's just my opinion. Keep up the great work!

Haha, ok I'll put them up since you asked

Link to the high res CG.

[Deji]

I'm going to be a horrible human being and give you a critique xD
When you draw people in 3/4, you tend to make the half that's further away from the viewer as wide if not wider than the half the viewer is seeing, making them look odd :'D
Pay attention to that
You'r also making the hands very small, proportion-wise x_X;

I also doodled over your Rin :'D

(God, my legs and feet need so much work >_<)

*runs away*

[MaiMai]

I'm going to be a horrible human being and give you a critique xD
When you draw people in 3/4, you tend to make the half that's further away from the viewer as wide if not wider than the half the viewer is seeing, making them look odd :'D
Pay attention to that
You'r also making the hands very small, proportion-wise x_X;

I also doodled over your Rin :'D

rinredline.jpg

(God, my legs and feet need so much work >_<)

*runs away*

ROFL anyways, thank you for drawing over it! I depend on my own sight too much when it comes to proportions; I know the rules, but execution needs sooo much work.

[chocojax]

Awesome! I was wondering if you would ever put up an art thread. :'D

Saber:
* Belt is oddly placed, should wrap around her hips or wherever they were tightened around.
* Left arm looked a bit awkward with the overall pose, so I think straightening out that arm makes it flow a bit better?
* The wraps around the sleeves are different, and so I dunno if they tighten around her wrists or are just loose binds for the sleeves.

Sakura:
* The way the cloth forms around her boobs was kind of strange.
* The fold lines on the first and second layer of her dress flattens it out.
* The lines on the second layer is strange 'cause they're just floating on the middle/doesn't continue past where we can see.
* The way her legs are placed makes it look pretty weird, as if her ankles start around where her dress ends. I think it's a combination of the type of dress, the vertical lines, and that her left leg is bent. Can't really think of anything to help remove that illusion, though.
* Her head is a tad bit too far from her neck.

I'd also like to make a small point on Rin: The point of her chin connects directly to the line of her neck, which makes it look strange/uncomfortable.

[MaiMai]

I heart all these redraws, for reals. I noticed a bit too late that Saber's clothing position was awkward when I squinted at it today (this is what I get when I draw late at night) For Sakura though, my initial sketch for the base body made her curvier than what you did in your redraw which made the pose jut out a little more? Still, it doesn't stop the awkward!

In any case, thanks choco!

[Corvo]

When you draw people in 3/4, you tend to make the half that's further away from the viewer as wide if not wider than the half the viewer is seeing, making them look odd :'D
Pay attention to that

Probably MaiMai already knows that -if you do, sorry for this post, MaiMai- but an easy way to spot this kind of problems is frequently flipping the image horizontally (and vertically too).

[DarkSin]

I'm going to be a horrible human being and give you a critique xD
When you draw people in 3/4, you tend to make the half that's further away from the viewer as wide if not wider than the half the viewer is seeing, making them look odd :'D

Normally I wouldn't critique a critique, but... I feel I must in this case xD A person would normally think that the half that's away from the viewer would be less wide than the fore-half. But this is not the case with the shoulders and anything in direct relation with them. In a relaxed pose the shoulder girdle leans forward, which makes the background shoulder appear wider than the foreground shoulder. In your sketch you have readjusted the shoulders which was unnecessary, since they were correct before (the right boob adjustment I approve of, though). The feeling of oddness probably arises from the neck. And maybe even the clavicles. If the neck were more to the left that should erase any feeling of oddity about her upper portion. The redraw of the lower portion is all good, though. At any rate, that's all I wanted to say

[sendo]

Since others already covered some issues, I'd just like to critique on overall gesture. Some of your standing figures are a bit stiff because the pose doesn't flow very well.

Sakura's pose feels quite stiff mostly because of the way the dress looks — it looks flat and it kinda disregards the body underneath it. Try to direct the flow of the clothing to match the gesture of the body.

With Saber, the legs doesn't hold the pose very well. It makes her seem like she's having a hard time standing. Try to use contrapposto to alleviate this and to introduce a sense of weight and balance. You can also use the hands to create more flow to help the pose feel more natural.

Overall, you're doing great! I recommend doing figure drawings to improve overall gesture and flow : )

[MaiMai]

Yessss, so much great help. I really need to do more figure drawing in my free time i've been stuck in crochet hell, it's so addictive and meditative

[MaiMai]

A WIP of sorts. This wasn't supposed to be anything really, but I might use it as a side sprite example.