Ren4 VN artwork [Critiques & Feedback plz]

[Ren4]

Hello everyone!
I always enjoy playing otome games and wanted one of my own creation so I decided to make my first visual novel and I'd appreciate any constructive criticism on my artwork (veteran preferred) Any other comments are also welcome. I hope to improve my skill and use the information for future reference.
(I apologize for the watermark if it bothers you. I just want to be safe.)

What do you think about the character designs? Do they appeal to you? Would you change/add something? What'll it be? Since this is otome genre, do you find male characters attractive? and which one will you pick?


Here are some background work. All of them are still in progress. It's taking me a long time because I'm doing everything from scratch (thumbnails, layout, linework, inking,etc . . .) I only used photos for reference.
I hope someone who's an expert background artist could give me some advise. I don't usually do background in full color.

Right now I'm continuing this background. I started this picture way before I painted the other two. This one was easier for me to draw so I left it to the last.






That's it for now. I'll post some sprites some other time. And more work in progress.

[Ren4]

Hello!

New updates.
Here are some steps I go when I draw and paint background:
You've already seen this one from my previous post.

After that I lay down flat colors

Next I put details, it's not completely done. It's missing a few touches. Please if you have any critiques let me know.


And now for the characters. It's still work in progress though:


I'll make more sprites with different emotions after I'm done coloring these.
Do you think the drawing is consistent?
What do you feel about color choice overall?
Do you think this drawing style is interesting for an otome game?

[Akai85]

You know I kind of like the way the flat colours look more for the backgrounds. It's cute and looks a little more animated and stands out from other backgrounds I've seen. Though of course it'd need refining haha. Maybe try experimenting with filters? If you prefer more realistic backgrounds thenI don't think there's anything wrong with the ones you've already done. Maybe the colours could be more vibrant but that's more a stylistic choice, I think.

I'm sorry but I can't immediately think of anything else to say. I might take another look later and see if there's anything to comment on, but the fact that no mistakes immediately jump out is a very good thing!

[Godline]

Oooh beautiful. I hope the writing will do the art justice.

[Ren4]

You know I kind of like the way the flat colours look more for the backgrounds. It's cute and looks a little more animated and stands out from other backgrounds I've seen. Though of course it'd need refining haha. Maybe try experimenting with filters? If you prefer more realistic backgrounds thenI don't think there's anything wrong with the ones you've already done. Maybe the colours could be more vibrant but that's more a stylistic choice, I think.

I'm sorry but I can't immediately think of anything else to say. I might take another look later and see if there's anything to comment on, but the fact that no mistakes immediately jump out is a very good thing!

Oh thank you *takes note* . . .more vibrant colors. . . great, I appreciate it. I'll keep in mind for future illustrations. I used a lot of photo reference so it kinda turned out almost realistic. I guess I should try more vivid colors lol.

Oooh beautiful. I hope the writing will do the art justice.

Thank you I wish I could say the same thing for my writing skill. Unfortunately I'm not a good writer. This Visual novel I'm working on is more like a personal thing that I always wanted to create. But, of course I'll share it with those who are interested in reading it. The story will be like a parody. It'll take me a while to get it done since I'm doing everything.

Again, thank you both for your comments. It really encourages me to work more and harder.