Character/Sprite Artist wanting to improve! [UPDATED!]

[DahliaWilder]

Hello guys!

I'm currently job junting as a character artist/sprite artist, but I know my skills need lots of polishing, thus I come to these forums seeking out gentle souls that would give me constructive criticism and feedback on my work . What would you change/add in order to make these more appealing?

Here's some samples:

Sprites (Left: Hard cell shading, right: Soft cell shading):

Character Illustration:

Others

Thanks in advance for your time!

[namastaii]

I think your art looks fantastic. I personally wouldn't change anything. I'm sure people would hire you based on your current skills.

[SundownKid]

I agree that it's already good enough to be hired, but I wouldn't go as far as to say it absolutely needs no improvement.

I think people would probably pay more for your art if the shading was improved in detail. The soft shading just looks like slightly blurred cell shading, instead of having actual volume to it. It looks very matte and simplistic with little depth.

Her facial proportions also seem a tad strange. Her mouth is a bit large. It could just be an individual character trait, but it makes the drawing seem very "Amerime" and if you are aiming for an audience who wants Japanese style art it could be a negative in someone deciding to hire you.

[namastaii]

I think the cover art looks great. I didn't assume anything about the first character shown because it could be a character trait that they are more broad-shouldered and have a more masculine (but yet feminine) physique. Because the females you drew on the pictures below, are more feminine-like proportioned.

[DahliaWilder]

I think people would probably pay more for your art if the shading was improved in detail. The soft shading just looks like slightly blurred cell shading, instead of having actual volume to it. It looks very matte and simplistic with little depth.

Her facial proportions also seem a tad strange. Her mouth is a bit large. It could just be an individual character trait, but it makes the drawing seem very "Amerime" and if you are aiming for an audience who wants Japanese style art it could be a negative in someone deciding to hire you.

Thanks a lot for the critique!
About the shading: I see what you mean with the soft shading comment, you're totally right, I'll work on it
What do you think of the hard cell shading version, though?

Regarding her facial features: Yeah, I'm not much of a fan of "pure" anime style (especially for girls), I find it a little bit repetitive and too cute-sy, but I always state in my threads that I can accomodate to different styles if asked , although now that you're mentioning this (and you do have a point, especially because that style seems to be the most popupar for VNs), I might make a more anime-esque version of this one in the future to add to my samples.

I think the cover art looks great. I didn't assume anything about the first character shown because it could be a character trait that they are more broad-shouldered and have a more masculine (but yet feminine) physique. Because the females you drew on the pictures below, are more feminine-like proportioned.

Thank you! I hadn't noticed the broad shoulders before, maybe it's also a by product of my aversion to make my girls too feminine (if at all!). I'll work on it. Actually, this is an OC of mine, and the sprite character is the same as the one at the lower bottom (just with a diferent outfit, she's some magical girl of sorts haha)

Thank you both !

Feel free to point out anything else you find could be improved I'll be updating the thread with new stuff sometime.

[namastaii]

Ah yes. See, I think the girl in the 2nd picture has the perfect 'feminine' shoulders and overall physique

[DahliaWilder]

Ah yes. See, I think the girl in the 2nd picture has the perfect 'feminine' shoulders and overall physique

Thank you!! Here's an update, I made her shoulders narrower on the sprites, fixed her shadows, and added one more "anime" styled one:

[DahliaWilder]

More sketches

Samples sketching for character design:

final character illustration:

[DahliaWilder]

Update!

More character designs and some fanart for fun:

[King-sama]

Maybe asking yourself that question can make you rethink things?? What would you change/add in order to make these more appealing? You can also look at other people's sprites that you like to inspire from and compare and then add what you like to yours~

But in my opinion, I would say that adding more painterly coloring style would probably look nicer, and maybe giving the lineart lighter color than black

Hope I could help

[DahliaWilder]

Hey guys!!! Wow, my last post here was on 2016...It's been a while!!

Since I think I have reasonably improved, I'd like to post an update .
Any feedback would be appreciated, especially regarding the style!

I've been working on a personal style for a while, and I haven't yet managed to apply it to my VN sprites (I always end up making those more anime-esque than what I'd like :') ). Anyhow, I'd like to hear your thoughts about using this style for a VN:



Also, here's some new sprites I've been making!!:






Bust up sprites:



...More yet to come!

And some illustrations:





I'd really like to thank Legend for putting up with me through this whole improvement ordeal :')

These are some older sprites I made for Secrets Untold, one of her projects:






And this is an illustration I made as a teaser for a future project together :



Thanks for reading ^.^!

[SundownKid]

I agree, your art has improved. The new character sprites have a Kingdom Hearts vibe to them in terms of the proportions, compared to your older ones. I like it... it's different from the norm and would fit a game with a lighter tone to it. I wouldn't rule out using those "anime esque" sprites in a game.

The user interface isn't bad, but it's a little boring. My main issue is that the unselected buttons look kind of flat and uninteresting. Then again, I'm not really a flat design person. I also feel like the number values in the player stats are too unemphasized. The player needs to know the stats at a glance so they should pop out a lot. Then again, I don't think that would really apply to a VN, per se.

[DahliaWilder]

Thank you very much for your comments !

Actually, for the UI, I had originally made other versions with more gradients for the buttons and such:


This one was left flat because it was originally intended as part of a work for school, and it had to be printed out and bound together, so the gradients wouldn't look too well on paper.
My original intent was making the "BG" have some level of transparency (as it can be seen in the example above) and overlap with the game's current BG/state.

Since I'm no graphic designer I mostly played around with stuff for making that UI, I was mainly showing the art style, but I'll keep your comments in mind if I ever have to make a UI.

How would you go about emphasizing the stats more?

[DahliaWilder]

More sprites :3