Is my character art good enough? (please critique)

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mikolajspy
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Re: Is my character art good enough? (please critique)

#16 Post by mikolajspy »

I think I've got on a bit higher level with shading/coloring, so here's some update.
I can't decide if I should focus on cel-shading, soft-shading or some hybrid between them.
Anyway, here are my latest drawings I can show - I've been practicing skin shading and more anatomy. I'll go to some backgrounds in future.
CellOrSoft.png
S19.jpg
I think the one with brown hair could be nice as character sprite, if hands are fixed :P

As always, any kind of feedback is highly appreciated!

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Re: Is my character art good enough? (please critique)

#17 Post by mikolajspy »

Sorry for new post, but it's been a week since last one and I have something I'd like to show here :D
I think I finally learned how to draw hands!

As always, any feedback will be appreciated!
SpritesTest.png

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Re: Is my character art good enough? (please critique)

#18 Post by Blood Free Lady »

Hey there,
Compared to before, yes you've improved a bit with the hands because you seemed to start to understand finger joints.
You're getting there. But you should've kept that mindset all through out.

I've skimmed a bit and read that you have a background in 3d, so use that. No matter if it's cartoony, manga, or semi-realism, you got to make shapes that make sense. And thinking in 3d while drawing those shapes will help that.

And it's just a google away to look at anatomy references. If you're the type to draw from imagination you should still remember the important parts that you'll be interpreting in basic shapes. Cylinders, spheres, balloon with water, etc., as your body parts. Practicing from references builds up your visual library, that will help you later on when drawing from imagination. (At least make you understand the relation of each shape to one another.)

Shadows and shading regardless if it's cel shade or soft, or painted, etc. have to follow the shape (at least) and the light-source.

The post before your latest:
If you want to draw a face in a tilt, tilt the rest of the head too. Otherwise, you should make sure the eyes are angled correctly.

Enough with the boobs for now dude. XD Put appropriate (or enough) meat on those legs and arms.

Just keep on doing a minded practice, and you'll improve more. :wink:

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Re: Is my character art good enough? (please critique)

#19 Post by Mammon »

When talking about cell, soft or a hybrid of shading; I'd say soft. Personal preference, and depending on your art style the other one might work better. From experience though, I can tell you that a hybrid is not worth the amount of work required to put into it. It will just look like soft shading in the end.

Two small points:
-If you're turning the head, turn the hair along. It's quite clear, especially for the bikini one, that the hair is actually for an upright angled face.
-With certain points like the shadow on shirt's left leg (from our point of view), feel free to divert from what the shadow should be by going more organic with the shadow. Right now there's a pretty strong corner angle where the shadows of the leg and shirt meet, if that spot is a curve (and don't be scared to make it a very large and gentle curve) it could make things seem more organic and give the leg a more 3D cilindrical effect.

I can't really tell if this is the case right now, but I'd advice that you put your drawings next to eachother every once in a while. I've noticed more often than I'd like to admit that the ratio's of the sprites can seem fine on their own but look distorted when multiple characters are put next to one another. Especially when working with sprites that bend at places like the first two (and who should thus be a bit shorter in those parts) compared to sprites standing tall it could suddenly turn out to be disproportionate when you get to using the characters.
ImageImageImage

Want some CC sprites?

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Re: Is my character art good enough? (please critique)

#20 Post by mikolajspy »

Thanks for comments! I'll keep those advices in mind :)
Blood Free Lady wrote: Thu Sep 14, 2017 7:48 pm I've skimmed a bit and read that you have a background in 3d, so use that.
Actually I feel like it doesn't help much, in 3D all shading etc. was generated automatically, and if I noticed that something looks off at different angle it was easier to fix than 2D.
Blood Free Lady wrote: Thu Sep 14, 2017 7:48 pm Enough with the boobs for now dude. XD
I know, I know, but isn't it what people like? :wink: It sells, so I will draw it :D I'm also practicing drawing boys, but I don't think they're good enough to show yet.
Mammon wrote: Fri Sep 15, 2017 3:20 am I can't really tell if this is the case right now, but I'd advice that you put your drawings next to eachother every once in a while. I've noticed more often than I'd like to admit that the ratio's of the sprites can seem fine on their own but look distorted when multiple characters are put next to one another.
Currently I'm just drawing it for improvement and won't be using any of these, so I don't pay much attention if they fit together. But soon I'll try to make a set of sprites with different poses :)

Anyway, I think I'll slowly start to learn to draw backgrounds again, so I drew some Fairy/Pixie in flowers or something.
12.jpg
And another character sprite with soft shading, it's not perfect, but I'm quite happy with the result. I have to try better shading on hair in future.
14.jpg
Again, please let me know what you think.

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Re: Is my character art good enough? (please critique)

#21 Post by Blood Free Lady »

I wasn't even talking about other genders... ( >->)
so you just categorized the female gender as "boobs" ... haha

If you're targeting titillation, it's not just boobs dude. It's just that...that's what comes across from your past illustrations on where you spent your time in constructing. Sex appeal isn't just in the chest area.

And I wasn't referring to shading when I said 3D. I was trying to make you visualize the "basic shapes" in 3d.

I think you're somewhat getting it.
But I give up. Draw however you want. Draw what makes you happy.

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Re: Is my character art good enough? (please critique)

#22 Post by mikolajspy »

Blood Free Lady wrote: Wed Sep 20, 2017 10:41 am I wasn't even talking about other genders... ( >->)
Sorry, I understood it that way, because I only show girls here :P

I tried to draw few characters next to each other and keep the style consistent, here's the effect.
21.jpg
I also challenged myself to draw something with more complex design, so I came up with this pirate girl (I messed up that pistol).
22.jpg
I'm not sure, but I think I'm going in the right direction with shading...
Any feedback will be very appreciated!

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Re: Is my character art good enough? (please critique)

#23 Post by mikolajspy »

I tried to draw some event illustration (cg) today. Decided to go with cel-shading this time.
I still have to work more on backgrounds.
05.jpg

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Re: Is my character art good enough? (please critique)

#24 Post by Steamgirl »

With regards to lineart in the image you posted for the side-by-side comparison I noticed a couple of things:

1) The line art was still rough in places. For example at the bottom of the blazer, the line juts out. On the sword handle the lines don't connect. The middle button on the blazer isn't a circle. It's not necessarily a problem because you know you will colour it, but those little details all together can make lineart look a bit off at first glance.
2) In your sketch you are thinking much more 3D - there are volumes. But it's almost like you forget about that when you get to the lineart stage. For example, the sleeve on the arm that holds the sword down has no creases to reflect the fact that her elbow joint is slightly bent. Or the tie doesn't curve round her breasts at the bottom, it goes straight, which makes her chest look flatter. On the other hand, if you look at how you did her legs and socks - those look much more 3D! It's almost as if you are good at picturing naked bodies in 3D but not the clothes on top?
3) The sketch has a variety of line thickness but the lineart doesn't. That's not a bad thing, but can also contribute to the feeling that the sketch looks "better" than the lineart because it's more interesting/dynamic in terms of lines. Don't let it bother you. You know you will be colouring it in so it's not going to look like the line art forever. I went through a phase of trying out different thicknesses for lineart and never got the hang of it properly (some artists do) but I found that actually doing quite thin lines as you are doing and then doing a smashing job with the colouring gives the character sprite all the life it needs. :)

Also, I was just wondering if you use the trick where you flip your canvas horizontally? You probably do, but thought I'd mention it just in case. I find this really helps with the lineart stage because I can see where things are a little wonky.

The other thing I find that helps with lineart is to use 2-3 layers at the same time, so that I can connect two swipes (let's say on the V of the blazer) and then erase the "leftovers" without going into the other line. It gives it overall a more solid feel because not every line stroke ends in a taper.

One other thing that's noticeable is that your hands don't have consistent proportions. I find it helps to think of a hand (outstretched) as being roughly the size of the character's face. So if they put their palm to their chin, their finger tips would just reach the hairline. Obviously your style goes for more "babylike" proportions, so you could probably get away with having hands a bit smaller, like from chin to eyebrow. Try a few and see what you think! :)

I have also done a load of studies on hands where I drew them in isolation from different angles etc. You can do this using your own hands as reference or look up reference online. But practice does really help - I'm sure you'll see a big leap forward with hands if you did! :)

Some examples of other people doing hands studies to give you inspiration! ^_^
https://taileendenvers.deviantart.com/a ... -341963756
https://emisuzu.deviantart.com/art/prac ... -189660589

(I should add that clearly your drawing of hands is getting better and better with each picture and more consistent too! So keep it up, you're already halfway there!)

Anyway, hope this helps!! ^_^

Warm wishes,

Steamgirl

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Re: Is my character art good enough? (please critique)

#25 Post by mikolajspy »

Steamgirl wrote: Thu Oct 12, 2017 4:33 am Anyway, hope this helps!! ^_^
I think I'll redraw that image one day!

I wish I had more time to draw, but anyway, I think I'm making progress:
21.jpg
30-2.jpg
I've also recorded Timelapse/Speedpaint of Halloween themed illustration: https://youtu.be/6KXvrrldzkg

As always, any feeback will be appreciated :)

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Re: Is my character art good enough? (please critique)

#26 Post by mikolajspy »

I don't have much time recently, but I wanted to show here my recent practicing sketches, which I think came out nicely.
I was mostly working on composition/poses now.

Any feedback appreciated!
11.jpg
12-2.jpg
13-2.jpg

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Re: Is my character art good enough? (please critique)

#27 Post by alberte »

I think you're improving quite a bit!
YOur hands have gotten exponentially better.
Your third recent sketch you just posted I noticed that the girl to the right has a wider face compared to the one on the left.
I can't wait to see more of your drawings..
I looked at your event illustration cg and noticed that it was to stiff.
If you draw a line of action to the head to the floor of that drawing it's a straight line, which in this pose it needs to be more dynamic.
Try playing with different angle.
Your lines for your blush lines should be thinner.
Your lineart is one dimensional and lacks line width and variation try thicker and thinner lines.
Your colouring isn't that bad I would suggest looking at your favourite artists drawings and study how they blend colours, etc.
Hope to see more of your drawings :).

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Re: Is my character art good enough? (please critique)

#28 Post by mikolajspy »

alberte wrote: Thu Dec 14, 2017 12:10 pm I think you're improving quite a bit!
(...)
I can't wait to see more of your drawings..
(...)
Hope to see more of your drawings :).
Thank you very much! I'm trying to improve with each sketch and drawing. I'll keep in mind your suggestions!

I tried to draw Earth-chan in my own style following the recent trend, here's how she turned out.
Of course, Earth is not flat.
Any feedback appreciated!
27.jpg

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Re: Is my character art good enough? (please critique)

#29 Post by mikolajspy »

Another coloring/shading practice.
20.jpg

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Re: Is my character art good enough? (please critique)

#30 Post by Steamgirl »

Not much in terms of feedback, just wanted to say I like the trees in the Earth-chan picture and I think the foreshortening works really well on the hand that comes towards the viewer. In the latest picture, the shading on the thighs is really nice and the hair looks flowy - like the girl jumped and is on the way back down. :)

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