A Princess' Art Gallery

[_____]

And an art request for AceNoctali

http://i40.tinypic.com/2cy4opw.png

Linked for size..

What, no Loputousu?!

Just kidding, obviously.

That looks awesome to me, but I'm not much a critic, admittedly.

[Agro]

I'm quite disappointed with AceNoctali's request, to be honest. While it is good to a certain extent and I know you put effort into, I really think you need to improve on your lineart. That is, the drawings themselves.

All of your characters who have open mouths suffer that ugly triangle-shape or the sideways-8 shape. The lines on the characters themselves look very shaky and crude. There are many things that indicate the "oh, fuck it" attitude in this piece (although I'm probably wrong), such as the hands of characters that are holding things.

I'll go through each character clockwise to give you specifics:

1 o'clock (spiky hair and sword): The hair was nicely done, but the shading is inconsistent with the shape of it. There's an extra spike of her coming from his nape that shouldn't exist unless he has a very low hairline or just a really hairy back. I doubt it's the latter. The hand has some funny lines coming off it... are those meant to be fingers? The sword has the "doubled over" look, and the lines are all very uneven, especially on the hilt of the sword. When you draw something like that, I recommend you start in a high resolution (full screen-ish) and then shrink it afterwards. It makes details much easier to tackle. I also noticed his eyes is missing on one side. The rarely ever happens in manga-styled drawings, and even then, the area where the eye is supposed to be should still be visible.

2 o'clock (white shoulderpads): The eyes have very straight-lines, and the fingers should be more defined instead of drawing the hands and then adding the fingers. The spear end closest to the top could have some work done on it, too. If you're not going to join up the lines, then use a fading effect.

Winry Rockbell(?): I can't tell what the hell her arm is supposed to be doing here. It looks all floppy and bendy. The diagonal side of the face has a gradient far too steep (I mean the line, not the graphic) and it's too straight. The way her bangs are shaded make them look pillowy and not flat, like they should look. The bowstring also needs to have a more refined line.

4 o'clock (girl with staff): Eyes are wonky in shape and inconsistent with one another, and triangle mouth is ewwtf. One of her eyebrows is above her hairline, too.

5 o'clock: Disappearing eye, etchy-looking hands... wait, what the hell is that on his chin? I don't get what's up with his eyebrows, either.

Misty: Blank ear. Trinagle mouth.

7 o'clock: Face is alright, but eyes are inconsistent again. Cape's folds are really badly done. Sword is wonky.

Florina: Face is too pointy, eyes are really weird, trinagle mouth

9 o'clock: I actually like this one, except for the hands.

10 o'clock: Reeeaaalllyyyy wonky sword. Use a ruler if you have to. Wonky eyes yet again. Do you draw templates for your characters? If you're not already, it might be a good idea to start now.

11 o'clock: No one has pointy fingers like that. Beads are mismatch-y, there's a squiggle for folds (wait, what?) and the book's lines aren't consistent in perspective. I don't like the way the gonues on the inside of character's mouths always come from the side; our tongues happen to be positioned in the middle of our mouths.

12 o'clock (finally!): Mouth is too low on the face. Wonky eyes. Wonky hair. Misplaced gloves lead to confusion of the shape of the arm. Armour looks too flat and not curved enough.

Conclusion:

When you draw characters, do it in "layers". By "layers" I mean draw the template of character, with guidelines and circles and rectangle and whatever else. After that, draw a body over the top of it. Then use the computer to do the editing. When drawing large lines, don't just use your wrist, use your whole arm. It's easy to tell you're using your wrist because of the way your lines curved to one side. Draw in a bigger resolution, and try to make things more consistent in drawings. The characters' faces are far too big for the head, and it seems you have trouble fitting in the features onto the face. Work on small details bit-by-bit, instead of trying to capture the whole image and not doing such a good job at it. By this, I mean, just start by working on the face. Do little doodles of faces and only faces in class. When you think you're good enough, start drawing a torso, add in some arms. Eventually you'll be drawing folds and whatnot, but they're really things that you want to work on later. Tackle the basics first.

Edited March 1, 2009 by Lachesis

[AceNoctali]

Lachesis, if you're interested in knowing which characters are those, so you can make a better critic, here's the list. I'll enumerate them from the same starting point as you :

(I posted on some of the characters 2 pics of them, don't forget to look carefully at the links so you don't miss one)

* Balmunk wielder : Kurogane, from Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles

* Gungnir wielder : Kaoru, from Mujin Wakusei Survive

* Ichival wielder : indeed, it's Winry Rockbell, from FullMetal Alchemist

* Valkyrie Staff wielder : Azmaria Hendric, from Chrno Crusade

* Tor Hammer wielder : Miles Edgeworth, from the Ace Attorney series

* Fala Flame wielder : yep, Misty, from Pokémon

* Mistoltin wielder : Kojirô Hyûga, from Captain Tsubasa

* Gae Bolg wielder : obvious, but Florina, from Fire Emblem 7

* Swanchika wielder : Shido Fuyuki, from GetBackers

* Narga wielder : Ashton Anchors, from Star Ocean : The Second Story

* Holsety wielder : Miroku, from Inuyasha

* Tyrfing wielder : Saki Nijino, from Tokimeki Memorial 1 (the same girl as in my current avatar)

Overall, for her current level, I'm satisfied with her work. And hell, I don't know many people who would agree to draw so much characters they don't know, so that's a big credit for her. ;)

However, I already made Princess remark that her Hyuga doesn't resemble him very much, and Azmaria looks more like Yuria than Azmaria, which are the only real points that bothered me in the pic.

And of course, by saying "I'm satisfied for her current level" doesn't mean that you should rest on your laurels, Princess. I encourage you to improve your art and follow the good advises given by Lachesis. ;)

What, no Loputousu?!

Just kidding, obviously.

That looks awesome to me, but I'm not much a critic, admittedly.

There could have been a Loptous, if I haven't asked for the request before I discovered Toradora!. Otherwise, Ami Kawashima, who recently kicked out Misty from my top 12 fave chars, would have made a very fitting Loptous. :P

But I didn't wanted to bother Princess with this one, as she already had her hands full with all those largely unknown characters for most people.

Edited March 4, 2009 by AceNoctali

[Princess Kilvas]

Conclusion:

When you draw characters, do it in "layers". By "layers" I mean draw the template of character, with guidelines and circles and rectangle and whatever else. After that, draw a body over the top of it. Then use the computer to do the editing.

I do do that, I just have a terrible habit of rushing it. D:

When drawing large lines, don't just use your wrist, use your whole arm. It's easy to tell you're using your wrist because of the way your lines curved to one side. Draw in a bigger resolution, and try to make things more consistent in drawings. The characters' faces are far too big for the head, and it seems you have trouble fitting in the features onto the face. Work on small details bit-by-bit, instead of trying to capture the whole image and not doing such a good job at it. By this, I mean, just start by working on the face. Do little doodles of faces and only faces in class. When you think you're good enough, start drawing a torso, add in some arms. Eventually you'll be drawing folds and whatnot, but they're really things that you want to work on later. Tackle the basics first.

Alright, thanks. I bought a new how-to book recently, so I'll be taking alot of time to practice.

But I did sketch this recently..

It's Pit, I accidently made him a little girly..XD

And also: a mug request:

something's off...

more soon.

[Mufasa]

*Puts on Sheena expert hat.*

Hm...I think it might be her bangs. That one strand of hair would more likely be across her face, rather than to the side like that.

It should look more like this:

[Bohemund]

Prob is the cheek structure. The hair thing he pointed out would help, too. Also could use to even out breast coverings; wrong one has more.

Edited March 4, 2009 by Bohemund

[Princess Kilvas]

*Puts on Sheena expert hat.*

Hm...I think it might be her bangs. That one strand of hair would more likely be across her face, rather than to the side like that.

It should look more like this:

Yeah, i went by this pic:

And I used Tethys' head. But yeah, maybe I should make the hair fully customed.

[Mufasa]

Prob is the cheek structure.

That too.

[Princess Kilvas]

Prob is the cheek structure. The hair thing he pointed out would help, too. Also could use to even out breast coverings; wrong one has more.

That too.

It's always the cheeks..

alright, i'll try to edit it and post it soon.

No one said anything about Pit...D:

Edited March 5, 2009 by Princess Kilvas

[Ragnell]

I think the problem with the new one is her hair tie. It is way off center of her actual hair (I don't know any female hairstyle terminology). Either move the hair (which I don't think is the problem), or just move the tie behind her head. It probably shouldn't be seen at all.

[Princess Kilvas]

No one said anything about Pit...D:

2 more mugs

Sheena Edit

And Kabuto

I hated doing this one, though it didn't turn out too bad. Stupid glasses...

Edited March 13, 2009 by Princess Kilvas

[deleted35362]

They're undersized.