Weakened

[PearlPhoenix]

Hello :) I'm lookin for critiques,tips and suggestions, plz?

Started this yesterday because I was depressed....I did another depressing speed paint but I don't think I'll finish it lol

I kept having to make corrections (That's what you get for not following the sketch!!!) I had to keep turning the image around, 90 deg rotate, vertical, horizontal rotation to see what looked wrong... I know there are still flaws but hey that's why I'm posting here

I don't usually do realistic paintings because I suck at them, but I just like to try to be versatile, because it's fun and sometimes I get bored of doing the usual style I do.

Symbolism
There is quite a few symbolism here. Firstly, the guy you see here is my main character for my graphic novel. His name is Randy, and for now I just tell poeple he is half human half dragon, but he's also somethin else :). His eyes are blue and purple, which is why you see those colors. He's in a spiritual state, where his power is fading, though he is safe as he can regenerate. I'm being vague sorry lol I will hush for now unless anyone is actually interested in my concept x_x

BTW Thanks simplejay for the brushes btw <3! I really love the texturing :)

So what do you guys think? Sorry he looks feminime (SP?) , but it's how I like to do this particular character :)...most of my others look quite scarey or more masculine, I promise.

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[Okirun]

The water/textures look neat! The character design is really cool too. :D

I'm no expert at painting either, but I'll try to help. ^-^; Uuh.. well, first, the shading on his skin seems just a bit.. not solid enough, I think. I'm guessing you painted it all with a sort of medium/small brush, right? Maybe if you started out with more big solid masses of shadow and then used that brush just to blend them together and do the smaller detailed stuff, it would look more even. That's what I'd do, anyway. :3

Also, a couple of your shadows (just a few.. like by his hip/leg, and on his neck) look more like lines than real shadows. Like they're just there to define the edge, but the don't fade off properly. If something's flat with no major creases or curves, it should be a fairly even shade, because the light would be hitting it (or not hitting it) all pretty much the same, you know? Then it would just sort of fade off, and ooze into other shadows. Shadows like to ooze.

Ack, I'm bad at explaining. D: I hope I've been of at least some help. ^^;

[Pascallo]

Nice picture in things like mood and composition!
Here some suggestions:

*As Okirun said, you need some work on the face. Think about that the face has a front and a side, so try to work more with shadows, like this it looks rahter like a mask I would say.
*How does the eyes light touch the arm if it doesnt even lit the nose, cheek, lips and so on?
*The shadow/light at his neck show us that there would be a deepening, though there should be a kind of heightening!
*The lower arms look strange. I guess it is kind of the character concept. But there could be more structure in it or is it just the shape that seems weird to me? no idea...
*please let your nice pic get rid of the awful text. it disturbes one while looking at it and draws the attention to the lower left.

[Seedling]

So what do you guys think? Sorry he looks feminime (SP?) , but it's how I like to do this particular character :)...most of my others look quite scarey or more masculine, I promise.

Don’t ever apologize for making a character a character. Dictionary.com can help answer your spelling questions. Also, the information overlayed on your image is overkill. Put your energy into improving your artistic chops, instead of in protecting images that in a year you won’t much care about.

[PearlPhoenix]

Don’t ever apologize for making a character a character. Dictionary.com can help answer your spelling questions. Also, the information overlayed on your image is overkill. Put your energy into improving your artistic chops, instead of in protecting images that in a year you won’t much care about.

DONT MIND ME HAHA! I often do this because I have been ridiculed so much for the look of my characters :(, it really hurts >[. But I will keep in mind that I should just learn to shrug it off, thank you for that

I kinda knew the watermark would bug you guys but I wanted to see if there was any better suggestions....for ..."signing" the image? My signature is so fugly, it makes babies cry D:

@Okirun - I used a hardround pen pressure opaque brush at a medium size, so yes you are right :). I'll try that methid with starting big then small, I didn't think of that.

And I like how you say shadows like to ooze, that explains it better to me because I can "imagine" how the shadow would form better. XD Thank you fo your suggestions, I'll keep in mind about those areas of shading.

@Pascallo - Yes, I need to work on the face shadows, softer perhaps, or I'll just hunt down some references :)

"*How does the eyes light touch the arm if it doesnt even lit the nose, cheek, lips and so on?" - It does actually, I just did not make the light strong enough. Was kinda hard trying to determine how the face should look with 2 lightsources touching the face, I'll have to keep working at that.

"*The shadow/light at his neck show us that there would be a deepening, though there should be a kind of heightening!" -Nm now I understand, I tend to when I reread somethin an hour later or somethin...O_o

"*The lower arms look strange. I guess it is kind of the character concept. But there could be more structure in it or is it just the shape that seems weird to me? no idea..."
Yes it is a character concept, but I have trouble with the shape because the anatomy of the arm is different from a human obviously, so I need to do more studies in making it "work" :). If you have a suggestion/idea, let me know <3!



Thank you guys so much, this was really really helpful. I'll try to make this better and more realistic (and again, any tips on making a pretty "signature"? I do like signing my images, because sometimes...no..MOST of the time people don't credit the artist when they use your images so nobody would know who was the real artist >/ )

[Pascallo]

Yes it is a character concept, but I have trouble with the shape because the anatomy of the arm is different from a human obviously, so I need to do more studies in making it "work" :). If you have a suggestion/idea, let me know <3!


A wrist would help much I would say. Maybe try it out. You still can exaggerate or transform the elements, but at least it looks at if he could use his hands;)

[PearlPhoenix]

A wrist would help much I would say. Maybe try it out. You still can exaggerate or transform the elements, but at least it looks at if he could use his hands;)

Thanks XD I tried a concept sketch, hope it works

this is gonna have to wait XD... I'll get back to it after the weekend with my bf, I need a break from this stressfull week. It's not the art that's stressing me, it's PEOPLE! off and online...tho INTERNET = SERIOUS BUISNESS LOL /endsarcasm

I did a small sketchup to see if I can make the arm work and I looked at my character sheet of this character and realized some pretty bad mistakes >/...which is why I'm gonna get back to it this monday. Notice a pic of tyrant...im showing that the arm concept is a influence fro mresident evil monsters XD.... idk why but I really like it

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Mistakes... and some flaws I need to fix because they show up everywhere in my art.
-Shoulders don't look connected to the arms (I do this alot) maybe i shade them badly...not sure
- Pecks and Clavicals, Clavical on his left should be showing I think?)
- Arms, lower arms are too short (especially for this kind of character concept) and the arm muscles are placed wrong?
-Mid body....though not majorly fubar'd I think
- Neck...?
-some shading >_O

Am I being too brutal to myself?

[Pascallo]

Since I am not that anatomy professional maybe someone else should rather comment on this. but what I can say is "You´re in the way?" on your scribbles is definitely right ;) The red lines show quite a good improvement but maybe you should still try out some more solutions.
cheers!

[PearlPhoenix]

Wow, I forgot about updating this lol

Well I did some improvements, such as the face and details/lighting. The blending is smoother I hope. Also added some texture, since this particular character of mine has that, just hope it does not look weird.

I don't know if I should call this finished... because I know there are other errors

What do you guys think?

If you want to see a full body sketch of how this character looks (might help with criticism /shrugs) just let me know

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Now I hope to find some time to improve my NightStar image XD....