Motoko Kusanagi Piece Help!

[Chiko]

I figured I should post this in here as well as the crit center. I really wanted to do a piece featuring Motoko Kusanagi, from Ghost in the Shell. She's been one of my favorite characters for awhile, and I wanted to really push myself with a dynamic pose.

First my idea was just to have her sitting there firing a gun, but it turned out to be very boring. Not what I wanted at all. The second idea was to have her firing while falling backwards off of a building, but the pose proved to be not what I wanted for the composition. I wanted more focus to be placed on her face and more arch in her back.

My third idea took awhile to come up with the pose. I need some serious help before I move any further. I guess I suck pretty hardcore with foreshortening, and even with my pose dummy, I could really use some help refining this pose.

Any crits would be most appreciated CA!

[Kusanagi]

You just KNOW where I got my nickname from

I am not an art expert, I'm just saying what comes in mind...

Her eyes are a bit too twisted: I know they're supposed to be Asian eyes, but don't make it look like that by twisting the eyes like that

Besides her face I see no problems with her body that is out of place Good job! I luv her legz! Hehe, but yeah: you could try to immitate or literally copy her face by just having it next to your art as a reference... get used to it and then try by yourself untill you got it down...

The style is deff. there! You're really close to what it's supposed to be, woot! ^^

[ChristmasBunneh]

there shouldn't be too much difference in the foreshortening of two body parts of a pair (shoulders in this case) when they're in a relatively same area of..space. (<this sentence came very hard) the left shoulder/upper arm are quite thin while as the right one is very thick and muscular.

[Chiko]

Kusanagi I see what you mean about the eyes. Although I'm not that worried about the face ATM so it was literally something I threw down real quick just to placehold. I plan to work on it as soon as I have the body down. There are so many errors still.

I don't think I want to be copying Motoko's face straight from reference though... that's not much better than tracing.

ChristmasBunneh that's I see what you're saying and it makes perfect sense. The shoulders would not be that far apart from the viewer. I tried to incorporate that.


Thanks for the comments though, I worked on the lines all afternoon and I think the foreshortening is a bit more solid. It still has tons of problems. I could still use some major anatomy help.

Critiques definitely appreciated!

[Senji]

You're doing very well ! I love that perspective and the shooting arm. But I feel like you've lost the arc motion with her back on the latest update. Instead she appears alot more striaght and loses some of that cool fresh-off-the-roof pose from the previous update.

Her body seems a little too squished to me - I can understand that from this kind of perspective its very difficult to make the anatomy work but I think it could use more work. If you cover the body with your hand ( I do this sort of thing alot ) so you can concentrate on the head and arms, you'll see that it looks great but reveal the rest of the image and it doesn't look right.

Her other arm is pretty solid too but I think it'd be a lot cooler if she was pulling out another gun from her right waist holster. I'm kinda itching to red-line it but I find its never really a good idea since it kinda takes the meaning of self-study and learning. But let me know if you want one since I did one anyway lol.

[Liquidspider]

I actually think your first sketch of that pose that you have posted is way better than the one you got there. Its looks like shes in mid spin, out from a backflip. God know why she'd do something like that, but sweet angle. I prefer the older sketch pose to this new leg idea.

[Chiko]

I think I agree with the general consensus to change it back to the arched back. I worked on refining it a bit more. I hope it looks ok.

Senji, I agree with your statement. red lines usually feel like cheating if someone else does too much for you. I'd still like to see what you came up with, if just to check my own work. Thanks!

[Senji]

Hay its coming along pretty nicely.. I like the colour scheme alot, wish I could paint like that =[

but here's the thingy I prepared, expressing the other hand idea and maybe a few anatomy/perspective fixes. You don't have to use this as template of course, as we've discussed, but I thought I'd toss in my idea. Although you've already come quite far with your painting its probably best to continue or tweak it a lil as you see fit.

I tried to preserve that arc motion with her back but looks like its barely noticeable at first glance. The other arm has an action as you can see: pulling another pistol from her waist holster - I kinda pictured her jacket flapping aside as she does this, gives that cool 'quick draw' look. But thats about as far as I got with the lil doodle.