Need a little bit of critique and direction for my work.

[Sewithrow]

Hello,
I was hoping I could get some feedback on my work.
Lately I've been trying to get a better style down for my characters, as I would like to someday be employed as a character artist.
I've still got a long way to go, but I'd like to know what I can work on to help me improve.


Just started working on this today. Trying to emulate a slightly more realistic styled game concept art.
He still needs hands, his other arm, feet, etc. I used a couple references for his face(portrait shots of Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Orlando Bloom), then tweaked it a bit. Used some reference of Clint Eastwood from "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly", as well as characters from "3:10 to Yuma"


Just a fun piece I've been working on for myself, testing out different coloring styles. He still needs hair and a few other details. His anatomy is a bit wonky in areas as well. I think maybe his belly button should be higher?


Anyways, I'd love to hear what anyone has to say.

[dpaint]

First work on anatomy and gesture, these two things are the most important skills you can have for character development. Don't worry about style, let it come naturally, style is last on the list, focus on quality. You develop by drawing everyday with a goal in mind.

[kylelatino]

It's tough to really make an impact with a figure floating in white space, it is for me any way. You might try roughing a background on a different layer, and masking your character layer to keep it separate, so you can drop it out afterwards. That's what I do. I helps me think of the story of the character an the light sources at play, but can still be extracted out easily for concept art.

The settings and worlds of your characters are just as important many times, and elements from those worlds inform you about how to bring your characters to life. Also, there aren't that many "character" artist out there that didn't get their start bring able to draw everything else. Only after they established themselves as skilled, fast, and professional artists that could draw anything they were asked were they allowed to specialize and just draw characters. It's pretty rare. But if you are professionally minded, you might want to take that into consideration.

But your face work is good. If you put that kind of focus and detail into other stuff, you'll be all set! I like drawing faces too much, myself. Sometimes I make myself bring everything else up to a certain level of detail before going back to but in more detail on the face. Just a thought.

Good luck! You have some solid starts!

[Sewithrow]

Hey, was doing a bit of sketching today and I was looking for opinions. Was wondering if I could get a paint over or some advice on this piece.
Just a flat sketch with some blocked in shadows.



I'm not sure if maybe her head is too small or something? She also has man-hands. Her pose seems a little stiff as well, and I'm not sure if her right shoulder is correct.

[Jo2morrow]

Here are a few things I noticed, hope this helps. She's too short, and proportions are kind of off, arms are different lengths too. Just do lot's of figure drawing, it's my main weakness too!

[Marcky Marq]

The first thing I note is that all of your characters seem flat, mostly the first two. The last one is better but that hard line around everything really flattens it. The last one is a lot better then your first two in my opinion. Still needs some work though

[Sewithrow]

Did a little tweaking to the picture. Changed the pose a bit. Her arms look a little stumpy and stiff I think.


Made her hands a bit more feminine as well as edited the shape of her body.

She's meant to be a little bit short and stocky with big hips and whatnot.

[Elwell]

She needs a trapezius.

[tobbA]

What's she doing? Is she waiting for something? Looking at someone? Etc. Having a "story" behind the pose might help you make it make more sense and seem less stiff. Both her shoulders are raised as well, which further adds to the stiffness, and both her legs are straight. Usually a person carries their weight on one leg and let's the other leg 'rest', makin the resting leg bend while the other is straight. The deltoids also don't really have such a rounded shape, but are more squarish looking, and should end somewhere beneath the armpit.

[Sewithrow]

I think I'm just gonna stick with the stiff pose for now. This is only a quick character study to start getting some concepts down for her and practice shading.

[sone_one]

the balance is off in your sketch. every pose can and imo should be read as an effort to defy gravity.

[Sewithrow]

Thanks! Now that I see the contrapposto going the opposite way, I think it may actually work.
I've been working on shading the piece today, and I made a few edits to the weighting, making the left shoulder and right hip high.
It actually does loosen the whole thing up a bit.

[Sewithrow]

So, I've been working on her more, adding shading and stuff. I'm having a ton of trouble with her skirt though. I've redone it multiple times and can't seem to get it right.
I can't find a good reference for her skirt and the way its falling.

If someone could give me some advice on her skirt, that'd be great.