Opinion on a character design

[GrooveMan.exe]

yum yum i do love me some horrible-blurred low-quality jpegs

Don't you get it? The .jpg is for REALISM. The extra unecessary colours and lack of transparency is what makes it.

You know nothing about art, I swear. :V

 

[Axerax]

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b347/ ... natomy.png[/img]

This is a very crude, and basic idea of human anatomy (Edit XD I said Analogy before :P). I realize they can get more in depth with fingers and such, treating arms and legs as cylinders instead of circles, and other stuff, but this gives you a very basic idea of how to go about it. Knowing joints, how they bend and move, facial expressions, muscle movements, and such can help you get a solid foundation to start doing drawings.

Believe it or not, most people get the mindset that anime is easier to draw than detailed realistic pictures, infact, it is actually harder, because with a realistic picture, you can basically use a live reference as your model and draw from there, where as anime you need to have a basic foundation to drawing realistic humans before you can draw them in the style. I had to learn this the hard way, and I STILL to this day, i've been drawing anime stuff for about 3 to 4 years, and i'm not nearly as good as most of my friends and I personally think my stuff is trash compared to most people who draw anime on this forum.

I hope that helps some.
~Axerax

 

[xairon]

dude seriously... o.o

dont summit this because its just a waste of space on the webhosting study real good character designs from series like
gundam wing
hellsing
and or
bleach
and you can also find good character designs from the games
valkyrie profile
ace combat 3
diablo 2
elder scrolls
and other... stop being emo and if you want to have a very badass dark themed character it must look like this...

Spoiler

http://fc02.deviantart.com/fs11/i/2006/203/1/0/dark_knight_by_chopstickmadness.jpg[/img]

or if you want an epic icon of classic vilianly see this...

Spoiler

http://fc03.deviantart.com/fs24/f/2007/353/a/a/Fallen_by_sandara.jpg[/img]

 

[Showkaizer]

dude seriously... o.o

dont summit this because its just a waste of space on the webhosting study real good character designs from series like
gundam wing
hellsing
and or
bleach
and you can also find good character designs from the games
valkyrie profile
ace combat 3
diablo 2
elder scrolls

A- are you serious? Seriously , to whom it may concern , if you don't know shit about art shut the hell up. Using copyrighted art for reference in ORIGINAL work is the WORST habit you can get into . If you want inspiration look to the sources. Look up fashion magazines, medieval armor references, go to a museum, look back on your own life,Whatever. RESEARCH (OMG) Referencing already established art is a good way of assuring that your work is going to be hackneyed, mediocre, derivative and bland.

Furthermore that so called "very bad ass dark themed character" fucking sucks.It's a fluorescent cumbersome armor bearing an obtrusive protrusion in the chest, complete with a laughably pretty little porcelain doll stuffed inside. And the "epic icon of classic villainy" ? No. Sorry. If a bad guy showed up to a fight like that I'd laugh,throw him a towel, and tell him to crawl back to whatever emo pseudo- goth Hot Topic black T shirt rock he crawled out of.

I know I don't browse every forum so maybe you're known for your sarcasm (and in this case I truly hope so ). But really , and this goes for a lot of other people too. If you don't know what you're talking about , you should probably keep your post to yourself . Your bad advice is at best counterproductive.

 

[Dark_linis]

Woah... I just wanted a simple opinion guys....

To those who say I'm wasting space... well thats not very nice.

Those who say I HAVE to follow human anatomy, that isn't nessesaraly true now is it.

I dont usually draw using a computer. Most of the time it's on paper....
Those drawings were just a experiment and I wanted to know if they were decent.

BTW, these are rough drafts of the same characters drawn in  pencil

Spoiler

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g304/dark_linis/Ashe1.jpg[/img]
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g304/ ... Terra1.jpg[/img]

To those that did give there opinion on what I asked, thanks.

 

[GrooveMan.exe]

Oh look, a bunch of uneeded belts, and hair bangs.

Learn to go over sketchy lines with clean ones, and NEVER draw nipples on your femle characters like that again. It's just plain wrong. Your male has no crotch.

Random scribbles don't really constitute as shading, either.

 

[meian]

No one said you HAVE to follow human anatomy. This is an RPM forum, right? It's all chibified sprite templates here, and animu faces, and whatot. We're just saying it's painfully obvious that you couldn't draw an anatomically correct character, if you tried - and thusly, you don't have the background knowledge, skills or experience drawing believably distorted figures.

Also, for the record, this is a C&C board; if you post something here, you're not going to get nothing but compliments. People will call you out on your mistakes, even if that's not what you were looking for. You can gracefully accept these, applying them or not at your discretion, or you can not request C&C in the future, and continue as you were. You requested opinions, and got dozens of them in response, but then you don't want them if they conflict with your interests? It just makes you look like you weren't interested in improving or in other people's opinions at all, but rather you were just waiting for a a big orgy of handjobs complimenting you on your fantastic and original creations. Bah.


Now, one thing that sticks out painfully to me in all of your drawings is the head and hair - the head does not seem to have any back of a skull at all, it apparently just slopes down after the forehead, and the hair doesn't seem to be connected to the scalp in any way. It all looks like pieces of cardboard tacked on to the head as an afterthought, all YuGiOh-esque, but more poorly done. While this isn't the most fantastic tutorial ever, it does address the two parts that I mentioned. You also have inconsistent sizing and placing of the facial features, but let's start big and work small, shall we? :>

http://whitehaiku.deviantart.com/art/Th ... -18786922-

 

[Despain]

OH GOD THE TITS THEY BLIND ME

I really want to post something more constructive for you man, like so many other people have done, but you're pretty much shown that you're not willing to listen to anything. I'm assuming that you are like 11 years old, so maybe in a few years you can try again.

 

[Dark_linis]

Lol, I see.

I dont have any problem with complaints but its annoying when im told by some one to stop being "emo" and steal some one elses style. What you guys said was interesting. About the belts... its like some strange art fetish for me. my main characters always have two or three belts.
The nipples were a bit extream, however the guy does have a crotch ( I hate that word)
Look at the belts, one is at the waist and the other is a bit bellow covering that area (the belt that says 'srp')

@meian

What do you mean that the hair doesn't connect to the scalp...?
You mean like the hair just looks througn on (like a cheap wig....?)
also your link doesn't go anywere.

"We're just saying it's painfully obvious that you couldn't draw an anatomically correct character, if you tried " seems rather rude to me also. No big deal though

I really apreciate everyones opinions that help. Kind of discurageing though when every one says you absolutly suck at one of your favorite hobbies (must resist emo urges....)
Well I asked for it.

and missingno
Thats the point  :wink:
and you say im not willing to listen? so that means that if I dont draw every evil person like this
http://fc02.deviantart.com/fs11/i/2006/ ... adness.jpg[/img]
then I'm an epic fail?

 

[meian]

Dude, about that image you posted: Xairon already got his ass handed to him for giving you crap advice. Just ignore him and whatever bullshit he has to say as irrelevant to the conversation.

No, seriously, worse advice of the thread.

And ugh, how humiliating about the hair link. Try this :
http://www.deviantart.com/view/18786922/

Back to your question about hair: Go look in a mirror. See how there's a part there, where you can see where each individual thread connects to the scalp? And, if you were to flip your hair about, every single strand connects somewhere to your head? This is not evident in your hair design. I'm not saying you should show the source of each strand of hair - shit, unless you're going for hyper-hyper-realism, it'd be a crime against style - BUT, you should at least keep in mind that somewhere, those chunky spikes of hair have to connect somewhere to the head. In yours, it's just jagged lines that seem to originate from nowhere. It's like a massive mass of a rat's nest, with spikes coming out here and there. No good. Try drawing each chunk individually, starting from the skull and going outward. Additionally, this'll help you with your shading - I can't even imagine how you'd start to shade with what you've got so far.

Sorry if it sounded mean, I'm actually trying to be diplomatic. But, again, there's telling signs that indicate to me you haven't really thought about anatomy. On that note, try drawing the body first, THEN adding hair and clothes. Even if you're not good at anatomy, I promise a dramatic improvement.

I was going to add something about spikey hair, but I have to go, Mother's Day dinner. I'll be back in a bit, good luck young padawan.

 

[Dark_linis]

thanks. I found my problem. I never draw the full head then add hair. I do the part of the head that is showing then add the hair on top. Link is usefull, when I get around to it, I'll post a new pic with that stratagy.
but with that being said, Im going to have to reconfigure who I draw heads and faces...this may take a while.

 

[Sic Semper Tyranosaurus]

Woah... I just wanted a simple opinion guys....

Which you received in spades, you unnecessarily smug tit.

Those who say I HAVE to follow human anatomy, that isn't nessesaraly true now is it.

Unless you want to gargle balls and spit dicks, yes it is. Even SD and anime artists (the ones who generally get paid for this shit) follow at least the basic rules of human anatomy. Crayon Shin-chan has better anatomical value than your submissions, and the mother in that series resembles a damn praying mantis.

You don't seem to learn well from words, so I'll offer some visual aids as to what you might be missing.

Spoiler

http://mangamessiah.googlepages.com/popeyeguy.png[/img]
http://mangamessiah.googlepages.com/horrortits.png[/img]

I have no problem, absolutely no problem with people drawing anime style. But please, for God's sake and my own, take some cues from somewhere that isn't DevianTart. Cheek teeth have no place in a static medium.

 

[Dark_linis]

Lol wow, you made it seem not so bad. Only small tweaks need to be made and I wont have to "gargle balls and spit dicks" anymore!Gee Thanks.
Really, I apreciate you pointing out the problems for me.

 

[Sic Semper Tyranosaurus]

Lol wow, you made it seem not so bad. Only small tweaks need to be made and I wont have to "gargle balls and spit dicks" anymore!Gee Thanks.
Really, I apreciate you pointing out the problems for me.

Good. I do try, in my own twisted way.  :lol:

 

[meian]

thanks. I found my problem. I never draw the full head then add hair. I do the part of the head that is showing then add the hair on top.

I figured that's exactly what you were doing.



Now, back to what I was going to say about the hair before:
Character design is about designing the character, sculpting a person as a whole. Now, someone might say, ah, but this is resource analysis, we're only concerned with the aesthetics of your characters. True, but not. While no one here is really interested in the terrible, dramatic, tragic backstory of whatever KH-ripped character someone manages to regurgitate, the physical appearance is, or definitely should, speak volumes about the person behind it.

We might look at a warrior, who has cleanly polished armor. Now there's a person who lives and breathes for their profession! Because, armor is heavy as fuck, and likely to tarnish at the first sign of battle or moisture. Keeping on top of its appearance would be a lot of effort. (On the other hand, my dad said that when he saw a sailor with a perfectly pressed uniform and spit-shin, glitteringly polished shoes, he could guarantee you that that person would be the sort to opt for office work, shirking any kind of dirty, physical labor that's inherently necessary on a ship. Something else you could read from just someone's appearance!)

Likewise, a zombie, or a prisoner, has a grimy, tattered appearance necessary to their station in the game. It'd be more telling, really, to have said zombie or prisoner look nice, right? And wouldn't it say more if a normal townsperson was dressed in the same attire?

I'm sure I've quite kicked a dead horse to you about physical appearances being so belying to a character's personality. What I'm saying is, is that a flashy character with tons of unnecessary belts everywhere - on your arms, really? - jewelry up the ass, layers upon layers of clothes, whatever, lends themself to being perceived, on a conscious or unconscious level, as someone who's very vain and concerned with looks. Basically, a gigantic fop. Is someone who spends thirty minutes getting dressed, and another two hours and half a bottle of MegaSuperHold hair gel spiking their hair, really the sort of person who would be out saving the world? Sounds more like a highschool heart throb, to me.

Now, I am rather a flamboyant dresser, who doesn't like spending time on appearances. The key to an eccentric look with minimal effort is to focus on one thing - crazy hair OR expressive makeup OR lots of accessories OR lots of layers OR whatever the fuck, and leaving the rest be. This specialization also prevents real people from looking way over the top. If you stuck with one key feature a character, you could make that person unique and visually compelling without drawing attention to their attire or making them out to be fashion-obsessed Hot Topic models.

On a last note, there is such a thing as High Fantasy, whereas all the girls have enormous, torso-sized titties with as little armor as possible, and all the males wield swords the size and weight of their bodies as if they were parrying rapiers, and magicians run around with enough magic to destroy whole forests or levitate entire cities. In this specialized style of fantasy, you could easily get away with such flamboyant design flair - but you must realize that to pull this off well, you have to make EVERYTHING and EVERYONE stand up to this grandiose scale. Most everyone must wake up with nine belts strapped to their arm and perfectly styled hair that defies gravity, not just your very special playable characters.



Anyhow, if you've read through this tutorial-sized post, I congratulate you. It's just something you should take into consideration, after you work on skull cavities and non-jellified limbs.

 

[Axerax]

Those who say I HAVE to follow human anatomy, that isn't nessesaraly true now is it.

Okay, you wouldn't draw a dog or a wolf, without knowing how it moves or walks would you? Why would you draw a human without knowing how it moves or walks, just cause you "Can" draw them without anatomy knowledge doesn't mean it will look like a human, heaven forbid it ends up looking like "Swamp Thing"

Hair designs, by my own personal experience, draw out the entire outline, then fill in with the extra lines that define the hair, otherwise it looks misshaped and awkward.

 

[Venetia]

Holy shit guys, ease up a little. Dark_linis is actually acting pretty calm here so no need to rip him several new ones.

But, amidst the rabbles, there is some pretty solid pointers in here.

Now, back when I was 15, and I was a happy little otaku go-getter, I received a How to Draw Manga book from a friend. Even though it was all in Japanese, I was able to inference from the pictures how to draw anime-styles better. Of course, with time, I became more interested in realism and American-comic styles, and trying to create a style of my own, but it all really took off with that book.

I can't find that particular book online, but an otaku friend in art college used this like a bible:
http://about.pricegrabber.com/search_ge ... out_anime&

I'd really suggest picking up one of those books. They're just great.

As for online tutorials, try:
http://www.howtodrawmanga.com/tutorial.html
http://www.animecubed.com/howtodraw/

They seem the most solid to me.

First and foremost, however, you need to learn anatomy. You do need to know and be able to distinguish the subtleties in the human form, so that you can skew them convincingly into your own style. Draw "realistic" anatomy over and over and over until you have it down. Draw "realistic" hair over and over. Only once you have the art down relatively pat can you start to experiment with new and different ways to morph the physical structure of your subject(s). It's a step often skipped, but never skipped with good results. Additionally, if you skip it, you risk pigeonholing yourself into only being able to draw in one style, which is never a good artist's practice.

Here are some places that can get you started. Being an artist is not just about putting pencil to paper, it's also about carefully studying lines, symmetry, shapes, and motions, of the world around you.

http://www.frankfrazetta.com/ff/feature ... y/mem.html
http://www.female-anatomy-for-artist.com/ < warning: nudity
http://store.doverpublications.com/048645262x.html < this is a great book. recommended by my figure drawing professor.
http://www.ryanottley.com/ < this is american-comic style--a fantastic style for representing motion & dynamics. This site in particular is a great study just to check out how he portrays movement, expression, and depth.

Another thing you can do is use your hands and feet to measure lengths all over your own body. Your hand is roughly the length of your face. Your forearm is about 1.5 hands long. A finger is roughly the length of the palm. Feet are typically 1.25-1.5 hands long. If you put the ball of your palm against your ankle and the ball of your other palm against your knee, the middle fingers should touch, meaning the shin is about 2 hands long. See what I'm saying? So you can use those measurements as you work to make everything in-proportion!

It's an uphill battle, hon. You have to start at the bottom and work your way up

 

[CeruSkye]

All other comments aside, the character design is fine for a fledgling artist. Advice given to you to study more anatomy, and practice more is great. You definitely should. Don't let the derogatory comments of others bring you down. Your art is just as fine as anyone elses, it certainly isn't of a professional calibre, but not to many of us who lurk on this forum can put out that sort of quality.

That aside I must say I am offended and appalled at the lack of consideration to this persons post. Not everyone out there has the luxury of being a professional artist. This person simple wanted feedback on his character design. Giving advice to study anatomy harder is sound, however, any advice passed onto another should be given in an at least civil manner.

You can draw however and whatever you want. PERIOD. To throw insults at any person for their attempts is a vile act. Who cares if he's not as good at art as you? What the hell does it matter? And he can host and post pretty much whatever he wants. And he can draw Emo, or Goth and whatever other style he desires. It is not, and let me make this absolutely clear, NOT acceptable to ridicule someone who is looking for a little feedback. If you feel disgusted by it, or think it sucks, then you should either not reply to the topic, or find a more compassionate way to communicate it to the person.

We have a large community here, with a pretty wide age range. Please make an attempt to be civil. Be gentle with other peoples right to share.

Peace.

 

[Venetia]

I think most of the squabbling came about from a few very, very mis-informed comments toward the beginning from people other than the OP. Things just sorta flew off the handle a little because those initial comments were just, ack, so flame-worthy. But I think the train's back on its rails, now

 

[CeruSkye]

Good stuff. Actually, l kinda like his character designs. Simple, gothy, neat. ^_^