Art Critique + Advice -

[Koresh]

Exactly what it says on the tin. Post your art, be it complete or WIPs, get critique, or just ask for art advice in general.

Friendly reminder that the most helpful critiques point out what the creator has done well along with what they can do to improve.

I don't have any pieces that need critique right now, so I hope that someone will post something soon to end this awkwardness of having an art thread with no art.

 

[Exorbital Columnations]

Thread is well written but redundant.

Please lurk moar.

 

[Koresh]

Thread is well written but redundant.

Please lurk moar.

;__; I got encouraged by people in other threads since the other art thread isn't devoted to critique and advice and most requests for those get buried. Having one devoted to that kind of stuff would prevent those specific requests from being buried.

If a mod decided it's redundant, then they can just delete this thread. Not up to anyone else.

 

[SigSauer]

>inb4 someone posts Waco Siege rule 34

 

[dark_lob1111]

I for one couldn't find the OG thread Exigent Circumcisions might be talking about (link, anyone?) , so anyway here's something I've been working on the past 48 hours.
I'm not posting it in the art for Null thread since it isn't finished (WiP)

Spoiler: Null as Happy Fat buddha

If you have suggestions on who to add or what to change please lmk

 

[Koresh]

I for one couldn't find the OG thread Exigent Circumcisions might be talking about (link, anyone?) , so anyway here's something I've been working on the past 48 hours.
I'm not posting it in the art for Null thread since it isn't finished (WiP)

Spoiler: Null as Happy Fat buddha

View attachment 896219

If you have suggestions on who to add or what to change lmk

He's talking about the "Post your Art" thread. It was originally meant for this, but it's purpose has changed since it was posted in 2015 or whatever.

Your piece is crazy awesome though! I love how clean your linework is and how you captured the eccentricities of everyone. If I saw that at a market, I'd definitely add it to my Null spank bank. The biggest thing that stands out to me that might improve it is maybe increasing the saturation and contrast of the colors. They're all really light right now, so they all kind of fade out, especially against the white background. I think that also exaggerating the line weight in certain areas, such as under dear leader's mantiddies and other darker areas will help. You already have definite variation in line weight, but I think adding a bit more emphasis and thickening the already thicker areas will definitely make the depth pop. Some of the colored line art also looks a bit light, especially around Sonichu. Perhaps darkening and saturating them a bit will also add more contrast. What kind of shading do you think you'll do, or will you keep it as flats? Do you think you'll add a background?

 

[dark_lob1111]

">... You already have definite variation in line weight, but I think adding a bit more emphasis and thickening the already thicker areas will definitely make the depth pop. What kind of shading do you think you'll do, or will you keep it as flats? Do you think you'll add a background?"

Thank you so much!!!
I do plan to make a background of hills & mist, or perhaps a courtyard...I was even considering something more psychedelic like Lisa Frank

Spoiler: Lisa Frank Example

I'm grateful to hear about the line-weight as well, I couldn't understand why it was looking off. I'm trying to go for the style of Michelle Czajkowski (Ava's Demon) but I'm still new to it tbh. I definitely like the idea of making it more punchy.

 

[Koresh]

Thank you so much!!!
I do plan to make a background of hills & mist, or perhaps a courtyard...I was even considering something more psychedelic like Lisa Frank

Spoiler: Lisa Frank Example

View attachment 896277

I'm grateful to hear about the line-weight as well, I couldn't understand why it was looking off. I'm trying to go for the style of Michelle Czajkowski (Ava's Demon) but I'm still new to it tbh. I definitely like the idea of making it more punchy.

Oh, ! That's going to look so sick man, I can't wait to see the finished product! I think you might be able to blend both, and if you stick with the more light and subdued color palette, it'll look really unique!

Now that I know you're going for an Ava's Demon look, I can definitely see it.

To better imitate the line art here, if you look at areas like her nose, her clothing, and her hair, you'll see that there's huge amounts of variation in thickness. Like at the tip of her nose, the lineart is so thin it's almost nonexistent, but the upper ridge immediately drastically thickens. There's also a gradient in the lineart, if you compare the lines around the midtones of her hair to the bottom or top, there's a shift from light to dark to reflect lighting. I made a quick edit of yours to show what I mean about line variation. I'm not sure where the light source would be, but once you decide where it is, you can copy your lineart layer, set it to locked opacity, then put a basic lighting gradient over it and change it to the overlay or one of the light layers to mimic the same effect.



It's not as neat as it could be, but I hope it expresses what I mean a bit better. I thickened around the areas that come forward and where shadow would be and thinned where light would hit, like dear leader's shoulders. I used a pencil tool instead of a pen one to mimic the softness of the lineart in Ava's Demon. Another thing I did was slightly shift his skin tone to be a bit warmer to contrast his white robes and the lineart to be darker and more saturated in comparison so it'd contrast more with his skin and the lighter color palette. Also, I have to say that I love how you did his hair. It's wonderfully detailed! It must have taken so long, it looks fantastic!

I hope this was helpful and not a bunch of nonsense!

 

[dark_lob1111]

I hope this was helpful and not a bunch of nonsense!

Oh absolutely!! This has been invaluable to me, hopefully I'll get a notification on posts for this thread so I can help participate in helpful critique too!
I see what you're saying now about the line variance-- hahaha Ava's Demon was so beautiful to me the colors always distracted me from noticing that!
Edit: Thank you for your time & help!!

 

[WoodlumHax]

some oc stuff, would love to get some feedback!! i'm trying to prepare for when i try majoring in illustration

 

[dark_lob1111]

View attachment 897475View attachment 897477
some oc stuff, would love to get some feedback!! i'm trying to prepare for when i try majoring in illustration

Lookin' good!! You definitely have the line weight discussed before, a lot of variance and strength. You know exactly what something is when you see it, I would only say is your lines could be more steady. Some of it may be stylistic but I think that's the downfall to ink 1st, it makes for a beautiful background but on characters, forms need to be accurate.
ex: the kid with his hands up on the rollercoaster, at his head/top hair piece, the lines indicate a break-- it's very subtle but it I'm pointing it out to explain what I mean. The face of the guy in the outhouse is good though, very confident, smooth lines.

 

[WoodlumHax]

Lookin' good!! You definitely have the line weight discussed before, a lot of variance and strength. You know exactly what something is when you see it, I would only say is your lines could be more steady. Some of it may be stylistic but I think that's the downfall to ink 1st, it makes for a beautiful background but on characters, forms need to be accurate.
ex: the kid with his hands up on the rollercoaster, at his head/top hair piece, the lines indicate a break-- it's very subtle but it I'm pointing it out to explain what I mean. The face of the guy in the outhouse is good though, very confident, smooth lines.

thank you very much!! i'll try working on keeping my hand steady, might come back to this thread after working on that!

 

[MerriedxReldnahc]

So I love Simon Bisley's artwork and wanted to try and channel him in this piece. Not necessarily copy him, but make something Bisley-esque. He uses mostly acrylic (I think) whereas this was done with watercolor, gouache, and oil pastels on watercolor paper. So visually there's going to be a lot of difference.
There's a few things bugging me but I won't point them out yet, I want to see if those things are the same as what other people notice.

Give me a solid reaming!

Spoiler: titties

 

[Psyduck]

This thread is just what i needed! I'll come back later, would really appreciate the feedback!

 

[Hecate]

So I love Simon Bisley's artwork and wanted to try and channel him in this piece. Not necessarily copy him, but make something Bisley-esque. He uses mostly acrylic (I think) whereas this was done with watercolor, gouache, and oil pastels on watercolor paper. So visually there's going to be a lot of difference.
There's a few things bugging me but I won't point them out yet, I want to see if those things are the same as what other people notice.

Give me a solid reaming!

Spoiler: titties

View attachment 898345

overall I gotta say I really like your use of color. despite there being mostly muddy colors they all seem to stand out from one another, instead of mixing together into a mess.
because you're going for a bisley feel I'd say you'd need a lot more dark outlining to help distinguish the woman from the background, as now she kind of gets a bit lost in the similarly colored chaotic background.
besides that the gun looks super wonky, almost looks like you drew it by looking at a ref, but didn't lay down any guidelines or a box to help keep all the lines straight with each other.

overall though good piece, and you absolutely nailed the color and shading on the body

 

[ScamL Likely]

I for one couldn't find the OG thread Exigent Circumcisions might be talking about (link, anyone?) , so anyway here's something I've been working on the past 48 hours.
I'm not posting it in the art for Null thread since it isn't finished (WiP)

Spoiler: Null as Happy Fat buddha

View attachment 896219

If you have suggestions on who to add or what to change please lmk

It's coming along nicely, I guess, but Null being happy is odd to imagine considering that his base emotional state seems to be rage. I would've made him Acala/Fudo-myoo or Enma/Yama or something if I was going with the Buddhist theme.

 

[WoodlumHax]

So I love Simon Bisley's artwork and wanted to try and channel him in this piece. Not necessarily copy him, but make something Bisley-esque. He uses mostly acrylic (I think) whereas this was done with watercolor, gouache, and oil pastels on watercolor paper. So visually there's going to be a lot of difference.
There's a few things bugging me but I won't point them out yet, I want to see if those things are the same as what other people notice.

Give me a solid reaming!

Spoiler: titties

View attachment 898345

looks really cool!! however, i think playing with the saturation levels, defining weapon details, and straightening out a few things like the sword, her spine, and parts of the gun would help. Overall though, it's really expressive and has a strong concept!! getting some doom vibes from this

 

[Koresh]

@WoodlumHax

Spoiler: im wordy gomen

Those are great! There's so much character in them and they're just overall really fun to look at! Rate me autistic, but your style reminds me of those old webcomics, Hanna is not a Boy's name and Sakana. The first one is my favorite, the only thing I'd say is that the perspective seems a bit warped. It doesn't take away from it and does add a nice dash of a "funk" factor, but if you wanted the space to be a bit more grounded, I feel like setting up a basic two point perspective grid would have helped. I do like your linework, the scraggly quality of it makes it look really lively and bootleg, but in a good way, in a kind of punk-ish way, if that makes sense. I really like it!

The second one is a bit hard to read. I can't tell what's going on. I'm assuming that the top chunk is it's own thing and the bottom half is a single scene, but I'm not entirely sure. There's definite motion going on, which is awesome! And the characters are really well drawn! The composition is just a bit too cramped and cropped, which isn't your fault since that looks like a 5.5 by 8.5 paper. If you're in the monetary condition to, I think investing in a larger standard sized sketchbook will help your compositional skills and it'll probably help the above-mentioned perspective issue as well. Great work though! I'd definitely read a comic in that style!

@MerriedxReldnahc

Spoiler: more words

That's really awesome! I love the colors and the personality in her expression and pose! I love Simon Bisley's work as well, I have an art book with his stuff in it. If you want to mimic his stuff more, going for a more realistic take on anatomy would definitely boost the similarities. Right now your lady's structure is very animesque for lack of a better word. Her head is a bit big and it looks flat. Not that flat is bad, it can be really cool in certain styles like a Deco style, but for Bisley, I think taking the time to show the volume of the skull will help a ton.

Her actual body looks really great! There's some oddness with her hip toward the camera, I think you were trying to copy Bisley's usual exaggeration of curves, but you didn't push that exaggeration quite far enough. So right now it's in this limbo of kinda semi-realistic and Bisley's style, which makes it lose structure and look less like bone and more like a gathering of flesh. Her ribcage away from the camera also has the same thing going on, but it also looks a little out of perspective. It's facing forwards instead of at 3/4ths like the rest of her body, so that creates the illusion of it bulging out. Her rifle and sword are also out of perspective.

I think that all of this can be fixed if you do a preliminary sketch. It doesn't have to be on the water color paper, but taking the time to draw out the full image in pen or pencil before hand will help you spot the oddities a lot better before you commit to a permanent medium like watercolor. When you're doing that, I recommend focusing on anatomical structures and volume. Taking the time to define what is soft (fat and flesh) against what is hard (bone and muscle) will really help out in the rendering phase. One thing that I think will help this particular piece a ton is going back in with a pen and adding linework to further define the shapes. It'll add much more solid structure which the lack of is this piece's greatest weakness. It's still awesome though! You have a great aesthetic sense for color and attitude!

 

[WoodlumHax]

@WoodlumHax

Spoiler: im wordy gomen

Those are great! There's so much character in them and they're just overall really fun to look at! Rate me autistic, but your style reminds me of those old webcomics, Hanna is not a Boy's name and Sakana. The first one is my favorite, the only thing I'd say is that the perspective seems a bit warped. It doesn't take away from it and does add a nice dash of a "funk" factor, but if you wanted the space to be a bit more grounded, I feel like setting up a basic two point perspective grid would have helped. I do like your linework, the scraggly quality of it makes it look really lively and bootleg, but in a good way, in a kind of punk-ish way, if that makes sense. I really like it!

The second one is a bit hard to read. I can't tell what's going on. I'm assuming that the top chunk is it's own thing and the bottom half is a single scene, but I'm not entirely sure. There's definite motion going on, which is awesome! And the characters are really well drawn! The composition is just a bit too cramped and cropped, which isn't your fault since that looks like a 5.5 by 8.5 paper. If you're in the monetary condition to, I think investing in a larger standard sized sketchbook will help your compositional skills and it'll probably help the above-mentioned perspective issue as well. Great work though! I'd definitely read a comic in that style!

Thanks a ton!!! and you're absolutely right, my current sketchbook is a small one from redbubble, but once I fill it up I'm moving to a larger one i bought recently. and about the comic thing, that's actually what I want to make a career out of! Here are some examples of my other stuff if you wanna take a look:

Spoiler: SPACE FUNERAL FANART

this one's about five months old and I had to snip it from my insta, but I still really like it

Spoiler: SILLY CARTOON ANIMALS

concept doodles for an rpgmaker game/comic I've been planning out called Infantiphagia, it's about two neighbors, a stressed, middle aged, overweight cat working in a corporate office, and an optimistic and overly friendly bilby, who are stuck in a quarantined animal town after the cat's ex wife is killed and he regains custody of their children

I'm wanting to start making more comics with my more explicitly human characters, but for now I think these are some of my best examples
Again, thank you for letting me know what you think! I'll definitely try utilizing space better!

 

[Psyduck]

Allright, some of these are old, but it doesn't matter, i know there's much to be improved, and i'd love some feedback




Colors, too