Closed Species - Pay $500 to draw a bedazzled fox

[KEKleon]

I was commissioned to draw someone's elnin before. I could barely tell what was going on in the original picture and all the other refs had different things going on so I wasn't entirely sure what was supposed to even be/not be there. They liked it in the end at least, but like still it was clearly a problem others had interpreting the original. It was one of the less cluttered designs too.

 

[Lapis Lazuli]

Pardon my French, but what the FUCK am I looking at? Its silhouette & shapes are fucking abysmal at this angle.

If you look closely, you can find that it's a furry with the wings being a part of its arms? The legs seem to be cybernetic or something, and it's wearing a scarf or something.

I don't know how someone can look at this and think "Wow, I can redraw that!"

 

[Cable]

Pardon my French, but what the FUCK am I looking at? Its silhouette & shapes are fucking abysmal at this angle.

dude straight up looks like something that could come from a Monolith Soft final boss phase.

 

[MysticMisty]

If you look closely, you can find that it's a furry with the wings being a part of its arms? The legs seem to be cybernetic or something, and it's wearing a scarf or something.

I don't know how someone can look at this and think "Wow, I can redraw that!"

The upper body is also a cybernetic expansion of the torso, but it starts where the upper chest should be, flows poorly making unnatural shapes, and is way too massive, at least as large as the natural torso. Which itself is oddly shaped and way too lumpy.

The legs are a bigger mess because I have no idea how or where they attach to the body. And the arms are worse because they actually have hands/paws, but the arm itself is so hard to identify in that mess.

 

[Lapis Lazuli]

The upper body is also a cybernetic expansion of the torso, but it starts where the upper chest should be, flows poorly making unnatural shapes, and is way too massive, at least as large as the natural torso. Which itself is oddly shaped and way too lumpy.

The legs are a bigger mess because I have no idea how or where they attach to the body. And the arms are worse because they actually have hands/paws, but the arm itself is so hard to identify in that mess.

Here's my attempt in trying to place together which is which on the picture. Here's where (I think) how the limbs are?

 

[The Great Pancake]

Here's my attempt in trying to place together which is which on the picture. Here's where (I think) how the limbs are?
View attachment 1605515

I wanted to figure this out for myself because I wondered if this furry's hands and feet were really that big. By highlighting this it really shows how weird the anatomy on this thing is.

Spoiler: Sorry

 

[Ledian]

I wanted to figure this out for myself because I wondered if this furry's hands and feet were really that big. By highlighting this it really shows how weird the anatomy on this thing is.

Spoiler: Sorry

View attachment 1608608

The proportion is a pure mess and the design is just too busy. This is more akin to something Zoomutt made for themselves than to sell because unless you're an amazing artist, a design like this will cause constant headaches.

 

[Vault]

The proportion is a pure mess and the design is just too busy. This is more akin to something Zoomutt made for themselves than to sell because unless you're an amazing artist, a design like this will cause constant headaches.

That's exactly why I see adopts like that as trading cards. You're highly unlikely to find artists who will sit and draw those - It's far too complex. Unless you're willing to shell out more and more money, which you've already dropped a stupid amount of on said overdesigned character... Is it worth it? Not really.

They're pretty to look at. But a lot of these folk just end up trading them from owner to owner in exchange for art/money anyway, rather than actually keep them to use as a character. They'll write up a quick likes/dislikes bio or something and that's it.

 

[99 red balloons]

just giving the design a name is already more than what most of these TCG images get

the only description they ever get is a value log, and the only name they are known by is the pricetag
in case someone does choose to buy it during resale - sorry if you wanted to buy the design, and the design only, because you'll have to pay for all the art the previous person commissioned, too
most of which you probably really don't want, either, yet you gotta pay for someone else's regrets

 

[Cable]

I wanted to figure this out for myself because I wondered if this furry's hands and feet were really that big. By highlighting this it really shows how weird the anatomy on this thing is.

Spoiler: Sorry

View attachment 1608608

with this I am just now noticing that the ref is shaded? Shading your ref is a really bad idea unless you actively put down a color key somewhere on the ref that's easy to spot.

 

[ScrapBuyer]

with this I am just now noticing that the ref is shaded? Shading your ref is a really bad idea unless you actively put down a color key somewhere on the ref that's easy to spot.

I mean, that’s the least of its problems

 

[MysticMisty]

I hate to ask but underneath all that garbage what animal is it even supposed to be, anyways? That's something I really hate about furry art, honestly, all these weirdly generic dog-esque animals so many people draw. I should be able to look at an animal and be able to say "it's a dog" instead of wondering what the hell it actually is.

 

[Cable]

I hate to ask but underneath all that garbage what animal is it even supposed to be, anyways? That's something I really hate about furry art, honestly, all these weirdly generic dog-esque animals so many people draw. I should be able to look at an animal and be able to say "it's a dog" instead of wondering what the hell it actually is.

according to the one who made the original Stygian post, it's either a dog or deer.

 

[MysticMisty]

according to the one who made the original Stygian post, it's either a dog or deer.

Stupid as fuck, it looks neither. Unless you count the furry interpretation of a dog as a dog, which I don't.

 

[Dysnomia]

Pardon my French, but what the FUCK am I looking at? Its silhouette & shapes are fucking abysmal at this angle.

Looks like the furfag version of The Profound Darkness from Phantasy Star 4. There's a PSO2 version as well.



But honestly, I have no idea. Aquila means eagle, right? Some kind of flying mech thing? The anatomy is horrible. Overall it's just a big mess. The overdesign with all the wings and whatever the hell those tassel things are near the chest makes the torso appear emaciated. Waaay too much emphasis on them toenails.

I hope it dies in battle soon. Because it looks like it hurts for that thing to live.

 

[Finrod Felagund]

the only description they ever get is a value log, and the only name they are known by is the pricetag
in case someone does choose to buy it during resale - sorry if you wanted to buy the design, and the design only, because you'll have to pay for all the art the previous person commissioned, too
most of which you probably really don't want, either, yet you gotta pay for someone else's regrets

And in some cases you don't get all of the commissioned artwork put up on the character's Toyhouse profile so you end up getting these kinds of hidden costs. You're considered a lucky bastard to be able to haggle your way to acquiring the design, but sure enough why in fuck should I be paying for accompanying materials when they weren't coming out from my pockets let alone my idea to commission artists in the first place? That's outright corporate greed at work there.

If you put these with Final Fantasy summons side by side, you can deadass know which are readable in design.

Hell, even FFX's Bahamut can be recognized from afar. What do you even see in Aquila? A sea anemone.

 

[MysticMisty]

The thing has been bugging me so much I decided fuck it, I'm going to steal it (sort of) and make it better:

Spoiler: Big sketch

I changed the species into a cat because so damn many of these things are dogs, and I wanted it to be an actually recognizable animal. I also incorporated aspects of the original into a much more sleek armor design, and turned all those weirdass spike things into an anti-gravity flying pack that looks like stylized wings. I like it so much I may have to turn it into a full colored drawing.

 

[Cable]

The thing has been bugging me so much I decided fuck it, I'm going to steal it (sort of) and make it better:

Spoiler: Big sketch

View attachment 1612383

I changed the species into a cat because so damn many of these things are dogs, and I wanted it to be an actually recognizable animal. I also incorporated aspects of the original into a much more sleek armor design, and turned all those weirdass spike things into an anti-gravity flying pack that looks like stylized wings. I like it so much I may have to turn it into a full colored drawing.

this looks really great in comparison to what was at hand prior.

 

[[Redacted]-san]

Stygians overly busy design already makes my eyes bounce around for how busy the designs are. That's not a good thing. I like detailed art but this is too much.

 

[sleepdeprived]

That flying robotfox is visual AIDs. It's littered with dozens of little fucking greebles to mask how terrible the underlying anatomy and perspective are.

Spoiler: REDLINE

Take a look at the silhouette free of all the surrounding visual noise and you'll see that it's a massive head with very long pecs on top of a tiny waist and corgi legs. You could argue that it's a stylistic choice, but it wouldn't matter - the biggest reason why it looks so exceptional is that the torso is drawn from a different angle and FOV from the rest of the body.

1.) I've used a free posing software to demonstrate the 'look' that the artist is going for with the torso - this is a pretty common pose used for drawing masculine characters to highlight the dip of the ribcage and the curve of the waist. This perspective is nearly top-down with a tight FOV and at an angle, unlike anything else in this drawing.

2.) This is how the rest of the body is drawn - 3/4ths perspective, no close FOV, no angle. It's very safe.

3.) Just to highlight how out of place the torso is, the pelvis isn't drawn in the same perspective as what's above it, so it doesn't even line up with the belly button.

My guess is this artist tried to draw a much more dynamic pose that they've seen before and realized pretty quickly that it's much harder to do than it looks and defaulted to a static 3/4ths view because there's no reason to step out of their 'safe zone.' They can cover their furry with tons of greebles and glowing pieces and armor to make it look passably impressive, so long as no one is looking too hard (and they're not.)

Beginners, take note: no amount of 3D effects, sharpening, or gradients in Photoshop can mask shit anatomy and perspective. There are tons of free resources out there, from high-resolution photographs to free poseable 3D models - you never have to guess at what something should look like. The artists who get trapped drawing the same thing in the same way are doing it because making anything 'ugly' would be a blow to their ego, which is part of why making adoptables is a convenient way to stay in that bubble.

If there's nothing else we can take away from flying anorexiafox, this is a valuable thing to learn early on.