The Official Art Critique Thread
March 7, 2010 - 11:56pm — fayne
If you are here, you would either like to have your art analyzed, or would like to help people improve, yes?
Good. Let's get started.
A few ground rules:
1. If you want to bash someone, that's too bad, dunk your head in a fishbowl or something. While constructive criticism is what we're aiming for, anything that is seen to be flat-out rude will not be tolerated and this thread will be deleted after a good number of offenses.
2. If you are going to post something that is rather adult, please post a link to it instead of posting the image on the thread. I'm already responsible for plenty of lost innocence, thanks. D8 (Adult here means excessive nudity, gore, very harsh language, sexual themes, etc)
3. When critiquing a specific piece of art, please say who it's directed at. If it isn't the one directly above your post, it can get confusing!
How to post your art (more or less)
"-insert pic here-
This took about 2 hours in Photoshop 7. It's Oz and Desanm, humanized, messing around on the beach. To help with the skeletons I used this and this as references. Redlines are wanted, thanks!"
What constitutes a good critique?
"@Fledermaus:
I love the colors you used! They're very vibrant and the fact that you used different tones for the shading adds a lot of dimension to it. However, the composition is a bit unbalanced - everything major is in the bottom right corner of the picture, and there's not a lot on the left. While this sometimes works, it makes the canvas pretty empty here. Maybe you should try adding another subject? Overall, this is very good!"
How not to do it:
"@Fledermaus:
lol dis is good"
or
"THIS IS SO GREAT EVERYTHING IS WONDERFUL!!!!!" (Seriously, we want to get better, not wallow in our egos. D8)
or
"God, this sucks so much. Masque looks like shit (which happens all the time anyways) and it looks like Zeppy puked all over it. Go get a life, you stupid homo."
^These. They are bad. (THANKS FOR BEING MY UNWILLING SUBJECT FLEF. <3)
I think everyone's got the gist of it. Art will be posted in the comments. GO FORTH AND DRAW, MY SONS.
So I'll start the train.
This took maybe 2 and a half hours in PSE. One of my OCs, Reia, doing god knows what. |D Could anyone suggest ways to make my shading less plastic? Seriously, like different brushes or something, augh. Textures are from dA.
Redlines please!
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Hope you don't mind that I am
edit: i am too tired to write something productive now ,o,
OH BUT OF COURSE, MY GOOD
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I'M YOUR SON?!?!?! that
that explains so much >.>
ANYWHO...Fayne, that looks pretty damn cool, just to start off. I like the color cj=hoice, makes it seem all warm anf fuzzy. And the shading isn't actually that bad. With candlelight, it's about soft shadows and quick transitions, the only things that get most of the light are whatever the candle is right next to. Maybe take an airbrush or something of a soft yellow color and brush on some more highlights? Mostly on her hand and torso, and the one side of her face. I know you don't want it super dark so don't put too much more shadow in it XD
If I have time I'll do a redline...but feh, I'm afraid I might not be able to :/ sowwy. The only thing anatomically I can pick at right now is that her neck is a smidge long, but that could also just be your style XD
Hope I helped a little? |D
That is indeed very helpful.
btw yes, it explains everything.
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lol good. You're welcome
OH WAIT. NO don't do yellow...use orange. the shade of yellow I thought of would TOTALLY ruin the color scheme |D *derp*
Bwahahaha okay couldn't
A less 'Plastic' shading? Hmm I am a jerk at explaining in normal conition but with this level of sleepyness... well i 'll give it a try.
You talked of differend brushes, well thats a good idea for the start but, I think it is not always needed to use 'super awesome effect'' brushes. In my case, I just use the normal paintbrush of ps. You know that round thingie. You can do a lot by just playing around with the ... oh my here it comes... I use the german version so I have no idea how it is called in english xD--- you know, next to the brush are two sliders where you can make the color stronger and so on.
Also there is a menue where you can change other things of the brush.
Blah I think I am really not helpfull at the moment ,o,
However, when I do shading I just make the 'basic shadows' and then soften the edges with a very soft brush with very low opacy same goes for darker areas.
edit: screenshots are friends!... I marked the things I ment...
Thanks, Alice. 8DDD -more
Somebody had better post something on here soon. >:C I WISH TO EDUCATE.
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I have nothing but tournament
If i find anything in my folder I'll post it XDD
HELLZ YEAH *is gonna use this
@ Fayne's picture of Reia:
I too enjoy the colors you picked, the warmth of the background is well balanced with the cool colors of the figure's outfit. If you're looking for a less hard shading, try using either
-a softer brush, your edges right now are rather harsh and therefore stand out more
-or, if you'd rather stay with the shading style you have now, keep doing what you've done, but use more tones when shading.
The shading you did on her belly specifically looks very stark and doesn't blend much and this is what gives you the hard 'plastic' appearance. If you add more than just a 'medium' and a 'dark' shadow (try two mediums, or even three) you'll get a more gradual level of shadow, which will make your figure look more rounded.
All in all, it's a very nice piece and I can't conclude without touching upon your really nice anatomy.
Your shading itself isn't
On the other hand, while I like the soft gradients of your skin colouring, I think it actually needs sharper shading like with your clothing, since it's so close to a light source. I think her right hand should be more in shadow as well.
That's all I can think of right now.
Edit: Oh, is anatomy something you wanted critique on too? I'm not totally sure of the boundaries of your stylization but what stands out to me the most is that her chest is too high up on the torso, and her hands seem too large-- but that could be because her face is sort of covered with hair and it's usually the size of the face that's my frame of reference for hand proportions.
QUESTION! does it HAVE to be
does it HAVE to be finished or can we post works in progress?
I'd love to be able to post
Tracking cB
*goes right ahead* AMUSE
AMUSE YOURSELVES WITH THIS CRAP HERE.
WIP of a trade with...someone >.>
This is why I wouldn't usually post art in this sort of thread, because I rip apart my own stuff. Nose is too long, neck is too thick and bends the wrong way, jaw line is too angular, and I haven't even begun to start shading anything propery DX I did intend for the highlights to be bright though >.>
I did this....back in October? and I don't want it anymore XD I think I want to redo the whole thing...
But for the sake of bumping this thread and to give you some lulz, here you go |D <3
Thaaaaanks everyone.
Cato, I will redline once I'm done eating, yes?
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you caaan....lol I don't
I just put it uo as some fodder for someone to learn from XDD
@ phantomhelsing's art trade
Alright, first piece of critique, NOT CRAP.
Now that that's out of the way ;D
- Other than smoothing out the shading and maybe toning down the highlights (they're a bit harsh) I can't really give you much anatomy critique because you've already covered everything.
- I'm not sure about the nose being too long, I quite like it the length it is. Of course this really depends on the character you're drawing, so without knowing what they look like I'm just going off personal preference.
Annnnnd since I'd love some feedback (especially red lining, red lining would be LOVE) I've got a piece up in my DA gallery that I'll link to; Warning for female nudity and missing limbs.
I'm fairly please with the human figure to the left, but the werewolf body on the right needs some serious anatomy work. The area below the ribs and before the hips is too long, and the non mechanical legs are just...yeah. Seriously, red lining would be amazing.
Ah Cato I wouldn't even touch
I think your lighting is really successful though, interesting highlights, good contrast and the face and neck have a nice sense of form and texture.
edit: Hmm Tera's is a tricky one! First off because I'm not confident in my dog anatomy, and second cause it's not really entirely canine, there's some elements of human anatomy I think? I guess the closest thing to compare to would be some breed of sighthound, they're lanky like that. [link] [link]
EDIT: haha...thanks Ephra |3
LOL LIES |D
the whole highligh and shading thing is because of a technique I was using...it would take about an hour or so more of work to get it to the point where the coloring was right |D
REDLINE: like this? ignore my scribbling XDD [EDIT] HOMG I'M SO SORRY ;-; I just realized it was a female character and I totally drew male anatomy on that thing DX MALE TORSOS AND FEMAL TORSOS ARE DIFFERENT CATO D8<
You said you wanted it to be mechanical right, Tera? I hate mechanical things, but uhhh...try separating it into more parts? Like where the joints are there might be gears of some sort, basically, wherever a part conects with another part, it doesn't flow like skin and muscle. Each part is separated. It helps if you just take the basic shapes of the arm/eg and connect them together, and not blen them *tard'd explanation*
WHERE IS MY TABLET PEN. I AM
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FAYNE! CHECK IN YOUR
I went for 10 mins looking for mine and it was in my hand the whole time :/
LUCKY YOU. We've uprooted the
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Thanks for the feedback
*track*
FAYNE did you ever find it?
Tracking this because I'm
NO. 8C And a new one would
And a new one would be like 30 bucks which I don't have AUGH.
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LINKED TOOOO because Flef is
Hihihi I need help with this. Specifically what's listed on the picture, but if you can't read my writing I shall dictate. :B I haven't drawn dogs in like 69 years so this is a problem. Also, Oz is supposed to be huge compared to Des, but I've been looking at this so long that I can't distinquish proportions. If somebody could red/blueline this and take some time describing what I should fix before I continue, that would be great. Thanks~
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AGGGHH I WILL NOT CLICK THIS
[link] [link] [link] ^see
[link]
[link]
^see each tutorial respectively for what you asked.
I can unfortunately do no better because I would not state anything that would not be parroting what those tutorials said |D they were my great teachers
LALALA REVIVE. -fistpump-
Tried out a new shading style and I do not like it. >:C BUT THAT'S OKAY because I would like to know about anatomy here, so redlines would be nice and stuff. -SALUTE- took maybe an hour.
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