Need critiques on my artstyle

mx101097

So, I'm aiming to be able to draw good wallpaper (cartoon, 3D, 2D, etc), game artwork, or anything that looks high quality. I started with drawing anime stuff.
So, what do you think of my artstyles :
- http://fav.me/d8gnkoy , 1st style
- http://fav.me/d8ocykc , 2nd style
- http://fav.me/d8ufjy3 . 3rd style
- http://fav.me/d8w7vvs , 3rd style, different background conception
(Link leads to DeviantArt)
.
Questions are:
- Are the shadings and lighting good enough?
- Is the background good enough? (4th link)

lotet

you need to really focus on the fundamentals before you can get hang up on the detail, the anatomy , perspective, proportions are way of at a lot of places.

your asking the wrong questions, you need to get your base to the same level as your rendering before you can get better.

mx101097

lotet, if the 'perspective' you refer is the body, head,etc sizes, I pretty much follow how people usually conceive anime proportions ( big head, eye, longer legs )
But thanks, I will work out the details and anatomy

chrilley

I think there is also a perspective problem in how all the body limbs work together in a 3-dimensional space. Currently they sort of come off as flat in your work(even for the style you are trying to do).

I agree with lotet that the answer to both of your questions is that you still need to work on your fundamentals.

Studying things like proportion, form, perspective, values, colors, composition and such will help you a lot.

lamb

mx101097 wrote:

lotet, if the 'perspective' you refer is the body, head,etc sizes, I pretty much follow how people usually conceive anime proportions ( big head, eye, longer legs )

This is wrong. You are basically saying that anime art is bad. But if you look at good anime art or anime inspired art, everything there is spot on. They can exaggerate and change proportions because they understand how they work. Even an anime face that has rather simplified features works on the same fundamental rules any realistic painting does. It utilizes forms, volume and space. It is only up to the style which of these features are accentuated and how. Asking about style without a firm grasp of these things is like painting a house that has no walls yet.

Observation is key.

mx101097

Thanks for the heartful replies !
I actually don't want to argue about how anime-art is not proportional
Point is, I want to approach 3D from 2D.

Spearhafoc

I know from my own experience that style can be a crutch. I used to use the fact that I was working in a comic book style as an excuse to not bother learning basics of anatomy and so on. Like Lamb was saying, good stylized artists know how these things work inside out and can therefore stylize their art with a solid knowledge of how things should work. You have to know the rules before you break them.

This is something I basically recommend to anyone who wants to work with the figure: go to life drawing sessions. If there aren't any available where you are, get a friend to pose clothed for you. You have no idea how much looking at real human bodies up close will improve your art.

slosh

Not gonna get into critiquing your proportions and anatomy cuz it's been addressed but just thought I'd comment that your 3 "different" styles look the same to me.

DanglinBob

I'm not really great at this whole "art thing" - I'm more in the business of games, so I cant tell you exactly what bothers me, but I can at least see some oddities that do.

In Imminent End the angle of that foreground hand doesn't seem... possible. Like her arm is bending at a weird angle.

The face in the first picture also bothers me. Not sure why, something is wrong there.

I'll also mirror the fact that these styles are really only slightly difference. though if I had to say which looked best it is The Cold Day.

lotet

Just want to clarify that what i ment with perspective is mainly focused on your backgrounds. But also as chrilley mentioned. The flatness of the bodies.

Also i didnt even notice the illustrations where suposed to be different styles untill slosh mentioned it. Dosnt matter that much though, focus on getting better, not what sttle your doing it in

mx101097

I did draw a picture prior to the posting of this thread and with replies from you guys, I did put some details. This time I want to focus on getting the details right.
http://fav.me/d8zw2p6
What are your thoughts?

BagelHero

You don't need to focus on your details. You need to focus on your fundamental building blocks of your images.

This doesn't seem like what you want to hear (and it never was for me, either), but you need to know the rules before you break them. Anime styles have rules, too, actually, and you won't know the basis of those until you understand that they're based on real life things.
Your details and rendering are good. But your understanding of anatomy, color theory, perspective, how proportion affects the overall design, composition, gesture, etc are the things that are letting your images down.

I don't have the time at current to do an entire write up specific to your work. However, if you feel so inclined, here's some really good reading for improving your understandings on your own.
http://androidarts.com/art_tut.htm
http://www.ctrlpaint.com/
https://www.anatomy4sculptors.com/anatomy.php (the "block out" and "secrets" tabs are the coolest part here; don't get caught up because these aren't the proportions you want to use)
http://www.floobynooby.com/pdfs/gesturedrawingforanimation.pdf + [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Drawn-Life-Classes-Stanchfield-Lectures/dp/0240810961"]Drawn to Life: 20 Golden Years of Disney Master Classes: Volume 1: The Walt Stanchfield Lectures: Walt Stanchfield, Don Hahn: 9780240810966: Amazon.com: Books[/ame]

You may notice that I've linked resources for concept painting, drawing/painting in general, Disney-style animation, Sculpture, among others... style and medium is not as important as the whys and hows of art. The whys and hows come first, always, and style will come naturally and rely on the kind of art you love and are influenced by. It's fluid and develops over time.

Once you get the fundamental understandings down to a decent level, then and only then will you be able to create artwork that looks and feels professional and high quality that you can use in games or for wallpapers, etc. Good luck, I hope this can help at all.

mx101097

BagelHero, thanks for replying. I read the links you replied
I wanted to try to apply what I learned from the links you sent
What are your thought?

I haven't applied Focus Point, will apply after I draw my character

lotet

you can and should post your images directly into the thread, makes it easier for everyone, plus you get more comments when the images are directly viewable.

do like this --->