One Piece Fanart

[Kitt748]

Hi ! I've been following the streams on Youtube since but I've only just joined here ... Hello again :)

Anyway, so here it is. He's a character from the anime One Piece named Franky. He's half-cyborg hence the metallic nose and fist. He's got a very intimidating feel to him but deep down he's soft and goofy. He's got a naturally bulky build from the torso up, and small waist etc etc (very Johnny Bravo) but I'd say his most important feature is his exaggerated forearm where most of his weapons are concealed (it turns into a cannon, a gun, you get the idea ..) which I believe I didn't get to highlight enough ... I got confused with the lighting I chose (backlight and somewhere beneath him) and honestly, I've gone too far when I realized it and too tired to work on the image further. Yes those are three cleft chins.

Critiques and advice please :( especially on painting clothes ? and hands and metal .. and I dunno, how to work faster I guess ?

Thank you so much :)

[Amit Dutta]

Hmmm, well I confess I haven't researched the character, but I see a few things technique focused that you might want to look at. Feel free to ask for clarification as I will have to be brief:

1. Values. Not sure if it's my screen, but, I think your values have too much contrast in the range. Lots of high key value in the highlights, but then lots of very dark values in the shadow. Either use more blending between, or reduce the overall range and use the very light and very dark in small doses. A generic "rule" for values is out of 100 use 60:30:10 in proportion for light, mid and dark values. Doesn't matter which value range is given which proportion, but the idea is to create a sense of dynamic balance, which more even mixes don't always do.
2. Proportions. That far hand looks huge given its position.
3. Anatomy. The facial structure looks flat. The forms within them aren't really resolved well in 3D space. I think this is because there is no underlying consistency in showing how his skull would affect his features, especially visible in his chin and nose etc. I know the source material is anime, but you are painting this in a 3D format, so you need to either build in at least some structure that suits the rendering style or decide to go full anime.
4. Lighting. You said it. It is a bit confused. Simplest thing is to pick your light sources at the outset of painting and then render everything methodically with the light sources in mind. That's all.
5. Technical rendering. Nothing anyone can say in critique will help you learn "how to paint" specific things. And you shouldn't rely on crits to provide this kind of advice. The thing you should rely on most is reference and study. If you want to learn to paint metal, get 5 photos of metal and duplicate them. Same for cloth folds, hands, or budgies, cod pieces and anything under the sun you don't know yet. USE REFERENCE. Study them by painting! (not shouting in anger...just shouting for emphasis :) )
6. Never try to paint quicker. Try to paint better. Speed comes with practice.

Hopefully not too blunt for you, but one harsh kick in the pants is worth 3 cintiq's in the bush.

[Kitt748]

thank you for taking the time for this !

Yeah, I see what you mean about the contrast. I thought it looked okay. I didn't know there was a rule regarding it. I really have to fix that light source and render, do I ? hehe.

I couldn't quite understand what you meant about the anatomy of his facial structure ... I just have to make him more 3D right ?

Paint better. I'll remember that too ! Thanks again :)

[Gliger]

Draw skulls, lot's of 'em, there are free 3d models online or you can buy one, familiarize yourself with the eyebrow-ear and bottom of the nose-ear lines.



I changed his expression, eyes, mouth, nose, eyebrows etc. based on the way he looks in the anime, you don't need to change proportions to make it more realistic, the realism is in the rendering, you can keep the original design and still make it look good, Dave Rapoza is good at this.

This is just a quick paintover, I want to work more on it because there are other things that I didn't fix really well...
I'll talk more on in later, I need to study ;)

[Kitt748]

Regarding the proportions, I'll try and fix them :) I love how you did his nose. It looks so much better than mine.
But really I'm not trying to make a realistic/3D version of the anime .. I think I'm going for a .. more of an actual person in a Franky getup (think cosplay). Does that make sense ? So I'm sorry xD I don't mean to be rude but your paintover isn't exactly how I pictured him in my head xD or is that the problem ? Is my definition of realism different from your definition of realism ? :(

But thank you nonetheless ! I still look forward to seeing your finished paintover. Perhaps that will help me understand your point better :) Thank you !