Constructive Criticism Appreciated ♥

[NarkissArt]

Hey, I finished my first digital painting, an art commission demo depicting my roleplay character.

I would really appreciate some feedback, so I can improve in the future.


Next time I do digital artwork, from the top of my head:

>I would do a more dynamic pose with more depth and overlapping.

>I'd draw a more imaginative and dynamic background. This one was just a quickie. 
(I couldn't do it this time, I've spent way too much time on this painting and the thought of doing a detailed background makes me dizzy right now lol)

So tell me your thoughts! 

9.8.2019. EDIT:

Here's the criticism I received in a nutshell, if anyone wants to learn from my mistakes. :)

1. Don't just stick close to one reference, use many of them and add your own flair.
2. Study skin tone. The image lacks subsurface scattering.
3. Plan out the lighting ahead of time (research 3 point lighting), use both soft and hard edges.
4. Study form. Mind the way clothes look and how they drape around the figure. Don't make them look like stickers. 
5. Study perspective and be more bold with it.
6. Feel free to exaggerate the silhouette, if need be. It is too smooth on this painting, so try adding some creases and folds, maybe some wind, it will give the painting more life.
7. The cloth is too static, let it flutter and move. There should be more movement on the painting to make it more dynamic. 
8. Experiment with the background, consider adding wind, dust particles. The main point of it, in character art like this, is to complement the character.
9. To make the colors look more unified, use color grading. (Desaturate the blues slightly and add like 5% blue tint on everything.)
10. The face is a bit iffy because of the 3/4 view, but can be easily fixed next time by using more references, and, of course, studying anatomy.

Thank you all for helping!

[darktiste]

Everything is kinda flat.Because you copied to much from the reference and the reference is made up of flat texture applied on a 3d model... it hard to explain if you never saw how 3d model are made and why it make your character look so flat.Let just say that your character leak volume.Atm your asking for critic without giving us much previous work to rely on so we have no idea how far your able to push your work.In my opinion in depth critic are meaningless atm until you open up a sketchbook.

[DESQUOLOR]

Hey Narkiss, welcome to CrimsonDaggers!

Your piece looks very lovely. This is a lot better than the first piece I've ever done. You can definitely push it with some of the analysis you've already made. Definitely keep at the illustrations. The more experienced you get, the less attached you get to the final image and the bolder you become in your design decisions.

You did, as Darktiste said, stick a little too close to reference, so don't be afraid to add your own style and flare. You can do this by studying/pulling up more references for your pieces. You don't have to stick to just using one. You can use a reference for the pose, background, costume, weapon, etc. and add your own flavor to it.

Your technique does need work. The skin tone looks a bit dead because it's not incorporating subsurface scattering that occurs in stuff like the ears, nose, etc. to show the blood beneath it. I would look at skin tone tutorials or even study from life/pictures to get a better feel for it.

Your values need to be pushed. You can do this by planning out the shadows ahead of time. Don't just use soft edges too. Use hard and soft edges.

And just work on mileage. Stuff like the way drapery wraps around the figure/limbs because easier as you come to understand how to describe form.

Try to study form and perspective. And by study I mean, learn to visualize it by practicing box constructions using grids for 1p and 2p, then learn how to manipulate basic forms and do rotations of them. You need more of a mastery of the visual language to push your draftsmanship. Do these as warm ups and try to construct things from basic forms to get a feel for it. There's a ton of videos and tutorials out there on perspective and form. Moderndayjames is amazing for that.


Darktiste, your critiques are well-intentioned, but often times they do more harm than good. You're going to confuse people and/or scare them away. You're right about it looking flat, but it has more to do with the values and structure of the forms than sticking too closely to a reference. It's hard to gather what to practice to improve her piece from your post, and that's the whole point of critique. imo, you should focus more on producing more work than critiquing ppl all over the forums. you focus too much on theory and not enough on application. I get that you want to help people, but you will be much more able to do this when you have spent the time.

[chubby_cat]

To add to what everyone else said:

I think anatomy/forms and clarity would be good things to work on. I mainly say this because I have a hard time understanding what's going on with her right (our left) hand. It feels like it's supposed to be her interacting and holding the weapon, but it comes across as quite flat.

Someone here once gave me an extremely good piece of advise that I think will help you too - make sure your clothes don't look like stickers! Every part of her dress in bounded within the same counter line, meaning everything looks skin tight. There should be volume to the belt, it should feel like it's a 3d object sitting on her hips as opposed to a detail painted on her dress. Just as the fabric(?) on her arms shouldn't feel like its part of her skin, and this applies moreso to the buckles on the fabric - the buckle in 3/4 view should be extending beyond the arm, not ending when the arm does.

There's lots to learn with art, but there's a few little changes you can make to your work now to really have it progress. Keep up the great work and I look forward to seeing more from you! :)

[darktiste]

Darktiste, your critiques are well-intentioned, but often times they do more harm than good. You're going to confuse people and/or scare them away. You're right about it looking flat, but it has more to do with the values and structure of the forms than sticking too closely to a reference. It's hard to gather what to practice to improve her piece from your post, and that's the whole point of critique. imo, you should focus more on producing more work than critiquing ppl all over the forums. you focus too much on theory and not enough on application. I get that you want to help people, but you will be much more able to do this when you have spent the time.

A critic is always at risk of hurting someone growth it unavoidable if i gave the critic it because i know what i am talking about because someone actually saw i had similar issue in my own work and i believe there more benefice to sharing what the issue is than to keep it to myself since i can clearly see it similar to issue i had.It would be a disservice in my opinion in such a small community for me to not make critic.They might not all be perfect critic but i believe that both party should make there best effort to validate the information they give or receive nothing should be took in blind faith.

[NarkissArt]

Hey Narkiss, welcome to CrimsonDaggers!

Your piece looks very lovely. This is a lot better than the first piece I've ever done. You can definitely push it with some of the analysis you've already made. Definitely keep at the illustrations. The more experienced you get, the less attached you get to the final image and the bolder you become in your design decisions.

You did, as Darktiste said, stick a little too close to reference, so don't be afraid to add your own style and flare. You can  do this by studying/pulling up more references for your pieces. You don't have to stick to just using one. You can use a reference for the pose, background, costume, weapon, etc. and add your own flavor to it.

Your technique does need work. The skin tone looks a bit dead because it's not incorporating subsurface scattering that occurs in stuff like the ears, nose, etc. to show the blood beneath it. I would look at skin tone tutorials or even study from life/pictures to get a better feel for it.

Your values need to be pushed. You can do this by planning out the shadows ahead of time. Don't just use soft edges too. Use hard and soft edges.

And just work on mileage. Stuff like the way drapery wraps around the figure/limbs because easier as you come to understand how to describe form.

Try to study form and perspective. And by study I mean, learn to visualize it by practicing box constructions using grids for 1p and 2p, then learn how to manipulate basic forms and do rotations of them. You need more of a mastery of the visual language to push your draftsmanship. Do these as warm ups and try to construct things from basic forms to get a feel for it. There's a ton of videos and tutorials out there on perspective and form. Moderndayjames is amazing for that.


Darktiste, your critiques are well-intentioned, but often times they do more harm than good. You're going to confuse people and/or scare them away. You're right about it looking flat, but it has more to do with the values and structure of the forms than sticking too closely to a reference. It's hard to gather what to practice to improve her piece from your post, and that's the whole point of critique. imo, you should focus more on producing more work than critiquing ppl all over the forums. you focus too much on theory and not enough on application. I get that you want to help people, but you will be much more able to do this when you have spent the time.

Thank you so much for your criticism! It was very helpful and I wrote it all down. I'll be trying my best to incorporate what I can in my next piece, in between practicing and doing courses. :)

[NarkissArt]

To add to what everyone else said:

I think anatomy/forms and clarity would be good things to work on. I mainly say this because I have a hard time understanding what's going on with her right (our left) hand. It feels like it's supposed to be her interacting and holding the weapon, but it comes across as quite flat.

Someone here once gave me an extremely good piece of advise that I think will help you too - make sure your clothes don't look like stickers! Every part of her dress in bounded within the same counter line, meaning everything looks skin tight. There should be volume to the belt, it should feel like it's a 3d object sitting on her hips as opposed to a detail painted on her dress. Just as the fabric(?) on her arms shouldn't feel like its part of her skin, and this applies moreso to the buckles on the fabric - the buckle in 3/4 view should be extending beyond the arm, not ending when the arm does.

There's lots to learn with art, but there's a few little changes you can make to your work now to really have it progress. Keep up the great work and I look forward to seeing more from you! :)

Same as my reply above, thank you for the helpful feedback! I'll try my best. And for the chains, I did think about putting in effort for them and making them, and the belt 3D but man, after taking so long to paint this, I just wanted to move on to something else x)