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SketchingDragon [2017-10-02 19:26:59 +0000 UTC]

I'm from Project Comment. My critiques are meant to help you improve, so no offense nor disrespect is ever intended. 

I like the character, she's got nice soft shading, an interesting, yet not over the top outfit (that's good and so very rare!) and reasonable anatomy. Her pose seems like she's a bit high and mighty, yet contradicted in her face which seems more friendly. 

I can say that I don't like her shirt, the way it flows down makes her look like she's got a beer gut until you look more closely and see that she's not fit but not fat either. I think by reducing the amount which it hangs over her shorts would help that a lot. 

I'm conflicted about her pose because I think I'd rather like her to be looking down at her nails disinterestedly instead of looking at the viewer with her hand curled in that position, it makes it seem a bit unnatural and I think that her current pose doesn't really say 'high-roller' to me but rather 'fresh out of college'.  

I'd really like to see more of her lifestyle choices poking through (as they tend to do with gambling alcoholics ) right now she looks like someone about ready to watch some Netflix and maybe play some video games. I would have never guessed she was a bit reckless with her life, nor a world traveler and I think adding little details like that really adds volumes to a character. You don't have to go overboard just something here or there to suggest she's living a bit dangerously. 

I'm really happy with how you got the general leg anatomy right (for an anthro) with the odd curves of the legs being exactly where they should be! 

This is an... odd complaint but since her shirt is a bit see through and that she's not wearing a bra, it's a bit odd that you can't see the outline of the breasts nor any sign of nipples. This isn't intended to be perverse but rather it's something that stands out as making her seem like she's missing one breast (the left) and when the rest of her body has such definition, having it missing there really stands out. You don't need to be too graphic but just a line to suggest they're there or a little half circle if she has nipples would be needed as it would make everything more consistent. 

You got her right hand down perfectly, but her left feels like a bit of an afterthought. The middle finger is slightly longer than the rest of the fingers and the index finger is actually longer than the pointer finger but here it looks like the index finger and middle finger are the same length and her pinky finger and ring finger are stubby and short, even if she's relaxed.

I love the little cheese hair barrette, and her hair color, they just go so well together. Though I think the curled bang on her cheek makes her look a bit more chubby in the left side of her face than I imagine she is. 

Shading is pretty good overall though I'd love to see a bit of shading on her pants  

Overall, it's definitely a character design I wish more people would adopt, it's simple but complex which is hard to pull off. You did a lot of things right with this, just needs a few more tweaks to make it perfect. I hope you keep making wonderful art! 

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

MagerBlutooth [2017-10-01 18:16:17 +0000 UTC]

When looking at full-body character portraits of a brand new character, I enjoy seeing what I can glean from the character using only what the artist visually presented. The strongest characters are the ones whose personality bleeds through their design, and I like to inform an artist how successful he is on that front. Here we have an anthropomorphic bipedal mouse character with human-style hair layered on top of her normal fur like whipped cream on a frosted cupcake. All twenty of her nails have been painted and manicured, making them look both sharp and feminine. In her hair, she's wearing a clip that resembles Swiss cheese, which tells me she's either a fan of the food or showing some level of mouse pride. Her earring matches her nails in terms of being attention-grabbing, and I can easily see her either having a matching earring on the other ear or not.

Despite the character's interest in keeping up appearances, she did not seem to put too much consideration into her clothing, as she's wearing a loose-fitting, see-through black T-shirt that asymmetrically only covers up one of her shoulders. Beneath her shirt, she's wearing some tiny shorts with a little bow on the front that's mostly concealed by the shirt. Though the shorts resemble track shorts, the bow tells me she's not planning to do much running in them and is again more interested in how they look. She's also not wearing shoes, which tells me she's really interested in keeping those nails fresh and on display. This blending of casual clothing with eye-catching decals tells me that Aria is the type of character to dress up for herself rather than to impress others. She very clearly appreciates having clean and fashionable nails, perhaps to distinguish herself from the dirty rats out there who don't even bother to keep their nails free of grime. She also appears to like the color pink, possibly since her eyes, ears and tail are all pink, though she looks to prefer a different hue for her clothes and nails. 

There isn't much I can read from this character via her pose and expression. Her right front claw has her fingers cupped inward as if they are still drying, once again showing that she has an interest in keeping them pristine. Her other claw is resting at her side but still shows off those nails. Other than her arms, the rest of her body is rather static, making her look a little like a statue, and it's not helped by her expression, which is about as basic as it gets for a character: A simple nonthreatening smile to inform the viewer she's approachable if nothing else. If you're looking to improve on the amount of character you'd like to convey in Aria, my suggestion would be to work on a stronger pose and expression. Every character pose has something called a line of action, which is the invisible line that runs from a character's top to their bottom, following the body all the way through. Aria's line of action here is almost perfectly straight, which is the most uninteresting line of action possible. Take a look at the following pose and note how you'd draw a line from the head to the feet if you followed the flow of the body. You'd have to draw at least two curves to pull it off, and the picture is much stronger for it.



When it comes to making an interesting expression, it depends on how realistic or cartoony you'd like to make it. For more realistic expressions, I find the best way to get interesting ones to be to model yourself making them in a mirror and use them as references. With cartoony expressions, you get those strong looks by pushing the face to extremes, well beyond what a realistic face is capable of making, particularly with the eyes and mouth.



Finding somewhere in between the realistic and the cartoony is how you arrive at your particular style. The more you experiment, the better you can learn what you like and don't like. All that being said, for a simple "character introduction" piece like this, having a more mundane expression can still be very effective. What's important then is that the expression you use is still evocative of the character's personality. If they're a confident character, they should look confident. If they're meek, they should look meek. How you choose to emphasize that personality through expression and body language will determine how well the viewer can read your character.

Another thing you can use to add a little more personality in a character intro piece would be props. Aria is already a music-themed name. If Aria were holding a microphone or musical instrument here, then I as the viewer would immediately know at least two more things without any further explanation required: She sings/plays a musical instrument and she enjoys singing/playing that musical instrument (since she's smiling while holding it). Since it's a character intro piece, I would also internalize that music is a major part of her character, and adding more subtle detail from there can help me read into her further. For instance, if she's limply holding the microphone with the tips of only two of her fingers, I could see it as her trying to avoid touching it with her nails, showing that she prioritizes keeping her fingernails pristine over having a firm grip on the microphone. Knowing your characters well can help you convey these small details in your pose. 

As far as the more technical aspects go, I like your linework. I think you do a good job varying up the line width and making confident strokes. Your lines are even pretty loose, which does a great job in helping the character feel less rigid given how stiff the pose is. In this sense, I think you've learned to "run" artistically, which means you can go anywhere from here. I'd recommend working on your posing and trying to add a little more personality into your character. Even without changing anything about the design, the right pose and expression can draw out that personality to resonate with the viewer. Take a look at how I've been able to draw character out of a rather simplistic design just by strengthening the pose and expression with a few occasional props:

D4  
D23
D39
D14
D28
D40.1

I hope you continue to grow as an artist and improve upon your character. Make the most!

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👍: 0 ⏩: 2

EduartBoudewijn [2017-10-01 13:17:04 +0000 UTC]

For ProjectComment  

Anthro images are always interesting to look at; many different artists have different ways to combine the human and animal features and anatomy. Your linework is nice to look at and to colors you've chosen work nicely as well. Honestly I think it'd be more interesting to have her clothes be slightly more contrasting to her fur color; at the moment there's a possibility of them merging together a bit in the viewer's eye. 

The first thing that I thought about while looking at this image was that she looks quite young to me, around 12 years old, though upon closer inspection I did notice that her breasts as well as your description of her as a "high-rolling gambler" make her seem a bit more like at least a teenager or a (young) adult. The reasons I thought she was as young is mostly due to her very large eyes and her large head compared to her body. Measuring roughly I'd say she's about 4-4,5 heads tall. This would be quite short for a regular human. Of course it's possible that you've chosen for a larger head style, but if this wasn't a deliberate stylistic choice I think there's gain to be had to at least give it a bit more thought. 

I like the little detail of her hair clip being in the shape/color of cheese. I also like how you drew her feet as a bit more animalistic, while still obviously being suited for walking on two feet. The red nail polish on both her fingernails as her toenails is also a nice touch. 

I think her tail is a bit whispy and thin. Especially as it moves closer to her body I think it should be a bit thicker. Also in general mice don't have as much control over their tail to lift it upwards as high as Aria's doing here. Of course this is open to artistic interpretation, but personally I think making the tail a bit thicker and having it just hang slightly towards the ground would work well as it is a bit closer to actual mice. 

I like the fur color change you did for the feet, where the fur color gives way to a pinker skin color. I think it would work very well if you did the same with her hands. I also think her hands are a bit large and bulky for a mouse; having the hands and the fingers being a bit more delicate could convey her species even more clearly. 

I hope you found some helpful advice in this critique; for a first full body shot of your character this definitely isn't a bad piece of art; I like the look. I hope in future as you become more experienced you'll be more confident in drawing more action oriented poses, but for now this works quite well to display your character. Keep on practicing!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1