Matt's Art (p34: Hey, I finished something!)

[Demonfyre]

I think you could raise the eyebrow over the right eye slightly, other than that it looks great Such an awesome character design

[Matt]

@JJJorgie - I shoulda seen that. Thanks.
@Ged - Kay.
@Demonfyre - Oh, I can do better than that. Like this:


Oh, and some sketches of faces:


Quick question: when I scan an image into Photoshop, my scanner will do its thing, but then Photoshop will sit there for about three minutes before finally displaying my picture. Anyone have any idea how to fix it? Already defragged and did a registry clean-up.

[Demonfyre]

Oh wow, that first image looks great! You have drawn the eyes wonderfully All I can really suggest is on the left character the shading around her breasts looks a bit odd imo, I think it's due to the way you blurred it but I'm no expert so I couldn't say for sure. Those head sketches also look great

For your question, I have no idea as I'm very new to photoshop unfortunately :/

[Matt]

When I went to scan this upcoming image, those heads from a month ago were still in my scanner. I think I'll be drawing a lot more in the coming days, though. I only stopped drawing for a long time because I compared myself to people who were far more experienced than me, and now that I don't do that anymore, I can draw again. It's awesome how that works.

Pretty much my brainstorming process:

Text on right side, since it got cut off:

Maybe remove magic altogether . . . how important is it to the story?
Should she lose this fight? Well, yeah. She's crippled. She'd have avoided the fight to begin with.
Magic can stay. It's vital for a few elements, after all.
Wait. She can't avoid the guard. That means she'd die. Ah . . . let's redo this scene.
-
If she's got PTSD, but no one's studied it or named it, Miola has to do therapy without knowing she's doing therapy.
No . . . it's better to let the tension grow between them. Then the plot can be more personal and less violent.

[Regantor]

I have no idea how to fix that photoshop problem, but then again, I always just scan right onto the HD and open it in photoshop later anyways...

Also, I dunno if it's your slightly looser style, but the flavor of that page seemed really engaging... Like it could have been a detective graphic novel or something. It's interesting to see how your train of thought goes, anyway.

[BunnyVoid]

wow matt, your brainstorming process is really detailed. Its inspiring
hope to see more of this. The dialogue reminds me of the manga Bakuman. They're like plotting how to continue the fantasy story. Its very engaging.

[Matt]

@Reg - I should do a detective thing sometime. I do have one started. I'll post it sometime.

@Bunnyvoid - They're doing a fantasy story in Bakuman? Nice. I should probably read past the first volume sometime. Anyway, my thoughts are a bit more scattered than it looks in that page. I'll bounce between things like how the heroines survive fights despite one being too crippled to run or swing a sword, the main continent's political structure and how tensions don't necessarily mean impending war, and how different cities handle voting, taxing, and punishment.

Good fantasy follows its own rules. Bad fantasy breaks them. I spend half my time making the rules and the other half figuring out how my characters can possibly survive with each new rule I add.

Also, here's Illyana. My style is changing and it's different, to say the least.

EDIT: Oh, wow. I've never uploaded a picture with this many JPEG artifacts in my entire life. This is madness. Never again shall I post my pictures in such a manner.

[BunnyVoid]

That sounds interesting. At least you get to jot everything down in paper. Sometimes complications like that enhance reading experience. I think it adds depth and texture to the story. Its good that what you have written is not as linear as the majority of popular literature today. Just a thought.

The style looks great. I think the hair, lips, eyes, nose, ears combination can become a trademark of yours. Its working pretty well. Color choice is very suitable to style (especially the eyes) but background may need less saturation and more "coolness" in terms of color temperature. I know this is a wip but i hope you still develop her clothes. Aside from that, I like how this style is working for you.

Even though its not related to your thread, I have to thank you for the comment you left about lineart and coloring in my thread. It helped me leap some hurdles in my art. Cheers for that.

Other than these, I have nothing else to say.

[Regantor]

She looks nice; I'm esspecially liking the hair and the overall use of colours. I'm also noticing a slight use of grey on her lower face, which is generally pretty brave for a female anime-style character, but here I think it pays off.

If I had to offer immediate critiques... Perhaps the ears look a little weird? I know that she's inhuman and all, but the positioning of the hole is telling my brain it should be slightly upwards and further back to stay freindly with her jawline. Adding a larger upper lobe, or simply moving the hole upwards, are both alternatives if you don't want to change it too much. The last thing is that her eyes could probally do with stronger eyelashes on their 'leading edge', or at least come to a point in that area.

I actually find the clothes pretty okay, alrough they could perhaps do with a fold or two and some sewn joints, I guess...

Either way, keep it up, man.

[JJJorgie]

Very nice as always I like the greyish-blue shading on the lower face, but I think you should blended it together a little more. It's kind of splotchy. Also, the far eye is shorter compared to the closer eye; they should be the same height. Hope this helps!