/ic/ - Artwork/Critique

>>4635544
wtf
discord god

anything to help improve this would be lovely.

>>4635550
Make him white, then delete this generic piece of garbage

>>4635550
reminds me of alundra

>>4635557
what makes it so generic?

>>4635562
Do you really need to ask? The guy is basically discount Link. Is le ebin elf with sword the best idea you could came yo with? Really?

Don Bluth had a superior character design compared to Diznay

>>4635569
Animators hated him for that, and not really superior but more detailed, which for animation purpose is not a good thing

>>4635550
We'd need to know more about him and his setting to tell you, since character design ties directly into both of those things.
But right off the bat I can tell you he looks way too generic. Literally just a regular t-shirt with nothing distinctive on it, some... Pants, generic shoes... Sword also looks pretty regular, too regular. The waist sash and that piece of cloth are a good idea but need that extra pizzazz to 'em, just like everything else. You should give him at the very least one piece of equipment that makes him "him", you dig?

>>4635592
>>4635550
As it stands his current design tells us nothing about him, except he's a swordsman and maybe a wonderer (for that cape, which in ye days of olde would be used by pastors for instance to rest on/in)

>>4635550

There's too many folds on the pants. Make it more streamline.

His right foot (left from our pov) is facing too much on the side. Make it face towards us a bit more.

His right leg should be shorter than the other leg.

Too many folds on the cape again. I suggest you practice drawing drapery.

The cloth on the pommel doesn't looks like it's flowing. The shape language makes it look stiff.

The sword design is okay, but I think the sword would look better with a longer handle and try to make it more narrow.

Your gesture looks good, which means you're not going to have any trouble correcting your mistakes. Just do more drapery studies and you'll be good.

>>4635557
cope

>>4635550
Why am I supposed to care about this character? What is supposed to interest me?

>>4635592
>>4635595
>>4636109
Now this is what I'm talking about. Good points anons.

>>4635580
I think the secret of great character is minimal details and being able to express a character simultaneously. Look what studio trigger does. They are a far cry from how much detail anime used to have and it has more soul for it

>>4635550
I’ll just zero in on one thing:
There is zero reason whatsoever to not give him a more interesting sword. Does his sword matter to his past or character? Yes? Then it should be more interesting and memorable. No? Then is it the standard sword of the local army? Then it should be more interesting and memorable. Is he holding it for once scene and never uses it again? Then it should be more interacting and memorable. Is it just an image with no story? Then it should be more interesting and memorable. Over-designed stuff looks like crap, but that sword has literally no design. Picture that sword in any painting, movie, animation you’ve ever seen and ask if your eyes don’t instantly glaze over it as background filler. Now take a look at this sword. It has an engraving on the blade. It has an unusual handguard, it has a large and (fairly) intricate pommel. It has an odd blade shape, and its flat sides communicate that heightened artistry must have been used to make it. It’s recognizable and visually states it’s position as a sword of royalty through its color and complexity, all without over-designing anything.

>>4636542
>soul
Stop using this dumb and meaningless buzzword.
Your example is fine because it's a nice design, it's not necessarily because of how simple it is.

On the contrary, you have characters like Griffith who aren't "simple" by any means. Or you can compare Galo and Lio of Promare, from the same studio, with one being more complex than his counterpart yet still is an effective design.
>...how much detail anime used to have
You don't watch a lot of older anime, do you? In comparison to what exactly??

>>4636553
This.

I would also say subtle things to a character give lots of insight to them as characters. Think of a drawing where Frodo has the ring around his necklace. There would be a story to tell there just by looking

>>4635544
Anyone got any good resources/video/book suggestions on shape design and color psychology for character design?

I've already looked through:
>The skillful huntsman
>Ctrl+paint course on designing characters and vehicles
>21 draw book on character design
>3D Total books on character design

It still isn't really clicking with me. Explainations are overly simple or they skip over shit, or at worst it's just a painting demo on a pre-determined design.

>>4636555
Based trips of truth shitting on animefags

>>4636901
I'd study Brad Birds characters. They seem to always capture a perfect shape and offer a color scheme that lets you know what characters are all about. Look at the incredibles. The shape of mr. Incredible let's us know his loser while his design also invokes comfort and security. Color wise, it's a long road and there isn't one route. Hell, ppl spend loads of their time coming to terms with color theory. Think Simpson's, why it works despite using saturated colors for their characters and backgrounds. Think the Problem Solverz from cartoon network and see how saturation can also look fucking awful.

>>4637466
>>4636555
Anime used to have tons of detail compared to what we have nowadays look at cowboy bebop, ghost in the shell SAC, and neon gensis, he'll even Trigun.

The future is gonna be that cgi shit ontop of everything.

>>4635544
Fuck off with the discord shit. This is a discussion board, not just somewhere to advertise your club.

>>4635564
And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why you should never expect relevant criticism from /ic/.

>>4638603
>Anime used to have tons of detail compared to what we have nowadays look at cowboy bebop, ghost in the shell SAC, and neon gensis, he'll even Trigun.
Ah I see, you've literally never even looked at the names you dropped.
They're just as simplified as modern day designs, if not moreso.

>>4638603
>Anime used to have tons of detail compared to what we have nowadays....
This is a screen-cap from a show that's airing this year
You're also cherrypicking older anime, because there's plenty that aren't particularly detailed at all. Of course you're gonna choose the stuff with a higher budget (actually can't remember how Trigun was like, and Evangelion shat itself at one point budget-wise)

>>4636553
based weapons anon

>>4635544
>discord
dilate, nigger.

>>4635550
>sizes are off, both shoes are for the left foot, etc
How is that you faggots can't see that and ask for critique? Are seriously that blind or it is a form of attention whoring?

>>4638605
>criticism I don't like: Bad
Back to the gaschamber, tranny weebshit

>>4638745
How would you improve the design?

>>4638605
That was perfectly relevant criticism. The character has absolutely nothing going on. Hell, being an elf somehow makes it even MORE generic

>>4638793
Mate if the guy's asking for criticism it's pretty safe to assume he's aware it's boring. Just calling it shit helps nobody.

>>4635544
Fuck character design, this is a meaningless study for people who are severely autistic. I fuckingbhate you faggots who hyper focus on doing shit that's basically industry approved garbage because you grew up trying to suck the cock of moronic who took a college class and think they know everything.

Nobody gives a shit if things are identifiable, not every artist, nor every piece of art in the world is looking to do your sanitized bullshit. People can just make anything appealing, they don't need to focus on the stupidest and smallest details nobody but them will care about.

If you want a good application of your shitty buzzword hipster garbage, the soul comes from the passion, not from doing things """" correct"""". Kill yourself

>>4638752
put meaning in it
aren't artists supposed to be naturally good at putting meaning in their works?

>>4635550
The elf ears, sword, tunic(?) and robe indicates a medieval fantasy character, but the rest of the clothing and especially shoes indicates something more modern. Doesn't really convey the setting or purpose of the character too well.
I'd also add a bit of detail in it, like a white trim on the robe or something. It's a bit plain, including the sword (which people have pointed out.)
>>4638836
quit bein mad

>>4638683
>>4638836
Why does character design have to get you guys so riled? Literally saying that "IT'S MUH STYLE" won't actually make your art better.

Stephen Silver's book is pretty good at what the industry "wants" that doesn't make it bad, it gives art meaning.

IC is worst than Tumblr sometimes, you faggots often reject being educated over feeling validated. If you guys can't even convey the basics of designing a character, then you will always live as a ngmi.

>>4638650
Don’t ever get me started on guns, unless you want an actual college thesis worth of opinions

>>4638874
What with this non sequitur?
I don't care about character design, the drawing is shitty and it is glaringly obvious. That's all.

>>4638880
giv pdf plox

>>4635648
>anon asks for design critique
>gets critique on anatomy/fundamentals instead

>>4638994
your drawing is bad anon, let it go

>>4638880
>Pic
>1: Good
>2: Good
>3: Better
>4: Ruined it
Prime example of refining your art too much.

>>4638893
Get started on guns let's go teach me senpai

>>4639002
I'm fairly certain whoever drew that character can't be a frogposter

>>4638893
I remember firing one of those in the military, they'd lock up every minute and you had to pull the shit out of the lever to fix it

>>4639057
Most 249s are pretty great unless they’ve been shot to shit and the same barrels have been reused for too long. The closest thing to a flaw in their design (besides their weight by modern standards) is that heavy wear on the action causes the bolt to start acting a little funny, but more importantly, the military tends to overlube them to sort it out, which leads to excessive dust in the already pretty open trigger housing and action, which leads to sand and stuff inside the gun shredding the metal parts when you fire. No one’s bothered replacing them because the concept of a SAW is pretty outdated anyways, expect 416/M27 type guns as replacements, the ruskies got it right with the RPK.
>>4639051
What do you want to know? It’s an ocean of information, and you just asked me to “meet you at the beach”. You want the basic classifications most small arms fall under? More artistically relevant stuff like what’s most used? I can’t answer everything, but I can answer most things.

>>4639493
Speaking of guns, Peek character design is the nigga with an actual gun for a head

>>4639493
Not a gun question but your post suddenly reminds me of a detailed guide for drawing guns for artists I've seen years ago. It was basically an anatomy guide for guns. It was written by some guy from some obscure art forum, but I've lost it. Do you know about it?

>>4639787
Not him but I have an image of something like that, it was the first thing I thought of when I read his post as well, lol. Hope this is it, or at least, that it helps out even if it isn't

>>4639791
That's not it, but thanks

>>4639787
nvm, found it buried deep in my notes:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/11qza530DWVQy6iWvjQcD7tuVSxDtHD79kjqtTtPLBYs/edit?usp=sharing
I don't even remember how I found this

>>4636553
you have been playing too much final fantasy shit. Sometimes a sword can just be a sword

>>4639834
But why? Interesting character design tends not to fall under “most normal and practical elements possible”

>>4635550
I think the design is fine, you just need to learn to draw better. From what I see in this pic there is plenty of story hints such as his thumb ring and earing, it suggests that he cares about gold or how he looks. It is even more interesting that he would have a banged up sword, so there is a contradiction there which says there is more to him than just caring about gold.

I think people in this thread watch too much animeshit and expect every character to have rainbow bangs and belts everywhere.

>>4639852
it actually always falls under that. The best designs are the ones that are practical. Function over form

>>4639811
Skimmed through the guide, it’s pretty good, it puts some techniques in “incorrect” that were considered valid in ye olden days, which could be a little confusing, and doesn’t mention some important things like how most basic actions work that you might want to know for design purposes but all in all pretty decent.

>>4639862
Is this a character design thread or an actual “design a real life sword for me to fight in sword battles with” thread? If we want a form over function design give him an AR instead of a sword, and some Kevlar plates, problem solved

>>4635544
Does anyone know how much time a client would give you for a pro-level character design? Any links to pros talking about this stuff?
I want an idea of how long I should spend on my personal projects, but I can't find anything useful

>>4639878
lol your idea of form over function is merc wip? that just makes you look retarded

>>4639888
Show me the universe where a gun doesn’t beat a sword in a fight

>>4640009
the ones where guns don't exist yet

>>4638625
That looks like shit, it' just the same character with different hair

>>4639880
Freelance work can be a volatile line of work from what I hear from friends. Not that have ever been approached by big names like Disney. Most character designs to be the protagonist in a series are usually done by the person who creates the series itself. Though kid shows makes sense since those are always fucking corporate

>>4640009
Sci fi has a few options, for one, shooting a gun inside a space capsule type environment is generally not a great idea. Personal shields could also work, wether that be drone point defense or something like a red shifting barrier for lasers.

>>4640766
What about laser guns?

>>4638603
>>4640009
Warhammer - everybody is so heavily armored you need a promethium powered can opener to even start hurting them

Evangelion - everybody has a forcefield

The matrix/half of the anime/metal gear rising - everybody runs faster than bullets

Vampires, the witcher and shit that needs silver bullets.

18th century - you have three flintlock muzzle loaders, miss tho shots third one fizzles then it's yar harr harr

Why do you people never design within an environment, or characters in an acting situation? Characters don't exist in a bubble. A lot of people seem to think of character design like playing doll on a T-pose. Just make them act. A character like >>4635550 can be perfect good. Actually I think character design is a meme, you should be able to convey character by posing and acting alone.

>>4643695
That's what the fucking writer does.

>>4643699
>Not being your own writer.

>>4643699
That doesn't make any sense. You cannot think of a character actually acting?

>>4643704
The writer tells you what the environment is and who the character is, you don't need to design that.

>>4643705
So your job is to only draw the character blankly looking at the camera holding a sign saying "I have a troubled past and I'm full of rage" or whatever the writer tells you he is and the backdrop is just white paper with textual placeholders like
>there's a big old tree here
>a gothic stronghold
>overgrown bones of soldiers implying there was a battle here
?

>>4643695
there's a difference between a character design and an illustration, anon
a lot of beginning and intermediate artists don't bother to know this and will just copy what pros post online, which are mostly character designs for the pipeline. but they're not wrong to call them character designs. what you're asking for is an illustration, which you rarely see pros in the viz-dev/concept industry do, because animators and 3d modeler have no use for something like >>4640766 where you can't see the full body of this character with details.

>>4643748
Character designs for the pipeline are usually terrible for this exact reason, artists focus on creating epic exciting shapes when character are nothing about shapes and accessories. If you start with acting the rest of the design is much more natural.
It doesn't have to be an illustration, you can convey this in a sketch just as well.

>>4643768
character designs aren't really meant for the public to see. they're boring because they're only to serve the purpose of informing other artists what a character looks like. what you've posted is the kind of illustration that would come after.

i do agree that a lot of things have become generic over the years, but the entertainment is a for-profit industry. game, animation, and movie studios like to bet on a sure thing. some games have multi-million dollar budgets, they're not going to "waste time" with gesture drawings when they know what shapes, colors, etc. gamers respond to most and which ones they complain about. even disney, once famous for their "from life" approach, has moved into this streamlined process too.

what ever happened to western character design? we used to have based Tex Avery and Chuck Jones.

I think those fucking hacks Hanna-Barbera ruined the way companies make designs. Now we have CAL arts shit fucking everywhere. Who will save us /ic/?

>>4639811
very nice, thanks for sharing