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charlierayhamill [2012-01-23 20:15:28 +0000 UTC]

hi cat, i saw your message about wanting some crit for this... the first thng i see wen i look at this image is the colour, your strong with colour , and the colour is making this peice 100 times better , but the costume desighn and feel of this charecter could work better, i like his glowy chest, its sometihng ive not seen before, but i do have a thing against one shoulder pad, its very cloud from final fantacy 7, and if i think about it its so impractical hahah he is qwite fitting to the zelda world, but theres a few touches on him that make it seem generic , but this is definatly progress.

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Rynan [2012-01-21 18:40:12 +0000 UTC]

Your right. He does seem a little generic. Like Link's lazy older cousin. He works at a computer firm now, so he doesn't do much adventuring anymore.

Is he leaning forward? The anatomy is kind of wonky here. His arms seem too short compared to his legs. Also, his sword looks like it needs some weight to it. It just seems to be floating on his butt, unless that sash on his belt isn't the part that's holding it on. The hair could use some definition, like a few lines in the middle to show that it's hair.

I'm not going to lie to you, looking at that second design, I kind of miss the metal pauldron. I had a nice dynamic angle to it. I'm kind of imagining it exaggerated.

I think that with this design, you can do either two things. 1. is to go with the now and go somewhere completely different with it, so much so that it isn't even that character anymore or 2. combine more from your earlier works so it becomes a sleek amalgamation of all of your old ideas. I've done both of these combinations myself and both yield interesting results.

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Buuya [2012-01-21 14:30:54 +0000 UTC]

Ah, your character designing has made leaps and bounds man... certainly have your own distinct look and feel now. Strange, the style is 'simpler', but has a lot more character. Kudos!

I had a teacher once who kept telling me to go to the zoo and draw animals. Like, pages of life drawings of meerkats and bears and whatnot. He said to use the postures and features and expressions as an aid for designing human characters. Regardless of whether or not its animal inspiration, drawing characteristics from something else can add a bit of personality. Like, the tiniest quirks can add so much (Sylvain Chomet is really good at this! Little limps or a squinty eye or overly upright posture or something.) It doesn't matter if you're drawing a completely batshit alien species or a suburban housewife, there needs to be a bit of life breathed in.

I like this guy's mismatched face. The kinda awkward leg positioning hints at some sort of story, be in personality or injury, so play up things like that. I think all you can really do now is draw him lots and lots, until something feels right. Maybe he has an off-kilter gait that scuffs up his right boot toe, or he smiles entirely with the left side of his face and he has a pointy eyetooth, or maybe he always hunches a bit, head down, with various levels of stoic expression. There's a good base here, and you've come a long way, so keep discovering his little habits; they matter so much more than costuming choices. Anyway, things like exact proportions and physical details get fine-tuned as you discover how they move and act.

DRAW MOAR I want to see more!

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obsessedkitten [2012-01-21 12:06:44 +0000 UTC]

Okay, I'm back to give you better feedback (what I said about the colours is still true!). I do like this guy, but as blue faced icon above said, I think if you just keep drawing him more you'll 'find him'. Also, maybe playing around with exaggerating his silhuette a litte may give him some more character?

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obsessedkitten [2012-01-05 18:58:25 +0000 UTC]

Aww I love the colours!

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facesfilledwithflies [2011-12-27 10:14:09 +0000 UTC]

this sounds silly but i sympathise with the generic/lacking depth worries, I find character design weird and difficult for pretty much that reason. I really like this guy, though, personally I think you should just sketch a bunch of expressions or poses or something and you might find some character sort of jumps out of them a a bit, like he might have a distinctive smile, or frown, or just like a way he holds himself. but I'm sure you were probably gonna do something like that anyway! nice sounding story, too.

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Beruseruku [2011-12-27 08:31:56 +0000 UTC]

Well, this retake of your warrior is nice, for me it's 10.000 feet above the old designs because it's a more personal view of it. And also more pro in comparison of the others who now look a bit amateur. I think the colors are great, and the design too.
About the depth, for me he looks interesting (but maybe it's because he has one eye left. Characters with one eye are always cool and interesting for me ) and because he's not very handsome.
Maybe you could pick (and retake) the staff he holds on first version ?

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