Character Design/Concept Feedback

[nash004 16]

Note: The character busts that are posted here could be used by anyone, for reference or for your game, just don't forget to credit me.

The image above is a GIF. 

 

**Updates

Wow. It has been a while since I last posted. Well, a lot has happened... Serious stuff. I can't work on art for months, but I did try to work on the story of my game. And now, I'm working on the battle sprites. So.. yeah. This is my first time trying to do a battle sprite from scratch. (First frame of the idle pose) This isn't done yet, though. But once I'm finished with this, every other pose will follow. Comments are appreciated.

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Edit: Did I mention that I hate the boots? And that I suck at color palettes? :I

 

Comments please?

 

 

 

Library of Finished Works

 

 

Character 1 **final version (Thanks Archeia!)

 

 

Just look at how shading plays a large role with a character's appeal. I wish I could keep this up with the other characters. 

 

 

 

 

 

Progress Database

 

 

Progress Update for Character 1 (Still unnamed, but definitely not the main hero/heroine)

Okay.. So I've been working on some character designs and its facesets for quite some time now.. And I'm stumped on the costumes. Before I move on to the next, I need some help with this dude over here...

​

 

 

 

This guy's a village soldier that would be joining the hero/heroine at the start of my game.. I know he lacks heavy armoring, but I don't like to make overly complicated character costumes as I'm VERY bad at clothing.. heavy armors/helmets in particular. I just made do with him having a chain vest or something inside his uniform.

I'd like some input regarding:

 

  - what else should he have? (Minus the helmet.. I might add those later or not.)

  - the faceset's normal eyes seem off to me.. And I'm stumped on how to fix it.

  - does the hair... look okay? If not, some tips to make it better, please? :/

 

Thanks in advance for the help!

 

**Update

After a bit of fiddling and rotating/moving, it seems like I got the eyes problem fixed. Also edited minor details on the left eye, but did more improvement in the right, as you can see..

 

 

Of course, I also have to edit the overly long eyelashes he has previously..

 

 

This makes the eye sit more comfortably on his right face now, and there seem to be nothing devastatingly out of place in his face, I think. But if there's still something, please do point it out for me.

 

**Update

Some expression/s that I came up with using multiple presets I made.. These individual parts took me a long time to organize/make, and I was hoping I could do at least 10 followers/supporting characters(minus the hero/heroine and the villains, subtracting at least 4 from that).. I may have to cut that down to 6 or so. :/

Will also be posting the final bust shot of this character here.

 

 

    

  - Embarrassed                                                                    - Angry

 

Embarrassed emotion seem quite out of character for this guy.. With the presets, there were so many combinations that it's hard to choose which.

Mind that these are not final, though.

 

Speaking of character.. I will post his personality in here once I'm done with him.

 

 

 

 

**Update 6/17/2014

It has been a while. My life has gone wackos and all..... Sadly, I couldn't really improve this guy's design much. I know this isn't a good thing to do but.... I grabbed an image of a character bust, and traced over the guy's costume. I did color it from the ground up, though. But I guess it's still a bad thing. 

 

As compensation, I'll be allowing these to be used. But please do give credit.

 

 

 

to those curious.. here's where I copied it from:

 

 

 

**Update 6/19/2014

Toned down the highlight for a temp fix. I won't be improving his hair color anytime soon..

anddd.. Yay. Topless vers. For gag/embarrassing scenes. This will become mandatory for every PC character.

 

Not the nicest work of a topless... man. But yeah. Traced it again. I think I'll stick to tracing things until I eased into shading/anatomy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Character/Concept Designs Sketches (Please do critic these too.) **new 

 

 

The cat/bunny thing, I will call NEBBI. (Ne from Neko, bbi from Rabbit. Not too creative, amirite? If you could suggest catchier names... Please do.) They're more cat than rabbit, though. The fat ones are usually merchants(you will see them in towns, running their business) or officials or mayors while those skinny ones are usually more of guards for the fat ones or bandits or farmers usually those who do the dirty work. There may be more variety but.. I think I'll be going through that once everything is fleshed out. The human character below the skinny one is.. I don't know yet, but maybe I'll use it as some sort of transformation of the one above it.

 

The monster with a leaf on its head thing, I'll call SEITREE. (Sei from seirei, tree from, well, tree. Again, if you have better ideas, post that here!) There will be more variants of these. Basically, they're the spirit of the trees(duh) or something.

 

 

Character 2 concept design. I think I'll be using this as my base. (Left one being the portrait that appears in the messages) Kind of off, his chest mass. I'll fix it before lining it with a ball point pen. He's gonna be more of a tanker. Paladin? I dunno. I sort of have an idea of having a no-battle game where you just decide on things until the ending. Visual novel style? I really need to do the main character, now.. Along with the female cast.

 

Mock-up title screen graphic:

The katakana there was supposed to be removed.. But I forgot. And I'm too lazy to re-export the thing from Illustrator. I already wasted enough time trying to make a custom font. Also, don't mind the white things around the girl's eyelashes. It was both on purpose and not on purpose. I was supposed to use a silhouette with the white eyelashes, but I kind of changed my mind.... Bleh. Anyway, I think the G in the Legends is quite... off. I hope no one deems every letter like that though.. lol.

 

Anyway... The girl isn't really the protag. Nor would she be a PC. I'll just say she's important to the PC. No. Not a love interest. At least not outside the border of a fam--

Oops. Almost said too much. Oh, who am I kidding. Who reads this anyway??? Hahahahahaha.

 

Final(?) Title Screen:

 

I'll go with this for now... Any feedback/suggestion to make this look better is welcome.

 

 

 

Edited March 6, 2015 by nash004

[nash004 16]

< Criticize me!

*edited his head to have a more... normal shape.

 

lol. bump.

[Galv 1,387]

Keep in mind this critique is just initial thoughts from someone who's not very good at character art - but my first impressions are I love the shading and colours and his mouth in the first post.

One thing that stands out as odd to me is the curved black line going from the tip of his noise and up/left. Does that need to be there? Could you create the effect of shape you want with it using shading?

 

Anyway, awesome job on this. I like his outfit except for the curved toes on his boots

[nash004 16]

Thank you for the input, good sir!

 

I was quite worried about my shading, as I was having quite a tough time making it look NOT awkward. Specially the hair....

 

I wanted to copy One Piece's Robin's nose, just so I could make each of my characters quite different. But yeah.. My cousin was also quite bothered about it.

I'm gonna listen to the majority and just remove it..

 

Thank you again! I'll get back to the character design once I finish the bust shot of the others... xD

[+ Brackev 66]

There is something about the eyebrow on the right (the one further back). It seems the angle is off, more angled upwards, perspective wise.

The hair shine could be broader. Such a thin line makes the roundness look too sharp.

You could add one of those short straps with a button on the shoulder that military dress uniforms have. Speaking of buttons, how about a column of them on the front. Consider adding a military symbol or crest to it as well.

Edited January 6, 2014 by Brackev

[nash004 16]

Noted. I thought something was off with that.. And I just couldn't tell what. Thanks for pointing that out. I just had to have someone do. x_x

 

I don't know what to do about the hair... But I'll try to make it(the shine) better.

 

Costume design is just not my thing.. I always copied some character's outfit before. But I didn't on this one, so your suggestion really got me going now. Thank you!

[nash004 16]

{     I'm sorry! I swear I'll try to evolve into someone who doesn't steal costume designs! ;A;

 

Yeah. I kid you not. Please read my first post about it.   

[THEAQIB 59]

Cool bust/face..

It seems much better now from the earlier designs..

[Tsarmina 2,612]

Hehe, recognized that outfit right off the bat. It's okay though, Ralph has such a sense of style that no one can stand not copying his fashion trends...

 

Just kidding. ^-^ Doing much better now, I see! I might pop in a little highlight near (but not at) the tips of his hair, since hair tends to follow that dynamic due to the shape of one's head.

[nash004 16]

Thanks, THEAQIB. It's a shame I still can't do anything but the faces right..

 

I'm ashamed that your joke actually not far from the truth, Tsarmina.. 

 

Yeah... Hair is exactly my weakest point. Second being costume designs. With only my mouse, I can't make hair look right. ;A;

I need someone to teach me this stuff. By step. Aha.

 

I'll try to improve him more and post it again along with a sketch of another character. 

Edited June 17, 2014 by nash004

[Tsarmina 2,612]

It's amazing artwork for a mouse. Don't be discouraged! I'm impressed that you got this far with only a mouse (I bet Ralph is fairly flattered, too.)

[AJNR 156]

Looks really good to me. At a glance, it can be mistaken for actual VXA RTP. All I can say is that the highlight (or shine) of his hair is abnormal, this can be easily fixed by looking at the RTP Faces for reference.

[THEAQIB 59]

With a mouse you have dona a lot!!

I love it..

Keep it up..

You might find ways to cement your weak parts..

[nash004 16]

Thanks Tsarmina. It's not an easy task, for sure.. If I didn't have SAI...... I can't even imagine. Lol.

 

Thanks AJNR, for the input! Yeah, that's a great idea. Now, to find some good references for that.....

 

THEAQIB, yep. More training. More practice. I'll try and improve my technique.

[AJNR 156]

Just look at the Faces that have a similar hairstyle to your Protagonist. For example:

• Actor1-1
• Actor3-3
• Actor4-1
• Actor5-1
• People1-3
• People4-3

It shouldn't be hard at all for you, seeing your work, just look at how lighting is treated on the hair (contours, direction, light intensity, color, etc.). I'm just telling you stuff you already know though. Regardless, great job! 

[+ Archeia 160]

The only issue is your use of monochromatic colors for shading. Play with HSL values and up that contrast!

Quick bad edit x_X)

[nash004 16]

@Archeia

 

Thanks for the feedback! (with the example) Seriously, it may have been quite troublesome... Thanks.

 

For a quick edit... You have beaten me many times over. I think I want to hide inside a garbage can now.... But really. I should just be doing linearts for the better people out there instead, I think.   Here's my lousy attempt with the guide of your godly editing:

 

Frankly, I still think your quick edit is better.... 

 

I'm pretty much ok with the hair, unlike with my original work. Though it could still use some more tweaking from me. Sorry about the cloak. I obviously messed it up, still. I'll leave it at that for now, as I'm still having trouble shading cloth.

 

I strongly wish I had a tablet...

 

@AJNR

 

Yep. Stuff that I know... But can't apply. *sobs rivers of tears*

 

I'm a bit better coloring/shading at a piece of paper. I wish I could just color directly from my monitor. 

Definitely different techniques must be applied in here than using a mouse. Thank the heavens for SAI. I can't express how grateful I am I stumbled upon this program. 

Edited June 19, 2014 by nash004

[+ Archeia 160]

Naw that's okay! That new version is waaay better IMO

I used a mouse for the quick edit ahaha...And don't feel bad! I was a mouse user at first and I can definitely tell you that using a mouse is not so bad at all and it doesn't really matter if you have a tablet (It's just EASIER). I think you're doing a mighty fine job with the mouse :3

[nash004 16]

@Archie

 

Thanks! I like it more, too. But I still love your edit the best... 

 

With that, I shall call you master. For also using a mouse, and for teaching me a lot. 

 

 

Now off to sketching more characters.. 

[Mr. Faux 6]

I like them, but idk why I think his right eye is a bit too high. it might just be my imagination.

[nash004 16]

I actually think its a bit low.. Or did you mean the right eye from HIS perspective? I guess it does seem to need a bit of adjustment.. Lemme see how it works out. Thanks for the feedback! And bump~

 

Added content/s

 

Updated to make original post more presentable.

Edited October 2, 2014 by nash004

[nash004 16]

Disregard the sketch, but can anyone critic the title screen? At least which looks better? How about the color?

 

bump

[+ Brackev 66]

I like the first one with the watercolor leaves around the text.  It works well.  The colors make the game look elegant.

[nash004 16]

I was thinking it was still kind of plain. But I guess simple is the way to go. I'll go around with that for now until someone else suggest further improvements that I think would be fitting to my style.

 

Thanks for the feedback!

[nash004 16]

Wow. It has been a while since I last posted. Well, a lot has happened... Serious stuff. I can't work on art for months, but I did try to work on the story of my game. And now, I'm working on the battle sprites. So.. yeah. This is my first time trying to do a battle sprite from scratch. (First frame of the idle pose) This isn't done yet, though. But once I'm finished with this, every other pose will follow. Comments are appreciated.

 

Edit: Did I mention that I hate the boots? And that I suck at color palettes? :I

Edited March 4, 2015 by nash004