Third time's the charm-- New shading style

[Seph]

I'm not sure the lot of you knew my art style all that well, but I've been experimenting.

MALICHEX - Posted July 31, 2006
Recently getting to the last world in Kingdom Hearts 2, I've decided I really like the way Nobodies look. Their entire style is just so weird, yet so attractive--no, no, I'm not going to write Nobody slash, it's the OTHER kind of attractive =P

So, I took my real life self, and turned it into a Nobody, testing out a new shading technique for me:


I like how he fits the board's colour scheme. Anyhow, a few things: The whole 'dark on one side' thing is because the right side of my body is like some kind of weird bane. And I do indeed have a ponytail, something I'm very proud of after all my life at a private school. And lastly, there is no logic to the zipper. =D


GOBLIN - Posted July 26, 2006
It's a goblin! A little rascal, for sure. This is another style, different than the earlier one below. This time I stick more to what I know, but still try different things. As you'll notice from some spots (namely the ears), I have a slightly quivering hand when it's not pressed hard against the tablet. That's why most of my drawings are so sketchy-- because that's what I'm best at ;P

Without further ado:
Click to see

UNTITLED MAN - Posted - I forgot.
From my deviantArt:
"This is an entirely new art style from me. I opened Photoshop, and I asked myself "How can I make something totally unlike anything I've made before?" I never actually answered the question-- instead I just started drawing an outline, then coloring it in, then defining it more, then discarding the outline altogether. The result is something that exudes a weird feeling; I like it, but I don't think I'll stick with it for long.

Yes, the lips are odd. Deal with it =P"

Image here

As usual -- Comments, critism, etc?

[Kulock]

His right eyelid wishes to escape his face.

There's some interesting things about this (I actually don't think the lips are much of a problem), but lots of little things have problems, like the length/curve of the neck, the size and lack of detail of the ears, the hair seemingly dipping into his skull... I don't want to be a downer about it, because it's interesting (and the hair coloring is nice), just trying to say what I can.

[J]

For some reason, I'm reminded of Anthony from RHCP...

[Seph]

kulock said:

His right eyelid wishes to escape his face.

There's some interesting things about this (I actually don't think the lips are much of a problem), but lots of little things have problems, like the length/curve of the neck, the size and lack of detail of the ears, the hair seemingly dipping into his skull... I don't want to be a downer about it, because it's interesting (and the hair coloring is nice), just trying to say what I can.

Pfft, I asked for critism, and you gave it. Don't feel bad.

The only thing I don't understand is the 'dipping into his skull' line... what exactly does that mean?

Anyhow, thanks for the comments!

[Kulock]

The hair doesn't quite have enough depth, so it looks very thin, but you can't see under it on the upcurves, either. So it has the slight effect of making the "V" middle look like it's dipping into the skull.

Sorry, it's not easy to explain.

[Chris]

I'm not for it personally.

Looks like a scary background painting on an old episode of The New Scooby-Doo Movies.

[Merry Smindmas]

Yeah, sorry, I'd be lying if I said I was keen on this style. The guy looks extremely ogreish, partially due to the bulging eyelids and the lack of eyebrows, and the hair just looks a bit... flat and odd. Not to say that there's no potential or anything there, its still quite well done and you'd get better with practice of the style but I much prefer your normal style

[Seph]

Hehe, yeah, he does look funny, regardless of how you look at it. I'll probably ditch this style, but it's all in an effort of experimentation. Thanks for the thoughts, guys!

[Seph]

Obligatory bump-- new art piece! See the first post for the edit, or if you're too lazy:

GOBLIN - Posted July 26, 2006
It's a goblin! A little rascal, for sure. This is another style, different than the earlier one below. This time I stick more to what I know, but still try different things. As you'll notice from some spots (namely the ears), I have a slightly quivering hand when it's not pressed hard against the tablet. That's why most of my drawings are so sketchy-- because that's what I'm best at ;P

Without further ado:

[Kulock]

HIS RIGHT EYELID ESCAPED HIS FACE!! And took most of the rest with it, it seems.

Actually, I like that far more. It's a liiiiittle generic/been done, but it's still quite likeable. And I really like the "meat" you gave to his fingers, those in particular look like they exist in 3 dimensional space.

Nice color choices, too.

[dead]

Nifty

[Seph]

Sorry for being so late on commenting back, Ku; was waiting for more possibly, but that didn't happen.

Anyhow, the style is a bit cliche, yes; it's unfortunate, but my theory is that if I keep at it, I will mold something influenced by the world around me into something that I can call genuinely my own. I went after that meat effect on purpose, as a test. As you can see with the Nobody above, I'm sort of keen on differentiating hands. Normal, 'real' ones are a pain, but I noticed that a lot of artists don't actually bother with that! Hm.

And thanks for the compliment on the colours. Believe it or not, that was the most agonizing thing of all, and I'm glad he came out the way he did.