critique please :3

[satellite mind]

i want to start selling my art-- i'm not sure if it's good enough for anyone to want it, so i decided to post here to know what people think about my work and see how i can improve. i have a wacom tablet, but it takes so much longer to create anything relatively good as i find it more difficult to control despite constant practicing. for this one i used pencil and paper, took a photo of the drawing, and edited it on photoshop. please, please tell me what you think! any comments/suggestions on how i could possibly improve enough to (hopefully) start selling my art here would be really appreciated. thank you! heart

(drawing below the spoiler)

(original, un-edited)

[China Glaze]

The unedited version is more marketable. The crumbled paper effects and sketch coloration looks cool, but that's not what most people are after when they seek to commission an artist. By 'edit with photoshop' I would have thought that you would color it, or fix the lines or something.

You have a good style, though on paper it looks like one of those paper doll artworks that you cut up. Since you already have a tablet, I'd REALLY like to insist that you keep practicing on it. I know exactly what you mean about the lack of control, and don't worry, you'll get the hang of it really quick if you don't give up on it, literally everyone started out like that in the beginning.

[satellite mind]

China Glaze

thanks for the advice! i'm still trying to find a style to stick with. with regards to tablet work, my main problems are, first and foremost, blending, and the fact that i find it hard to create clean edges. colouring under a layer of lineart never gives me good results, which makes it pretty much impossible for me to be satisfied with any chibis/anime-style drawings i do, so i always end up opting to work in a more painterly style:

...which, judging from the art shop board, doesn't seem to be a style most people here are into either. sad i guess i'll continue practicing with a tablet though! again, thank you so much smile

[Oma Desala]

I think your stuff is definitely good enough to sell!! I quite like that last image you posted in your second post. 3nodding I know what you mean about trying to find a style to stick with.. I have been doing art my whole life, I'm a junior in art school, and I still have absolutely no real style at all.. yet.. But I don't think you should worry about it too much. It is good to experiment and have fun. Never stop experimenting!

[kaarms]

I agree with everyone else, I think your work is good enough to open an art shop.
Style hopping is fine, there really is nothing wrong with that. We all do it as part of the "growing" process with art. uwu
One thing I've noticed in what you've posted here is that you need to refine your proportions and anatomy.
Gesture and figure drawing will help and so will looking at references like stock photos.
This website is awesome for gesture and figure drawing. It's free, too, so it's a great resource for anyone.
Concerning clean edges, just use a hard edged brush.
If you use photoshop, you can lock the pixels on the layer you're working on.
It'll keep you "inside the lines" so-to-say. So it'll keep your edges hard without too much work.

[spiderwebbing]

Hi there,

I politely disagree with Kaarms in that I assume your work is stylized- it seems very intentional that you've exaggerated the anatomy of your figures in certain ways that give it a cohesive 'look'. You are heading in the direction of someone who could have a lot of success as an illustrator! Don't worry about finding your style, it's already there.

I don't personally work with digital art, but I can give you some advice from a commercial fine arts standpoint. The problem with selling digital work is that there is no real 'original' and people get really attached to that, especially if they're paying a lot of money. Your style is really cool and interesting and heading in a really popular direction- I actually would say you should work on your compositions and add more diversity- challenge yourself beyond the single figure. Try them in different positions, landing across the page in different ways. Try filling up the page even more. A good reference is the rule of thirds. Try and use it to make something completely fresh in your individual style! Use different colour-paths to experiment as well- a good start is to limit yourself and add a variety of hues in ONE other colour besides black and white.

I can tell you can do this! You're very good!

I could totally see your work marketed on things like cellphone cases, laptop sleeves, that kinda gear in an art shop.