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Even Van Gogh, Picasso, and Samurai-PET had to have stank when they were just starting, hun. Don't worry about it too much - just practice.

So artz~



Still aiming for nose-bleeding detail.

...



Just something I did when I was ATTEMPTING to study.

Thank you, love. I was rushing on the beads, chains, and background, quite honestly, because as much as I want detail, I hate tedious... ness. (Tediosity? Tediosism?) I'm still not used to doing them. But I do wish I gave more time to the detail and the background. I don't like the background. At all.

When I'm not lazy/busy/both, I'll do that. I have to admit - that bit with the chains was pretty much really bad cheating. sweatdrop

There IS one thing I'd like to disagree with - and that's the beads. I think it could be done to look less messy and lazy, but tedious beadwork like that takes up a lot of unnecessary time, especially when they're not going to be looked at individually but as a whole. So fiddling with the brushes a bit more (I just pretty much fiddled with the brushes here) might do the trick.

That's just what I think, anyway. I could be dead-wrong.

But the chains I will work on individually next time, or at least, till I find a not-so-messy way to get around that.

Gosh Tenshi, that is freaking amazing! You're definetly getting closer to the level of CLAMP-ish details. whee

But yeah, I agree to what Kimi and MooMoo said about the chains (the beads look really cool in my opinion XD)

Here's a good tutorial about drawing backgrounds and chains and stuff: LINK
( It's not exactly in anime style, since it leans more towards realism...but I think it should help, at least a bit XD )

Koboshi's so cute! I like the coloring - so soft. And the background works too. It's great. *hugs the pic*

Awww~ Kimi, I didn't think so. ( ;_; ) *of course she had to comment late*
That was just rude of her to go right out and say that. ( TvT )

Seriously, it's easy to tell when someone uses the burn/dodge tool, and your coloring didn't look anything like it. ( >.> )
If it did, I would've told you right away when I saw it. Because I personally think using dodge/burn is an amatuerish way of shading, and I'd be worried if Kimi-chan was shading her drawings that way ('cause Kimi-chan is always trying hard to improve). D:

But still, I won't say you should just ignore her...
I completely understand what you're feeling, Kimi. And I know all to well what it feels like to draw something you really like, and then have someone smack you in the face with a critisizm without thinking about how much you put into the drawing.
But--as hard as it is for me to admit--I DID learn from it, and improved.

So, we shouldn't let even hard critiquing get us down, and still try to see what good you can make from it (although it's okay to mope around a little. xD;; ). Just don't let it discourage you, and make it not feel worth it.
Once you get over the full force of blow, come back and help it to make you better. Kay~? <3

Heh heh, I see..

I donno... maybe you could ask..?

Well, now that I can see the picture again... maybe you could define the shading and highlights a bit more?
Like, you still want the 'soft shading', right? So instead of using 3 colors for shading. Try more like 5?
You would have your base color. Then the color you want for the shading. And then color in between your base and shading color to blend, and get that 'soft shading'. Then, I would suggest a very dark color for shadow of objects on the character. And then maybe a color in between your shading color, and the shadow color. But don't overuse it if you do use one. I think more defined shadows will help focus back into the picture. I don't know if that makes sense... I don't know how to explain it. I guess... compare a picture with defined shadows to one without any. The picture with the dark shadows will have a sharper, and more appealing look against the soft shading of the rest of the picture. Something the veiwers eyes can rest on... I guess.


Take her skirt for example (right now I assume you have one light source in the upper-left corner). I can see you have the shadow underneath, but it's not well-defined. I think a darker shade for the shadows will help get you out of that 'dodge/burn' look, I guess.
Right under the fringe, just have that dark shadow. Don't even use your shading color, even where the shadow hits your base color. You want that shard edge (Again, this is assuming you have one light source. If you have more than one... well, it'd be a different story). With the shadow on her leg, the only place I suggest blending it into the skin in right under her leg. That's where the skirt is lifted the farthest away from the skin, so the shadow isn't as sharp.

You really do already have beautiful shading, Kimi-chan. You just need to make it darker, or else you can barely see it (this goes especially for people with brighter moniters). I know, with the softer coloring, you kinda automatically end up with light shading (I do it alot, too). So I'd suggest, next time you shade something, try using one or two shades darker than what you want. Because when you start blending, colors come out lighter than from what they were before you blended them.
(Look at the hair and the skirt, for example. See where you didn't blend the shading looks much darker than the skin?)

I can't really help you with the shirt... I think, if anything, the shirt is where it looks like you used dodge/burn? (Although it still doesn't look that way to me) I guess... try practicing folds, and the way light hits cloth?

I can't really say much. I have trouble shading clothes myself. ( TvT ) I don't know about you, but shading clothes is the worst. Especially with the soft shading. ( >.> )

Anyway.. moving on from the shading... I noticed the hand looks big? In which case, I'm not quite sure what to tell you, so I'll give you a couple of suggestions.

1. Assuming, because her head is rather large, and you have a shounen-inspired style (which is more-or-less more anatomically correct than shojo). You made her hand large so it was in proportion with her head. This is okay, but you must somehow make it work with a smaller wrist. In this picture... it gives me the image that her arm is large, and thus longer, than you've drawn it. Her arm shouldn't be the problem, as far as I can tell, it's pretty much in proportion with her body. (One thing that is wrong with her hand, though, is it's too long. This is also probably part of the problem. I think, where her hand is connected to her wrist, is too long. Right about where you stopped shading the inside of the thumb is long enough. Also, for such a small, delicate looking girl, I think her fingers should be a little thinner, maybe? Just a smidgen, really.

2. Okay, now assuming you weren't try to be all 'shounen-style', then the hand in general is just too big. xD;; If you make it smaller, then the wrist/fingers/whatever will come into place.


Okay, I don't know if you know this or not... but in shojo style, when they draw characters with those big ' biggrin ' faces, they don't show the tongue. In fact, they don't show any inside parts of the mouth (except maybe teeth). It's just a big empty hole in their head. Some don't even color the mouth in. They leave it white (It's kinda... weird when they do that).
In any case, if you want the big, happy ' biggrin ' face, then don't shade it. Just color it in dark red (or white, if that's what floats your boat), and leave it.
If you shade/highlight it, then you get that look of a tongue.

PHEW.
That's... all I can say. Hopefully it all made sense. I lack proper explaining skills. D: I more of a show-and-tell kinda girl, really. : D

Although I would also like to point out that I DO love the transparent look of the hair by the eyes. heart
I also love the background. Heh heh.
And I'll say it again, that I really do love the shading on the leg. It's so smooth.. mmm. *doesn't shade legs well*