xx Multiple Character EntriesLet's be honest, most contests have more than one character or avatar.
You can score a lot of brownie points just by including more than one character.
Multiple-character entries are especially effective in OC Art Contests!
Single-character images can win, but will only beat multiple-character images if they are really skillful.
Even if you don't win, you will place significantly higher than others with similar artistic skills.
You may think a multiple-character entry is a lot harder to make, but it doesn't have to be!
Because there are more characters, you can spend less time on individual characters.
Work quickly and cheaply!
The fact that there are multiple characters will help balance out the quality. XD
I have a few specific tips and tricks to help you.
- DIGITAL COMPOSITING -Trying to draw all those characters together may be making your head hurt.
So don't draw them together!
Draw several figure sketches and use Photoshop to put them together.
See this?These were all random pose sketches on different sheets of paper.
I scanned them, set them to multiply in Photoshop, and moved them around.
The end result was my Eden Project entry.It's better if you don't decide beforehand which poses will be which characters.
If a pose isn't working, you can get rid of it and not worry about losing an important character.
(Obviously the deer boy's pose was specific to the character, but all the rest were random!)
You can also save any unused poses for future contests!I never finished this entry, but because it's not specific, I can reuse it.
Another example of pose sketches thrown together.These three sketches would be good entries individually, but
combining them results in the kind of image that could win a top prize.
- SINGLE-LAYER SHADOWS & HIGHLIGHTS -You could spend a lot of time painting/shading each element of a character individually.
Or you can put all the base colors on one layer, make a single multiply layer for shading, and a single screen layer for highlights!
Try not to pick black/grey for your shadows and highlights.
Use purple for shadows, or blue, or green!
Use yellow for highlights, or white, or experiment!
Play with
gradients for more dramatic and impressive effect!
Change your highlight and shadow layer settings, try out color burn, or hard light, etc.
Add a second shadow layer for added depth.
Add a rim lighting layer for added effect.
This technique is highly effective for cel-shading.
(It's what I use on my
quickie character references.)
The fact that you've put 129387345 characters in your image will outweigh any artistic shortcuts or small mistakes.Try to be accurate to the character references, embellish where you can, and you'll do fine!
Don't get hung up on details, it's more important to finish.
It's okay to rush it, just get it done!
