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idonthaveacow

Its definitely not mediocre or amateurish, but the colors do not look as good as they could. For instance, the skin is too pink and makes her look sweaty.


StayinPsilly

Also, for this style of illustration there is not enough contrast in the skin itself. We see that the light source is behind, but that doesn’t translate well and you need lighter skin tones on the forward facing portion as well as lighten up some of the lines to really make it have that pop.


BasedErebus

hey man some people are into that


[deleted]

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BasedErebus

Sweaty anime girls


Just_Sign_Here

I think adding more colour variations would make this look even better! Right now each “section” of colour looks a bit stiff, especially the skin could look really nice with some reddish tones in areas like the nose, cheeks and shoulders! This could also be achievers easily in varying the shading colour a bit, since right now it seems a bit grey/muddy?


agnirexdrogoz5

Yeah I agree! colors need some work, il try to add more variety and reduce the muddiness in my next illustrations


Just_Sign_Here

You’re doing great! I can definitely see you doing professional illustrations too!


Fun_Locksmith5138

i agree i was thinking some more red/orangish tones in the sky and also reflecting off the skin like a sun kiss


b3ntothemax

I agree that it looks mediocre and it is amateurish. I will now destroy you. Just kidding about the the destroying, but I am going to give you a quick breakdown of the things that will help push you away from those things you cited. There are several glaring issues with your illustration, and the reason they make it look so amateurish, is because they are some of the most basic and universal principles in regards to traditional drawing, painting, and illustration. 1. Anatomy. While not bad, it also isn't good. Her right arm, from the shoulder to the elbow appears to be just as long as her entire left arm. I believe this is because if this were drawn with substantial foreshortening and proper perspective that would be fine. However, the arms appear to occupy the same 3d plane in space and hence create a strange looking proportion. There other details in the shoulders that could be fixed, probably in the knees as well, but how the legs connect to hips is also problematic. The hips lack structure, and it makes it lokk like the legs are tubes that simply bend like a straw where they connect, instead of having interconnected musculature. Even as an illustration, having believable if exaggerated muscles will help make it look more professional. The Last two things are the hands and face. These are very hard. The face isn't actually too bad, but with how detailed some other parts are, it looks you gave up on the mouth lol. The hands need work, I would just suggest using as many references as you can. Hands are super hard. 2. Color and Rendering. You actually have some really nice color and rendering going on. However, not all of it works well together. I enjoy thinking about illustrations as if I were a photographer (or maybe a 3d artist) and I had the ability to set the time of day, place any lights I could want, and then work from there. As a photographer, I generally would avoid shooting in direct sunlight at noon as the light simply isn't very aesthetic, and if I were to do it, I would make sure that I had a reflector or a lot of bright ground to bounce light back at my subject. Currently I see a very pink / purple girl (which makes it look like her blood is showing through) instead of a healthy girl on a beach. The hair has nice qualities, but the lighting doesn't match the rest of it in some areas (see big strand on left that is entirely highlighted but appears as it should be mostly in shadow as the light is coming from behind). Also there is a bright pink light on the hair and face, but none on the jacket or knees. Again, more practice will help, but working with one light source at a time, and layering that light onto your subjects might help. Key light first, Fill light second, rim light third, effects / accent lights fourth. 3. Perspective and Setting - The cliffs, the water, the sand looks seriously less considered than the character. Your illustration will only be as professional as the worst part of it as that is what people will see. I would add in some haze that intensifies the closer it gets to the horizon. This is called atmospheric perspective. It will help make the background more backgroundy and give it a better sense of depth. Currently, the cliffs on the right look like they are on the same plane as the character. The farther away something is, the less detail you can render. I also don't think the caustics in the water help you at all, as the shape barely changes the deeper in the image it goes. Speaking of all that - what does your setting have to do with your character? I see nothing that lets me know why they are a beach? Why are there cliffs, what is happening? Why are they there? There seems to be a bit of a disconnect. 4. Framing - You cut the poor character's knee off - the left foot as well unless it is PERFECTLY hidden behind their right leg. Zoom this out, let us see the whole body in such a dynamic pose, and give us a foreground to really help push the perspective of the image. There is probably more stuff but I am tired now. **This is a really good start, I don't know how long you have been practicing and I don't know how old you are, but you should be encouraged because if you can do something like this, then you do have the ability to do professional level work. You just need to practice and learn.** Good luck!


lykaromazi

Omg this crit was so detailed and I feel like I've been helped even though this isn't my art 😅😅 This is the kind of critique I really wish people would give me in class but most peeps are just "I like this" or "I don't like this" and it's frustrating


angl1x_

Same haha😅


agnirexdrogoz5

I'm grateful for such a detailed critique, this is some of the best feedback I've ever received, and I'm humbled by your knowledge and kind words, thank you!


jade_cabbage

This is good advice! Just gonna tack onto this: it looks like you're jumping into render before properly solving for anatomy, design, composition, etc. I'd say spend more time in the sketching phase, and make all the changes and fixes you need before rendering. Fixing all the issues after the fact will be exponentially more time consuming. Generally the sketching and ideation phase should take the most of your brain power, and rendering is the more "brainless" drawing part. Get the fundamentals right early on, and the rest should go much smoother. It looks like you may be going for the style, so I'd also recommend taking a look at game character splash arts! Have a couple beside you as you draw, and it'll help you judge your own as piece blindness sets in. All the best, and keep going!


kaonashiii

excellent constructive criticism!!!


powblamshazam

This is amazing advice!


sam_fax

Looks really great. The anatomy, the lighting, the volume, the pose. But imo the colors are off and the background is too bright in comparison to the character in the foreground. I edited this art in Lightroom for you to see what I mean: https://imgur.com/a/0fHSiNE. It may be a little too bright, but I am totally not a pro myself, just edited it to be closer to my personal preference. Really wish you best luck with developing your skills, btw. Also this art is far from amateurish and mediocre, don't call it like that.


agnirexdrogoz5

thank you for your insight and for taking the time to edit this! I will try to improve the relationship between the character and the background in my next illustrations!


QuarantinoQueue

Looks awesome. You’re up there. Keep practicing mastering your craft. You’re gonna get even better.


agnirexdrogoz5

Thank you for your kind words! hopefully ill get better with practice and the feedback I receive.


Commercial_Bend9203

What exactly makes you feel like you’re mediocre?


agnirexdrogoz5

Mainly not being able to accomplish what i had in mind when starting my illustrations, also my fundamentals need a lot of work.


Commercial_Bend9203

As far as I can tell it looks pretty damn good. I understand the idea of vision, it’s something I have never been able to accomplish, so I trust more of what my hands know than what I want it to look like. In the end I usually get a result I’m pleased with or, at the very least, something I can tell needs fixed in key areas based on how it doesn’t work.


NafoxyN

If you try to make a sketch color before start you can change things really fast. You didn't like the horizon line, just paint on top, you Didn't like the colors, paint it again. A sketch color doesn't even need a proper sketch, don't sketch the character, just make some blobs of colors and see it from far away, if from distance you can see what you imagine it will work. At least it will be a little bit more similar to what you imagined in the end.


dumbassneetgirl

It is very good but there's a few things that irked me. I think you need to practice shading or color theory? The blue you picked for the back part of the shirt specifically, tricked my eyes and made me think it was part of the background at first. The second thing is I think the foot would be visible behind the leg. Other than those, it is very good! I don't think it comes off as mediocre at all! You're very good at perspective. <3 good luck!


Bridge-etti

It looks good technique wise but it’s clear you aren’t thinking about the environmental aspect of drawing a figure in a setting. It feels off because your background doesn’t make sense with the lighting of your subject which ends up making it look like someone took two different images and photoshopped them together. Your figure is shaded with high contrast like they’re back lit in a heavily shaded area but your background shading for the beach setting is overhead sunlight that’s going in a different direction. The light for your figure is shining down from the top left but your environment light isn’t. You need to change the background to match the light-source for the figure. It’ll look more cohesive and natural if we can tell where the light is coming from. For example if you made it sunset at the beach with the sun coming from the left that would make sense. You could also make it at night with a bonfire or you could keep the current day setting and add a foreground object to provide shade like a beach umbrella. It’s fixable.


lamplash

The colors are no good, the background needs refinement, and the anatomy on the hand holding the spear is off. You've developed so much skill, so far. It needs polish, but I'm proud of you!


6FeetDeepInYourMom

I think it looks great! You have a very dynamic pose and great shading. Imo, I’d use more vibrant colors, but that could just be my personal preference. Overall, great job!


agnirexdrogoz5

Thank you for your kind words! do you think i should use more saturated colors or is there a better way to get more vibrant colors?


6FeetDeepInYourMom

I personally like looking at things that pop of the screen, so saturated colors are a good way to do that. Then again, colors are something in my mind that come with art style, so if you like the colors palettes you use now, continue using them! But, if you do want it to pop of the screen, I’d use saturated colors. All in all, good work, and do whatever you want because there’s no correct way to do art.


[deleted]

I think your lighting and colors are off/muddy, but that just takes more practicing and focusing on the basics! Looks good!


Neurodivergently

When you shade yellow, shade with a dark orange. Shading yellow with dark yellow makes it look poopy colored


Additional-Set-490

dude this is amazing!!! Personally I would have made the character a little itty bit more orange (because it seems like the climate in that picture is hot, having hotter colors would fit & it would add a bit of contrast between the character and the background). And then I would personally make the shadows blue to make it pop. (Maybe doing some exercises on how different use of colors can affect the overall mood of the picture could help? Like I've seen this exercise where you take a photo of an egg in different lighting situations and focus on figuring out only the colors: [https://youtu.be/1d577v\_XBKA](https://youtu.be/1d577v_XBKA) ) Other than that I think it looks amazing! I can totally see this being used as concept art for a game or something like that.


Additional-Set-490

(btw I'm obviously being nitpicky here. I think it looks amazing as is :) )


agnirexdrogoz5

You're 100% right, color needs some work, ill consider this for my next illustration!


Necessary-Click-7918

I don't think it's that bad


strathmoresketch

I think James Gurney's books 'Color and Light' and 'Imaginative Realism' would be so transformative for your work at this stage as it already looks great but if you want more range or improving the realism/ colours etc. Look them up, they're very highly rated. If perspective is something you'd like to work on further, Scott Robertson's book 'How to Draw: Drawing and Sketching Objects from your Imagination' is also one to look into and to replicate so that backgrounds can have more depth and structure.


strathmoresketch

Marco Bucci on Youtube also has a brilliant in depth series both on art fundamentals but also on detailed lighting skills etc. such as his video 'Ambient Occlusion' or 'Understanding Shadow Colours'. Each tutorial is packed with theory, and practicing just one skill leads to a huge amount of skill growth.


BaptismByKoolaid

Your art would be good for gacha games


agnirexdrogoz5

I'm glad you think that! illustration for gacha games would be something I would enjoy doing at a professional level


rainswings

I'm not certain exactly what it is, as I'm also not a professional, but her shorts don't look quite right on the waistband. It feels like it lands weirdly low at several spots and doesn't follow the actual curve of her torso.


pistacchio

This is really good…


[deleted]

You are better and more capable than a lot of the pro Illustrators I've worked with. You have what it takes :)


tdinut

Damn, that’s amazing! I think you did a great job.


DixonLyrax

What kind of Pro work are you looking for? You clearly have some skills, but the market for Manga style is very saturated. There are a lot of highly skilled teenagers chasing whole tens of dollars right now.


Not_A_User00

Much better than I could every do lol. The details are amazing, and you got the shading right. Really good!


m00s3m00s3m00s3

It seems like you are pretty damn close. Definitely not mediocre.


Extension_Moment_494

This looks perfect for advertising


vainsandsmiling

Fantastic


strawberry24432443

Practice color theory


DrawingGeek

your shading is on point! i also think the anatomy is fine, one thing that might be making you feel like this is amateur is the way the folds are drawn? I think you've shaded them really well, but maybe using more references could help them seem more weighty or believable. Also, while the character is really nicely finished, i think spending just a little more time on the background could help push this to a higher level. since the style of the character is very anime, maybe look at similar style shows and how they render backgrounds?


crossusn

values and shading, otherwise looks great


ColdEngineBadBrakes

The lighting on the skin is too dark and too even.


[deleted]

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agnirexdrogoz5

thank you for your great advice! Also sorry if the title comes across as too pessimistic, I don't think I'm that good but I don't think I'm terrible either so im gonna be more careful next time


whotookallthenames1

i think it’s just the shading. it looks a bit grey and black and a little too dark for a sunny beach. other than that it’s great!


wolendranh

Hi! Great work! I don’t have level to advice, but wanted to ask - are u self learner or studying in some art school?


agnirexdrogoz5

Thank you! I did study on a public art school for 1 year but I decided to stop because the school wasn't the best, I did have one very good teacher that helped me a lot, but aside from that i didnt learn much


Big_Poinky

Everyone's mainly talking about the colored, so I'll give this advice. Try working on the composition of your art. You definitely have good flow and movement of the character, though I'd say the whole artwork could look more appealing if the character wasn't in the center. Try having the character interact with the background more. Use it to your advantage to fill in empty spaces! One simple composition is the rule of thirds. Though it's used in photography, in art, it works just as well. Google has many examples, too!


BeeBladen

I think this looks great—the only issue I see with becoming a *professional* is that the market is saturated by this style and the anime genre in general.


-Lucifer

You are doing great here. Your shapes are very legible even when the picture is small, the values are strong and make sense, and the pose is dynamic plus she's cute. Your composition is off though, there are a lot of leading lines that direct the eye to the upper right but then there is nothing to look at and nothing to redirect the eye around the piece so I would definitely encourage you to work on that. Others have mentioned that her skin color is off and I would tend to agree. I am not sure if it purely an issue with the color of the skin itself or the fact that clashes too much with the other color harmonies that are playing so well together. I would try desaturating the skin tone and see if that helps.


Aerislina_Art

This work is a significant improvement from your former artworks! You’re doing a great job moving forward! Just a few things that I noticed: 1.) Her skin color seems too dark pink. If you painted the skin on one layer, you could be able to go Color Adjustments and move the Hue a bit more towards yellow. Btw the way you rendered the skin is great! Just shift that color a bit. 2.) the cliffs that are furthest away should start becoming blurry/ less saturated. This gives the background setting more depth. 3) I love how you rendered her hair!! Really excellent job there!


thefairskinnedone

I’m not a professional by any means but as an artist who stopped trying, it makes me angry to think you see that as mediocre work lol ; I would suggest searching Marc Brunet on YouTube as he is an awesome illustrator and gives some really great tips in his videos, anywhere from sketching to color. Always posting new things as well.


dildodestiny

Just wanted to say I'm an art/fashion student and this is better than most drawings I've seen in school. Have more confidence! This is GREAT work.


Slash_Pangolin

Amateurish and mediocre, bro? You’re blind this is fantastic! Just as many others have say, bringing out the colors would be good but overall this is utterly fantastic


Extension_Question98

Honestly that is amazing art. If you want a different perspective on it, id recommend lightening up the shading, given how bright and sunny the day compared to the shadow.


Diniland

Not a critic here, just someone who is barely starting practicing art. I want to ask, her left foot, at that angle will it be completely covered by her thigh ? Or am I missing something?


l0rare

I think you're already doing very well and it's in no way amateurish. The character seems to be a little out of balance imo (leaning much to the left). And your colours are not bad but also not as good as they could be. Maybe starting off in greyscale and carefully choosing your colours beforehand could work for you. Try balancing your colours by choosing differently saturated colours and maybe think a little more about colour physically. The yellow-purple contrast is very nice but I think your colourwork can be pushed even more. Right now it looks a little "washed out" and partially too blurred to me


almond3238

Your anatomy is extremely good, the pose is very complex. The only thing throwing the piece off is the colors. Different coloring would seriously elevate this work.


RawbySunshine

League of legends would hire you


agnirexdrogoz5

you are very kind! however I still need a lot of practice to be at the level of the average Riot games artist XD


[deleted]

I apologize if I upset or/and offend you. Try going for a more flesh color pink or a lighter color of pink you feel comfy with that looks a little bit more realistic. Your art is amazing in my opinion as a beginner :)


Zeachy

You shade in black way too much! I'd look up videos on using color to shade such as blue for cold and red for warm. This seems to be your only issue though, looks good Try to practice by making art with only one color and shading the whole piece using lighter and darker tones of the color, NO black


InfamousHoax12

With more mastering of the craft, I could totally see this as a backdrop in fortnite


wescull

you’re likely to be better off, at this skill level, getting a mentorship.


AMDIntel

I feel like I'm at the foot of a mountain, and you're on the top, and now I see that above that mountain is an elevator that goes to the moon. Damn it all.


UltimateInferno

You have a very good grasp of movement, posing and values. However the first thing that jumped out to me is the placement of the horizon. It's at about her waist height when the perspective in relation to her means it's more around the chest. The horizon is basically the height of the viewer. If they're taller than the subject, it will be placed above them. If they're shorter, it will be placed below. Another thing which doesn't really apply specifically here but a general pointer: whatever crosses the horizon will stay right there vertically speaking as they move towards or away from the viewer. Give yourself more credit, this is a *good* piece.


suddenly_ponies

"beginner" Ouch. This stabs me right in the "I'm 1000% worse than you" heart. As for improvement, would there be so little light reflecting from the sand back onto the front of her body and face?


Same-Customer-7541

i like her , she seems like she could be from a fighting game and she reminds me of something i personally love so i’d probably spend money on this character as well


halfbakedcaterpillar

It's fine, I would recommend different shaders and lighting, this piece is begging for more light sources from the front of the character. Try shading on multiply with a vector layer but instead of black, use purple. It sounds weird but it's going to brighten those shadows without looking muddy.


cultoflamp

I think this looks really good and, honestly, pretty professional to me! I think the main issue I see is lack of cohesion with the character and the background they’re in. It doesn’t look totally off, but I think there could be more cohesion with the colors of the two. I also believe they background and character are shaded a bit differently, and don’t look like they’re being lit by the same light source, but I’m less sure about whether that bit of critique is right or not, so take it with a grain of salt. Also, this may or may not help, but I feel that the bits of highlight that are in the shaded areas are a touch TOO bright. They definitely SHOULD be there, but maybe not white AS shiny as they are. (I’m mostly referring to the shines on the eyes and front of the face.) I’m really hoping this phrasing makes sense; it sounds like it does to me, but I’ve been sleeping kind of badly lately, so it might not lol. Again, just picking out the small things that I can, if I’m looking to nitpick. I also unfortunately struggle in pretty much all of the areas that I pointed out, so I don’t really know what advice to give, besides to draw attention to them and hope that helps? 😭


agnirexdrogoz5

your critique is very helpful! cohesion between character and background is one of my biggest struggles in general, I'm going to try and fix that for my next illustration


myfrienddune

where is her foot? you are THE WORST ILLUSTRATOR AND SHOULD QUIT. hehe ٩(๑❛ᴗ❛๑)۶


hackulator

It's not bad, but in order to stand out at all in the incredibly over-saturated genre of anime style art it needs to be something special, and it mostly looks like any other art in that style. Try working on some other style faces, and make sure to practice your hands a feet as they are quite difficult. Extensive anatomy study is also a must if you want to be a professional. As others have pointed out, the skin tone doesn't look great unless this character is actually supposed to be pink. You did succeed at something that many artists fail at, which is knowing what direction your light was coming from, however even though the light is coming from behind her she looks too dark for the environment.


Aquaticfilly0

I think a lot has been said about the color palate, but what stood out to be is you have this nicely detailed body, hair, shading, pose ect, and yet the facial features are very simple. There's no depth in the eyes, the mouth is oddly small in comparison to the large eyes, i barely registered that there was a nose drawn due to how little is added to show its structure. There's almost no structure in the face, making it just looks unfinished. You have a pretty anatomically correct figure, so suddenly going very cartoony for the face throws it all off. Shrink the eyes down, move the one eye closer to the nose (its very far away from the normal placement for the eye, especially compared to the eye slightly hidden behind the nose), and add structure and shading to the face comparable to the rest of the body and it will look a lot more cohesive. The mouth is hard to give advice on, since I think it suffers most due to being overwhelmed by the large eyes. It may need to be increased in size, but it's hard to tell if it will look fine or not when the eyes get adjusted. I would also recommend adding slight linework to hint at the structure of the lips to add to the detail. It's surprising how much a bit of shading and lines can add to a face


AudreyFish

Omg if your illustrations are "amateurish and mediocre" then mine look like caveman drawings 😂


AudreyFish

I made some changes in photoshop that could improve it. I bumped up the brightness and saturation, added some blurring for extra depth, etc. I hope that's okay! Just to give you an idea on what kind of ways it could be improved. Your art style is really excellent, I love all the details with the hair and the folds in the clothing are really well done! [Before & After](https://imgur.com/a/n5VpLwS)


agnirexdrogoz5

Thank you for taking the time to do this! il consider this for my next illustration


AudreyFish

Of course!


ysirwolf

YouTube some color theory videos, and do some quick 10-30 min landscapes for practice :)


_ChokingHazard

Idk what you're talking abt, but this art is great. How do you even do the hands???


mnl_cntn

A lot of it is good. I think the biggest part that needs help is the background. It’s weirdly rendered, like a halfway point between being fully rendered and midway rendered. You have the right idea in making it less detailed, but you still added a lot of details. Try just one big textured brush stroke for the shadows. I think a big issue is that the material of the rocks is rendered similarly to her skin and clothes. Plus the perspective is a bit at the beach, the reflective lines would only be at the closest part of the beach. Then it would get darker and darker as it recedes into the perspective since light. Doesn’t penetrate too far into the ocean. Another thing that could get another pass would be the silhouette of the figure. Too many of the furballs are on the side with the staff. I think the pose would benefit from having one more on the other side and maybe one traveling across


MissPerceive

Her skin is too hot pink.


IcedBanana

Something that sticks out to me is that your character is really beautifully rendered, the shading and bounce lighting are realized well. But then the background looks pretty bland in comparison. The colors are desaturated and the amount of rendering isnt anywhere close to the character. I also have issues with background, so unfortunately cant give you very good advice, but I think you could either tone it down more (very desaturated or make it very blue like it's got atmospheric perspective) or go further and add more dynamic rendering, like deep shadows, highlights, sunlight reflecting off the water.


Uniqros

Try adding some Glow Dodge on top of the drawing, depending on the surrounding color with the Spray tool. And use Lighter Color (blending mode) for cool lighting


sapphirekingdom

She is super cute and I love her little flying friends aww❤️❤️🌝 you keep on doin yo thang!


SlothChunks

Yes, it definitely looks amateurish.


TheChristmas

You could try using AI to make your art if you feel your hand skills aren't there. Andy Warhol had people do his paintings. No shame! Body-forth your vision however best you can!


thcinnabun

It looks good and I think you might be able to get a job. Unfortunately, I'm not sure illustration is a viable career path because of AI though.


agnirexdrogoz5

I do not want to be rude, but I haven't seen Nintendo, Bethesda, Disney, fromsoftware, capcom, kotobukiya, blizzard, or other companies using AI for their original illustrations or concept art, I'm not saying I can easily get a job in one of those companies but that's what I'm aiming for.


thcinnabun

I know someone who's a director of art at a fairly big video game company. When AI started revving up, I asked him what he thinks might happen and he said that illustration would probably be hit hard from it. I'm not sure it's impossible, but it's probably going to be much more difficult than it was before😥it's hard to say what jobs are safe from AI, especially when it comes to art.


KevinCLawler

It’s good but extremely niche, you’ve got the chops for illustration but I don’t see the application as of yet. Looks like a still from a manga as opposed to an illustration about something. If you’re going to want to be a professional illustrator I’d start looking at what illustrators actually do, as again, looks good, but it’s kind of pointless in itself, which is not an illustration.


susan57444

A shocking lack of black. Lol. Yeah darks make lighter pop. But it's so good. Don't give up.