(WIP) GOOSE

[icarly viewer]

i dont usually post my artowrk anywhere except for smaller communities or show it to friends but this one has been washed over quite a few times and now im on the final steps and really want it to come out nice

it IS supposed to be hypo-realistic but not anime, sort of a hybrid. if it turns out good enough i'll be using it in my RPG im making and ill make more liek it for the other characters V__V so please help me out, what do you think about it, C+C etc.

mainly what i really want right now is suggestions on how to shade the hair without making it clash

[Kyuu]

First glance CC: I think the ear looks to be off. It should be further from his eye (and perhaps obscured by hair?)... Also I think ears are bigger.

...
This became a very ear-centered post, sorry. It's the only thing that's directly bothering me at this point. xD

[knovlt]

First, I love this style.

Okay, maybe it's just me, but the yellow and blue circle seem to be defying gravity. Especially the blue. It kind of looks like the hair is waving.
I'm sure red is just a sloppy outline you were going to correct when you get the basic stuff down. I don't know why I circled it. Just to make sure you didn't miss it I guess.
Great piece; I look forward to seeing the finished product. 

[MadHatter]

Honestly, you can't really apply gravity to hair. A matter of it being dried like that could cause it to curl up or stand up a bit from the tip. Also, I think that's how he intended it to be. Except maybe for the yellow circle...I don't even.

I think the eyes look a bit too sleep deprived, if you know what I mean. :V
As for the eyes themselves, I don't think I see eyes like that in anime or real life...unless hes fucking possessed...shes? Is it a guy or a girl? I mean, the hair looks more feminine, the ear-ring is seen more on men... idk
 
I like the colors a lot in this though. Maybe add one more brighter color (closer to white)
and I'm assuming your going to remove the occasional black outline..

Nice job in general.

[icarly viewer]

Here's an update, I tried to apply all the crits I've gotten form various forums and this is what popped out. :-) Also a second guy in the works

[Dr D]

Your guys look pretty feminine, man. Especially the second one, thought it was a girl until I read your comment.

Loving the softness of your rendering, though.

[icarly viewer]

I honestly don't see the feminism in them, though everyone keeps saying they look like girls. I'm told it's the lips, but do lips not look like that irl? Anyway, 'nother big update. Need a lot of help on the hair V_V

[Pawige]

I can't see anything but feminism, I'm afraid. The long hair on the first one, and the girlish pixie cut on the second seem to say it, as well as the big eyes, thin noses, the small smoothly slanting mouths, narrow jaws, pointy chins, small ears, narrow necks, no hard edges, no adam's apple and rounded cheeks. These are pretty much textbook examples of good female portraits! Are you going for the typical androgynous anime look or do you want guys that actually look like guys?

[EvilEye]

My first impression was a young boy. But it could certainly pass for a girl.

If you wanted them to look more masculine you could thicken the necks a bit and make the jawbones a little more pronounced. And maybe make the hair look a little less permed.

[Ryumaru]

If you want him to actually look like a dude, I have an edit for the one on the right. It's not particularly manly man but its passable. Also fixed some of the skewed facial features that may or may not be for style reasons:

I think these look just fine as ladies.

[MadHatter]

Its difficult to apply what most of these people said onto this, since this is some anime-hybrid thing, I'm sure. Adding those cheek bones makes it looks a bit to realistic, so I'll stay out of that and let you figure out which you'd like to lean towards yourself.

I personally thought the second guy looked better with more.. normal... skin color. I also think he would look better without those odd pieces of hair on his sides. The eyes look oddly large, even for anime. Also, if you'd like to make the eyes more anime, make them a lot more detailed. 

The first's hair looks incredibly feminine. I think the bandanna and purple shirt don't help. The eyes looked better before, but still need a bit more detail. I thought the bandanna design added more character, when you made it plain it kind of lost some. Again those pointy V things on the side looks ugly, haha.
All in all job well done though.

[icarly viewer]

Wow thanks for all the replies! They are far from being masculine characters, so I don't know about the chiseled faces and thick necks, they are supposed to be young "scene" males. Also, yes they are pretty much anime hybrids. :- ( I don't want them to look realistic if it will sacrifice their androgynous-ness. Thank you every one for the crits on the subject and I know it sounds like I'm basically plugging my ears and shouting "I'M NOT LISTENING I'M NOT LISTENING" but I literally do not see how they can be mistaken for girls. I can see their feminine features, but I don't think a requirement of being male is "HNNNNNNNG LOOK AT ME I CAN BENCH 400 LBS!!!!! HNNNNNNG." I am completely accepting any crits on any subject and I acknowledge that your edits make them look more realistic and like "men," but these are portraits for an RPG I am making and really they are just supposed to be young males (hurf hurf I know all RPGs are are just young males running around).

I hope you guys understand and don't think I'm trying to like backpedal or ignoring you or w/e they call it these days, but I really want help on shading the hair/faces without sacraficing style or their "hey look I'm a 19 year old scene kid" look.

As for the bandanna, the designs aren't completely out of the picture. They can always be added back in but I took them out so I didn't have to worry about 2 different colors while I was shading it.

[MadHatter]

I like the bandanna idea. Maybe you could use it for more though? This is supposed to be scene soooooo
I would suggest you use the bandanna at the back of the head, kind of as a help to spike it. On the subject, scene hair is usually spiked from the back, and straightened from the front.

[1up]

except that there is literally an endless amount of "scene" hairstyles

and what you described is not one of them
emo != scene

[MadHatter]

well yah
but the average scene hair is like that

and yes it was
and its not emo either
-------------------------------------------------------------
back on topic
the hair still looks kind of like a woman's. Like a lot of it..

[Ryumaru]

Wow thanks for all the replies! They are far from being masculine characters, so I don't know about the chiseled faces and thick necks, they are supposed to be young "scene" males. Also, yes they are pretty much anime hybrids. :- ( I don't want them to look realistic if it will sacrifice their androgynous-ness. Thank you every one for the crits on the subject and I know it sounds like I'm basically plugging my ears and shouting "I'M NOT LISTENING I'M NOT LISTENING" but I literally do not see how they can be mistaken for girls. I can see their feminine features, but I don't think a requirement of being male is "HNNNNNNNG LOOK AT ME I CAN BENCH 400 LBS!!!!! HNNNNNNG." I am completely accepting any crits on any subject and I acknowledge that your edits make them look more realistic and like "men," but these are portraits for an RPG I am making and really they are just supposed to be young males (hurf hurf I know all RPGs are are just young males running around).

I hope you guys understand and don't think I'm trying to like backpedal or ignoring you or w/e they call it these days, but I really want help on shading the hair/faces without sacraficing style or their "hey look I'm a 19 year old scene kid" look.

As for the bandanna, the designs aren't completely out of the picture. They can always be added back in but I took them out so I didn't have to worry about 2 different colors while I was shading it.

I don't believe that you're ignoring crits just to ignore them, but I believe the fact that it's YOUR art of YOUR character that you have designed as a male in your head you won't see it as any different- but the visual you are putting forth to us has distinctly female features. in the scale of manly man to androgyny to female, your portraits only extend from androgyny to female and we have no other context ( game etc) to make us think otherwise.
Of course, your pixels are nice, and people complain about androgyny in rpg's all the time so theres no point in us harping on you.

[Accident]

Hey you. You there.
I like you. :'D

If all RPGs had dem good looking boys, I'd consider myself an official paedophile, lul.
All in all, I love your colour sense. I love your style. your boys look like they got a story to tell.

All this talk about masculinity.
Sure, your men are good-looking. However, even dem good-looking men have some angles.

Here, look at the ear, the nose, the mouth, the neck, the eyes, the face. I tried to add some angles, refine some things, without running out of its integrity.
goddamn it I love that mouth.

[icarly viewer]

Thanks Ryu for understanding and thank you a lot Accident. :- )



here's my attempt at adding angles + a lil more hair shading

[MadHatter]

His eyes seem kind of...emotionless...?
I don't know how to put it.. do you get what I mean?

[icarly viewer]

yeah, they look glazed over. i like it though, adds more lifelessness to his eyes :- )

[Lizzrd]

One more"white" spot and maybe change the lifeless gray to a bit more blue or green.

[1up]

i'm pretty sure he mentioned that the guy was /supposed/ to look lifeless

[MadHatter]

ya, except he didn't.

[1up]

ya, except he didn't.

right sorry that was in skypechat




my bad

[Accident]

... what happened to his shirt? He looked better with the other one fix it fix it fiiiiiix.

[icarly viewer]

?

[MadHatter]

now he looks more masculine.
just move the head down a bit
OBSERVE
 
i'm loving your shading though

[Accident]

ohh god damn it.
He looks quite manly now. Once you blot down the shading on that shirt, it'll be a big improvement.

I couldn't help but to think that, in this position, he reminded me of someone familiar.
Then it hit me: Rambo.