If he's the type that easily gets discouraged, he'll, against common sense, take any harsh words as a disapproval of his ability, and not an incentive to enhance it. And that's where sugar-coating helps.
Which is totally stupid!
Reaverboy, think about it, Helm's love is like a fist.
Seriously, don't read what isn't there. There is no 'you suck' and no 'you should quit', there is only 'this is flawed, this will improve it'
The only thing that he hasn't written, that still stands true, is obviously 'This is my opinion on the internet (which I, though, firmly believe in as the truth)'
And WHY THE HECK am I writing a post explaining what HELM just probably said?
Because I'm gonna edit this post later with some schweet EDITING and sugar-coated (although honest) words. <3
EDIT: aaaaaAAAND here it comes :D
The leftmost is me fiddling around with what might look good. Put shadow on it because it seemed like good practise for me (and it looks like shit, I should put up a 'help, I can't shade faces'-thread but whadeva)
The middle one is me explaining things that I think are flawed and that I'd change for great justice:
- First of all: Real heroes always have the twirly-bang-thing on their forehead. I'm not sure if you're a hero, so ehum.
- your eye placement was, as Helm put it, invented, mostly meaning that it would never appear like that, neither the shape, nor the angle, in real life.
So I shaded the side of the nose in a light blue to clarify where it is, and so I can explain one of the reasons as to why the eye couldn't be there if this picture takes the realistic approach (which it obviously already have, what with a realistically thick neck, realistically rendered nose and so on). The red dot! It marks the point where the edge of the eye you made collides with the side of the nose. No real human has their eyes so close to their noses. So the blue line is where I'd suggest you put the eye. It's smaller, but it works better on this face (I believe).
Other stuff:
- chin should point forwards-er. (GRAMARR)
- part of the face where the lips are pout forwards in a curious way. Anime disease? O:
- ear should be lower down, kinda. Top should be at the same horizontal level as the eyebrows-ish, bottom should be at the nose. Ish.
- on the left-most picture, I've made a huge eyeball explaining what kind of shape the eye would have at that angle. Hope it helps.
So yeah, sugar-coated words:
You should study the fundamentals, and so should EACH of us, always, (I should :( A lot more.) but that doesn't mean that what you have is utter crap. Because it isn't and that's why I'm here to boost your self-confidence D:<
For example, though the transition between head and neck in the neck part of the neck (ARGH, back of the neck dangit) is a bit harsh, the placement of the neck, although a bit wonky, shows a great deal of understanding as to where the neck is placed on a real human. Too much anime is sure to make one believe that the neck is some kind of stick that one places heads upon, but your mind is safely undistorted - Great!
The nose is also totally good. It just works. That's how I feel about it. Realistic and fine :]
Goddamnit, you've come to a great start. I'll hit you if you sit and sulk about Helm giving critique on a critique forum >:( When you're not even bad. When you've actually got it together.
Know, about helm, that the few occasions of him showing love openly that we have recorded always have included one or more of the following:
- goats
- sven
- harsh critique.
If you see one of these subjects in one of his posts, you will know that he has shown true love. Do not misinterpret it.
