AuthorTopic: girl sitting  (Read 12051 times)

Offline elise

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girl sitting

on: November 22, 2007, 03:57:01 pm
I'm working on a big piece for a layout... and I'd like to see if there's anything I need to address before I finish adding the details/shading. She's chibi so yeah, there are some anatomy issues... and I suck at lightsources, dithering and especially aa, but I'm trying. ;)

Original -> Edit 1 -> Edit 2 -> Edit 3 -> Final?


She's supposed to be slouched over but maybe not enough? I don't like her eyes either. I'm not sure why but something doesn't seem right.



« Last Edit: December 21, 2007, 06:44:05 am by elise »

Offline tocky

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Re: [WIP] girl sitting

Reply #1 on: November 22, 2007, 06:43:37 pm
The arms are bugging me. Her forearms are quite a bit longer than her upper arms, and though it looks like she's resting on her elbows a bit, they're not really locked into position, so it looks like she's not really relaxed, just posing. I think you have to throw the elbows out more.The fisty hand is hidden awkwardly, she's not really hoding onto anything there, and it'd sort of crush between her upper and lower arm. Her front leg does something weird behind the knee, it doesn't carry back to where her bum is. The expression is kind of plain, doll-like. I can't tell if she's supposed to be bored or thoughtful or what.

Offline Terley

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Re: [WIP] girl sitting

Reply #2 on: November 22, 2007, 10:02:12 pm
I don't think there's anything wrong with the proportions, remember theres a hand there too..

this is lovely, got a great sense of innocence about this piece so far, havent much to say in terms of critisism but I do agree with tocky that her left hand is in an awkward position. I'd suggest this; and alter the forearm to make the hand more noticable. Just a suggestion.



keep it up elise
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Offline TrevoriuS

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Re: [WIP] girl sitting

Reply #3 on: November 22, 2007, 11:18:21 pm
The left hand had good positioning, but was sticking out too much, it should've been less visible. When you sit like that, yoiur left hand goes on top of your upper arm, following that line; in your edit it is on top of the joint.

Offline Helm

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Re: [WIP] girl sitting

Reply #4 on: November 23, 2007, 08:52:09 am


All this work on the face and the hands, the second most expressive thing on body language, so sorely underutilized! Don't do this, don't fear hands, study them extensively. My edit seems minor, but look at them side to side and tell me which seems more human, more evocative of real emotion to you!

Offline ndchristie

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Re: [WIP] girl sitting

Reply #5 on: November 23, 2007, 05:08:01 pm
scale is also an important thing to consider in superdeformed characters.  typically, hands are equal in size to the face (3/4ths to 6/7ths of the head, depending on who you listen to), and this adds to their expressiveness.  When the head increases in size of of proportion to the body, hands lose some of their power in a negative way.
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Offline Helm

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Re: [WIP] girl sitting

Reply #6 on: November 23, 2007, 07:12:10 pm
is your point directed to me? Small hands or not, they don't have to be amorphus blobs, at least I don't think even if someone says they should be one should feel inclined to listen to them.

Offline ndchristie

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Re: [WIP] girl sitting

Reply #7 on: November 24, 2007, 02:39:16 am
no, my point was a continuation of yours, saying that not only are you losing expressiveness by turning into blobs, you are also losing expressiveness when you rob them of their size in relation to the face.  this expressiveness is needed for well-described characters and scenes.

we are agreeing.  we seem to do that more and more these days :P
« Last Edit: November 24, 2007, 02:43:48 am by Adarias »
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Offline Terley

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Re: [WIP] girl sitting

Reply #8 on: November 24, 2007, 02:47:03 am
Im not in the position to teach or give any valuable input about how to approach hands, but Id still suggest that positioning. Great edit Helm, im sure she'll find that helpful. I gotta take the time to study hands myself, body language is essential I agree, aren't the eyes expresive enough? anything in addition must be a plus.
« Last Edit: November 24, 2007, 02:50:59 am by Terley »
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Offline Helm

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Re: [WIP] girl sitting

Reply #9 on: November 24, 2007, 09:03:57 am
I'll tell you this: eyes are never expressive enough. If all you put effort into in a piece is always the face then you'll train your viewers to only look there for emotional cues, and this creates in my opinion a very unpleasant 'talking heads' situation where people think they're following avatars on the internet, not real live emotive characters through their stories. It is cheap. If you make every part of a character expressive then the viewer doesn't focus anywhere, he simply takes everything he sees in and gets a honest, holistic impression of the emotion that is being transferred (plus it can be more than one, it can be conflicted. Can you make a face say 'I love you but I hate you as well and I fear for our future'? Very difficult. But can you make a face say 'I love you' and body language say 'I fear you'? Certainly easier!) just like in real life. If you manage that, then you have live, breathing characters with soul in your work.

Other stuff one could do to add even more expressiveness to this piece: slight head tilt to the side. The feet closer than the knees, turned towards each other childishly. Holler if you need another patented Helm Photoshop Nondestructive Edit (tm)


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