[WIP, "Nudity"]Yet another Doll...

[Soleil]

Ok so, I'm working on this...literally for you all to tell me how to fix stuff, so in the end it looks fantastic. (and hopefully, I've done everything right and didn't break any rules or common practices, I'm essentially new..having only posted a few times before and then losing the site XD)

As of right now, it's clearly a WIP...but before I go on to the rest of her body, I had figured I'd ask you all what would need improvement. I really want to shade this with dithering, but I don't think I clearly grasp the effect much at all, so if I would be able to get some help with shading more than the lining, I'd be grateful. Obviously once I get down the concept I'll work more on her body as well, updating this thread with my progress..and thank you for at least viewing the thread

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[happymonster]

I'm not an artist, but isn't her head too small and too much to the left here?

[Soleil]

Actually, no. At the most dramatic I could make it, it still only comes out to 7 heads tall, which is "ideal" height. So, I don't believe the head is actually 'too small' in this instance, but it may look as it is thanks to perspective and other things.

"An average person is generally 7-and-a-half heads tall (including the head). This can be illustrated to students in the classroom using paper plates to visually demonstrate the length of their bodies."

[Jad]

Her face looks sort of masculine, and her thin body with prominent shoulders doesn't really help with this.

Is it referenced from photo?

[Soleil]

Yeah the outline of the body is, that's why I said I'd rather people focused on the shading (and hair lines/shading too, I guess) instead of the body's lines. I made it for the sole purpose of posting it here so that maybe you all could help me understand dithering a lot better, so I can get good at shading essentially..

[EyeCraft]

Your palette doesn't have enough range in my opinion. Make sure you're covering all of the value scale. Once you have a good amount of range in the colours it's a lot easier to clearly block in your shadows/highlights and define the form. From there it's pretty straight forward to use dithering for half-tones:



Make sure to continuously check your verticals, horizontals and diagonals when drawing from reference. Face feels distorted, primarily around the nose/brow area. Torso needs a bit of work also.

EDIT: Hmm coming back and looking at this after a few hours I see my edit has planet of the apes face. Oh well...

[EvilEye]

I think its generally a bad idea to use reference the body and not the face. I agree with happymonster that the head looks slightly small in comparison with the body.

I also don't understand the feet, and why she looks like she is standing on her toes.

As for the colors, you have too few colors for the skin. You should have at least 5 shades of skin tone. Your only using about 3-4 and the pink's don't really belong, they are far too saturated. I am surprised EyeCraft didn't give you a color edit

[Soleil]

That's the lady that my image is based off of, though not the same images (her head being turned more in the second image being one reason). Head's not drawn too small. Not going for her skin tone either, just using her body size as a reference point.



Anyway, I'm trying to work with the least amount of colors I can get, but still keeping vibrant colors to make it look good, so if you all would be able to suggest better hue variations, I'd like that. Currently I've been working on a 'web' palette for the colors, so, again, if you would be able to suggest a better selection of colors and keep it below 22 for hair and skin, then I'll be more than happy to change the colors.

About the feet, she'll have heels eventually, so that's why there's a tip-toe look.

On to the face, as a couple doll people do (the one's who aren't hip enough to make up their own drawings) the face isn't an exact copy of the reference..so facially, while her eyes, nose and mouth are placed exactly where the reference's would be according to scaling, they're different shapes.

About the skintone, again, like I said, I'll be glad to change it up, but would you have any suggestions on what colors would be a wiser selection for a limited amount of colors? (I personally would love to find a way to work in 16 colors, but meh)

Also EyeCraft, I'm pretty sure your edit would look fine without the intense "I'm old" cheekbones    (Y)

And then finally to reiterate, the CC I'm asking for isn't on the lines, but the shading inside them; that currently being on her face, of course.

[Gil]

The head is not the problem, it's the hair. It looks like the hair is just hugging the head shape so closely that it makes her head look really small. I also advice you to listen to the crits in this thread more. People will not be helping you with the shading if the lines aren't satisfactory.

I'd drop the dither btw, it looks way too grainy. Skin dithering only works with very smooth palettes, yours is pretty rough.

[Soleil]

The head is not the problem, it's the hair. It looks like the hair is just hugging the head shape so closely that it makes her head look really small. I also advice you to listen to the crits in this thread more. People will not be helping you with the shading if the lines aren't satisfactory.

I'd drop the dither btw, it looks way too grainy. Skin dithering only works with very smooth palettes, yours is pretty rough.

Oh I see, so it's the hair and not the head. That's a bit more understandable, thanks for that.  Also, okay then if dithering is not an appropriate shading style for as small a palette as that, then I will just have to forego my wishes on the limited palette idea, and simply add more smooth effect to it's color choices. As stated prior, I really want to shade this with dithering, so I won't not dither, I'll just get more colors. If the lines are messy or sommat, I would like then, to know what I should fix on them as well.

Yours has been the most clear CC I've gotten so far though :|

But okay! I will update after work with a better palette and see if you guys find that more acceptable to dithering styles. I would like to know about the lines as well, so if you guys want to comment on those and tell me how to fix them, I will be glad to

[EvilEye]

I still say the head is slightly too small. I measured it compared to the reference pic and I'd say its about 1/5 too small. Not much but its noticeable.

The reference is one of those starving models So emaciated she has no figure to speak of. Just doesn't look natural in my opinion.

Anyway I did an edit of the head where I made it a little larger.

[Soleil]

Well gee, show me up why don't ya

That looks so much better than mine I now feel like I've gotta go redo everything, shucks. Ok, so then, when I repost the palette after work, I'll repost an edited head along with the palette and see what you all think about it..

[Ai]

I should just point out that the rightmost of your reference images is definitely airbrushed, and the middle probably is airbrushed. As the difference in body shape before/after airbrushing can be fairly extreme, I think you need to select references that you can verify are un-airbrushed.

[EyeCraft]

Yeah I actually tweaked the colours in my edit to give more contrast and yellower highlights and purpler hues, but I didn't really mention it.

[Soleil]

I should just point out that the rightmost of your reference images is definitely airbrushed, and the middle probably is airbrushed. As the difference in body shape before/after airbrushing can be fairly extreme, I think you need to select references that you can verify are un-airbrushed.

Hehe, they're not my ref images, just images of the girl from the original reference image, wherever that went to.