As you wish master breathofire,
Overall lets break down both sprites seperately starting with the first of two sprites;
BreathofFire Wrote:
The first thing that must be noted is that you are going for what is assumed as a chibi styled character, whether you are erring on a more proportional versus non-proportional chibi is not readily available through it's presentation, arguably an issue in itself but I digress. Thus the first thing that comes across to my eye as off is the proportions. This is something that most people that do chibi styles has issues with and will take a few attempts to iron out the majority of the issues.
The majority of the proportions aren't too out of tempo with each other, the most notable being the size o the hands in relation to the feet, as well as the thighs, and to much of the rest of the body. The waist size in relation to the shoulders, ribcage has no definition etc.
Now that the armature of the sprite is more or less discussed, the next issue is the clothing, most of it is drawn super form fitting (which isn't necessarily a bad thing) however it doesn't have any creasing, or believable weight to it, it just seems like its colored on top of the body shape as opposed to hanging on the body shape. This is especially evident in the way the skirt conforms to the body. The flow of the shirt is not a bad thing, however could use for some additional ceases as well as more curvature to put greater emphasis in its motion from the direction you assume the wind to be blowing through.
The coloring of the clothes are also noticeable because it appears readily that you used three layers, a main armature for the body and at least on per clothing article (maybe even another for the facial details and one more for the hair) which is glaringly in contrast to the whole piece. There are many ways to do shearing effects, however if you use a layered approach try to err so that it is more opaque than transparent. Otherwise you can do a dithering effect that thickens towards edges and lightens towards the area you want to appear sheared.
On a side note, pay attention to where your lighting source is so that you do not pillow shade or symmetrically shade, as is the case with both hands.
The face isn't bad you did a good job of keeping the features smoothed out without using dark lines, which brings me to the final point i already brought up in the previous post. The easiest way to stop the glaring contrasts with the outer lines are varied, but the most common methods are the single line, two lined, and multi-lined approach. Single line approach usually uses the outer lines with one common color relevant to all the other colors (if you are working with a limited pallette, 8, 16, 32 this tends to be easier). The two lined method is one solid colored outline, while the other individual guide lines are just darker versions of the color they surround. An example would be a dark brown that surrounds the brown hair, and a dark blue that surrounds the blue skirt, while the absolute outer line would be one color (in your case black). Multi lined approach is the same without the single colored extreme outline.
Other than that be weary of where your source lighting is so that your highlights and shadows are in the proper places and consistant.
Lastly I forgot to mention that the hair (while nice and flowing) needs to be redrawn in how it connects to the head it appears to be something that is not fully attachd to the head, nor does it fully conform to it.
The things I like;
The hair movement is more or less good
The movement in the upper garment piece
The hair ornaments add a lot to the hair while not being too complex
The things I don't like;
Dark outer lines
Wonky arm/hand proportions
Skirt going in opposite direction to everything else
Things to improve;
The way clothes hang on parts of the body, but stay off of others, this is important for establishing where lighting should go, where folds should go, how movement in clothing should be dictated etc.
Additional readings;
How to draw manga; female figure Chapter 11 (clothing) (2nd edition, ill try and find a public use version)
Anything on source lighting should be helpfull
Posemaniacs for understanding muscles,
Any anatomy sites for muscle and skeleton studies
BreathofFire Wrote:
Much of the above will still apply. However since most of what I wanted covered is in the first section I'll be brief ( I will also keep in mind that its best quality re-sampling as opposed to by nearest neighbor so coloring and shading is suspect)
First thing that comes across is the symmetry. This is easier as an artist, I know how tempting it is, but once you get the hang of the human body it doesn't hold up as well. The curves aren't in the right place, arms are mostly straight, no joints, shoulders, elbows, wrists, same in the legs. There is a lack of ribcage and midriff. The clothing is very form-fitting however in this case the torso piece seems to work as a bustier/corset styled piece. The shading is symmetrical as well.
Face isn't bad but there is a recess along the eyes, the carries across where the bridge of the nose would be.
Once again the hair blurb applies here.
Anyway just a quick appraisal of things. Feels a lot less natural typing it up as opposed to talking face to face or in instant messaging settings but that is the majority of the feed back I have.
