Looking for advice about my comic style.

[Lissou]

Hey guys

I have a webcomic idea I've been working on since 2006. Every so often I've let it go to the side, only to come back to it and work on it some more. On a couple of those occasions, I've reworked the art style, mostly to simplify it because when I started working on it, each page took at least a month of constant work, and that is not sustainable.

I realised recently that the way I simplified the hands (big blobs) just wasn't working for me. So I've been trying new methods. You'll quickly notice that the comic is vector art and has similarities with OOTS, especially now that it has gone through several stages of simplification. I welcome any input on the artstyle, really, but my main question is actually about the hands. I gave them a few tries, ending up with the OOTS-style trident. I can see why he picked that, since it seems the most simple while versatile option, however I'm not sure which works best with the rest of my art. Any comment would be appreciated.

http://i.imgur.com/9laQsOB.png

I'm only showing one hand because the other one would be mirrored.

Honestly I'm not 100% happy with any of those but I'm drawing a blank. They all look better than my previous hands, which were basically triangles rounded at the edges with no visible fingers. My attempt to add more fingers (other than the thumb) looked pretty horrible so I think I'm stuck at either 3 or 4 fingers maximum.

Comments on the rest of the design are welcome, as I'm still tweaking everything.

Thanks everyone :)

[Grinner]

Going from left to right, I agree that the OOTS-style trident of #1 doesn't really mesh with your art style.

#2, for that very reason, doesn't quite work either.

#4 reminds me of mittens and is a little bizarre. That said, I think it's workable.

#3 is probably my favorite. Having actual digits, it doesn't give me the willies like #4, and it retains the simplicity of #1. My only concern is that while it looks fine in that position, would you be able to draw it in other positions as well?

Edit: On second thought, #2 might look a bit better if the digits curved inward rather than outward. I'm not sure if they would look good enough to beat out #3 and #4, but it's something worth considering.

[Lissou]

Thanks for your feedback! I took it into account and then realised that my problem was that I wanted to include a thumb, but there was no palm. It became obvious when I tried to draw hands from different angles. I ended up with a new design I'm very happy with (I also decided to change the outlines to darker versions of whatever they're outlining rather than black). Here is the result (with a hand facing the other way as well):

http://i.imgur.com/3KYwXqA.png

Now my issue is the mouth, which looks a bit weird to me, advice on that would be welcome, although maybe if I sleep on it, it'll look better in the morning.

[AdmiralCheez]

Now my issue is the mouth, which looks a bit weird to me, advice on that would be welcome, although maybe if I sleep on it, it'll look better in the morning.

The overall shape looks fine to me. Try adding a tongue or teeth to the inside, and see how that looks.

[Lissou]

I ended up just making the inside of the mouth look the same colour as the outline. I think it looks good.

http://i.imgur.com/8INGBQL.png

[Domochevsky]

Hm... that does bring the problem with it of looking vaguely toothless, which may not be what you're after. :smallsmile:
(It is easier, of course.)

[Lissou]

I don't have a problem with it, honestly, not that many comic styles draw teeth at all, especially the simple ones. I can always add teeth when it's relevant. But thanks for pointing that out :)