New artist. Critique me.

[[Insert Neat Username Here]]

I recently started drawing OOTS style. This is one of my first drawings. I made it using Sodipodi. What do you think?http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x299/Insert_Neat_Username_Here/Cleric1.png
I also made my avatar. Comments on that are also welcome.

[Raistlin1040]

Be thankful. I have to make do with...Paint. *shudders*

[The Neoclassic]

They're actually fairly good. I've seen better, but that's from people who've been practicing for a very long time. For first attempts, very nice job. :smallsmile:

[Simius]

Looks pretty good. Some constructive critique (what a beautiful word, isn't it?) :

-Smaller body. Much smaller.
-Longer arms and legs. Longer feet (try to make the angle between leg and foot more defined)
-The open mouth is difficult to get right. Look at the giants work closely, and try to imitate it.
-If you're planning to resize it to avatar size, you'll need thicker lines. (in that case, the necklace will be pretty invisible too. Either make it bigger, simpler, or remove it altogether.)

good luck

[[Insert Neat Username Here]]

Looks pretty good. Some constructive critique (what a beautiful word, isn't it?) :

-Smaller body. Much smaller.
-Longer arms and legs. Longer feet (try to make the angle between leg and foot more defined)
-The open mouth is difficult to get right. Look at the giants work closely, and try to imitate it.
-If you're planning to resize it to avatar size, you'll need thicker lines. (in that case, the necklace will be pretty invisible too. Either make it bigger, simpler, or remove it altogether.)

good luck

-Thanks for the body and leg advice.
-Is the problem with the mouth that the line coming off of the top is too thin? That's what it looks like to me.
-Yes, the thicker lines will be useful. I've been procrastinating about fixing that on my current avatar.

Thanks.

EDIT: I applied your advice to my avatar.
original:http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x299/Insert_Neat_Username_Here/GIFCavatarsized.gif
new:http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x299/Insert_Neat_Username_Here/GIFCcritiquedbysimius.gif
Is the new one better?

[MrEdwardNigma]

If I knew anything about avatar making, I'd say the new version looks much better than the last one. But I don't, so I'm just gonna shut up...

[Castaras]

It might just be me, but the feet need to be thicker.

Otherwise, looking good there!

[onasuma]

Dont give in to small bodies! Join the revolution (of just me)!

[[Insert Neat Username Here]]

Most people preferred the more recent version, so I changed my avatar and will draw that way from now on. Thanks, everyone!

[averagejoe]

I like the cleric, but the symbol on his chest is too flat, to the point of making it somewhat visually confusing. Also, because of its position relative to his belt buckle, it makes the symbol look like it's on the side of his shirt. I'm not sure if 3-d techniques would be an appropriate fix (cuz it's a stick avatar,) but that would certainly be a start.

[Ego Slayer]

It might just be me, but the feet need to be thicker.
Nope, I agree; the boots should be much bigger. Looks like he's wearing socks. =P

Good start, though.

[[Insert Neat Username Here]]

I agree about the shoes; I'm just too lazy to go through every step to change the avatar for just shoes.

I have no idea what to do for the symbol; averagejoe is right; it's too flat, but I can't think of a way to fix it.

EDIT: modified the cleric a bit. I'm not sure about the symbol, but I tried a bit to make it look more like it's on the front of his shirt and he's turned. I also made the changes suggested earlier. Any thoughts?
Old:
http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x299/Insert_Neat_Username_Here/Cleric1.pngNew:http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x299/Insert_Neat_Username_Here/critiquedcleric.png

[Neftren]

Probably do a Square with a Diamond Shape, then make some small white / and \ etchings to make maybe an X shape on the diamond to make it pop out a bit. I'd show you with Illustrator, but I'm not on the right computer at the moment.

[Brickwall]

Move the mouth farther towards the center. And redouble that line thickness.

Holy symbols are always, unfailingly, circles with different-colored centers. Nothing else.
The belt should be higher up. The pants part takes up more of the torso than that.
The hands should be just a bit bigger.
There should only be two line thicknesses: standard and detail. Standard is the one you use for your outline. Detail is half that. In a regular sized drawing, with Inkscape, the thicknesses are 1 and 2.

The line thickness is very important. It makes or breaks the style.

[Ego Slayer]

RE: Line thickness - As someone who can be a bit random with the thickness, the only parts I'd say need to be the same are the main parts. Everything else however... Entirely depends, I'd say. So, with the standards guidelines, find what works best with your style, or what you're drawing. I can use a very, wide range of sizes in a single avatar, so I'll disagree with Bricky on the "only two thicknesses" thing.

Also, on details... for the sake of less editing, don't draw the original avatar so big, and then resize it. Start it at the size you'll be using it as. You'll find that you'll have to make the details, such as the pendant MUCH bigger, else it won't show up when you make it smaller!

[Simius]

RE: Line thickness - As someone who can be a bit random with the thickness, the only parts I'd say need to be the same are the main parts. Everything else however... Entirely depends, I'd say. So, with the standards guidelines, find what works best with your style, or what you're drawing. I can use a very, wide range of sizes in a single avatar, so I'll disagree with Bricky on the "only two thicknesses" thing.

Yep, me too. For smaller details you can use variable line thicknesses, as long you make sure that they're still visible when resized.


Also, on details... for the sake of less editing, don't draw the original avatar so big, and then resize it. Start it at the size you'll be using it as. You'll find that you'll have to make the details, such as the pendant MUCH bigger, else it won't show up when you make it smaller!

Note that not all drawing programs will allow this. The one I use (CorelDRAW) will export at a very low quality when I export a 117 x 117 image. So I usually draw very big and then resize in Irfanview.

[Brickwall]

RE: Line thickness - As someone who can be a bit random with the thickness, the only parts I'd say need to be the same are the main parts. Everything else however... Entirely depends, I'd say. So, with the standards guidelines, find what works best with your style, or what you're drawing. I can use a very, wide range of sizes in a single avatar, so I'll disagree with Bricky on the "only two thicknesses" thing.

Hey, I'm a proponent of trying to get the original style before going into your heretical "changes". Trust me, Rich does limit himself with the exception of:
Zoom-ins
Gradients

As always, I recommend getting the real style, then customizing. And to do that, you gotta limit the line sizes. It forces you to indulge in the artistic simplicity that is the OotS style. And if you can keep that at the heart of the material, you'll be set.

[Ego Slayer]

Note that not all drawing programs will allow this. The one I use (CorelDRAW) will export at a very low quality when I export a 117 x 117 image. So I usually draw very big and then resize in Irfanview.
Well, he said he was using Sodi, which I an not familiar with, but assumed it worked like most other problems.

[SoD]

Grr. I love the work, brilliant for a first try...unfortunatly...I am also on my first attempts........and they're nowhere near that good. All I can suggest would be to keep on working until you're happy with it, and if in doubt...look for stuff in OOTS!

[Hannes]

I can't comment on the avatar, don't know what you should change, but I just wanted to point out that. Estonian products ftw!

[Dallas-Dakota]

I dont know SodiPodi, but its good work for a first attempt.

To give the picture a bit more of a side you should bend the belt a bit, so that it end up a little bit higher on the right side(the right side of the screen), so that you have a gentle curve, you may try the same with symboles, I dont really have much experience with doing sideway-symbols.