I need a bit of help with my drawing, and this is about as far as I get with drawings and I want this one colored so if you know how then tell, me please, but my limitations are gale, and gimp... So this is what I got so far.


Any advice, critique, or help is very appreciated

thank you and have a nice day.

The neck feels obsured- I can't even make out any lines to show where it is.

Her left arm is a bit too strange- I'm feeling like it is small. Whatever area is shown in the right arm makes it seem larger. Try to see if the angle of the elbow is correct- there's some iffiness there as well.
I can just see that if her arm is straight, it wouldn't seem as right as it should, compared to other body proportions

Coat/scar/cloak thing DOES NOT feel as fleshed out and done as well as it could have.

The angle of the picture gives the slightly sideways look, and the thing covering her eyes has an arc that makes it seem like she's not turning in that direction.

SWORD IS NOT STRAIGHT. A minor detail, but it feels honestly easy to correct. Try to straighten it out; the fact that it seems easy to correct and didn't is noteworthy
Nor does it seem a proper length. I don't know what you're going for, but it feels like a long dagger/short sword right now,

The size of the legs are noticeably different, although the fact that the picture is cut off might have something to do with it.

Overall, the usage of pixels in this picture, use of gale noticeably, are notable. It doesn't really work out well with the picture; all edges are hard and rough, and the natural wrinkles at the bottom of her shirt/skirt are way too noticeable and doesn't seem smooth, as much as it should have.

Is the head a bit big? Just thinking.

The hair feels blah, especially with the gale pixelling. Not as flowing as much as frozen in air and sticking out.

The shoulders are not done particularly right. A shoulder is roughly the length of another head across, and hers obviously does not follow that.
This may be anime, but in the end some body proportions must still be followed.

That's all the criticism I could find.

Ahhh, thanks, for some reason, the picture itself in real life compared to this one, makes the one on paper fatter, and I did the threshold on gimp and eased it out with the pencil tool since there was no antialising to begin with, her head is turned a bit down to her right, and the picture was really big so I shrunk it so it may be bit weird... I'm not good editing pictures so I'm gonna just post it right from the scanner and see if it's any better...
http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/967/scan0001ig.jpg

Thank you and have a nice day!

That about covers it all to a tea. If you're going to practice your drawing. I'd suggest you go back with the pencil and paper. Using a tablet or mspaint pencil tool is not a good way to learn how to do proportions. You must first learn the proportions, then try hard stunts like that. If you so desire you could always scan a penciled drawing to the computer and then outline it. I prefer Paint.net, it's free and easy to learn.

I'd suggest using references when you draw, if you're not sure of something, grab a ruler. And if you need to, put the paper up to your screen and compare things.

references are like training wheels for coming artists. It's a tool I still use today.

You should start with an underdrawing. A ball-joint figure helps with proportions and it makes it easier to frame the character with the page. Do it lightly that you can erase it later or with blue colored pencil that you can digitaly remove after you scanned it to the computer.

Ahh, i'll try that, I tried not to do that body frame thing because it always left this really dark makes everywhere one I erased it... So I tried it without, and again and each of them are improving in proportions, so I'll see how the framework goes then if it isn't worth it I'll go back, thanks for the advice though, very helpful, I almost forgot about it, heheh .

Thank you and have a nice day!

i tried again using the body frame thing and the person again, seems really skinny after scanning... I've colored it and have gone for a cartoony type or whatever...

Thank you and have a nice day!

I rather like it much better; it feels more real and a bit less pixillated- the pixel takes away the immerison.

The new version has darker tones, which helps with the immersion into the picture- the bright anime hair outs it as anime, while the darker tone maybe helps it to seem more realish- there are not that many bright colors in real life.

Noticeably, the breasts and chest area is less defined. Even though it was sorta weird/lumpy in the first picture, at least it was noticeable and THERE. in this picture, the picture's more front view, but the breasts lose a bit of their presence.

The right side of the curve thing covering the eyes is a bit unbalanced, especially considering that the picture is slightly more front view.

Also, you should try to make the legs cleaner- the messiness and maybe grittiness of the lines word for the hair and especially the cloak, but not well for actual body and skin.
Same thing with the bottom wrinkles of the skirt- less messiness, but a more flowing action helps. It's still better than the pixel version though.

Thanks a bunch for the critique, I decided to re-do the chest area and make the dress, a bit more intricate.



is this any better?

I'm not sure how to start so I did an "edit" (?) version.



Hopefully this can help, since I'm very bad at explaining. But I really recommend getting either GIMP/Photoshop/SAI for their vector tools, (considering you don't draw by hand if I'm not wrong) and then get some reference whenever drawing something

Or you could check this out:
http://rpgmaker.net/articles/183/ <_<;

Wow that, simply amazing, and I do draw these by hand then go to Gimp and do a Gaussian blur of 6 pixels then I do the threshold, and I color... Did you draw that by hand then scan it, or just do it on a computer? I'll check the link you gave, thanks this did really help.

Thank you and have a nice day!

Edit: Geez, the link you gave was INCREDIBLE, it gave a bunch of advice and it has inspired me to continue, so I will finish a "Bust" or portrait and post it here when I'm finished, thank's again, this is most helpful post I've ever gotten. I'm working on the drawing and I picked up a few techniques from your drawing, the hair details and patterns and I used a reference for the scarf, and it may look copied but there were a lot of things that needed improving, I'm probably not going to continue to draw like this but the things I leaned from the drawing will probably stay with me, I'm not sure if I'm making sense though...

I'm just going to put in some sketches and stuff, nothing major, it should have been obvious but I just need to get better at drawing before I do a stunt like coloring and outlining.


Thank you and have a nice day!

That's the spirit. But.. Make sure you're outlining and not doing the whole Gimp threshold stuff to make a fake outline. I know sometimes you don't feel like redrawing the whole thing with the line tool, but usually the long way to do things is the best way, and the most pleasing to the eyes. Taking shortcuts won't work with Art, at least it hasn't for me. Take as much time as you need to, and use that eraser if it don't look right.

And please.. if you're going to use anything, don't use GIMP.. It's way too hard to work with. Go here http://www.getpaint.net/download.html#download It's well worth it.

AH, thanks for the link, but I've already dowloaded and intalled it, I'm just learning how to use it now... And I know the short cut isn't the best way, but I was trying it out, it didn't really work... And I'd like to find out how to do such an exellent outline... I'm updating pictures of this person for my game, and the goddess is the only one I need to draw so I'm just gonna draw her...

Thank you and have a nice day!

First full drawn picture, gave her a giant pole ax for no reason im-particular...


Thank you and have a nice day!

I decided to stop drawing till summer, then I got bored and decided to color it too. any critique?


Thank you and have a nice day!

I don't know if you mentioned it anywhere else but do you have a tablet? If not then you should think about getting one. Wacom has some cheap (but very functional) ones for less than $100.

With pressure sensitivity on a tablet you can play around with line width when you ink your drawings. Accenting lines when they're closer to the viewer, making them thinner when an object is farther away, etc. Changing up the weight of your lines can make your drawings much more expressive and pleasing to the eye. Drawing with a mouse just can't compare because all lines are the same width, which makes drawings incredibly boring.

I don't get her pose. If she was leaning back like that, wouldn't she be falling? It looks very awkward and unnatural. I won't comment on the colouring (though the shine in her hair seems arbitrarily placed) but she's very skinny and her legs looks like twigs!

oh, well my family is having financial problem along with most other people so a tablet would be nice, I just won't be able to get my hands on one anytime soon, I forgot to mention that I draw at an angle, and I have a sketch book, so I guess I should have tilted it until It was straight, I'm not sure what arbitarily placed means, sorry about the legs, sometimes I space out and just don't notice these things heheh, and coloring and drawing isn't that boring for me even though I dont' have a tablet, and the skinny thing, i don't know but I just didn't feel like redoing the skeletal frame for her. thanks for the criticism for this, my hands seem to be slowly improving, and I spend a few days learning up on the eyes and the different varieties and stuff, and the hair and face, I came up with 3 different head shapes...

First sideview, I used a reference to see how the facial features looked from a sideview... Any comments, I think there is something wrong with it but I just can't put my finger on it

Thank you and have a nice day!

Looks very nice :)
The hair meeting above the forehead- the meeting point should be more to the left, also the mouth is too far from the chin.

the mouth and lips look weird; they;re just a bit weird and stright and whatnot shit. Everything else is rather likeable, sharp and clean lines. I recommend just looking at some manga of someone sideways. It's rather a simple thing that just needs some practice.

Cool, I guess paint.net's line tool is good.


I used that as a reference and I flipped it horizontally.

Anyway, thanks for the comments, I'll try and come up with another drawing soon.

Thank you and have a nice _______

I drew this in 20 minutes, and I coloured it, uhhmmm, for who knows how long... I'm having some problems with the hair shine, I'm not really sure how to do them, it's puzzling...


Thank you and have a nice day!

Okay, so aside from the hairshine that you've acknowledged, it's looking REALLY good.

Like seriously, over the course of this thread you've improved shit tons y'know... I even like how you've given it a thicker outline, I love things like that.

Although I have to ask, why doesn't she have that metal visor thing on?

Oh, thanks for the comments, I'm glad I've been making some progress (thank the lord) and the reason she doesn't have the visor thing on is because of two reasons...
I don't want people to think I can't draw anime eyes, which is really important because you can't have everyone wearing something over their eyes.
This might sound a bit bad, but in the night these thoughts keep popping into my head, I don't work on it at all through the day, but it just develops anyways... I've basically already have a somewhat sequel to dryads, I've stored away as much as I can so I could finish dryads first though, and in the sequel, she loses her godly abilities and doesn't need the visor anymore...

Thank you and have a nice day!

Personally, I think the thicker outline looks a little off and a little unnecessary. :x To me, when it comes to anime-styled drawings, bigger eyes = more childish. So unless she's supposed to be like.. 10, I suggest making them smaller. As for the hair highlights/"hairshine", have you tried looking at references? There's plenty out there. Just google some anime girl references and you should be good to go.

Yeah, I know about the eyes and stuff, but I didn't really have much of an idea of what I was drawing so I just drew it, I'm not sure on how old the character really is, but it seems to linger from either like 40, or around the late teens, and I guess i was going for a more, cartoony style...
I've already tried google and that stuff, I'm just not getting any patterns from the pictures to implement to my art...

Tnhak you and hvae a ncie day!

Thank you and have a nice day!

Your coloring is very soft and blended, but still minimal, like the cel-shading in most anime or cartoons. The thing to keep in mind is that they use a single color that contrasts sharply with the base color, making it pop. You have shades that are very similar blended together, and it only serves to make the picture more muddied.

Here's an example of what I'm trying to say.

Also, the iris of her eye is HUGE. I would make them quite a bit smaller, so she can have some white in her eye as well.

So something like this?

I don't like the face structure at all, and the eyes bother me. Also I tried using the tutorial... It helped a bit, but it got a bit hard to follow when I'm using a different program x.x I'm not getting how to make the iris smaller, I just learned one way to draw the eyes, how could I incorporate more white into the eyes?

Thank you and have a nice day!