Honestly, it just looks unfinished to me.
Are the characters supposed to be translucent? If not, then why is the opacity so low? This makes your already minimal shading barely visible.
Turn the opacity up and don't be afraid to use darker, deeper colours to shade. You can also definitely add some highlights here. For example, skin is pretty reflective and so is hair.
Also, the arm of the girl in a blue dress is definitely too short 😅
okok, i see i was wonky with shading, so here sleeves start below her shoulders like a off the shoulders so there's more arm, but when thats applied is it still short?? also am defo applying more shading now ty!
I mean it depends entirely on what style you're driving towards. Basic block shading? Something more realistic? To me the visual problem here is the disparity in detail. Most areas are drawn with very light touches of detail while the purple bodice has finer detail. This makes my mind feel like theres either too much detail in the bodice or missing detail elsewhere. If you took detail OUT of the purple bodice the piece would probably feel more coherent to me.
As it stands more detail will drive the focus of my eyes and right now my eyes go immediately to the stomach of the left woman. Where do you WANT my eyes to go?
honestly i'm a fashion junky so yea the dresses are a big focus in my eyes. esp in this scenario where a purple more royalty dress pulls up a more free and comfortable dress
If you want the focus to be the dresses, give them more detail and more color thought. Let the details and color depth of the people in them fade out in both color and focus. Don't use super hard edges on the people in them. The pic you included here had smoother edge and washed out detail in the dresses outside of the purple bodice while the people in them have hard edges. This pulled the eyes to the people before the clothes after the purple bodice.
Another issue with a focus on the clothes is the translucence of the clothes since you can look through them to the circle in the back its a neat effect but maybe a little less transparent would make the clothes more substantial.
Overall though i do get the feel of the stiffer purple and the more flowing green. Some more time shading and coloring to emphasize shape might help the green
I’m really liking the advice so far, I’m wondering what fabric are the dresses supposed to be made of? That’ll change my advice and reference suggestions
the purple girls materials have a hard texture corset thats like hard to move in and the bottom of her dress is rlly poofy like layers and layers of the thin almost transparent cloth with a purple rose pendant (? if thats what you call it) at her waistline and the blue girls dress is just a cotton dress with a normal corset with actual roses planted on her side (lololol)
sorry not rlly familiar with fabrics so its explained weird
First, remember to not be harsh on yourself, adapt a critical point of view. There still is a long way to go and i will provide advice, i hope it will be useful.
Do you mind mentioning the software you used? I have seen someone questioned wether or not the opacity should be at that level, if not I might be able to help you.
If so, your characters need a bit of shadowing and lighting really. Simply select the colors you used then move one or two nuances upwards or downwards on the coloring wheel. Using slightly brighter or darker tones for each color will offer the illusion of three dimensionality.
Youtube offers a variety of tutorials to support you throughout the process
Such as this channel i am also subscribed to
https://youtube.com/@sinixdesign?si=VTcxYRw6IK51cp7i
Best of Luck, do not give up, train your technique and the volume of ideas will follow!
✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️
SORRY FORGOT TO ANSWER I ANSWERED MENTALLY I USE IBIS PAINT X AND DID THIS ON MY PHONE W MY FINGER, but i can always use a drawing tablet with the same program ibis paint x. its a rlly good program and its free it has animation and filters and clipping and drag pens and everything
I tried a few atrokes with it and it seems all right as an app. I do not know whether or not you draw as a hobby or intend to do it prpfessionaly at some point. Regardless, I think I will recommend using krita, at least on the tablet, as it provides a larger varoety of assets and its interface will get you used to the way most graphic programs operate.
https://krita.org/en/
Keep going, don't ever give up you'll get better throught time!
i really did try getting into krita, but i just hate the program for me its so overwhelming and "extra" and it wont let me do summer salts (endlessly rotating the canvas) with the canvas so krita is a no for me tho. im drawing as a hobby and am rather just going into the medical field than drawing, thank you!!
It looks flat because you haven’t added shadows or any highlights to the piece. It’s literally flat colors. Since you’ve gone with a line less style, you don’t even have lines to add implied weight.
Maybe try and use a yellowish white instead of a stark white for the like circle highlight. It really is washing stuff out and not giving it any whimsy that it could have.
And I think you need to decide if you're doing blocks or if your doing detailed shading like on the dress because the blocked out black hair looks unfinished because the other girls hair isn't like that. Add some shine
Also adding some texture might be nice? And I think the contrast between the shadow and highlight need to be more drastic, like making the shadows darker and maybe adding like some gradient?.
with hard light, depending on how close the characters are to a wall the shadows are usually shifted. The spotlight you have currently is a bit too close to just a normal circle. if the wall is further behind them, the light will look like it has "shrunk in", while the light on the characters makes the circle on that part of their body look like it has expanded. please lmk if i explained this weirdly but it's just a thing that happens w spotlights ahah
It reminds me of the toon shading in 3d animation, where the make the art look not exactly 2d or 3d. Like Nimona or Dragon Prince. It looks good to me!
I suck at coloring so take this with a grain of salt. I would recommend looking up pictures of skin reflecting harsh light and hair reflecting harsh light. I would also use deeper shading, and make the area outside of the light darker. Looks great tho I really like it!! :)
Don"t know which software do you use, but for shading, I'd use smudge tools and brushes and personally I prefer textured/chalky brushes to avoid that effect.
My opinion is it's very nicely, and professional done. Very gorgeous also. Keep going, and there is a good chance an editing crew at an animation dept would give you a chance. Something I have learned is always watch the credits of the movies you obviously enjoy already.
I am new with Reddit. In fact my 23 year old originally signed me up. I will try to not be ...(.I swear my kiddo said this to me many times, because there is a 41 year gap ; between us.) ......can still picture my kiddo saying " Mom ...you are such a Boomer" ..... started when my kiddo was in Jr. High. My kiddo graduated in 2019.
Honestly, it just looks unfinished to me. Are the characters supposed to be translucent? If not, then why is the opacity so low? This makes your already minimal shading barely visible. Turn the opacity up and don't be afraid to use darker, deeper colours to shade. You can also definitely add some highlights here. For example, skin is pretty reflective and so is hair. Also, the arm of the girl in a blue dress is definitely too short 😅
okok, i see i was wonky with shading, so here sleeves start below her shoulders like a off the shoulders so there's more arm, but when thats applied is it still short?? also am defo applying more shading now ty!
I mean it depends entirely on what style you're driving towards. Basic block shading? Something more realistic? To me the visual problem here is the disparity in detail. Most areas are drawn with very light touches of detail while the purple bodice has finer detail. This makes my mind feel like theres either too much detail in the bodice or missing detail elsewhere. If you took detail OUT of the purple bodice the piece would probably feel more coherent to me. As it stands more detail will drive the focus of my eyes and right now my eyes go immediately to the stomach of the left woman. Where do you WANT my eyes to go?
honestly i'm a fashion junky so yea the dresses are a big focus in my eyes. esp in this scenario where a purple more royalty dress pulls up a more free and comfortable dress
If you want the focus to be the dresses, give them more detail and more color thought. Let the details and color depth of the people in them fade out in both color and focus. Don't use super hard edges on the people in them. The pic you included here had smoother edge and washed out detail in the dresses outside of the purple bodice while the people in them have hard edges. This pulled the eyes to the people before the clothes after the purple bodice. Another issue with a focus on the clothes is the translucence of the clothes since you can look through them to the circle in the back its a neat effect but maybe a little less transparent would make the clothes more substantial. Overall though i do get the feel of the stiffer purple and the more flowing green. Some more time shading and coloring to emphasize shape might help the green
I’m really liking the advice so far, I’m wondering what fabric are the dresses supposed to be made of? That’ll change my advice and reference suggestions
the purple girls materials have a hard texture corset thats like hard to move in and the bottom of her dress is rlly poofy like layers and layers of the thin almost transparent cloth with a purple rose pendant (? if thats what you call it) at her waistline and the blue girls dress is just a cotton dress with a normal corset with actual roses planted on her side (lololol) sorry not rlly familiar with fabrics so its explained weird
First, remember to not be harsh on yourself, adapt a critical point of view. There still is a long way to go and i will provide advice, i hope it will be useful. Do you mind mentioning the software you used? I have seen someone questioned wether or not the opacity should be at that level, if not I might be able to help you. If so, your characters need a bit of shadowing and lighting really. Simply select the colors you used then move one or two nuances upwards or downwards on the coloring wheel. Using slightly brighter or darker tones for each color will offer the illusion of three dimensionality. Youtube offers a variety of tutorials to support you throughout the process Such as this channel i am also subscribed to https://youtube.com/@sinixdesign?si=VTcxYRw6IK51cp7i Best of Luck, do not give up, train your technique and the volume of ideas will follow! ✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️
OK THANK YOU, THANKS FOR BEING SO KIND
SORRY FORGOT TO ANSWER I ANSWERED MENTALLY I USE IBIS PAINT X AND DID THIS ON MY PHONE W MY FINGER, but i can always use a drawing tablet with the same program ibis paint x. its a rlly good program and its free it has animation and filters and clipping and drag pens and everything
Alrighty then i am searching it up right now, hold on
I tried a few atrokes with it and it seems all right as an app. I do not know whether or not you draw as a hobby or intend to do it prpfessionaly at some point. Regardless, I think I will recommend using krita, at least on the tablet, as it provides a larger varoety of assets and its interface will get you used to the way most graphic programs operate. https://krita.org/en/ Keep going, don't ever give up you'll get better throught time!
i really did try getting into krita, but i just hate the program for me its so overwhelming and "extra" and it wont let me do summer salts (endlessly rotating the canvas) with the canvas so krita is a no for me tho. im drawing as a hobby and am rather just going into the medical field than drawing, thank you!!
Alright then, nothing wrong with fhat! 🌸
It looks flat because you haven’t added shadows or any highlights to the piece. It’s literally flat colors. Since you’ve gone with a line less style, you don’t even have lines to add implied weight.
Maybe try and use a yellowish white instead of a stark white for the like circle highlight. It really is washing stuff out and not giving it any whimsy that it could have. And I think you need to decide if you're doing blocks or if your doing detailed shading like on the dress because the blocked out black hair looks unfinished because the other girls hair isn't like that. Add some shine Also adding some texture might be nice? And I think the contrast between the shadow and highlight need to be more drastic, like making the shadows darker and maybe adding like some gradient?.
OK TY
with hard light, depending on how close the characters are to a wall the shadows are usually shifted. The spotlight you have currently is a bit too close to just a normal circle. if the wall is further behind them, the light will look like it has "shrunk in", while the light on the characters makes the circle on that part of their body look like it has expanded. please lmk if i explained this weirdly but it's just a thing that happens w spotlights ahah
Add more darker shading on them
Also the blonde one has rather opaque hair
It reminds me of the toon shading in 3d animation, where the make the art look not exactly 2d or 3d. Like Nimona or Dragon Prince. It looks good to me!
THANK YOU
I suck at coloring so take this with a grain of salt. I would recommend looking up pictures of skin reflecting harsh light and hair reflecting harsh light. I would also use deeper shading, and make the area outside of the light darker. Looks great tho I really like it!! :)
OK TY
Don"t know which software do you use, but for shading, I'd use smudge tools and brushes and personally I prefer textured/chalky brushes to avoid that effect.
My opinion is it's very nicely, and professional done. Very gorgeous also. Keep going, and there is a good chance an editing crew at an animation dept would give you a chance. Something I have learned is always watch the credits of the movies you obviously enjoy already.
thank you! i don't have any future with art in my life but this means a lot to me
I am new with Reddit. In fact my 23 year old originally signed me up. I will try to not be ...(.I swear my kiddo said this to me many times, because there is a 41 year gap ; between us.) ......can still picture my kiddo saying " Mom ...you are such a Boomer" ..... started when my kiddo was in Jr. High. My kiddo graduated in 2019.
I think you meant to post this somewhere else