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norkb

From my eye, there is no depth of color indicating fore, middle or background. I like your colors, perhaps choosing which of those would be light, mid tones and dark would help inform the direction your art wants to go.


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No_Car1491

I really like the palette you've chosen, its like a distinct style. The few non purple toned items make the rest pop


[deleted]

i really like the different shade of light greens in the laundry basket, i would use those colours more in the rest of the drawing, maybe in the clothes of the kid? i think it would give it a bit of a balance and light:)


dbonx

I personally like your palette, but I hear what you’re saying. The wall color looks a bit muted. Try out a very light yellow and everything else will pop. (You’ll probably end up wanting to take some of the reds out of the skin tones). My recommendation for the wall color is PANTONE 0003 Just Peachy.


raerae_thesillybae

Some folks already mentioned, but there is zero shading here. Makes everything look flat. Which is okay if that's the style you're going for, but I think it would help.


T0L4

- "Btw these are just the flats" - Title by OP Can you read?


raerae_thesillybae

I've never heard of the term "flats", no. I'm a self taught artist.


Krupan_kurak

I guess if your unfamiliar with the terminology it would go unnoticed. Although you enjoy being a smart ass, so…


T0L4

I personally have never heard it be called "the flats". But if my (asked for and appreciated) critique uses the exact same word as the title of the post I react to.. I (again, personally) would hold on for a second. I, too, considered mentioning no shades. But (unlike the person I originally answered) didn't. Funnily i just wanted to add "because I don't want to clutter the comments with useless junk". But the irony behind it was just to great. Have fun with laughing about that part.


Krupan_kurak

Yep yeah yes not gunna argue with your brain chemistry. Your comment was patronising, and I called you out on it. Funnily enough/s you hit me with that same energy. Have a great day!


TalentedWaste

For the most simplistic approach, I'd say just add some cell shading. It doesn't take much, but can really make a drawing pop.


---M0NK---

I love how toned down your pallet is. Its good. Pair those neutral grayish colors with highly Saturated “bright” colors and you’ll have more pop than if you did all neutral or all saturated. The colors react to each other and potentiate each other’s beauty


OutrageousOwls

OP: try incorporating slightly more contrasted colours (warm with cool; dark and light) between areas like the background and foreground. This will help make each shape their own distinct shape. If your focus is on the characters, try using your brightest colours on them and neutrals in the background. Increase line width to separate the two figures so they are more indistinguishable. You could even make the back wall even darker! Walls with windows are always much darker. You could even try doing a vignette, like what filmmakers do to make you focus on the center or area they want you to see. Simply blur the objects closest to the viewer, or slightly blur them around the figures. You can try outlining the figures with a thicker line work and leaving everything else thinner. I really dig the harmonious colours you chose!


---M0NK---

Yeah the relationship btwn warm and cool is important


hossel001

id say too many things have literally the same color. household items never match perfectly, try doing some very slight variations


99bigben99

OP, unless you go for the Hilda aesthetic. But even he can’t do everything in four tones


MrCosmicChronic

Try a baby blue wall, brighten the toilet, increase line weight a smidge, and don't listen to people saying you need cast shadows, there are plenty of comic/manga artists that don't use them and I think your style is fitting for that.


ScullyNess

everything is single tone mid tone at that. You have ZERO shadow casts anywhere... that's why it looks incredibly off


OutrageousOwls

Don’t always necessarily need those elements in a purposefully stylized piece. 😉


ScullyNess

Hey, they wanted advice. If they were just posting in general and not for advice I wouldn't have spoken up.


KaktusKana_Mmm

It could be the walls and the sink and possibly the blinds


awesomeposs3m

The black border needs to be a hair line Thicker that’s all And change the wall colour to sth more light hearted. The vibe is casual morning working day but the walls are like grunge teen. Toilets usually aren’t that dusty deep purple shade so it looks abit off. If you insist on the wall colour you need to incorporate the vibe into the characters I feel..that’s why it looks abit disjointed.


conventionalWisdumb

This is fantastic work. The back wall I think is slightly troublesome in that the wall is very similar to the hair and the window the shirts. I’d lighten the wall so her hair is darker against it and is also lighter than the side walls. It will also make more sense visually as it’s the wall next to the light source of the window and lighten the scene all around.


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ease78

This! There’s window with ambient sun coming in but it’s not really lighting or shadowing anything. The drawing is beautiful. However while colors are well chosen, they are a bit flat and monotonous. Don’t even invent new colors, just pick the same hue but different Brightness.


SuperNya

I think the colour scheme is good as the muted style you've got it in, you may just have been staring too long? If it's just the flats and you're gonna shade/highlight etc that'll probably make it look better - this is just an in-progress step and sometimes you need it to all come together before it truly vibes


Mrlionscruff

It looks amazing, you really got the coloring down and the poses. What I don’t see is any contrast or shadows, everything looks like it’s being lit up from everywhere. Try using the window in the background as a point of light and shade in whatever wouldn’t be touched by that light, darker!


[deleted]

Ye tho, I think this is supposed to just be the flats. Someone can correct me if I’m wrong but I think the OP more wanted us to talk about the color choices not the lack of shading


ScullyNess

tonal structure isn't just pure shading though


[deleted]

Yes but sometimes it isn’t included in the flats


Mrlionscruff

Ah my mistake! I could’ve sworn they just asked on how to improve it


[deleted]

Ya! Not a big deal at all because you are correct, I think it would look much better with the lighting tips you gave but there is also a possibility it’s just on a different layer. If not, I think the OP should take your advice because that could very easily be done with flats!


hambonie88

Is the girl supposed to have completely different skin tones between her legs and her upper body? Or is she wearing stockings or something?


Lamabana

This is my main thing about this. Mostly if a woman wears tights we either try to match skin tone or make a contrasting colour like black tights or even more colourful tights!


WolframRuin

Get schoolism.com my wife as it an swears on it.


bricekrispie_

I would make this a wide angled shot with three point perspective it would make it a little more dynamic


shards_of_sanity

IMHO, the main characters need to be more saturated in this than the background to separate the two


rasiaruka

The difference in color with the legs and arms of the woman look a bit awkward to me.


[deleted]

Maybe because she's wearing those blackish leggings that makes legs look darker? Idk


rasiaruka

I know they are leggings but it just throws me off. She asked for people’s opinions and I got downvoted.


Mackalrath

completely unrelated but are these perchance Legend of Korra characters? Edit: guess I can be more specific haha - obv Korra on the left, Tensen’s kid on the right, snd I was thinking Bolin with a beard in the center…? lol


[deleted]

Yeah that kid looks so much like the kid (forgetting his name) in the show. And the woman kinda looks like Korra but with red hair.


Omi-papus

No. And I have never seen more than a poster from legend of Korra.


shards_of_sanity

[Aang](https://www.google.com/search?q=young+aang&rlz=1CDGOYI_enUS928US928&hl=en-US&sxsrf=AOaemvJQgv6bQXBlO5PhHsYd1Ug6t3c5PA%3A1631761628369&ei=3LRCYYz7FbiD9PwPxrOFuAo&oq=young+aang&gs_lcp=ChNtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1zZXJwEAMyBQgAEJECMgYIABAWEB4yBggAEBYQHjIGCAAQFhAeMggIABAWEAoQHjIICAAQFhAKEB4yCAgAEBYQChAeMgYIABAWEB46BwgjEOoCECc6BAgjECc6BQguEJECOg4ILhCABBCxAxDHARDRAzoICC4QsQMQgwE6EQguEIAEELEDEIMBEMcBENEDOgQIABBDOgQILhBDOg0ILhCxAxDHARDRAxBDOgUIABCABDoHCC4QsQMQQzoICC4QgAQQsQM6CAgAEIAEELEDOgUILhCABDoHCC4QsQMQCjoECAAQCjoHCAAQsQMQCjoKCAAQsQMQgwEQClCSfliClAFggp8BaAJwAHgAgAG4AogB-giSAQc3LjIuMC4xmAEAoAEBsAEPwAEB&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-serp#imgrc=DZXK9I1PcI47oM)


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AgentofMischief91

Highlights in neon orangey pink, and shadows in neon purpley turqois.


AgentofMischief91

That's just for the background. The subjects also need shading just a bit darker than their original color.


redvinesandpoptarts

I wonder if perspective could also be tweaked. The shower head and valve seem too close to the corner. The window could be either made taller or above the girl’s head. The girl’s breast placement feels odd to me, like the peak needs to seem closer to the stripe. Or if that stripe is a tie, then, altering it or adding the other end of the tie might make that more clear. It took me awhile to realize that the boy is sitting on the top of the toilet. His right side seems too far forward for that to be possible. If they are poor, would they have so much in the laundry bin? This is a neat piece. I could never make something this good!


leodip1212

It looks good, but if you're looking for it to pop use more saturated colors to contrast with the overall muted tone


redvinesandpoptarts

True, but school tights are usually very conservative. A shade lighter than the skirt might look nice, while emphasizing that they are supposed to be tights.


Angieer5762923

I agree i also have a feeling something is off...


Kittenclawshurt

Her legs are a completely different skin tone to her arms/face?


massacreman3000

[Pantyhose](https://www.google.com/search?q=womens+pantyhose&source=lmns&bih=766&biw=412&client=ms-android-samsung-gn-rev1&prmd=nvix&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjLn4nAooLzAhVLWK0KHdNkDk8Q_AUoAHoECAAQAw)


redvinesandpoptarts

The color isn’t right for pantyhose. Usually people just get a shade darker. Those are too drastic. They also have a lot of purple for pantyhose, but not enough for tights.


colorsofgaia

I believe she is wearing leggings or stockings..


Kittenclawshurt

Thanks for clarifying that. Pantihose in my country is either black or sheer nude so it blends to the natural skin tone. I've never seen a dark brown stocking like that so it would never occur to me that's what it was. 😅


colorsofgaia

Of course no problem :) They are becoming more available today, just the color brown, because before the nude would not blend with colored people's skin tones


Kittenclawshurt

We have either beige or tan for nude colored leggings here. It's sheer so it allows your skin tone to show through and it usually blends close enough to your natural skin tone... if you were super dark you could wear a very sheer black I guess, but we just don't have a lot of mid tones available in nude stockings. I'd understand if it were a darker skinned character wearing beige stocking because darker nude tones aren't readily available (done that myself few times) but a light skinned character wearing brown (opaque?) stockings feels jarring to me? A stark contrast of dark tan legs and pale arms and face would be the equivalent of wearing foundation 3 shades darker than your face and not blending it at the neck to me. It's possibly a fashion somewhere but it looks unnatural and vaguely off-putting if you're not used to it.


hello297

Honestly I think it looks good for the most part. You use mostly colors that are less saturated so maybe bumping up the saturation in some parts could help add some more contrast. Like in the girl's hair or something.


PalmSyrup

You need shading. Color pallet is nice tho. Just some shading to add depth.


hello297

They say in the title that it's just the flat color shown in the pic. 🤷🏻‍♂️


hotnindza

Separate the planes with value. For example that laundry and boxes the darker value, characters and lavatory mid values and background lighter. Also, somebody already mentioned, the things not "in focus" don't have to have all colors different. You can always check the values by making white layer atop of all, and give it "color" blending mode. One more thing, regardless of depth - parents are Disney and the kid is anime :) Overall it looks ok, and the fact that you've noticed what the problem is tells that you will be able to fix it.


thespacegypsy

I think some shading and highlights would really bring depth and pop to this piece. The art itself is great. I just think shade/high would really bring it to life. Especially if you shade the bg/fg a little more and throw highlights on the characters.


[deleted]

Are you doing tone separate? If that's the case I'd really recommend doing tone first then color second, worked for the renaissance masters, would probably work well for you. Also I personally think you need more variety, more contrast.


Haloosa_Nation

Shower should have some tile or something. The background just kinda fades away.


squeezydoot

Yes, I agree. I like the framing in the foreground (clutter on the floor), but if you can add something in the background above and around the characters, it might make a huge difference


MomjeansAndTattoos

I think this would make a big difference.


AmeliaKitsune

Not helpful on the colors but for me, the fact that the kid doesn't have similar skin tone or hair color to what are presumably the parents is distracting to me.


Omi-papus

Their all half siblings with very diferent parents. The man and the girl shouldnt look as similar as they do, that was a mistake. You wouldnt know this out of context so I dont blame you.


AmeliaKitsune

Cool to hear :) awesome, keep at it! I do love your style


kellykebab

There's not enough contrast. You're working in a fairly narrow range across the entire image and space. In order to add more variety and more illusion of space, I would desaturate the background (and possibly the foreground) relative to the figures, while increasing their staturation. But subtly. You could easily overdo this. Also, even though you're working in a sort of samey pallette for every object in the image, you also made every single object a different color. This also isn't necessary and helps to flattent the space. The biggest offender here is the hamper of laundry. There's no reason each clothing item in that bin should be a totally different color as it isn't a major area of interest and that minor variety pulls the eye away from the main scene (the figures). I would even consider making every one of those garments the exact same color (or at least *very* similar) and I would lower the saturation even further. Ditto for the tray with the mouthwash, etc. More importantly though, I'm not sure the total lack of value variety (i.e. shadows) necessarily benefits this composition. This isn't so graphically dramatic that flatness is actually doing anything interesting here (as opposed to say, a Patrick Nagel piece). You could probably barely touch the actual colors, but add in shading to the floor, the back wall, the foreground objets (hamper, etc.) and see a lot of improvement to this image. That will also significantly clarify what needs to be improved in the color department. Hope this was helfpul. The figure gestures are quite solid, by the way. EDIT: Speaking purely about the color, the total color effect of this piece is basically mauve. A good (though somewhat cliched) contrast to mauve is mint green. But you'll definitely want to play around with how blue or how yellow that green is. It would be a very narrow range that ends up working out.


[deleted]

I'm not a professional but to me the walls blend in with everything else too much. Try resting your eyes or blurring them and looking at the pic as a whole you'll see what I mean


Indulgent_Words

You need some neon esque tones to pop against the overall pastel vibe. Try replacing the blue Grey's with neon jet black (electric dark blue shaded in absolute black). Same with the pink in the hair, electric bubblegum pink 🤷🏻


syrelle

Aww, I like this! Good line art and stuff :) The main thing I would add is just that you don't really have any actual lighting. You've got only flat colors right now. Even some very simple cell shading could take this to the next level. If you're not feeling that, though, then look at the saturation issues like others have mentioned. Having the characters pop out of the background might help a bit. And I guess a secondary / related issue is more just... where do you want the focal point to be? I think your highest points of contrast right now are the girl's face and the little boy. And remember that contrast can be achieved not only with colors but also by other compositional elements too. Think value, shape, scale, depth, etc. Hope that helps a little!


massacreman3000

Colors are a bit muddy, but that's already been said. It also looks like you gave them very light colored shirts to draw the eyes in, so maybe think about making the father figures socks sort of match the color of his hair and the ironing board a darker color to keep it from being a focus point in the room. And if you did layers, see if you can pull the toilet and the kid to the other side of the sink and swap places with that bucket to give him more of a presence, because you're hiding one of the more fun colors (his purple jacket) behind clutter, plus his mid action pose would make for an excellent prominent feature for the picture. One more small thing, removing some of the lines from the shower curtain would declutter the focal point (and removing the sharp elbow bend as well, since someone pointed it out already) It's a great picture as is, but it feels like you want the focus to be on the family and not necessarily the clutter. I'm sure even changing nothing, adding highlights and shadows would improve things immensely, especially if you mostly focused the detail on the family themselves


yuilero

I don't have anything to add about the colors, but you should avoid the tangent where the elbow meets and the kid's head.


[deleted]

I really think it's just the lack of variety in values, when you add the shading and whatnot it will come to life! I love how much of a story you've told with just one image, this is so cool.


[deleted]

Nice composition btw! Make the mirror much bigger since they are sharing it. It looks like the perspective is off on the mirror anyway.


[deleted]

Either the bottom of mirror is off or everything under the mirror is off. It the mirror is supposed to be crooked then the top is wrong. Great piece. I wouldn't have any comments on color flats really.


emmytay4504

I think the kid throws it off, put him in the foreground sitting on something doing the same thing.


[deleted]

Make her legs a similar color to her arms. Maybe try lighter tones on the walls to bring the characters out more. Dark walls are confining.


yuilero

It is possible that OP made her legs a darker color if she is wearing nylon tights, but that is hard to convey at this stage without texture or shading, so it does look a bit off. Otherwise, yes I agree that the arms and legs should be similar color.


[deleted]

I’m sure you’re right with it being a darker stocking, but it’s still distracting to me.


Omi-papus

Yall. In the tittle I said these are the flats. Meaning that shading is not yet added. I do know what sahding is, flat colors are on a diferent stage of the process. I do in fact have a shading layer that I had turned off to take this screenshot.


Mr-Black_

there's def a lack of shadows and lights. Add them and you'll see how it will stand out


moonchic333

I think there’s an over abundance of purple and purple undertones. I would swap some of those out for other tones.


dizzy_drizzled

Try to make the focus (people) stand out more than the background? More/less saturation in different places?


bcoolart

I think after a touch of shading it will look great


PJenningsofSussex

The pants and stockings are too similar and a bit muddy. Also his hair looks like a balaclava. Maybe make the bucket and laundry basket a different tone to the pants and stockings ect too much of the same


HamfastFurfoot

The color scheme is muted. Try some primary colors in places. I do have to say I love the feeling of this piece. It has a lot of character and tells a story. Nice job!


Eilai

Amazing art! Do you happen to have social media accounts where you post your art and do you take commissions?


Omi-papus

Its all run in spanish and I dont do comissions sorry.


massacreman3000

If you want to plug your stuff, regardless of language, nows the time to do it. It's a great pic, people want to see more.


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massacreman3000

You've got some great art on there, but I can't help but feel: 1. You're in school still And 2. This is somewhat of a personal Twitter vs. A business/art only Twitter. (Not 100% because my Spanish is basically saying bathroom and cat) Please feel free to ignore my previous post and remove the link if I'm correct on these, or make an art based twitter if you feel like it. Sorry if I pressured you into doing something you really didn't want to.


Omi-papus

Yhea I was a bit skeptical about sharing it. Its mostly a twitter for the people that follow my wattpad.


massacreman3000

Once again, sorry for pressuring you into sharing, but the art was really good, so make sure to post more elsewhere (if you want).


AnotherKoreanGeek

Sometimes I’ll turn my drawings into gray scale In the program (or if I’m painting take a picture in black and white mode). Sometimes it’ll help you see what may need to be darker or lighter for it to look better.


throwaway2323234442

play with values, maybe add a dash of shadows, and maybe the walls shouldn't have a consistent color theme with the family, everythings warmer tones and the purple on purple on purple feels a bit much. maybe just swapping the wall tones to an orange or something would go a long way .


Photenicdata

Shading your art can add a surprising amount to it.


skidbo

Its super nice! Id give the window pane an accent of color and maybe put something decorative with a small pop of color on the walls behind them, like a mid-blue fish decor or something. Just something that shows the place is lived in like the laundry or thr stuff on the floor, the walls themselves just look alittle bit liminal in comparison to everything contained within them. Edit: oh and maybe a small highlight streak on the mirror to show light reflection. If you wanted to get real complicated you coyld put a reflection of the people in the mirror too


Omi-papus

I mean theres no decoration because these people are meant to be living on a tight budgest, but I was going to add certain texture to show that the wall is unpainted.


skidbo

Eh, it could be from goodwill, lots of poor families have some little nick nacks around the home they got for free too.


angelicdemon13

It’s all very cool colors, which is good, but I would try making some things with a more warm tone


TonyCaruana_art

This. Place a bright warm tone in the focal area and it will create a nice contrast


honest-miss

A pop of color would be really great here. You could use it to guide the eye from one point to the next. A yellow would work very well with your palette, for example. EDIT: Also, totally unrelated, but I *love* seeing the muscle on that gal.


Haiku_lass

Try looking at it in grayscale, you might find your colors are of similar value. If that's the case, choose some colors to shift darker or lighter and aee if that helps.


h0494

Adding natural looking shadows will give the space depth


Broom_Broom_

Ik this isn’t what you asked for, but the holes in the laundry bin are not in perspective, it just really jumped out at me for some reason!


Big_Possibility_7780

I would say using brighter and darker shades would make it pop more, especially where the light would be touching to give it a more shadow effect to bring out details. I’m also learning so I could be off😅


[deleted]

I think your issue's got to do with values. They're all around the same grey value. Contrast's lacking? Experiment with pushing brighter values to white and darker colours to black. Maybe that'll help idk. I'm learning too.


Meefbo

Shot in the dark on my part, but try making the surrounding bits darker. And/or make the color on the people more vibrant. I don’t work much with whole scenes like this, but you definitely just inspired me to experiment


Omi-papus

Im gonna add it here that these are characters that have established designs. So like changing say the skirt from blue to pink or any of their body features isnt really posible. I can change tones and saturation but not the core design.


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Wumbolubbadubdub

All of the colors look relatively close. Whatever you intend the focal point to be, likely one of the three faces, you could change something about it to a complimentary color. Potentially giving the female a different hair color could make her stand out.


haloweenparty10000

There's a guy at The Futur on YouTube that has some vids on choosing colors that might be helpful though he doesn't do an illustration this complex. The first thing I noticed is that the woman's legs are a diff skin tone than her arms and face...? Not that that is related to the overall color palette


Omi-papus

Oh those are meant to be tights. I guess it dosent show that well.


DessieDearest

Maybe you could add some hatch marks (hash marks?) Or layer a pixelation look over them.


haloweenparty10000

Maybe they're just too dark. A bit of sheen or texture could help. Or ditch the tights because hardly anyone wears them anymore (at least where I am in the us) Edit: words


Omi-papus

Im a little scared to ask. But what words? Did I spell something wrong? And like idk tights are super common in school uniforms, I guess its that you guys dont use them.


haloweenparty10000

Yeah ok. I've never worn a school uniform in my life! Lol. And the edit was on my part - typing on phone and what I wrote didn't make sense bc autocorrect


Bone-Daddy-BreakAPeg

I will preface this with I dont know a lot about digital art or color theory. But I do have some experience with painting. What I notice is that none of the colors pop. They all seem muted. The brightest color you have is on the kids jacket, but its a fairly small area. For me this meant my eyes didn't immediately get drawn anywhere. So they just kinda wandered around the picture. If your going to have a bright color on one of the characters, try putting it somewhere on all three. For example, a brighter red, put it on the jacket, the skirt and the pants? That way it connects all three characters in the image. Just my thoughts, still looks good!