Critiques, please...?

[Bubblemonkey]

When it comes to creative painting (real paint, digital paint, whatever), I'm all thumbs. Well, I was bored this morning, and wanted to mess around with Photoshop so I started painting in a panel from the Bleach manga just to see what I could come up with. I've always thought painting and stuff was fun, but the fact that I really sucked at it always put a damper on things. Anyway, I started getting into it, and an hour later, I looked at what I had, and I was suprised that it didn't suck as badly as most of my other attempts at this.

Now to the point. I really would like to see what other people have to say about my first relatively decent attempt at this. Critiques, suggestions, etc....I'm taking this as a learning experience, so please pick away at it to your hearts content.

I really had trouble trying to get the clothes to look convincing (after 20 minutes of going back and forth over the same spot and still having it look like crap, I gave up), so any tips you guys have about that would be very much appreciated.

Oh, and feel free to take the pic and paint on it yourselves to demonstrate any tips or techniques you have....beats trying to explain that stuff with words and all that.

Thanks in advance....:D.

Original Black and White (http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a344/Bren9x9/Hitsugaya_coloring_B-W.png)

My Colored Version (http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a344/Bren9x9/Hitsugaya_coloring_test.png)

P.S. If anyone else wants something critiqued, then I guess this thread is as good as any to throw it out there for review. Remember though...the thread's for critiques...not for compliment fishing (that's what the gallery is for). If you can't take any sort of criticism without getting hot under the collar, then don't bother posting up a pic.

One more thing, if you're going to post a pic to be critiqued, then at the very least post a critique of another pic on the thread....don't just post a pic an leave and let everyone else do the work. Thanks.

[BruceKO]

LOL... maybe I'm just a easy critique but I dun see anything bad about ur colouring, it's awesome!!!
Maybe u can colour the whole bleach manga for us??? (j/k that would worn u out in no time)

[Bubblemonkey]

LOL... maybe I'm just a easy critique but I dun see anything bad about ur colouring, it's awesome!!!
Hahahaha...thanks, but that doesn't help ;) :D .

That shirt and the tie just really kicked my butt. The fact that it was a white shirt just about gave me an aneurysm. I really need help with that. I'm pretty proud of how the face came out, but I'm a little too close to it and would like an objective observer's take on it....you know, point out where I messed up and where I could use some more work and all that.

[stukasa]

I don't know what you're talking about Bubblemonkey, it's really good!! You say it's your first serious attempt but you could've fooled me.. ^_^

But, since you asked for critiques, I will do my best to find one... (and you're not making it easy!). Hmm, well, if I had to say something, I would say that the shading on the right side of the nose might be a bit too pronounced (the part where the shade line curves downward). Anime and manga is generally very minimalistic when it comes to the nose, so more shading brings more attention to it. I'm not saying you shouldn't have any shading on the nose, it's just something you might want to keep in mind. Well, feel free to disagree. And let me say again, I only said it because you asked for it! >_<

[Bubblemonkey]

@stukasa: Yeah...that's one of the things I wasn't so sure about. On the one hand, if you kept it too minimal, you'd simply have a nostril on one side of a wedge pasted on the face...on the other hand, overdoing it would result in a too realistic nose on an otherwise cartoony head. I'm gonna need to look at some other's work to see how they took care of that. Anyone or any pic you have in mind that did this convincingly?

Replaced the images with links to help speed up load time :D. Uh, photobucket's still cool, right?

[Hijiko]

hmm.... i'm thinking u're lying when u say it's ur first XD. lol but seriously this is good. One thing i do find is the shading in the shirt collar. I think it should be more defined higher up instead of lines. I dunno it would look better in my eyes >__<. The lines as the shirt is rolled up on the side needs to be defined more i think, cuz now it looks kinda... rough =/. That's just my opinion though :P.

[Bubblemonkey]

hmm.... i'm thinking u're lying when u say it's ur first XD. lol but seriously this is good. One thing i do find is the shading in the shirt collar. I think it should be more defined higher up instead of lines. I dunno it would look better in my eyes >__<. The lines as the shirt is rolled up on the side needs to be defined more i think, cuz now it looks kinda... rough =/. That's just my opinion though :P.
Hahaha...didn't say this was my first ever attempt...it's the first one that didn't come out looking like complete dog poo >_<.

Anyway, do you mean remove the shade lines inside the collar completely or simply add more definition with the paint over it?

[Mai Tokiha]

Looks nice, but I'd say the skin tone is a little off...
I think it looks better like this: (click for big pic)
http://img6.picsplace.to/img6/4/thumbs/hitsugaya-coloring-test-by-mai.png (http://img6.picsplace.to/img.php?file=img6/4/hitsugaya-coloring-test-by-mai.png)

[stukasa]

I couldn't think of any good shading examples offhand, so instead of that, I just editted it myself. ^_^;;

Click HERE (http://tinypic.com/eplykw.png) for a link to it, or you can see them both side by side below. The original is on the left and the editted one is on the right. All I did was decrease the shading line a bit.

http://tinypic.com/epm1xk.png

Well that's the best I could do in five minutes, but I hope it at least gives you a reference of comparison.

[Hijiko]

Hahaha...didn't say this was my first ever attempt...it's the first one that didn't come out looking like complete dog poo >_<.

Anyway, do you mean remove the shade lines inside the collar completely or simply add more definition with the paint over it?

i was thinking painting it over and making it completely black near the top, at the same time keeping the shade lines near the bottom as it is. Gives the gradual look of the shading slowly fading. Argh sry if i can't really describe it well ~__~

[ChibiFirli]

You're annoying, you talk too much and you're generally a pain :D:D:p. Heehee :D.

Oooh, you mean about the pic? Well, since everyone talks about shading... I'm not really a fan of shading colored pics with black, I prefer a darker shade of the present color (wich might be black if it's really dark, just not black lines). But, that's just my personnal preference of course ^_^. I usually don't draw colored stuff anyways since I'm too lazy to color stuff :p.

[Bubblemonkey]

You're annoying, you talk too much and you're generally a pain :D:D:p. Heehee :D.T_T

Worked on it a little more...toned down the nostril definition, tweaked the skin-tone to add a little more pink hue and lightened it up a bit (I kept him a little tan 'cause I like the contrast with the hair) and I worked a little on the shirt. I think the collar is coming along a little better, but I'm still clueless on how to make the rolled up sleeve look right....everything I do on it just looks....wrong. I'm thinking maybe I should do what Firli suggested and just get rid of the greys (grays? can never remember which one to use) on the white shirt and just use another color, like maybe the shades of blue in the version below instead.....

Colored Version - take 2 (http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a344/Bren9x9/Hitsugaya_coloring_revised.png)

[Hijiko]

Hmm.. i think it's much better then before, especially with the added on the tie. The new shading on the shirt is a nice addition, and the new skin colour definitely make him seem more lively. The rolled up sleeve part looks better but still can use some more work, and the shading at the collar is better, but maybe get rid of the remaining lines near the top. Overall it's improving =D.

[stukasa]

Oh yeah, I definitely like what you did with the nose shading and the overall skin tone. The shading under the collar looks better too, though I wonder if it's still a bit rough-looking compared to the rest of the picture? If you want, you could try smoothing the transition between the black and colored areas under the collar and on the green tie (or change the grey parts to a different color altogether). As for the sleeve, maybe try looking for a colored picture that has a rolled-up sleeve and see how that person shaded it? Shading is really tough, especially on something like a sleeve. Well, ganbatte and don't give up... practice makes perfect, or something like that. ^_^

[Eleven]

I've never done CG colouring, but for pencils I always actually use purples for shadows, since greys never look right to me. Blues would probably work just as well, especially with the specific character (since he has a blue battle aura dragon thingy) :D

[recca]

nice one i love it :) i'm not to good with painting in general so I like your work

[pringles89]

i would say overall you've done a great job. :)

just a couple minor suggestions/personal preferences.

i would like to see the lines of the lower outline of the char's left eye completed/connected. i think it is more consistent with the more finished look that the rest of your picture displays.

also, i would like to see the shading of the collar be more uniform like you did for the neck rather than leave the shading lines that the original had.

sorry, i'm not sure how to help with the crumpled sleeve part.

[areautena]

I love the way you did the nose the FIRST time, but take two is alright, too.
I, too, desafortunadamente, cannot help you with the sleeve. D:

The only and first thing that really got to me was all the color bleeding. Unless we're supposed to ignore it, or something..
Another thing is the little line above the mouth, IE the upper lip. Either color in some lip part, or edit that line out, because I think it looks kind odd, like some weird milk moustache that is not a milk moustache.

But yeah, is pretty cool.

[ForgotMyUserName]

Some of the comments I would present might be biased towards my preferences... so just chose what you think suits your style...

The first thing that really bothered me was really the tie - the coloring doesn't fit in... The color of the skin of the second one has more contrast and maked it looked better. :) The skin tone also reminded me of Hyung Tae Kim :)... You changed the color of the shirt too, which was the one of my biggest complaints on the first one, but something still looks wrong... maybe the color was not saturated enough... or maybe it has something to do with the black background... The color of the eyes looked weird to me too... maybe the gradation is too soft... or the white dot is not too pronounced or too pronounced... hoped that helped...

[Bubblemonkey]

Thanks for all the input. I'm afraid work and a slight case of ADD kicked in and I haven't been able to work on it some more since the second version, but I've read through all the info and have filed it all in my swiss cheese wheel of a brain....hopefully is sticks. If I ever get around to working on it again or if I do another project, I'll keep all of this in mind. Thanks again :D.

[Radeonator]

ha....nice works, but the color tone is too dark for anime style though.....
keep up your good work! it'll be worth someday.....

[Krabjuice]

Personally speaking, Great work, but the lines are too grainy. But thats just me, and I like solid, smooth lines.. not something you'll consistantly get from hand-drawn manga.