Snack's character art. C&C is appreciated

[snack]

Hello all. I have been apart of Marc's art school since the beginning and unfortunately have not been able to participate in the live streams as much as I would have liked. This is my first post here so I would love to hear some feedback with my stuff since I feel like I have been struggling a little bit. The main thing I struggle most with is probably designing a character from scratch. Here is one attempt I made for a cyberpunk style painting, but I just feel like it is lacking and uninteresting.

[snack]

I find doing photo studies and gesture drawings to be pretty enjoyable too, and I believe I may not be doing enough of them

[cedricgo]

I'm not sure of what process you go through when designing a character like this, but I think it's always a good idea to have a bit of a plan on where you're going before actually starting to draw. You don't need to be very detailed about this, but basically think of a bit of a backstory for the character, what's her personnality may be like, in what kind of world or environment does she evolve and other questions like these. When you have answers for those, then it should naturally push the direction of the design into something that's more cohesive and hopefully unique.

I think the lack of cohesion is probably the biggest issue with her right now. If you look at the upper part and lower part of her it almost feels like they each belong to two different characters. The top part feels perhaps like she'd be living in some sort of cyberpunk winter world, while I get more of a grungy post apocalyptic vibe from the waist down.

Also the cybernetic arm is cool. I'm not sure what was your idea for it, but its design feels a bit bulky and strong so maybe it's more power or fighting oriented. But I feel like nothing about the rest of the character really supports those attributes if that makes sense. To me she feels more like a traveller or a researcher.

I hope this didn't come as too harsh as I think she's well painted and overall the individual elements are cool, but they just don't quite work together as well as they could. So yeah, just think about who your character is and the world she lives in a little bit and just use those infornations to make everything more cohesive.

I hope this helped

[snack]

It very much will help me and I appreciate any feedback I can get! I cannot improve if I do not take criticism well! I absolutely see what you mean with everything seeming like it was from different characters. Admittedly I have a hard time figuring out what kind of process I should go through when designing a character. Usually I just come up with a physical appearance and stop there--so I need to start asking myself those questions you mentioned. I feel like too many times I have tried to make something like that and it ends up branching because I will change my mind half way through the drawing.

I can tell you for that particular drawing the only thing I had in my head was "cyberpunk" and "mechanical arm." I work with lots of harsh machinery and so I wanted to try to replicate that--but without asking those questions everything seems a little out of place. I will definitely try to apply this knowledge to the next drawing I make, I very much appreciate you!

[malcom]

Having cyberpunk and mecha arm is fine. You probably only need a few more descriptive
words and knowing what medium this character will be in to help the direction of the piece.

Once you know your theme and some kind of element you want to have, think about where you would like your character to be in.

For example, is the character for a Video game or Film or Comic?
Knowing this small detail affects the characters detail level, In animation, characters tend to be simple in design to make it easy to draw over an over again.
If it's for a Game, knowing what genre of game will help the direction of the piece.
For example it's it a FPS, you would have some kind of gun. If its an RPG, maybe she's a hacker in this cyberpunk world so maybe the arm can transform or has bits to help with hacking. Or she can be wearing clothes that makes her look like a hacker.

Class would be the last thing to think about.

Figuring out a few more elements will hopefully make coming up with a story for the world and character easier.

[snack]

These all definitely help me and I appreciate it! It sounds like I'm not asking enough questions to myself when creating a character--otherwise the character seems to come off as one-note almost. Another thing I have a hard time trying to decide is giving a character a recognizable silhouette. Is something like that always necessary? Either way, I have to work harder on my next piece

[malcom]

This is just my opinion.
A recognizable silhouette is a little less important when it comes to npc characters, but when going for an iconic character or main character, a recognizable silhouette is really important. I know for myself, I can pick out my favorite characters with there silhouette alone.
Hope that helps. Looking forward to your next character.

[snack]

Thank you very much, I appreciate you

[snack]

Not sure how successful or not I was, but I tried the taking advice I got. I think I could do better next time to make the character more interesting. I didn't focus on something like silhouette for this one, more just about what the environment around the character looks like and the medium he'd be in. I'd love to have some feedback to improve my next!

[malcom]

I think you did a good job here. This character feels like something you'd find in a game like The Last of Us if it had cybernetics or a futuristic realistic game. This can probably work for some kind of film as well. He feels like an NPC character that you interact with but that's not a bad thing. You've improved in a lot of areas compared to your last character such as the rendering of the materials. Even with the simple colors this is nice. Finding it hard to find major things to critique which is a good thing. Its mainly little things like the hand holding the tablet thing. That's a weird angle to get right. I guess the only other thing you can really do is find a way to add some more story elements to the character. For example, stickers to his prosthetic legs. A tattoo on his arm to show he's apart of something. That's really it. Solid work other wise.

[snack]

Thank you very much! It delights me to read this feedback. I'll admit, I was having a hard time with the oil pot on the metal plate, it doesn't seem to make sense as an item or angle. I just need to use even more references next time! I will remember things like stickers or tattoos to help give an identity or belonging to a group. I think next time I'll focus a little more on trying to make it look like a main character rather than an NPC, which means trying to add more to the character and a silhouette. That's what I struggle most with, so I appreciate the feedback you keep giving me!

[malcom]

No problem at all. Besides using more reference, definitely studying film and games like uncharted should help.

[snack]

Hello! I'd love to have feedback on this piece. I struggle to make interesting shape language with characters even after pulling from so many references. In other words, I'm okay with making large and medium details, but when it comes to small details I think it might be lacking. When I look at this character it doesn't really hook me as much as I'd like. Maybe there's something I can add or change to affect that? I'd love to hear anyone's thoughts.

[malcom]

When it comes to the small detail, look are reference of other sci fi characters or tech. Look at the areas were screws will need to be to connect the metal parts.
Now for the hook.
This can be anything. An easier way to think of one is to think of what this character profession is. You can take something that aligns with your characters theme.
For example this guy looks to use some kind of magic here so you can make the hook mage, wizard, witch and any other character that uses magic. If he's a evil character you can make his mask more demonic like. You can modify the mask to look like a demon face. I did a really crappy version of that. Probably a bad example.

Your hook can be that of a animal. You can maybe use a snake.

ps you have small shapes in your design already so just repeat those in other areas.
Anyone I hope this helps.

[snack]

Sorry for the late response! After reading your feedback and Marc's stream I have a better idea of what I can do to improve it. I'll just incorporate that knowledge into the next design I make. The idea of giving more reason to what this character has as well as something to make it look more human and relatable seems very beneficial. Thank you very much!

[malcom]

No problem. Best of luck on the next character