Nao

I had to give this guy some kind of name, so I picked Nao, which is Japanese for honest.
I got a lot of positive response from when I posted a step-by-step pic of a drawing as it neared completion. It wasn't very professional, but people seemed interested in watching the art progress. So I thought I'd do another one.
Btw, this is my first drawing using Gimp ^_^

the outline, just to get the basic figure of this odd pose x)


a bit of shading, and more lines to get the image more solid


my sloppy lineart x/


hey look, another eye popped out of nowhere! and... light purple shading, cuz I felt like it


BAM! It's done. Sorry I didn't show the coloring steps, but you would've fallen asleep, I promise.


Anyways, I know this isn't perfect, in fact it's still pretty darn sloppy, but I still like how it turned out If you can spot any mistakes, please let me know!

I love this. Now if only my hands would alow me to actually follow the steps. (;

I love your steps! I also follow specific steps when I do my own art, though it usually consists of squares and circles xD.

Either way, I really love the detail and effort your put into all the pieces above, and how its almost a step-by-step of what you were trying to accomplish with this one. Because of that, I don't think I could honestly critique all of them. Maybe the last one if you feel like listening to me ramble a bit xD.

First off, I will start with praise. The hair looks so realistic it slays me. The colour is lovely and the features have an almost down-to-earth feeling which I found you usually don't follow through with when it comes to your previous works. You tend to favour the surprised, sweet, almost whimsical stylizations so I did enjoy this piece for its difference from prior ones.

And now, what could be improved.

Firstly, your hips are much too far away, as if you took them and pushed them to the right just a bit too much. If you pull them in closer - even just cutting and pasting - you'll find that the proportioning will work out to your advantage a little more correctly.

That and I know you're an anime artist, but there are some proportional values of which the anime artist does follow. I can see the work your put into the hands and feet. I respect you for it, but they are a little disporportionate. The feet, for instance, though beautifully drawn, are small. A good tip for you is that a humans foot is the same size as their forearm. Compare it yourself; you'd be surprised!

The hands, though, need a little work. You show the fingers curving in, but no palm appears to be there at all. The palm should be the first bit showing from the wrist so, if the fingers are to curl over anything, it should be the palm. That and you sort of just forget about the thumb, than add a smidge in later. The thumb, though usually looking as if it, as well, shoots out from the wrist, doesn't. Trying drawing the shape of the palm before adding your fingers. That way, you'll get a nicer curve to your hands and a more realistic feel. but also, make sure to keep it proportionate! The hand, in itself, is about the size, when stretched out, of a human face.

So, hopefully I helped!
~Walker

I loved following the steps! I don't have a drop of artistic ability, but I love watching other people draw.

To tell you the truth, I actually liked your "sloppy lineart" the best. Although the hair was absolutely amazing in colour, the rest of him seemed to be overpowered with the different textures you added with the different colours. I didn't dislike the final version, but I was just drawn to the "lineart." And I missed the buttons on his shirt.
I loved the shading you did in the final under the hairline. It wasn't too much or too little. I loved all the wrinkles and creases in his clothing. A lot of drawings have the creases drawn in, but they don't seem to match the position. Yours seemed very natural, so congrats for that!
DreamWalker gave you a lot of great pointers, but I have to disagree with her on the feet. The size of his foot really didn't bother me. I have a couple of friends with extremely petite feet, and considering that it looks like his foot curls slightly, it looked fine to me. The only thing that sort of bothered me was the little bump on the back of his foot. There's something about the angle of his foot that doesn't seem quite right. If you haven't already, take some pictures of someone in this position and analyze the shape of his or her ankles, the direction in which the sole of the foot faces, etc.
I was really captivated by his body position and expression. You have a lot of really interesting lines and shadows in this piece.
Thanks for sharing,
-Sea-

Whoa, this is really good! I don't know if you were going for complete neatness on the edges, but overall, it's very cool! (Plus, it's much, much better than anything I could've drawn!)

Okay, so I'll start my review with saying that I love this work - the guy's expression is really cool and I like his name.

The first thing I noticed that bugged me a bit was how the colors faded out the black lines. For this piece, since accuracy in the coloring wasn't needed, I think it would have been better to color it right before your put in the heavy black lines - that way, the color would be in the background and the lines would always be in front, not randomly changing so it's obvious where your brushstrokes are.

I love the way you do hair, but for this piece, the hair seemed a bit unnatural. It was so perfect and detailed that it really stood out surrounded by a looser style. I dunno, I guess that's just opinion.

Anyways, love this piece - keep up the good work!
-Suki

Wow. O.O Again, you did amazingly. First off: Love the eye(s) (in the first three panels). The hair makes me think of real people rather than manga, so that creeps me out a bit, but the eyes are all dark and mysterious (and now I sound like a pathetic fangirl *is ashamed*). I noticed you lost the white speck in the last panel, though.

Anyway, some suggestions: Smooth out your black lines. Try to erase them, even, if possible. In your shirt collar, putting shadows under the collar/folds is FUN, I totes suggest it. Also, try and smooth out/lighten your highlights. It looks sort of like he split paint on himself (no offense). That being said, I'm horrid at high-lighting, so take that with a grain of salt.

Otherwise, his hips are a bit contorted and his torso is a bit long for his body. I mean, you can't do much now with that, but for future notes maybe keep an eye on that?

Anyway, it looks lovely and I like it. Great job!