Need your opinion, could affect the rest of the comic
Added 2022-07-24 14:07:08 +0000 UTCThis weekend, I was looking over what I rendered so far, and to be honest I didn't like it very much. I really want this to be good and it felt like I was fucking up some how, but what I was fucking up and how to fix it eluded me.
I asked a fellow artist that I trust and respect, who is very very skilled, what they thought of Toph Heavy so far. and this was the critique they gave me.
"so I think you're getting way too hung up on defining individual forms with your shading. You are having shading around the rim of the entire form. This is killing your sense of form and depth. You are also over detailing some areas like the shading on the clavicles. This makes the characters look very hard and sharp edged and not soft and sexy"
And then they suggested potentially blurring the form shadows.
Now the adjustment here is kinda quick but should give you an idea of what I'm thinking of doing to fix it, but I really could use your opinion on it. Better? Worse? No Blur? Yes Blur?
Don't mince words, you don't need to spare my feelings. The goal is to make the best looking thing. I'm going to take a couple days off for you to sound off, and then I'll make adjustments based on your feedback. Thank you in advance.
Comments
I think blurring the form shadows is just objectively better in this case.
Bepis
2022-07-26 04:32:05 +0000 UTCI honestly missed this until you pointed it out, but it’s hard to ignore now, and I think blurred is the best. After all, outside of man-made things, shadows are rarely hard and well-defined.
MagicCarpetMadeofSteel
2022-07-26 02:30:45 +0000 UTCchanges were good, but i would vote for no blur. the middle ground looked best to me'
2022-07-25 00:38:34 +0000 UTCBlurred is best.
Stephen Wallace
2022-07-25 00:00:49 +0000 UTCI don't know a lot about art, so I couldn't really visualize what your fellow artist meant until I compared the images. Being able to flip between them, however, I definitely think it's an improvement. The different style of shading adds a greater sense of depth, and I like the effect that blurring has on some of the shapes as well, especially in the paizuri image. I would say the changes are improvements, and it looks like the advice they gave you is spot-on in terms of the final result.
Y
2022-07-24 17:16:16 +0000 UTCPersonally I think the harder shadows work better with the style you have.
a nonymous
2022-07-24 16:43:18 +0000 UTCI think all three look good, but the first two are more in line with what I've come to associate with your 'style', and as such I prefer them.
Panzerboy26
2022-07-24 14:45:52 +0000 UTCI prefer either of the first two, the last one works for the faces but on her body, it almost seems like the fine details & shapes of each part of the body lose themselves in one another almost like a mannequin. The 1st one may be sharp but each body stands out on its own and comes together to make the body/image as a whole stand out to grab your attention. The 2nd one is probably a good compromise as everything isn't lost but nothing grabs you either. However that is just my opinion/preference, I like the 1st the best and the last the least.
Imperious Rex
2022-07-24 14:33:08 +0000 UTCI'd say the blurred, softer shadows look better than the "hard" ones.
NKL
2022-07-24 14:30:13 +0000 UTCI did notice a difference between 1 and 2/3, I think they're an improvement. I had to re-read your description and malesor's comment before I understood the difference between 2 and 3 though. I would agree that 3 is the best, it's a subtle change but it is an improvement even if my dumb brain didn't see why at first
Genericuser
2022-07-24 14:25:05 +0000 UTCThink the last one's the best here.
Ether101
2022-07-24 14:11:31 +0000 UTCHmm, I think the advise he gave you might be onto something. I actually feel the last blurred version looks quite good, and I can see what he meant with the shading / clavicles being too defined and detracting from the sexy / softness of it.
Malesor
2022-07-24 14:11:05 +0000 UTCI think better
Robbie Blower
2022-07-24 14:09:15 +0000 UTC
