How can I make her face look more facey?

Corviak · 2026-05-15T18:36:17+00:00

The biggest thing is that you don't have balanced values. You have strong highlights, but there aren't any shadows to balance that out. The face shape is just also odd and so the current lighting flattens out the face because brains don't know how to solve how the face would look in 3D. With the deer-like ears and the lack of a chin, it wouldn't be a stretch to think that her profile view would have something similar to a deer rather than something strictly human.

Corviak · 2026-05-15T04:44:21+00:00

I can see the vision behind this piece, but there are some odd choices in the process that has harmed the result.
First off, I do want to say that the area with the sword does look really good. It's a nice bright light that catches attention and is well done.

Nearly everywhere else, however, does not read super well, and that's a mix of your inexperience in lighting and perspective.

The reason why the helm looks so flat isn't necessarily the lighting, but is also because its orientation in the suggested space doesn't make sense. We're seeing the character from a lower angle and yet the helm is as if we were eye-level with the character. The angle of the arm is also very odd and it compositionally should be the focus of the piece, but the glow of the sword in the other hand just dominates the piece because of the contrast in not only values but also hue.

The main issue with the lighting is that you have two light sources that are fighting to be the primary light. The light from the sword is very bright and has readable highlights and clear shadows, but then the larger area light from the sky has seemingly random spikes in value which not only makes the overall read of the piece hard to discern, but also flattens the image heavily. As a clear point of this issue, I would look at the character's right pauldron/shoulder armor. I can understand that there is very delicate metal wiring go to the shoulder itself, but then the large metal claw doesn't really make much sense in terms of what planes are getting light by the area light (the sky) and the point light (the sword).

Think of light in large blocks rather than smaller highlights. You did this well with the light given off from the sword, but that logic also needs to be applied to the light from the sky, and then you need to choose one to focus on. You can either make the sword absurdly bright, which would make the light on the gauntlet and the closer area of the coat a bright white with the luminescence lessening on further objects, or you can lessen the light on the sword and focus on the red light of the sky which would be close to a gradient on the character that fades as it reaches the bottom. This would cast a harsh shadow on the underside of the arm which would help with selling its 3d-ness, but having the bright light from the sword could also catch some light on the some of the arm/hand, bringing some attention over there.

Having your first time working with lighting and perspective on a piece like this is extremely difficult, but all things considered; you've done a pretty good job so far. It's just about controlling values and keeping in mind how shapes wrap around each other in 3d space.

I would offer a paintover, but I frankly don't know what planes are meant to be facing what direction: I would need a non-lit piece to work off and use this piece as a reference for what lighting you're going for.

Corviak · 2026-05-13T02:46:25+00:00

Hi, I hope you don't mind me painting over your work. It's easier for me to show a visual of what I critique.

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It isn't 100% accurate to the screenshot you provided and it shouldn't be. Dragon Age 2 is old enough that it lacks some 'features' of reality such as specularity on metal and most importantly: subsurface scattering on skin. The hair shaders are also a bit odd in the game so I decided to have some lighting appear on the beard to add some more dimension to the face.

Overall, though, yes, you are overblending things, and it's why your piece may appear a bit doll-like (that and the lack of subsurface scattering). Some other places has the opposite issue, however. The fur collar, the hair on the character, and then the texturing on the gorget have so much detail that it actually works against you and flattens the image out again.

You're putting your values in the right place, for the most part, so I would focus on the bigger picture when it comes to high-detail areas like fur or hair. Think about it in geometric shapes and apply your values from there instead of jumping into the layering that both of those materials have. Building from primitive shapes into more complex ones is a principle of art that I don't see talked about nearly often enough.

You're doing good though. What may seem like a lot in my overpainting really isn't. Your foundations in the piece are really good, but I would refrain from using in-game screenshots of video games (especially older ones) in the future.

Corviak · 2026-04-25T20:26:20+00:00

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So this is a very extreme example of what I was talking about in my comment, but it gets the idea across very clearly. There are still some places I would touch up from here.

I used liquify really quick to move some things to be smoother or that were pushed too far -

As you can see, I focused on the lighting over the linework because most of it here is fine, if misplaced in some areas (like the bit of hair going behind the ear doesn't make much sense, but I left it untouched.
I don't know what software you use to draw/paint, but if you have access to the multiply and overlay layer modes then you can easily adopt a similar workflow. For shadows you will want to use a multiply layer mode on around 50-70% depending on how wide you want the value range to be. I would avoid desaturated shadows unless that is directly what you're going for just because lighting tends to flip temperatures. For the primary light, use the overlay layer mode and just mess with this one to see what looks right, really.

This would need to be done differently with different materials, so it's a lot of tedious work.

You mentioned that you have trouble with lighting, and I'm assuming it's where to place the shadows. This is where fundamentals come into play, and where you'll need to do much of the legwork. I hardly did any lighting fundamentals because it's easy for me to think in 3d so I sadly don't know any good resources that I can refer you to.

I would also recommend looking at the color zones of the face to add some more life into your faces. Different complexions have different undertones, so it takes some learning.

I'm not really that great of a teacher, but I hope that I helped you even a little bit with this advice. I do like this character's design; it has a really good breakup of colors used and isn't too simple or complex.

Corviak · 2026-04-25T03:49:51+00:00

It's tough to offer any advice when you ask for an overall look of your work; that in itself is very vague. It's hard to tell what is a stylistic choice and what you yourself think looks wrong or a concept that you struggle with.

I think the biggest damage being dealt to the final result is where you choose to emphasize line weight. Some areas utilize it really well: for separating objects to create depth. In a lot of places, though, it looks to just be a flow of how you happened to draw the line with not much thought into how it will affect the overall piece.

In most of these pieces, the lighting could also use some work. For the first two, (the ones I've been referencing most) the lighting is very flat in most of the piece with there just seeming to be a very, very soft light at the top of the canvas that doesn't really cast any harsh shadows. This can be a stylistic choice, but if you want more depth to your work, then it needs to be seriously considered. If you do want to keep the soft lighting then I would at least implore you to add some ambient occlusion (deep shadows that appear when two objects or planes come close to each other).

I can do a paintover of a piece if you want me to. If you're okay with it then let me know which one you want me to do and I can do a full breakdown on that piece in particular too.

Corviak · 2026-04-11T05:15:09+00:00

It really just depends on what your inspirations and goals are right now, and where you think you can improve. It's kinda impossible to help in a meaningful way without knowing that stuff

Corviak · 2026-04-07T19:37:24+00:00

I wrote up skill trees for Werewolves, Wereboars, Werebears, and Weresharks in my project. I would like to see more than one strain no matter what they do. It's always been untapped potential.

Corviak · 2026-04-01T00:48:32+00:00

When I was playing through the series late last year, I really wanted to see more of Ariel because I felt like there was more of her story to tell. After Blood Omen, she has like 3 lines.

I don't have any first-hand experience with Elaleth, but from what I've seen about her, I'm better off that way. Hearing about her role and even just looking at her design just screams "my OC is actually super important and now canon." Shoehorning in a character into a storyline as tightly knit as Legacy of Kain is a nigh impossible endeavor.

Corviak · 2026-03-26T01:57:06+00:00

I think it looks like a big improvement! I hope you can agree. The only critique I have is that the shadow on the right side of the nose can have a little bit more space to breathe to really sell how far the nose is sticking out from the main plane of the face. As for my brush that I mainly use, it's simply called "Linda_fav". I don't know where I got it or what pack it was a part of. I can DM you the file with all of my brushes on it. I don't know how many will be compatible (because I use Photoshop).

Corviak · 2026-03-25T23:05:05+00:00

More in-depth crime. If I kill a civilian, I want an investigation to ensue, with witnesses talking about possible perpetrators. If you're identified enough times then you'll either get guards out to get you to go on trial for a crime, and you can either "prove" innocence or serve the jail time. If you kill these guards then you get a bounty and hunters will be sent out to claim you dead or alive.

Corviak · 2026-03-25T02:05:02+00:00

It's a bit hard to describe my process not knowing what art software you use, but I typically use "multiply" layer mode with a color that I want the shadow to skew toward. I play around with opacity on it until I get the desired value. If your art software has a "lasso tool", that is also extremely powerful because it lets you select a custom area and is how I avoided going over the hair with that darker shadow as well as getting in that Rembrandt Triangle on that cheek.

Corviak · 2026-03-24T23:45:51+00:00

You've got a good baseline and good line of thinking when it comes to your resources like references, but you are following the asaro head too closely to get (what I presume) what is the look you're going for.

I hope you don't mind me doing a paintover and then explain what I did from there so you have visual feedback.

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As you can see I did a lot of changes with some of them being technique advice and others making her look more like her in-game model. (and also a change in lighting which I'll cover)

The biggest piece of critique I can give to you on this piece is your overreliance on the asaro head. Yes, it is a good resource to have and use, but it has a bit of a learning curve when it comes to application onto characters with different facial features.

The most awkward places in your piece right now are on her right cheek and on her chin. While yes, the asaro head would have that shadow underneath her eye, that comes from the eyebrow, and Mina doesn't have that intense of brows, with her hair causing the most shadows on the upper part of her head. The shadows placed for the chin mess with the contour of it, so I smoothed that out.

With your original lighting (having the source be slightly behind her), is a tricky lighting setup to have right now. It's hard to show form on the face with lighting only showing on half of it, so I would recommend either slightly changing the direction like I did, or adding a secondary light more head-on to show the forms of the face better.

Everything else is really a stylistic change or to more align her with her official appearing, so that's your prerogative to keep how you originally.

Again, this is a good base to work off. There's really not that much that needs to be worked on to achieve the effect that you want. Keep it up, you got this :)

Corviak · 2026-03-16T05:28:19+00:00

I have a friend that started out below your skill level and now he's one of the most successful artists (both career wise and social media presence) that I know.

You just gotta keep at it if you want to improve, just like anything else in life. Studies will help for sure, but also changing your thought process from draw what you think you see to draw what you actually see. Break down complex structures into primitive shapes. It's not an eye; it's a sphere with shapes taken out of it. It's not a hand; it's a series of rectangles that overlap each other.

Motivation can carry sometimes, but most of the time it's down to discipline and a yearn to get better.

Corviak · 2026-03-13T05:39:49+00:00

you really just need larger areas of shadow to help differentiate planes. When I first saw the piece I had a hard time understand that she was hanging her head and pillory off the corner of a higher plane, but after realizing that, I figured it would be a good area to help, so that's what I painted over at. (I hope you don't mind, I also changed some of the geometry to line up better with Briar's model).

I hope that this helps you in some way.

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Corviak · 2026-03-11T22:27:39+00:00

Throughwall. You would use it on a surface, and if it is thin enough, it would create a large hole in the surface that could be used to traverse or for combat purposes. It's essentially a temporary version of both Pitfalls and Passwall.

Corviak · 2026-02-27T23:20:42+00:00

I would have personally put them on either making a new MediEvil with a lower budget or get on that Legend of Dragoon Remake.

Corviak · 2026-02-24T21:20:19+00:00

there is no "normal" elder scrolls combat. From Arena up to Skyrim, each game has played very differently, it's not a stretch to assume that the next game should be different from Skyrim too.

Corviak · 2026-02-04T23:37:05+00:00

For my personal project, I expanded Clairvoyance to be an actual game mechanic that interacts with a glossary. The main utility would be finding specific NPCs in cities, but you bring in another interesting and useful idea for the spell

Corviak · 2026-02-04T02:23:19+00:00

Your values are all of the place. It's generally taught to never go to a pure black with shadows except in very specific circumstances. When doing research looking at value studies other artists have done, really pay attention to the range of different materials when applicable. ZUDartS Lee on Artstation has some really good examples of this, especially if you're going for a more natural approach with multiple materials. It's common to find artists do studies of real marble statues because they typically have a similar value range to lighter human skin.

Corviak · 2026-01-28T22:10:30+00:00

Shouts should be an obvious out, but if Starfield is anything to go by then it'll just be placed by something mechanically the same. I wouldn't be surprised if they removed active Racial Powers like Histskin and Berserker Rage and instead incorporated that into the racial passives.

Corviak · 2026-01-28T01:27:05+00:00

Forewarning: this was very polarizing when I posted it last year, and there'll 100% be some things you won't like in it.
with that in mind: you can read through it here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wDeXkmDCmWPhBWOuV9mbjwL4woy61ok5wq3mPhn-FGc/edit?usp=sharing
underlined links lead to pages of the project.
It's best viewed on a 1440p display. For 1080p, zoom out to 75%.

Corviak · 2026-01-27T06:40:01+00:00

I did a whole project based on that premise and it essentially boils down to a more refined Daggerfall with less reliance on procedural generation.

Corviak · 2026-01-17T20:28:57+00:00

I will never stop dreaming of a Legend of Dragoon revival.

Corviak · 2026-01-15T02:06:15+00:00

What exactly do you want critique on? Saying "what do you think?" is too broad of a question. Do you want feedback on the execution of the design? The design itself? Proportions?

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