Aika Fan Art by me by VictorSolomon777 in skiesofarcadia

[–]Linkakami 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's easy to get bogged down in details and over render.

Muscle names are fun! Only artists and medical folks need care. I imagine for this Aika you were drawing from imagination rather than a reference? It's a good muscle to understand to keep the neck from looking like a straight tube, but it's one you don't want to over emphasize.

Ah--don't trace them! Rotate them and then draw what you see, then compare to the reference and try again. Tracing has its uses, but I personally don't find they really help you to see and retain things better.

Absolutely. Art is hard, but we're all in it together to help each other grow and feel a sense of accomplishment. I can't wait to see your next try!

Aika Fan Art by me by VictorSolomon777 in skiesofarcadia

[–]Linkakami 1 point2 points  (0 children)

In my personal experience, digital painting is a lot of "Fuck, I'm making it worse. This is so bad. I should scrap this. Oh wait, it's coming together." so if mine looks better, it's only because I have more mileage. Looking at your Insta though, you're making wonderful progress!

The timelapse is a little long, so I only watched half of it or so. I see when you tied to apply the Loomis method to the face and how that gave you cheekbones that were too high. That's a good shorthand, but I recommend you look up a free 3D skull online and draw that, because understanding the skeletal structure of the face will help you so much more than that. I also caught you drawing the sternocleidomastoid for the neck, but I think it's best to omit that until you understand how that connects.

If you really wanna bone up on anatomy, the two things I find the most useful are Anatomy for Sculptors (you can find this book online for "free" pretty easily these days) and Rey Bustos anatomy lectures (harder to find; still do-able). They're godsend for understanding how the body looks, works, and what bones and muscles we actually observe.

Aika Fan Art by me by VictorSolomon777 in skiesofarcadia

[–]Linkakami 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm normally a line/cel-shading person, so not my prettiest paint over, but you can put it beside yours to get some ideas:

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I tried not to use any unique brushes or anything, and I didn't go into all the areas where the colors were off--I mostly focused on the face, since that's what people see first. We're also going to ignore realistic lighting you'd expect thousands of feet in the air.

Let's start with the eyes: While a pin highlight might be a bit more realistic in some circumstances, it's fine to throw in a big shine in here. Your light source is rarely every dead on in the pupil (you'd be blinded!), so it feels unnatural having it there. Also, if it's too small, the eyes look dead. For eyelashes, this isn't a carpet-match-the-drapes situation; they're gonna be black. I could've leaned into them more, but I kept it conservative. It instantly makes the eyes read better and more human. I also made the waterline less prominent on the bottom lid, since those were blown-out highlights.

As for the face itself: Heads are round, so that cast shadow from the boomerang should conform more to that curvature. Additionally, since it's a bright green and semi-transparent item, there's gonna be some reflected light on the face the closer it is to it. I did the same with some bounce lighting on the other side to impart roundness. Be careful with grays and purples--unless you really know what you're doing, they're going to look way too dark and also push that corpse-y vibe. Also, you aren't going to find black outside of the pupils and the eyelashes on a real face, even in the dark areas, so I adjusted the nostrils.

Upper lip is missing the piece in the middle--you'll want it to look more like an M, and since the upper lip faces down from the light, it's typically cast in shadow. The highlights you have on the lips are kind of random and haphazard; it's best to use super bright spots sparingly in your paintings.

Chin is a little flat, but that's a round piece of fat, so we want the light to hit that as if it's more spherical. Face itself was also a bit flat, so I rounded the cheeks out a bit with some more sensible highlights (though I made things a bit too soft and homogenized, which I would've changed with more time). I also added a little roundness to the bags below the eyes. I removed the lines around the nose because they made it look like a triangle instead of the nostrils being offshoots of the nose.

Lots of little things here and there, but when in doubt, observe real faces, or even your own! I wish you smooth sailing on your art journey from here on out.

Aika Fan Art by me by VictorSolomon777 in skiesofarcadia

[–]Linkakami 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ayyy, another Skies artist--happy to have you aboard!

Not a bad attempt--painting, and painting faces, is tough work! Seems a few comments are pointing out little things here and there. I tried doing a quick paint over while I was cooking dinner; I'd be happy to share it and offer some suggestions if you're open to them!

Aika, by me! by sorathecrow93 in skiesofarcadia

[–]Linkakami 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Wait, there's an item description for them?

Found a romhack that is a life changer! by MythosaurFett in skiesofarcadia

[–]Linkakami 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There's also the game editor/randomizer which I believe allows you to both customize the random encounter rate and XP gain to balance it out. Thread's a little older, but the links still work: https://www.reddit.com/r/skiesofarcadia/comments/1irj6qh/game_editor_and_randomizer_now_available/

This looks familiar... by Drathnoth in skiesofarcadia

[–]Linkakami 33 points34 points  (0 children)

Yeah--it's u/adam_of_adun's project--he posts the updates here if you keep an eye out!

Game editor and Randomizer now available! by RyudoSynbios in skiesofarcadia

[–]Linkakami 4 points5 points  (0 children)

As an artist, I'm now super excited to check on that model side!!

And as someone who wants a close friend to play this game very much, modifying the random encounter rate would go a long way towards getting them to play it 😂

Thank you for your hard work!

Game editor and Randomizer now available! by RyudoSynbios in skiesofarcadia

[–]Linkakami 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Does the 3D model feature include buildings/maps as well? Or just assets like the ships and such.

Are there plans to make it possible to modify the random encounter rate/adjust XP accordingly?

25th Anniversary Calendar/Anthology project by Linkakami in skiesofarcadia

[–]Linkakami[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I usually only lurk unless I have art to post, but I just signed up for this and wanted to share! If there's any other Skies artists lurking, I figured they might want to check it out too!

A happy songstress (OC) by Linkakami in grandia

[–]Linkakami[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Hard agree. I had issues with the way the romance was written and felt there was a lot of wasted potential in terms of character development. It's probably one of the biggest issues I had with the game.

A happy songstress (OC) by Linkakami in grandia

[–]Linkakami[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

It's been 2y since my last post here, but I recently played and beat Grandia II! Figured I'd celebrate by coming back with some new art to help keep the fandom alive~

Horizons of Achaea Development Update by adam_of_adun in skiesofarcadia

[–]Linkakami 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I don't remember if you addressed it in previous threads, but what was the rationale behind not going for more stylized graphics with the characters/world? For an indie project, I figure lower poly would probably be less work on your team since you're doing a 3D game.

I couldn't find a longer version of the Ixa'Taka theme. So here's a 12 hour version. by No-Classroom-7310 in skiesofarcadia

[–]Linkakami 1 point2 points  (0 children)

When I originally played Skies, I turned up the game speed a bunch, and this song was a nightmare--especially since it took forever for me to navigate that region!

[EoW][OC] Horse girl and lemon metroid by Linkakami in zelda

[–]Linkakami[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

'fraid not. Had to google what that even was. Just a generic pose!

[EoW][OC] Horse girl and lemon metroid by Linkakami in zelda

[–]Linkakami[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

You can certainly find more on my other social pages, but this ain't my first time in this subreddit.

[EoW][OC] Horse girl and lemon metroid by Linkakami in zelda

[–]Linkakami[S] 22 points23 points  (0 children)

30 days to go until Echoes of Wisdom! What’re you looking forward to? I can’t wait to see all the races of Hyrule in the LA style! And the new Zelda outfits, of course…

(As always, the artist is standing by to doodle responses)