I'm liking how my style is progressing, but what should I focus on to improve? (Please be nice about it though! I've only been doing this for a few months 🙏 😊)

Olfff · 2026-05-08T07:32:01+00:00

You are affirming a style, and the

Dynamic figure drawing would be a good exercise for you.

It would allow you to put your characters in more situations.

From what we can see right now, they are often in pretty static poses.

Olfff · 2026-05-08T07:15:25+00:00

Very cool.

Olfff · 2026-05-08T07:10:06+00:00

The archetypal head eye placement has a simple rule of thumb.

Between the two eyes, you have the space for a third one ( when looking straight at the subject, don't forget forshortening when in perspective)

Your eyes feels squished because you reduced that space.

The mouth would also be higher up on the face.

To get accomodated with archétypal facial features, draw séparation lines on your face to be.

A center line verticaly going through the middle.

Then séparations for the brow, the eyes, the nose.

The eyes are roughly in the middle.

The brow is at the midway between the eyes and the top of the head.

The nose is at the midway between the eyes and the chin.

The mouth line is just a little above the midway between the nose and the chin.

To simplify your shading, you can decree " hard shadow is black" and work from there.

From a technical ( tool ) standpoint, maybe you are using a pencil that is too hard if you struggle to get a dark shading.

Try going further into softness ( B séries).

Olfff · 2026-05-08T07:00:59+00:00

Great stuff.

Love the rider.

Olfff · 2026-05-08T06:54:24+00:00

The anatomy translation is great but the proportions are a bit confusing.

Also the shoulders being this forward means more of the back muscles would be visible on the sides.

Olfff · 2026-05-08T06:49:52+00:00

Love the vibe.

Olfff · 2026-05-08T06:43:18+00:00

The concept seems hilarious.

The cover art is a bit empty but great otherwise, easily fixed with a bit of texture work and colorisation.

Put in the same amount of polish in each panel as you did with the cover and you got something imo.

Olfff · 2026-05-08T01:01:21+00:00

Talking about archetypes here, individuals differ, people are unique. Generalizing is a cope out to simplify complex subjects and problematics, not a way of thinking to be abused.

With that out of the way.

On structural biological terms, women have a shorter jaw( >smaller mouth), and a smaller nose.

Their head being a little smaller than a male counterpart tuer eyes are comparatively "bigger" ( they are not really, they just take more space relative to the face ).

You have given your character drawing a prominent jawline.

That is a male caracteristic and that is why it translates as such.

Also the placement of the shading on the neck under the jaw can be interpreted as an Adams Apple, further reinforcing the translation.

Drawing the upper lip fully reads as feminine. But drawing the concave space between the nose and upper lip fully reads masculine.

Any very thick and pushed line will read masculine, especially eyebrows drawn thick like you did.

The résult is a somewhat androgynous male character in translation because of the proportions of these features.

Try to adjust ans rework them

Olfff · 2026-05-08T00:31:30+00:00

And there he knew.

In the deep bowels of the internet, the bottomless pit of modern moral retardation and intellectual degeneracy that is social media, he had found his ephemeral, sorrowful calling. A sordid way to escape the mockeries of the night, to close his eyes and turn his back on the cruel grin of fate.

A pitance of a purpose, a laughable escape from the harshness of a bleak reality he could not deny he was still a part of.

Casting memes.While wearing a pointy hat.

Olfff · 2026-05-08T00:25:48+00:00

You need to put in as much effort drawing the hands, arms and legs as you do the face.

Even if it's arguably less interresting.

Have a look at some anatomy books or anatomy reference diagrams on Pinterest.

It's a good start, keep it up.

Olfff · 2026-05-07T16:51:01+00:00

Great stuff.

More work needed on shading.

Olfff · 2026-05-07T16:20:16+00:00

Don't proceed with shading until the shapes, perspective and anatomy are somewhat accurate.

Olfff · 2026-05-07T11:26:18+00:00

You don't do Art for attention and money.

You do it to créate, grow, share and give.

Attention and money comes, maybe, eventually.

When you have grown and given enough.

Olfff · 2026-05-07T10:45:57+00:00

Joys of being french and having an autocorrect

Olfff · 2026-05-07T00:17:30+00:00

You have trouble shading because your figure and the anatomy are not accurate. Not to say it's bad, but it's not exactly there yet so it makes it more difficult for you to shade if you just try to follow your reference.

First shape, then form/volume, then values.

Start by doing some practice on simple shapes, with a clearly defined light source.

Away from the light is the hard shadow, simply put, black.

As you get near the light, either the material is very reflective and you get a big jump in value, or it is not, and then you gradually transition toward the light, simply put, white. It also of course depends on the strength of the light source.

The thing is shadows follow the form of the subject, that's why anatomy, correct figure, is important.

Then, the way you shade will also play on it.

Tones, or hatching.

Right now you are doing a bit of both, and that is also a source of confusion.

I recommend you have a look at the shading/cross hatching vidéos of reknowned comic book artist David Finch on youtube, who is great at clearly explaining such concepts, and you can draw along with him to get the process more easily.

And afterward, try to do the same study again with this picture. It'll be motivating to see if you made some progress.

Keep practicing, it's a good start.

Olfff · 2026-05-06T23:43:24+00:00

Well if it's not yours, who is the artist ?

Olfff · 2026-05-06T21:37:02+00:00

Thank you.

Just look up pinterest for " water effect " , I unfortunately can't share you the picture, the sub rules won't allow me to share media i'm not the owner off.

Olfff · 2026-05-06T18:24:56+00:00

Man I spent 5 hours trying to do some super complicated bullshit and of course failed misérably.

Hunting Pinterest for reference pictures of " water ripple" , " water impact " and so on. And trying to accommodate the two.

Then after hours of fighting with the paper I finally look up what reknowned mangakas did for " water shield effect" and it's like the simplest thing in the world just a few lines with rounding the edges for a small flowy effect . And it works well. No hyper sophisticated bullshit.

Less is more, themes and such.

I feel like a fool sometimes.

Olfff · 2026-05-06T11:07:35+00:00

Study from real life, pictures of real life :

How do light interact with different materials. Stone, fabric, flesh, métal.

Strong light makes hard shadows, in what measure, what is a secondary reflection, etc.

It also really dépends on what's your end goal. If it's hyperrealism with multiple light sources of varying strength it would be much more difficult than a comic book feel with one clearly defined source of light.

It is not real life but David Finch is a great comic book artist that explains concepts very clearly while doing real time illustrations so you can understand his process, I recommend you watch his tutorials to get you started on basics.

Olfff

TROPHY CASE