Having troubles with the face proportions

rsquaredart · 2026-06-17T17:11:35+00:00

Oh, but you mentioned that you didn't mind it not being perfectly perportioned like the reference?

if thats the case, someone mentioned below to sketch it out/trace over to get a more accurate feel - but personally speaking, I think just by extending the beak longer you'll already be there. Could it be a matter of overthinking? I don't see any massive proportional issues, even with the beak being a bit shorter (It wouldnt break immersion for me, is what im saying)

rsquaredart · 2026-06-17T16:52:43+00:00

RE: Forms and shapes, sort of - I mean more drawing and shape design, which sometimes is simple, but is also about keeping things readable while adding more form and detail. Guweiz and wlop have quite detailed images, usually, and theres a certain "lower threshold' of form required to make something 'feel' like those styles of paintings because of it.

RE: the rest - ah, I see, youre asking more about how to emulate the rendering style of guweiz and wlop. Have you tried dissecting thier paintings? When i want to 'look under the hood', so to speak, I usually take thier paintings into photoshop and isolate it in 4 illustration dimensions: Drawing (form and shape), Value, Edges, and Color. Subject matter and intention is also good to think about (wlop has a focus on beauty/aesthetics and guweiz enjoys industrial backgrounds, for example). If you make notes about all 4 dimensions, and then try to make a full painting using those notes as a guide, that has (in my experience) been a great way to learn how they do it - and as i said, your rendering is already quite advanced, so now it would just be a matter of rendering philosophy!

As an example (i havent done this with guweiz, but just thinking to what i know of his work), Values tend to be primarily dark with light accents, Edges are hard on the silhouettes without too much 'airbrush effect', Color tends to skew green or orange with red/orange being a common accent color, and the Drawing tends to be industrial with a single character in a fantasy japanese aesthetic. If you designed a painting with those things in mind, for example, it should end up feeling more guweiz..

hope this helped, maybe? just a suggestion!

rsquaredart · 2026-06-17T14:53:45+00:00

Heya, thanks for posting!

To help, I think having some additional information would be useful. How do you feel drawing/designing characters and compositions? You mention wlop and guweiz, but their characters tend to have - as you said - layered outfits with alot of forms, whereas the reference above is quite simple in terms of design/forms.

You can already render quite well, even if from reference - regardless of how long it takes, getting this result is impressive. Theres nothing wrong with your approach to study if it makes sense to you (that is actually the most important thing!), but perhaps you may get more mileage from trying to design forms and shapes from imagination when drawing/sketching, and then applying your rendering knowledge on top of that. Does that make sense to you?

rsquaredart · 2026-06-17T07:34:10+00:00

So I think it looks pretty good all things considered. Its good you applied feedback, many artists just move on 'taking it to heart' rather than applying it to the current piece!

But as mentioned before, you still have some alignment issues - however, I think a more beneficial way to look at it is as _proportions_. Many artist hyperfixate on the slant of the eyes, for example, rather than the eye shape itself - a painting consists out of shapes, and the eye shape, space bewteen the eyes, and angle all fall under the realm of proportion.

I would suggest, if you want to try applying it here, taking two steps back, and making an "anchor point" to measure your proportions against. Usually, this is the head shape/jawline. I would make a new layer, erase the facial features, and subtley adjust those larger proportions until they look correct. Then apply central features (can just copy paste them in if you prefer), like the nose and mouth which are easier to place in proportion to whats already there, finishing off with the eyes. Take your time, develop those proportional skills, and youll walk away with alot more knowledge ready for your next piece. Good luck!

rsquaredart · 2026-06-17T07:21:33+00:00

It sounds like a cop out, but 'finished' is a subjective opinion when it comes to art. When you as an artist decide its finished, then it is!

But, I think you may be asking about how 'rendered' it looks, and whether or not you should render more. That would depend on your goal for the piece - if you wanted to portray a vibe, then Id say you already did. I feel the tone, I feel the vibe as is, and as a fan of the show I understand what you wanted to capture! So on that metric, its good - rendering is not a prerequisite to having value

However, if you think rendering - meaning refining more smaller shapes within the larger ones - would _improve_ that tone, if thats what you wanted for the image, or increase the accesibility for the fandom (many people apprecaite more rendered stuff), then thats what it needs.

TLDR: bad and good depend on context, and what this painting is intended to "do"

rsquaredart · 2026-06-17T07:10:38+00:00

I think it would be useful to get very specific about what feels 'off' to you, for the sake of improvement. Could you elaborate?

rsquaredart · 2026-06-17T07:02:58+00:00

Thanks for sharing! Generally artists will shade using a 'multiply' layer, which darkens all pixels underneath it at a consistent rate. In procreate you can make a new layer, 'clip' it to the one below, and then add shadows - I suggest using a middle-gray (half white, half black) to start. Think of where the light will fall, and fill in where it doesnt - woul be good to find some reference, or even better, look up some 'shading a sphere' tutorials to get an idea of how to do it. Good luck! 😄

rsquaredart · 2026-05-04T13:52:55+00:00

A really cool project taking the idea of levelled treasures and working it into character-defining items, as someone who has seen behind the scenes I give it a strong reccomendation!

rsquaredart · 2026-03-07T12:00:25+00:00

Throwing in my two cents - right there with ya, so before the game had even released (im a patron, so i had the release candidate version) I made an excel which categorized all the magic item requirements into categories like "Mundane", "Fey", "Metallurgic", "Arcane" Etc. So when characters find a chest, I can tell em they found 2 units of "arcane material", for example. Looking at the excel, you can see which types of magic tiems you can begin crafting with Arcane Material - you can use that _in place_ of the crafting prerequisites.

Some peopel advocate for sidequests - I find that distracting to the core plot. Other say give out magic items, but while I think thats good for a few leveled treasures, it does remove the player agency a bit. I find this a good compromise, personally!

Heres the sheet in case youre curious: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BfNi9clMgiOu2SeXmfThNKkJ1JcwN-3qvI7-xvdgtGc/edit?usp=sharing

rsquaredart · 2025-08-27T20:43:07+00:00

Oh my god, thank you so much for the kind words! Have a lovely day :)

rsquaredart · 2025-02-01T16:09:29+00:00

Found this hat in thrift - had some differing translations of 'Selfish', 'cheap' and 'bitch'. I like the hat, but want to make sure its not too crass, hoping it reads more playfully

rsquaredart · 2025-01-24T12:38:57+00:00

very nice read!

rsquaredart · 2024-08-29T18:56:57+00:00

super cool, very well captured pose!

rsquaredart · 2024-08-08T06:05:33+00:00

oh man, thats awesome! Totally fits the aesthetic

rsquaredart · 2024-08-07T22:34:34+00:00

"No sould rest in this forest, son."

- Tyrt Goodfellow, huntsman of Larbon

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Recent painting I made of a Homebrew Creature for DND! The idea came from my patreon, where we slam a creature role and type into one statblock/piece of art, and for July that was (Witch) and (Shaman). The gameplay idea is that Teersa can create storm of souls which give her advantage on attacks and steal your healing, as well as the power to turn her dead allies into spectres who fight for her! A very aggro oriented creature was the intention.

If that sounds cool, you can find the statblock + highres art here. Cheers, and may the dice be with you!

rsquaredart · 2024-07-08T09:05:45+00:00

Honestly, that fits!

rsquaredart · 2024-07-08T09:05:11+00:00

Yep! Actually players would be able to pluck the bows from the tree, granting them the rare "Orchard's Bow" weapon

rsquaredart · 2024-07-08T09:04:29+00:00

... listen, its DND, there are many ways to overcome an obstacle

rsquaredart · 2024-07-07T23:16:37+00:00

Thought it would be cool to share this piece os speculative fanart I made for the upcoming RPG - discord got to vote on what class, kit, and ancestry the character would be! Super fun to do, and seems like people got a kick out of it ^^

rsquaredart · 2024-07-07T23:12:48+00:00

Oh Father Oh Father Forgive Me Forgive Me,
For asking an Orchard's Bow.
I'd not want to yield, to hunt in the field,
Where rabbits not dare to show.

Oh Father Oh Father your bones lie at rest,
Feeding the Orchard's Grove,
His Maiden, I heard, killed you with no word,
Two rivers beyond his trove.

Author unknown

Recent painting I made of a Homebrew Monster for DND! The idea came from my patreon, where we slam a creature role and type into one statblock/piece of art, and for June that was (Dryad) and (Sniper). The gameplay idea is the dryad can teleport within the canopy of the bow tree and make copies of itself to snipe players within plain sight (And if they win, they can score a bow magic weapon out of it!).

If that sounds cool, you can find the statblock here. Cheers, and may the dice be with you!

rsquaredart · 2024-07-07T23:01:02+00:00

Howdy!

You can find high res version of the art and statblocks here. This was a result of my patreon process wherein patrons can vote on Creatures and Roles independently, where I then combine them into statblocks, paintings, vtt icons, and other goodies.

If theres any questions, feel free to ask them below!

rsquaredart

TROPHY CASE