#Any criticism in general? Also how can I make his skin look dirtier?

15 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

hard garnet
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Something like this (blurred just in case) idk why it looks so flat

Untitled633_20241212201235.jpg SPOILER_IMG_2544.png
chrome steeple
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I think in your reference photo, the artist uses a variety of textured brushes to achieve the muddy and dirty look that you want. I use Ibis Paint X and I found some similar custom brushes I had saved.

  1. Watercolor
  2. Pencil (graphite)
  3. Pen Fade (square)
    They use brushes similar to the first two to achieve the muddy/dirty look, they blend pretty nicely and they have good textures that are grainy and splattered. The third brush looks like a similar brush they used for the hair, a little soft but also rigid which really brings out the individual strands of hair. Another factor would be your color palette. The artist in the reference photo uses a very muted, cool and dark palette even for the skin tone. The lack of warm tones further enhances the muddy/dirty effect and ominous appearance of the character.

As for the reason why your drawing looks a bit flat, its probably the clothes being a single color and the hair looking like its a single mass instead of sections of hair with some strands and depth. With the hair, you don't need to go in with a really thin brush and draw every strand of hair. If you want to keep it simple but still achieve depth, I'd go in with a square brush and draw some thick strands in the direction of the hair using colors slightly darker or lighter than your base color. You can study your reference and see how they use a rigid brush to create each section of the hair without it being one solid color. It highlights the direction and depth of the hair while maintaining that dark/muddy look with the rest of the piece.

Hope this helps in some way

IMG_8334.png
hard garnet
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Ah thank you so much! Ur explanation is very detailed and simple

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Do u have the codes for these brushes? I’ve been dying to get my hands on a squared brush but with no luck

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This is what I have so far, I added a source of light kinda which made it look a lot better as well, I haven’t reached the clothing yet though

Untitled633_20241213000008.jpg
chrome steeple
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yeah i'll go get the codes rq :]

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your art looks great btww

fast furnace
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I would say to try using more mid tones. You have a flat color set and shadows. Maybe try using a contrasted lighting or colored lighting then adding in a nice mid tone to balance it out.

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One sec lemme try to show what i mean

chrome steeple
fast furnace
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So i just whipped this up. I hope it helps. It just creates a contrast so it doesn’t feel as flat.

IMG_3778.png IMG_3779.png
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The hair might do better with a pink or red color. Not the yellow i used. But yeah

hard garnet
hard garnet