Castle Paradox

Uncommon · Last edited by Uncommon on Fri Oct 24, 2003 3:37 pm; edited 1 time in total

I figure it's not fair to be a harch critic without opening myself to critcism, so...

Stillwell, Iris Fae

Harrisburg, Fiona Esme

Yeah, Fiona's head's a bit big. That's style-related.

I should hopefully have one of Caleb done tomorrow...
Critque away!

Iblis · Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2003 7:39 pm Post subject:

Fiona looks extremely insane to me. She's got this huge smile and angry look in her eyes that combine to make weirdness. It's all well drawn though.
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Me · Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2003 7:43 pm Post subject:

Very nice. One thing that's really good about your work, Uncommon, is the fact that you retain a definite style or drawing. You've also mastered the art of drawing stylistically and technically out of proportion while still making it look good and realistic. That's pretty hard to do.
And Fiona does looks rather nutso.
Iris is hot.
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Flamer · Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2003 10:03 pm Post subject:

great picture.

iris has big cheek bones...
the angry eyes with smile, tells me she up to something mischevious.

all in all great, i especially like the sword.
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LeRoy_Leo · Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2003 10:05 pm Post subject:

She has a really big mouth, which makes yelling at critics easier, and more damaging. Raspberry!

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Hunter Green · Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2003 10:22 pm Post subject:

It's really good, I just don't like the ratio between the upper and lower parts of thier faces. It seems like they should have larger foreheads. They look good, though. The only bad things I can see are less actual errors, and more stuff I personally disagree with.
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Shadowiii · **It's been real.** Joined: 14 Feb 2003 Posts: 2460

Iris seems a bit offblance, like she's leaning back onto somthing. Also, is she trying to stab herself in the shin with her sword? You mentioned these are preliminary to battle graphics, so you might want to work on the blance, because that is one akward way to hold a sword.

Fiona's head is a bit big. If she is a martial-arts character (which I'm guessing for the lack of a weapon) then that is a pretty lame stance. I also can't tell if her mouth is big lips or teeth.

The art style itself is well done, except I found the hairstyles a bit boring, and both their eyes lack detail.

Heh, its nice to know other people actually draw their characters for battle animations...except I use stick figures to try to get the body proportions right...

Good work. Keep it up.
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Eggie · Joined: 12 May 2003 Posts: 904

The bottom one's lips are too big. They are not vibin'.

Uncommon · Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2003 11:25 am Post subject:

I never understand how some people can see my mouths as lips. They're just not round enough! I did kind of think about how weird Fiona's expression was after I scanned it, though...

Me: Iris is meant to be that way.

Flamer: The Stillwell Blade is one of my favorites, too. In Live By the Sword (when her father still used it), I described it like so: "...His sword had a hilt like a golden snake with a head on each end, one biting the bottom of the handle, the other at the beginning of the blade."

Shadow: Where to start? Iris is a tad off-balance, but that's her style. She has one leg extending out, the other bent to support her. Her sword is actually behind her leg, not stabbing into it. She just a weird sword-style (what do you expect? she was raised/trained by the maverick swordsman Jacques Lerosse!).

Fiona is actually not a martial arts character (I know, I kind of led you on, there; I should have said something in the first post). She is a bard (a mute one, oddly enough), but for that picture I decided not to include her guitar or outer jacket. The following is my original part 2 design:

I make the hair like that on purpose, 'cos it's more realistic that way. No one really ever has hair like they show in most animés.

Anway, I figure before I show these next two pictures, I might as well tell you some stuff I neglected last time. These are for Where Gods and Mortals Dance part 2 (yes, it has two parts).

Iris is the same little girl from Live By the Sword (if any of you have read that, if not, it's here). She is a sword-fighter/white mage. She was fostered by Jacques Lerosse after her parents died (in Live By the Sword), and he has basically raised her up to be his successor as the master of the Assembly of the Lone Chimaera (Jacques' thief-clan). She's strong-willed and generally pleasant, but only to hide her fear.

Fiona is bard, but she was permanently muted at the end of part 1, thus, in part 2, all of her songs will have to be on strings/percussion (in part 1, all of her songs were vocal). In other words, she is seriously messed up. She had a ball & chain in part 1, but she dropped it between the two parts. She uses her fists as weapons, but not with martial arts (she's not a very strong attacker in part 2).

So, here are the next pictures:

Glade, Caleb Dante

Caleb is the main character. He is a grey (time/space/status effect) mage. The strap on his Bo is so he throw it over his shoulder and carry it on his back. He's a bit depressive, a little melancholic, but oddly he has more hope than anyone else in the game. His middle name stands for his perseverance, but he regards it as stubborness (Dante can stand for both).

Wayland, Gregory Hunter

Greg is, with the exception of Fiona, Caleb's best friend. He is a technician (Edgar in FF6 was a technician), hacker, and general techniology freak. His energy sword is more like a Zeonic heat sword than a lightsaber, as the blade is generated from the metal rod in the middle. I recently discovered that Wayland was actually the name of a Celtic smith-god, which is awesome 'cos Greg is like a modern-day smith.

I realize that the guys look quite a bit more solemn than the girls. THat's a problem. I'll probably do a new one of Fiona, with jacket, guitar, and a different facial expression.

Lucier · Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2003 1:15 pm Post subject:

I love all of your characters' clothes. They're very realistic, you don't throw in a ton of useless objects that are just there for looks. You did the folds on the guys' jeans very well, too. At first, I wasn't digging your art style, but now that I look again, I've taken a liking to it. I was into the whole big feet style awhile back, but you pull it off so much better than i ever could. The only thing I'd suggest is maybe making Iris's neck a tad bit smaller, as the one she has currently looks slightly masculine. Her clothing reminds me of Quistis. Did you get inspiration from her character design? Oh yes, and about Fiona's mouth... To make it look more like teeth, I suggest you shade some in the corners of her mouth. You might also draw some skinny lips around her mouth, something like Iris's lips. But all in all, they're very nice drawings. My favorite design is Fiona with her guitar and jacket. Bards rock.
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Uncommon · Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2003 3:17 pm Post subject:

Compliments from Lucier carry much weight.

I believe in practical character designs, a lot of the extra stuff has a purpose (bear with me, 'cos I'm about to give examples). For instance, in part 1, Caleb wears gloves because his staff has no wrappings and he'll get splinters otherwise. Ice (another character) wears sunglasses all th time to hide his eye-color (since he's half-Syplh, and Sylphs' eye-color changes with their emotions) and, at the same time, what he's thinking. Iris wears an arm-warmer on her right arm because she fights back-hand style and doesn't want to cut herself (it was originally a leather bracer, but this looks better); the other ones for symmetry. A lot of people wear jackets in part 2 because Eris screwed with the climate, making it very cold.

Oddly enough, I usually drew feet a lot bigger than that and stopped drawing feet altogether until that picture of Caleb. I'm pleased with the results, though.

Iris actually was not based off of Quistis. About the only resemblance I see is with the arm-warmers, though Quistis' were more like gloves... When I designed most of these characters I had a specific person in mind that I based them off of, but Iris was one of the first that I didn't have an inspiration for.

I need to learn to draw lips, so that people can tell when I'm drawing mouths closed or open. Iris' are teeth, as well... Well, I suppose I'm glad for this, 'cos now I know what to work on.

Bards rock and roll all day long.

Lucier · Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2003 4:25 pm Post subject:

I wasn't saying your character designs had useless accesories, I was saying the opposite. See, I have a bad habit of adding weird things onto my character designs, like canisters and frilly doodas and such, simply for looks. I think you did a really good job of making everything on your characters useful in some way, and I look up to you for being able to do that. I've got to work on it, myself.

And Iris... Now that I look at her again, I think it was just the sleeves that reminded me of Quistis. But yeah, even those aren't much like Quistis.

Anyway, good work. Post some more sketches if you do any more, I would like to see them.
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Uncommon · Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2003 4:38 pm Post subject:

I knew exactly what you were saying, I was just saying that it was completely deliberate. I was agreeing.

I probably will get some more battle-stance tests done soon. I already have one in mind for Ice, and I'll probably use the same one for Thomas as I was going to for Knights of the Realm before I decided to not make that a game. It probably wouldn't be too hard to get one for Mirror and Feather, either...

Oh, yeah! I forgot to mention the new picture of Morpheus I scanned last night. It's here. It's the second one.

LeRoy_Leo · Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2003 6:58 am Post subject:

Hunter Green · Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2003 8:52 am Post subject:

Jesus, is english your second language, or are you just retarded?
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