Guilty Alice! ROUND 14 OVERRR

[Delfigamer]

Personally, I don't have as much of an issue about the Queens winning often than I do about the fact that because of this, less people get to come up with themes.

Nobody forbids you to suggest a theme even if you don't participate at all, yes? I think, if the theme is interesting enough, it will be preferred by a Queen over his/her own. If he/she happens to have it, I remember a case when the winner hadn't came up with a certain theme, having a rather indistinct (I hope I got right word from a dictionary) one instead, don't remember his name, though.
...Ye-eah, it was just "fanmade characters", now you remembered it?

You meant me I think. I'll switch my name back to avoid causing confusion.

It reminds me of the Likhachev Factory, ZiL, did you know? :V

[DX7.EP]

Too often, lighting and texture, body language and expression are what makes a picture, not whether the angle of the walls is perfect or not.

This comes at most people first and foremost, certainly, and is important in an illustration. Nevertheless, technical bits can't be ignored either. Slight errors can ruin otherwise perfect pictures.

EP: Is this Nue? The neck, shoulders, and torso seem very off to me.

Okay, good to have the specific areas pinpointed.

[Mеа]

+2 KazeSenshi
+1 Vento/Vyrien

KazeSenshi: Cutesy as usual. I'm really excited to see your art evolve in the future tbh. I like the steampunk UFO idea. The face looks a bit dented/deformed on the left side. It seems to me like you have a solid idea but your hands aren't transferring it to paper confidently. Just general practice and I think you'd improve quite quickly. The reason I put this above Vento/Vyrien 's  was because 1) they're already going to win, which I realize is a stupid reason, and 2) because if this were done in the same quality as their submission, I think I would like it more. Of course, dealing with ifs is a bit ridiculous when I should just be comparing the submissions themselves, but I'm a bit torn. I just like it, how about that?

Vento/Vyrien: さすがはヴェントさんですね。Vyrien also did a really good job with that background.  Really moody and has the perfect atmosphere. It's really amazing when the two powers are combined into one picture. Though comparatively (to the other submissions), that's not saying much. I mean, that's a given, but I think a great job and hard work deserve some reward (and I think this deserves a trophy. Especially for that Yoshika). Great job guys.


Sixten: As usual, backgrounds look really great. But there's the usual feeling of, hmm, stiffness. Not in the posture, but more from the expressions. They don't seem too inviting. It feels kind of silly to say this for an anime/manga style picture of all things, but it feels lifeless. Now realize I'm saying all this vague stuff because I can't see much other points to improve on technical details-wise.
KrackoCloud: Simple but really funny and fitting. I like the dress and that giant gear. I would have voted for this one if I could.
DesuCake: Seems like you just appended mechanical wings to her back. Style isn't bad, but the idea I find a bit lacking.
Arkeden: Looks good, but trying to decipher what's going on with her right arm is a bit hard. I like the steam exhaust pipes
Delfigamer: It's a bit hard to tell who is who. If I didn't know that Seki could detach her head, I would have no idea. Perhaps you should practice identifying and drawing a character's distinguishing feature (I'm a bit weak at this too). Adding color will also help. Another thing is that for a while, I didn't recognize Seki's body; I thought it was that other girl's strange wings or something. People identify humans easy by eyes, faces, hands, and other things (also why body horror monsters are very repulsive). Since the body had none of those, it was a bit hard to tell. And I don't mean to be a grammer Nazi, but it should be "excess", and 'even' should go between 'won't' and 'fly' - between the auxiliary (will [not]) and main verb (fly).
Endless Hunger: I guess arguing that it would be hard to tell that it was Kaguya without the 5 tasks is a bit pointless, but it's good that there's some distinguishing context (the 5 tasks) to identify her as Kaguya. I guess the point is that if characters don't look like themselves after dress up, then put them into a context where we can identify them. I'm not just saying this to you, I just kind of put this here. As for your art, it's kind of funny to see Kaguya in a Victorian era dress. General practice?
Bound: Not sure what to say. The face and hands look a bit masculine. The eyes are a bit unattractive, though that's just personal preference (maybe).
ZillionBrain: I think someone else said this already, but the technology doesn't really look steampunky. I like the concept though.
Kitten4u: It's got an eccentric feel to it. Like a radical anti-technology mad-scientist kind of eccentric. I think the texture of the broom is really good, and the options look great.
Piranha: I think the dress matches Nue quite well. The trident looks a bit too skinny though. The first thing that caught my attention was the eyes. They remind me of Rebuild Eva's Rei for some reason. Oh well. I like the idea, though it could have been executed a bit better. Especially the spike and snake wings.
Werepuppy: Nazrin seems to fit this style really well
EP: 何となくごっつい. Hm, I can't really tell who it is. Her manly appearance is a bit jarring when we know it's a woman. Perhaps practicing anatomy will help. Google imaging people in swimsuits can help.

Why the Lafayette do I write so damn much in these?
Finals end on Wednesday and I want some critique too, so I might join a few rounds this summer.

[Sixten]

why are you still so concerned about winning

I may be just a spectator now, but being a spectator doesn't stop sports fans around the world from caring about the competition. Think of how exciting it would be if there was another entry with the same level of quality as the Vento/Vyrien piece. When everyone knows the winner before the voting begins, it isn't as much fun.

[HakureiSM]

One way or another, the whole point of this 'competition' is to get more art done, so most of us are more excited to see people working on art and the result that brings than who got the most +2s in the end, which ultimately doesn't matter a lot to us as a community, it's just a little game.

[pineyappled]

Aight, I've been meaning to tell you this for a while mate, but couldn't find  a way. Your own obsession with perspective and rulers too often detract from your own art, and your critique of others' pieces. You're skilled, but your pieces tend to look rather lifeless and bland because you spent more time putting everything in molds and straight lines than giving emotion to the characters and envinronment. Too often, lighting and texture, body language and expression are what makes a picture, not whether the angle of the walls is perfect or not.
It's just something I've been noticing for a bit, hope you don't take any offense :I

Perspective is important, though. It's a perfectly valid critique?

[HakureiSM]

I didn't say it wasn't?

[Sixten]

Aight, I've been meaning to tell you this for a while mate, but couldn't find  a way. Your own obsession with perspective and rulers too often detract from your own art, and your critique of others' pieces. You're skilled, but your pieces tend to look rather lifeless and bland because you spent more time putting everything in molds and straight lines than giving emotion to the characters and envinronment. Too often, lighting and texture, body language and expression are what makes a picture, not whether the angle of the walls is perfect or not.
It's just something I've been noticing for a bit, hope you don't take any offense :I

There is nothing wrong about being obsessive about perspective. I have done in-game and concept background art for a video game, and have also been commissioned to draw a university's physics lab equipment. I was well-served by my skill with the straight edge.

I also don't think it's wrong to criticize pieces with the bias of a perspective specialist. All pictures can be improved by better perspective. And the perspective being off in a given picture has never stopped me from voting for it based on its other merits.

That said, your point about my characters lacking emotion is a valid one. You are not the first one to have pointed that out. In my art thread, someone put together a collage of the Reisen faces I had drawn, which all looked the same. This lack of emotion could very well be the reason why I've never won this contest.

And don't worry about offending me. There is nothing you can say that can be worse than what my art school professors have already said. I act on any criticism that is well reasoned, even if I don't directly acknowledge it. When some people found errors in my "sailor suits and flowers" picture, I updated the picture after the voting had concluded to make the shadows look more correct, and resized Cirno to be closer to Suwako in size. (Old picture is here for reference.) And I'm starting on a Reisen expression set so the future pages of my doujinshi don't suffer the same problems as the four that were already drawn.

I have come to accept that my level of character drawing is not enough to win the contest, now or in the foreseeable future. But you have my promise that I will get better.

I might even come out of retirement next year (if the league still exists, that is) and prove it.

[HakureiSM]

Well, I'm glad the point came across.

[DX7.EP]

EP: 何となくごっつい. Hm, I can't really tell who it is. Her manly appearance is a bit jarring when we know it's a woman. Perhaps practicing anatomy will help. Google imaging people in swimsuits can help.

...I think it's a good time for me to lay off Jojo / Hokuto no Ken style works then. :V

More effort on anatomical correctness and increasing the use of reference images are already in plan.

Why the Lafayette do I write so damn much in these?

Not an issue - detailed commentary and feedback helps!

One way or another, the whole point of this 'competition' is to get more art done, so most of us are more excited to see people working on art and the result that brings than who got the most +2s in the end, which ultimately doesn't matter a lot to us as a community, it's just a little game.

Yeah, pretty much. Myself I'm in it for getting critiques and commentary for practice.

[Mеа]

...I think it's a good time for me to lay off Jojo / Hokuto no Ken style works then. :V

Haha, that's kind of funny.
But pursuing a style that you like is a good thing. Don't give up.
Here is a Mamiya.
You can see that she looks like a very attractive woman.
And here's a Jolyne.
Now Jojo women look a lot more bizarre, but there's ways to bring out masculine and feminine qualities in any style.
Thankfully for you, both these styles are really more anatomically correct than other anime/manga, so your studies should be immediately applicable. All you should have to do is stylize the facial features a bit.
Your submission this week (and others, as I vaguely recall) has a very rectangular silhouette and body frame. Women are more curvy, even young girls. Practicing the shoulders, armpits, and hips can especially help bring out the more feminine features.
Good luck!

[Delfigamer]

* Quote of Nia's post would go here if my phone allowed it. :V *
I don't think my English was ever notable for grammar correctness. :V Pretty useful notes, though, I'll try to keep it in mind from now on.

Regarding that girl on left - I've said I have no idea who she is either, it's really that! *derp*

[Kaze_Senshi]

+2 Bentou Vento/Vyrien
+1 Kitten4u

Fast feedback

Vento: I was thinking to talk something about the background, that part where Sixten noticed a perspective error I noticed that it is hard to say if there is a brick wall or a brick road there. Anyway it is awesome, that little Futo :3

Kitten4u: It looks fantastic, I love starry skies Maybe you could make the drawing looks more dynamic drawing Marisa in a pose which transmit a feeling that she was moving in a high speed.

Sixten (No voting): +2
KrackoCloud: Nice job with this one, I think that you could add more details on the wood gear surface.
KazeSenshi: It's me
Desu_Cake: Her hands looks pretty small, she can barely hide her eyes with them.
Arkeden: Nice idea, it looks good, only her left breast contour looks a bit strange.
Delfigamer: I always like to think that a good drawing can express emotions without words, you could express that text just working more on their expressions and their body posture. Also you should add more details to help us to notice who are the charactetes. For example Sekibanki's shirt has some lines that are like walking red ants.
Endless Hunger: The gears on her dress don't follow the same "model"
Bound: She looks a bit masculine, her shoulders looks a bit brawny
ZillionBrain: If you worked a bit more her face you could take my vote this week, nice job.
Piranha: Her left leg looks a bit broken.
Werepuppy: It looks good but it lacks theme-centered content.
EP: Her anatomy looks a bit off.

KazeSenshi: Nue the UFO Repairwoman! Right hand seems flipped. While the image is complex and tries to be active - a good thing -

After doing this drawing I thought "Oh it looks that her arm is broken and she is holding it like when you are hurted in Resident Evil", so I think that the problem is the arm position

KazeSenshi: Cutesy as usual. I'm really excited to see your art evolve in the future tbh. I like the steampunk UFO idea. The face looks a bit dented/deformed on the left side. It seems to me like you have a solid idea but your hands aren't transferring it to paper confidently. Just general practice and I think you'd improve quite quickly. The reason I put this above Vento/Vyrien 's  was because 1) they're already going to win, which I realize is a stupid reason, and 2) because if this were done in the same quality as their submission, I think I would like it more. Of course, dealing with ifs is a bit ridiculous when I should just be comparing the submissions themselves, but I'm a bit torn. I just like it, how about that?

I always feel unconfident while drawing because I am afraid to do some mistake :V
Soon I am planning to finish my undergraduate course and buy a drawing tablet to forget problems with erasers and liquid paper


PS: I enjoy Sixten's perspective feedbacks

[DX7.EP]

Haha, that's kind of funny.
But pursuing a style that you like is a good thing. Don't give up.

Indeed. Stylistic influence and adaptation is an underappreciated portion of traditional artistic approach.

Of course having more variety in stylistic portfolio helps.

Your submission this week (and others, as I vaguely recall) has a very rectangular silhouette and body frame. Women are more curvy, even young girls. Practicing the shoulders, armpits, and hips can especially help bring out the more feminine features.

I've received quite a lot of stiff body pose comments on past work, and a few extra for shoulders. So yeah, adjusting that's in order.

After doing this drawing I thought "Oh it looks that her arm is broken and she is holding it like when you are hurted in Resident Evil", so I think that the problem is the arm position

I think it's just the arm rotation. Would make more sense to have the palm facing the viewer.

I also realised I didn't finish my comment on your work. :V It does try to be complex, as I said earlier, but what I forgot to add in my post was that it's a bit hard to judge the focus. It seems a bit too hectic at the current moment.

I always feel unconfident while drawing because I am afraid to do some mistake :V

Same here on more instances than I can count, including most of the submissions here. It seems I'm forcing myself to draw in such a manner. :V

[KrackoCloud]

Sorry for the delay, guys! It's been a busy day.

Guilty Alice Week 7 Results!

The winner is...
Vento/Vyrien!
Was it any surprise? :U

And second place goes to KrackoCloud.
Good job, Kracko.

Vento and Vyrien: Decide on a theme by Sun, Jun 16.
Others, feel free to throw in your own ideas for the next theme! I think that would be a good practice from now on.

[DX7.EP]

Throwing an idea in - how about Touhou hats/garments/misc items on non-Touhou characters? I think expanding the character portfolio is good.

[pasu]

I want mafia touhous in a kingly manner

[HakureiSM]

How about comics for a change

I want Star Wars characters lost in Gensokyo, 5-komas

[Vento]

i was going to suggest the theme to be stylized minimalism with restrictions, in the case that there is a template, and it is a circle, so something like this http://puu.sh/3fBP6.jpg , in which the aim is to see how you can draw a 2hu in a circle.... it doesnt mean you have to draw a fullbody or anything detailed/complicated, its up to you!! ^q^

so like basically a "fit your touhou in a circle" theme, try to keep it to 3 colours


OH BUT THEN

I want mafia touhous in a kingly manner

I LIKE THIS




so you guys vote

[KrackoCloud]

Hurngh. This is a hard decision.
Mafia sounds like a lot of fun, but we haven't worked with templates before, so that could be a cool experience too.

I'm not really helping here, am I :U

[danyun]

How come I have missed so much of this? D:
Anyway, I say mafia Touhous.

[Kaze_Senshi]

I say Minimalism because I only draw using 2 colors and it seems to spend less time, so I could spend more time on my final project and on my final exams  :ohdear:

[Delfigamer]

Seems like from now I'll have more time to draw, so here's my vote - minimalism.

[DX7.EP]

Minimalist approach sounds pretty fun.

[Mеа]

Minimalism!!
Sounds fun and different from what we've been doing so far

[Delfigamer]

Sounds fun and different from what we've been doing so far

Hm...

[pineyappled]

friendly reminder that minimalism =/= simply(lol) drawing in 2 colours or being lazy ^q^)

orz

[KrackoCloud]

Since we've hit the theme deadline and Vento called for a vote, I'm just going to go ahead and go with what the majority voted for.

Week 8: Minimalist Circle
Drawing must be contained in a circle. Be clean and minimal.
This theme is a little abstract - here's Vento's example.
Entry Deadline: Mon, Jun 24

[Suikama]

i could use some drawing practice

maybe ill enter this time

_maybe

[HakureiSM]

Suikama entry get hype GET HYPE GET HYPE