Noel By @astrunaria

rendering practise

erm i love rendering skin i love adding colours to it

my hair rendering is also getting better and I'm so glad about it

it looks so soft i kinda ate

Janie, character by Compajerro on Reddit

coloursssss

more simple but i love colours

can you tell that i hate drawing backgrounds yet

Hello! You commented on something I posted in the art critique community, and since I don’t really want to flood that space with asks about the same thing, I figured I could ask here, since you have a post saying you like doing critiques?

Since this is just a base drawing, I haven’t done textures and shading yet, but I did adjust some anatomy bits (including the sets of hands you pointed out) and made the foreground characters larger, but I’m not sure if the perspective is much more obvious.

Of course, I’d like to hear about other things you think I should revise. Thank you :)

person in suit at the top's hair is really close to touching the purple light person in the dress, its called a tangent when two objects are touching like that and it messes with differentiating foreground and background. i think it would be important to either make it clear that the characters on the bottom and the characters on the top are separate, or to make them overlap a bit so we know which ones are in front.

i know you havent done shading yet, but when you do, you should consider making the characters in the bottom brighter so we know that they are in front. also, theres a blue gap on the bottom of the image (its a yellow gap in the first image and blue in the second image) that you should probably fill with clothing or something because it's negative space and inadvertently draws the viewer's eye to it.

i think the drawing overall looks a bit dim, especially the characters which are meant to be the focal point. i HIGHLY recommend turning the image to greyscale and seeing how you can make things stand out more that way. its a strategy i use all the time, and even when your image is blurred and in greyscale, you should be able to see many different values and understand whats going on in the piece.

honestly, this is something you dont have to follow, but you could push the perspective even more and make the characters in front even bigger and the characters in the back even smaller. but then some of the characters would be less visible, so thats why this is just a suggestion.

also the background text/constellations should be much brighter/thicker, at a glance i cant see it at all and it just looks like negative space.

this is something i do A LOT in my drawings, but it really helps, and that's to add a gradient to the background making the bottom of the grey background part darker would help push contrast and make the characters stand out even more, I've just done it in my most recent artwork, it works wonders.

very long post, hope i helped. this is a very complicated composition and organisation, so well done, I don't think I could do much better lol

lol just a simple animation test i haven't animated in sooo long

oc lore dump pls

bruh I can't explain things in words, this is gonna sound awful

so jayden is a silly little guy (he murders on occasion) who can turn into a LION MADE OUT OF FIRE and it's really cool and big and strong. He has black nails but it's not emo!!! its from the demon 😈who's super evil (and there's a number 2 demon that looks like a weird spiky creature thing) but this demon basically looks like satan but not red, instead its blue and black. Jayden doesn't have real horns guys!! its part of his hair, he just got weird cowlicks man don't question it, it's just how asian hair be sometimes (I literally have a picture with cowlicks that look exactly like horns bro)

jayden is super happy all the time it's technically one of his flaws, he's a bit too trusting at times, he's had multiple bad experiences with people close to him, but he values honesty so much that he just assumes other people mean what they say. Nothing really brings him down, and he only gets serious when people close to him are at risk. you KNOW you messed up when he stops smiling lol. His hair is basic af idk why NO ONE can draw it istg its just an undercut that's kinda swept to the side! ngl I don't wanna explain much about him plot-wise so I'm keeping some stuff a secret until later.

His chinese name is 尊强 (zun qiang in mandarin pinyin) and it literally means "honour strong" and his last name is huang (like the colour) which is lowkey a basic af southern last name but it's literally a name in my family soooo... Jayden as his English name is just smth I made up cuz no one in the kingdom can say his name right let alone with correct tones. Speaking of southern he's from Zhongshan in Guangdong!! southern Chinese food SLAPS man I'm hungry just thinking about ittt also jayden is a massive foodie ofc he loves snacks and BOBA (the lore of the unreleased boba IV and I love anime girls gangster story goes crazy)

Family trauma also go crazy but again i dont wanna spoil but his dad and grandpa did some evil things... but somehow jayden pushes on? I'm literally the writer but his resilience surprises me sometimes bruh.

his story is kinda goofy (and by goofy I mean literal tragedy with a large dose of comedy) but like I GOTTA include the colourism and racism arcs bro the kingdom so mean to him for NO REASON

also what if i said that the whole concept of my comic that I've literally structured my whole life around came to me in a literal dream. like it was enlightening bro it just came to me idk my dreams are crazy.

omg i forgot to mention Levels, he got a star in his eye bro, he's Level 10 he sees spirits real good. Also his eyebrows are goofy I know, but like... it's just an exaggeration, irl there are eyebrows with a sort of "tail" like that. he's really strong did I mention that yet? like even without powers, he's very skilled in combat that's why he's ripped lol, his sifu is literally based on a real sifu I've had before, sifu's also so silly!! i think it's so funny to have a character who looks tough but is super nice and not scary at all.

also he's got sharp upper canines, he literally looked demonic before the demon (there is an explanation for this but again no spoilers)

i gave him bellbottom pants cuz i like bellbottom pants. if anyone asks me why i chose specific fashion/clothes for characters ima just say "cuz I like it... lol"

also he's 19 although he acts quite young, it's just how he is.

he's kinda dumb but the reason for this is pretty sad (systemic issues go crazy) he just don't take in information that well and he just thinks in a very black and white way.

his biggest motivation gotta be JUSTICE (omg he's an SJW) what he cares about the most is that people get what they deserve, whether its good or bad. cuz he grew up poor even when his parents work hard, so he know what "unfair" means.

he's absolutely COVERED in scars (ngl thats my own stubbornness with details, I just can't stand it when mfs in shows get hurt and then a week later they're fine with no trace of injury???) he kinda throws himself into fights, obv he defends himself but he isn't afraid to take the force and not to mention he is very protective of others, so he'll get in the way of an attack just to save someone else or buy time.

his eyes (well.... one eye) are BLACK man they're not brown bro idk why people keep doing that "black eyes aren't real" idk if ppl colour his eyes with dark brown!! but his eyes aren't a medium brown, they're as close to black as possible! and his eyes arent slanted bro! his eyes just look like semicircles with the flat side on the bottom!

and idk why no one can draw his nose. his nose is STRAIGHT it don't curve down it don't curve up PLEASE just draw a straight nose!! and don't NOT draw his lips man... i hate to see it bro, it just looks ODD, it's like whitewashing but without the white IDK how to describe it. ain't NOBODY can draw his side profile correctly man, whitewashing of his side profile is even WORSE. like he don't have a nose that stick out that much man, you cant just slap a generic anime side profile on him and expect it to work. i see SO many people who cant draw east asians man, like GO OUTSIDE I sort of get it for people who live in places with like zero east asians, but a lot of people who have drawn my OCs live in like California?? idk man, but if you cant draw east asians, either learn how to do so or don't draw jayden

and his skin colour... bro it's like hot chocolate (yes I know its a little weird to compare skin colour to food, but it's the easiest way for me to tell people and what other people have told me his skin looks like) so PLEASE don't lighten it OR darken it! I've gotten a piece of fanart where he is literally super dark brown. like LOOK AT MY REF!! and I see SO many people who draw his skin really desaturated. I'm not asking people to draw his skin like the super saturated orange that I use, but you gotta have some colour man!

kinda turned into a rant but i have so much to say man I LOVE rambling about my characters. also jayden's eyes... another thing I see wrong has to do with how much eye whites are showing. when he has a neutral expression, there is no visible eye whites above or below his iris! his iris takes up a lot of his eye! when ppl draw his irises small af (or give him "dead eyes") it don't look like him! he also got the little fat under the eyes it makes him look like he's smiling I love it

jayden def lives in the moment. he's never too worried about the future or super anxious about things. he's just a chill guy lol. also his attention span is non existent if it's not about things he's interested in. he's not too shy usually, but he is quite shy with people he likes.

he initially was scared by the prince and thought he was gonna be a bad person, but turns out the prince just CLUELESS and very soon after they've been on "friendly relations" if you know what I mean lol. he gives up a little too much for the people close to him, it's quite a flaw that he wouldn't even hesitate to get hurt for the sake others, he never thinks about himself enough. speaking of, ofc he basically let himself get stabbed cuz to him, he'd rather lose an eye than for the prince to even get a papercut.

also he likes CATS!!! KITTIES!!! (well... ifykyk what happens)

his relationships with other characters is either silly and happy or extremely serious and begrudging in a way that actually really impacts the plot

the lore behind the scar on his neck is a tad bit insane

OMG this is so long i don't expect anyone to read all this

i am NOT gonna read this again man I guarantee its cringe AF

not taking anymore asks for donations

i have gotten many asks recently from people in need, but I am always worried about people who take advantage of this sort of thing, so I will not respond to anymore asks. i do take it upon me that for anyone who sees this, to donate to charities and verified gofundmes! also... i do not have any money or myself, so I cannot really provide for anyone, not to mention i don't have many viewers as I just created this blog. to the people who want to ask me for donations, I'd reply or ask bigger creators, where others are more likely to see it

i may turn off asks if i keep getting many

why must i be like this

everytime i wanna name an OC i feel like i'm naming my baby man that name is gonna be with them for LIFE it's gonna be everything to them

biggest example gotta be freaking puma guy man like i have so much lore for him, I have his whole FAMILY TREE mapped out I know all his traumas and psychology I know how the "don't complain cuz other ppl have it worse" mentality has AFFECTED him I know his whole relationship life I know his whole childhood I know his MIDDLE SCHOOL BEST FRIEND I know literally everything about this guy but a name? hell nah, not even a nickname

ig cuz names mean a lot to me personally... i asked my gyu po after waiting years in anticipation for her to formally give jayden a Chinese name, cuz I only trust her to be able to have that cultural context and meaning, and she gave me and my family Chinese names too, but that was such a big event to me and now I feel I gotta ask my dad for a name for puma guy bc I want him to have a russian first name but that's EMBARRASSING like imagine going up to your dad and being like "erm can you name a person who DOES NOT EXIST for me... and it has to be really meaningful and well thought out you have to put your life into this" unserious ahh

erm... sevika kinda bad

searched her name on tumblr and im glad I'm not the only who likes her lmaooo some of you down bad more than I am

this isnt a good drawing we dont talk about it... literally anytime I wanna draw fanart I just cant cuz I feel like it wont be as good as the show 😭 sooooo enjoy extremely bad fanart of any fandom I'm in

also idk what her outfit is thats way too complex (I say with my own ridiculously complex OC designs for a COMIC of all things)

erm... puma guy (I DONT HAVE A NAME FOR HIMMM I've literally created so much lore but NO NAME)

i literally made him as a joke cuz he's like a weird flipped version of jayden... but then i ended up really liking him so now he's part of the main cast

we DONT TALK about the background... i-it's a character ref ok it doesn't NEED a background

i literally HATE how i am so good at pointing out other ppls mistakes and correcting other ppls art... but there can be the most obvious mistake in my drawing and I won't even notice at all it's so painful

so glad i didnt post my old (by old I mean like few months, edit: lol it was exactly three months and one week) ref of him here man it's so bad why does my old art always look so distorted like WHAT WAS I THINKING...

the longest part of drawing him is always the space pattern man but like it's my own stubbornness I could literally just copy and paste but I choose not to

the shading is also much better than the old one I'm developing this guy pretty fast I have a good enough image of him in my brain to not need a reference when drawing him (except still no name arghhh I put so much thought into names... well sometimes, I literally took two characters names from songs)

it may or may not be 4 am I am NORMAL

i've made so many small edits to this drawing man I don't even think anyone else can tell what I changed but its driving me crazy

i was trying to do a shading demonstration for my friend but I ended up drawing a really scrumptious looking sphere

idk what its made of but man it looks good

looks like the apple emoji style lowkey