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nillia In reply to Tasuki-no-Miko [2005-07-12 16:25:45 +0000 UTC]

Well, I'm glad to see that your animosity towards me is beginning to wane. I appreciate your compliment of the subject/theme.
I am not aware of anything in my description indicating that I don’t want critique. After working on a picture for 30+ hours, I may not want to jump back on it, but I’d at least like to hear how I might improve on future pictures. My status for this picture still says “Critique welcome” and my signature still says what it says.

The flavor of your comments has changed ever since I wrote that rant about a year ago. I was bothered by some pictures getting treated like gold because they were shiney and/or fanart, while pictures with advanced brushwork and anatomy sat in the background. I did not say that people have no right to be less experienced. Everybody has their learning years. People work hard during those years in order to learn how to make great work. People can have good amateur work that gets its fair share of acclaim. Encouragement is good. I just don’t like it when artists that have spent a very long time honing their skills are left unacknowledged, while fairly new artists with a greater number of errors get their art treated like gods’ work. It’s not fair to the people that have been developing their skills longer. It’s not fair to the amateur either, because he/she might become so proud of his/herself that he quits striving to explore and develop. He/she is already the best, according to everybody else. It robs them of the chance to expand and learn.

So yeah. That’s what I was trying to say back then. Ever since, you stopped leaving positive comments, and instead…it seemed that you started to nit-pick about anything you could find or invent wrong with the picture. I figured that it was wrong of me to presume that, and maybe you were just really trying to help me improve. Thus, I said nothing, and thanked you for your criticism.
You don’t leave such comments on anybody else’s works.
It seems like you’ve been passive aggressively trying to reiterate your point about how art doesn’t have to be perfect to be good….by nit-picking at my work so that I would get defensive, etc, etc.
Like I said above…I don’t think work has to be perfect to be good. A popular amateur may have rather good work, errors and all…I just wished that even more polished work by experienced artists would get some of the same attention.
If your intention was to get at me, I’d like to ask you to please stop. If I’m totally wrong, and these are just a weird set of coincidences, then I’m sorry.

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Tasuki-no-Miko In reply to nillia [2005-07-12 18:15:11 +0000 UTC]

I'm really sorry if it seems like I'm targeting you, and I'd like to say that that is not the case at all. I've been a lot less active when dealing with commenting on other people's works recently, due to a large amount of stress that I've experienced, so I apologize for the lack of commenting and for the cold tone that I've used.

I really DO like the picture. I think that your composition skills are displayed very nicely on the picture, and I also believe that your branching out into cel-shading is a very cool thing. The only reason why I didn't leave a short comment with the pointless "cool picture!" is because I felt that it wouldn't help improve your pictures, and you have so many people telling you how great you are anyway. Actually, I think that in many ways, we agree on that point, since you pointed out that fact when talking about shoujo artists. Sorry if I seemed rude overall, that wasn't my intention.

As for the rant a year ago, I'm glad that we had this chance to clarify, and I want to say that I wasn't holding a grudge against you, but that, once again, my commenting on other's works has decreased lately. I hope that we can leave that behind us; I don't think either of us wants to continue dwelling on such an issue.

My critiques really ARE meant to help people, and the reasons for my lack of critique on other's works, as you pointed out, are: 1. most people aren't as actively seeking critique as you are yourself, and 2. the ones who are actively seeking critique are usually my friends, and I tell them via IM.

As for my critiques on your works, the main reasons why I critique is:
1. You have great potential, and I hope to see you take full advantage of that
2. I don't know you very well personally, so I have no other ways of telling you.

I sometimes fear giving you critiques because of the arguments we've had in the past, but more for the fact that your supporters are quick to make assumptions about anyone who critiques your art (I think that all good artists have such rabid fans), and I don't want to be attacked. Moreover, in the past, I've pointed out some things and they kind of... slipped by. Like my point about the backwards kanji on your Inu DDR pic. You sold prints without fixing that detail, and it made me feel as though you didn't appreciate my comments.

I really am not trying to nit-pick, but this is how I generally critique. I'm sorry for all the confusion, and I hope that you aren't holding a grudge against me, although I understand if you are.

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nillia In reply to Tasuki-no-Miko [2005-07-12 19:04:51 +0000 UTC]

Actually, I fixed that kanji detail in the printed version. I think the mistake is actually kinda handy, because if somebody wants one that doesn't have a mistake, they have to buy it from me. THey can't just print it out themselves.
Thanks again for pointing that out. ;3

Thank you for understanding and clarifying your intentions. It's good to hear that you don't hold a grudge with me, but I'm also sorry to hear that life hasn't been that easy for you lately.

So, now that we have all that settled...(if you still have time)...Critique please? =3

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Tasuki-no-Miko In reply to nillia [2005-07-17 04:24:46 +0000 UTC]

I've been putting this off since I've been pretty busy, but sure, I'll critique a bit ^_^

I think that the first thing that struck me as unusual was the lineart. I'll have to admit, I'm proooobably more picky about lineart than most artists, since I spend (literally) hours getting lineart right. I even use multiple layers and colors for lineart... yeah, I'm probably a bit OCD about it XD.

With your lineart, I feel as though you didn't put extreme care into it (I know that that's probably not the case, but the overall feel is such). I call it the 'pen effect'. Everyone knows that inking with pen is hard, ne? If you don't get a line to be perfectly smooth, a common reaction is to make a second stroke over that line to make it seem smoother. The problem? Usually the second stroke doesn't line up just right, and it results in lines that have varying thicknesses throughout the stroke. I see this a lot in your picture, e.g. Inu's chin, varying spots in Inu's haori, and on Kagome's hair. Also, I see a lot of places where you colored outside of the line -- although that in itself is a minor detail, if you spend the time to erase the color that's outside of the lines, it'll be much more impressive. As I said on one of your other pictures, I think that trying a small tablet might help greatly. The trick to really good lineart is to try to get lines drawn in one stroke. You may have to press undo many times (if anyone saw my keyboard, there are clear indents on the control and z buttons), but it's usually well worth the effort. For example, my most recent deviation was enormous in size (3300 by 4765 pixels), but I worked hard to maintain my one-stroke lineart rule, and it really helps get clean lineart. Another option is to use the pen tool (*druihd has a popular tutorial), but sometimes the pen tool just seems to be missing a little something.

Another thing I noticed in this deviation is that Inu and Kagome's hands are rather large. Women's hands are supposed to reach from approximately their eyebrows to their chins, but Kagome's hand is almost long enough to cover her face. Also, Inu's fist is as large as his face, which I believe is too large. It's not a huge problem, and I think it's almost compensated for by the fact that you drew their knuckles really well (I like knuckles!), but it's something you might want to work on when you sketch your next picture.

The coloring of this picture is also something that I find to be a little odd. I know that you said that you don't have much experience with cel-shading, but I just want to give a few pointers. First off, your cel-shading is REALLY crisp, but the shaded areas themselves often have jagged lines, which isn't a very pleasant combination. Very crisp cel-shading only works if you have very smooth regions of shading... I think that [link] is a good example. If you look at Naruto's hair, for example, each region is very smooth and exact.

On your picture (please don't take this offensively), the highlights and shadows of Inu and Kagome's hair don't look very carefully done, and the flow of the hair doesn't seem to be quite logical. On Kagome's bangs, the right half (our left) seems to have disaligned highlights. Also, near the lower region of her hair, there's an inexplicable black blob...

Kagome's face also looks slightly odd... I know that it's the angle that's very hard to capture, but it seems like her nose and mouth are too high for her eyes. The same goes for InuYasha, but to a lesser degree.

Looking back on my critique, I think I sound a bit harsh! *apologizes profusely in advance* There are many, many great aspects of the picture too! I like how your placement of shadows is quite accurate, I like the general emotion that's in the picture, I like the trees in the background (almost Van Gogh-like in nature), and as I said before, I just like the many details that you took the time to put into this picture. Nicely done! ^__^

I hope I don't get flamed for this X_@...

And I'm really happy about what you said about the kanji!! I'm sorry for assuming that you didn't fix it XD. *happyhappy*

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wingedwhisperer In reply to ??? [2005-07-12 03:24:28 +0000 UTC]

This is very cute!! Love the dolls at the back n p-chan too!! ><

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nillia In reply to tekkaterrier [2005-07-12 01:23:38 +0000 UTC]

YUS! =3 Cookie for you.

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Libraes In reply to ??? [2005-07-12 00:51:47 +0000 UTC]

Omg! Ranma!!! This is totally kawaii. ^_^ I love how you blended in all of this so well. And oh! The details!! *faints* ^^

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ALM82 In reply to ??? [2005-07-12 00:47:29 +0000 UTC]

oh yeah I remember when you started on this. 30+ hrs, yeah sounds average time for mine as well. Pchan! I always full view people's if the small one already is looking cool and I want close up

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NekoAnime In reply to ??? [2005-07-12 00:24:43 +0000 UTC]

Yea, you finally finished this. It's fantastic work too. Kagome's outfit is soo pretty, I want a kimono like that. Inu Yasha's expression is cute too, look at the slight blush. ^_^

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Bellflower-Roses In reply to ??? [2005-07-12 00:16:19 +0000 UTC]

Cute! They look so happy (Inu's just hiding it )! Little things really are the best.

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MiraKHall In reply to ??? [2005-07-11 23:05:55 +0000 UTC]

tee hee hee, P-chan

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oldlunchmeat In reply to ??? [2005-07-11 22:47:33 +0000 UTC]

i love this!!! great job and i know kurokiba loves it as well! you 2 are so cute with your lil' presents..and drawings...heheheh it makes me all giddy like a schoolgirl...happy aniversary to both of you!

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BakaHoushi In reply to ??? [2005-07-11 22:39:29 +0000 UTC]

Hehehehehe. This is just so adorable and just so full of that... Inu...yasha...ness... I love so much. It's Inuyasha-y. That's the best way to describe it. XP And I love the Ranma 1/2 references.

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Jaded-Emeralde In reply to Jaded-Emeralde [2005-07-11 22:23:26 +0000 UTC]

Yuo know I'm guessing it probably since I'm just now realizing that Inu-Yasha is holding P-chan XD

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