Looking for some critiques?

Hey, I'm a digital artist/cartoonist. Just wanted some critiques from any of you willing to give some tips.

Painting:
http://vyperion.deviantart.com/art/Insanity-431780205
http://vyperion.deviantart.com/art/Land-of-Braiin2-and-Fiire-389198602
http://vyperion.deviantart.com/art/Color-Lighting-and-Poses-415842184
http://vyperion.deviantart.com/art/Nepeta-Portrait-394135617

Character Designs:
http://vyperion.deviantart.com/art/Dream-Character-Designs-415271715

Thanks!

Hello Vyper, I find it very hard to give you a good crit. You have your own style and your line flow works well with your cartoony style.

The painting links you gave are very line dependent, but the digital paint itself comes across as a bit messy. I think it can work if you drop the lines. Heavy lines and loose paint is a hard combo.

Your character designs are drawn in a different way, very clean and I like it. But I have to say that all the black lines come across as a bit harsh, maybe lighten them a little and add some color(?).

All in all good job :)

Those are great! you have a good sense of thrust and drama!

I agree with Yarmick though, you either need to absolutely master the lines + loose paint style (it can be done, but you are setting yourself up for a looooot of hours of studying) or choose something which is easier to get a good read from. If you are going for cartoony, you can't have bumpy coloring.

I really like your study of color, light and pose, 1) because you did a study, and these types of paintings are going to benefit you far more than doing finished paintings all the time, 2) because the bottom drawing in the library is really clean and has good composition.

I would advice you to do a 100 project - get reference (or go to the figure drawing part of this site) and then 1) draw the figure, 2) do cartoony lines (thin, perhaps colored, like Yarmick described) 3) do a SIMPLE color pass, max three colors: base, shadow and highlight. 100 is a lot, but you'll see progress like you can't imagine : )

Keep it up : D and don't forget to post your 100 project in the forums, should you decide to go ahead with it : )

Thanks for the critiques guys!

So to elaborate on the whole problem of messy colors and harsh lines, I've always found it hard to draw lineless colored art. What would you say I do if I want to keep the lineart style? From what I'm hearing, I'm guessing I just need to be more careful with coloring and not be so messy? Or if I go with the "drop the lines" method, any tips on how would I go about doing so?

It's definitely a combination of layering your coloring right and being precise. The more layers you use, the easier it will be to clean up your work. The downside is that you need to track your layers diligently and also make sure to switch to the right layer every time you work on something else.

You should probably also stick one style of coloring: 'realistic painting' or 'cellshading'. Cellshading only works out right if you limit it to a select few colors (usually no more than 5 total for each thing), whereas realistic painting layers and blends a ton of colors. It feels like <a href="http://vyperion.deviantart.com/art/Nepeta-Portrait-394135617">this image</a> is kind of stuck between wanting to do realistic shading (soft and blended with a few harsh shades) and cellshading (limited to only a handful of colors and simplistic shading areas). It would definitely benefit from focusing on one or the other. :)

That said, I think texture is really important too! I see a lot of nice texturing in <a href="http://vyperion.deviantart.com/art/Insanity-431780205">this image</a>, which compliments the subjects (and kind of works well with the whole them as it is), but then in <a href="http://vyperion.deviantart.com/art/Land-of-Braiin2-and-Fiire-389198602">this image</a> I see no textures at all. The same brush was used, the same strokes for each character, each fabric and item. It looks a little lifeless compared to the other.

The other examples you posted do have textures worked into them and they look much better because of it!

My biggest suggestion is to try and work on clean cellshading lineless coloring first. You have to draw with sharp, crisp lines and be conscious of the placement of the shading. It's easier to transition into realistic painting lineless coloring if you have that foundation to build on.

Using differently textured brushes will also be of huge benefit. :)

Love your characters. You've got talent.

Here is what I see. You could cut out your characters and past them upon any background. And maybe that's your goal. Maybe that's the type of work you are doing.