Anonymous3: @TeaNai: There's a lot to like about your work here, but there are also some pretty large issues that get in the way of actually enjoying it. This is going to get pretty wordy, so I'll say now that there is a lot of serious potential, and I wouldn't give this much attention to it if I didn't like the look of things overall. But there are just a lot of things that really detract from the good in it.
First off, Amy's jawline is way too flat and human; it really needs to be curved, rather than flat. There's a reason her jaw is always shown with a semicircular profile in official media, even when they have to cheat it to look like that. The round shape both looks better in the style of the characters and is just generally cuter overall. Maybe you did it like this to make her look more mature, but the effect just doesn't come across that way.
Second, curve her quills forward, towards the front of her face. There's a reason every official post-Adventure design of her has them curved forward and around the face. It works to both obscure the jawline and neck transition (which would really help with the first problem), and it further mimics the impression of a bob haircut that the design aims for.
Third, the lips are just uncanny. There's a reason you rarely see lips in cartoon or anime character designs, and that's because they usually look nightmarish. These ones aren't that bad, but that doesn't make them good. I'm not sure that getting rid of them entirely would solve the problem entirely due to the in-profile view of the characters, but the present look isn't really working.
Forth, make her irises and pupils larger. The size you have them at is actually the correct size in all her official artwork, which is great. The problem is that the in-profile view makes her eyes look much larger than they were ever meant to, and that angle also makes her irises and pupils smaller. Increase the size on them and the problem gets much better. It would also be improved by curving her quills in such a way that they obscure more of the sides of the eye, making the empty space much less empty.
Fifth, give the girl her eyelashes. They are a major part of her character design for a reason, bringing in an extra touch of femininity and helping convey expression better. Without them, she has a bit of a "lights are on but nobody's home" look on her face, and they just add more appreciable detail to her.
Sixth, the color management of everything is just a bit wonky; Tails is too orange, too dark, and too saturated, while Amy is just a hair too desaturated (except for her bangles, which are way too dark and dull looking). If it were desaturated across the board then it might work well with the low-saturation soft focus background, but it just looks weird as is (not helped by the lineart being just a bit too angular in some places, something that clashes with the soft focus).
Seventh, her neck is distractingly long. It's about human proportion in size, which runs up against the inherently cartoony look of the character. Not helping this is the fact that it blends directly into the back of her head, giving the impression that it continues far beyond where it's supposed to stop.
Eighth, and this is just a minor thing: make the headband bigger. It's supposed to look cute and practical, and right now it only looks practical. Amy might be a bit of a tomboy, but she's not so much of one that she lets it get in the way of being cute (except in Sonic Boom, and only sometimes).
Lastly, and this is something that applies to the animated stuff rather than this picture in particular: the character movement is just so slow, stiff, and deliberate. Even without getting into the characters' personalities and how it mismatches with that, it just doesn't seem like they're having fun. The speed makes it look like they're moving through water, and the stiffness makes it feel like Amy is just doing a job, going through with all the passion and affection to be expected of a $20 handjob with a half-off coupon. There just isn't enough life in the motions, and not really enough variety in them either.
Look, I know this is a lot; I have a habit of eviscerating things I critique, especially those I like. And I do like it, and I see a lot of potential. The sprites are (mostly) well shaped and (mostly) well executed, the posing is decent, the aesthetic works, the overall look of things is fine, and the concept behind it all is really, really good. There is a lot of refinement needed, and a lot of work too, but it looks like it has the potential to truly shine if given all the attention and polish it needs.
- Reply
You should base her face more off the game models.
First off, Amy's jawline is way too flat and human; it really needs to be curved, rather than flat. There's a reason her jaw is always shown with a semicircular profile in official media, even when they have to cheat it to look like that. The round shape both looks better in the style of the characters and is just generally cuter overall. Maybe you did it like this to make her look more mature, but the effect just doesn't come across that way.
Second, curve her quills forward, towards the front of her face. There's a reason every official post-Adventure design of her has them curved forward and around the face. It works to both obscure the jawline and neck transition (which would really help with the first problem), and it further mimics the impression of a bob haircut that the design aims for.
Third, the lips are just uncanny. There's a reason you rarely see lips in cartoon or anime character designs, and that's because they usually look nightmarish. These ones aren't that bad, but that doesn't make them good. I'm not sure that getting rid of them entirely would solve the problem entirely due to the in-profile view of the characters, but the present look isn't really working.
Forth, make her irises and pupils larger. The size you have them at is actually the correct size in all her official artwork, which is great. The problem is that the in-profile view makes her eyes look much larger than they were ever meant to, and that angle also makes her irises and pupils smaller. Increase the size on them and the problem gets much better. It would also be improved by curving her quills in such a way that they obscure more of the sides of the eye, making the empty space much less empty.
Fifth, give the girl her eyelashes. They are a major part of her character design for a reason, bringing in an extra touch of femininity and helping convey expression better. Without them, she has a bit of a "lights are on but nobody's home" look on her face, and they just add more appreciable detail to her.
Sixth, the color management of everything is just a bit wonky; Tails is too orange, too dark, and too saturated, while Amy is just a hair too desaturated (except for her bangles, which are way too dark and dull looking). If it were desaturated across the board then it might work well with the low-saturation soft focus background, but it just looks weird as is (not helped by the lineart being just a bit too angular in some places, something that clashes with the soft focus).
Seventh, her neck is distractingly long. It's about human proportion in size, which runs up against the inherently cartoony look of the character. Not helping this is the fact that it blends directly into the back of her head, giving the impression that it continues far beyond where it's supposed to stop.
Eighth, and this is just a minor thing: make the headband bigger. It's supposed to look cute and practical, and right now it only looks practical. Amy might be a bit of a tomboy, but she's not so much of one that she lets it get in the way of being cute (except in Sonic Boom, and only sometimes).
Lastly, and this is something that applies to the animated stuff rather than this picture in particular: the character movement is just so slow, stiff, and deliberate. Even without getting into the characters' personalities and how it mismatches with that, it just doesn't seem like they're having fun. The speed makes it look like they're moving through water, and the stiffness makes it feel like Amy is just doing a job, going through with all the passion and affection to be expected of a $20 handjob with a half-off coupon. There just isn't enough life in the motions, and not really enough variety in them either.
Look, I know this is a lot; I have a habit of eviscerating things I critique, especially those I like. And I do like it, and I see a lot of potential. The sprites are (mostly) well shaped and (mostly) well executed, the posing is decent, the aesthetic works, the overall look of things is fine, and the concept behind it all is really, really good. There is a lot of refinement needed, and a lot of work too, but it looks like it has the potential to truly shine if given all the attention and polish it needs.