young girl character wip


Need tips on texturing and eyelashes. Please critique!

Way too big eyes. Normal proportions would be 5 eyes side by side, yours don’t even fit 3. The hair line is too low. Eyebrows are high so either she’s surprised or they’re too high. The eyelashes are too long and bushy. Eyeballs reflect too much of the environment; Maybe because they’re the size of christmas ornaments, but maybe also because the light isn’t blocked by anything.

If the purpose is to create a young girl character in semi-real style, maybe change proportions and exaggerate features from real so that it’s still possible to somewhat accurately guess her age.

Ok so since I was trying (and evidently failing) to achieve a cartoony effect, you’re saying that I should exaggerate her features–so I’m guessing smaller nose and mouth, or would that make her look like an alien? Also, if I do exaggerate all the other features, can the oversized eyes be excused or should I still shrink them a bit? I redid the eyelashes, increased the transparency around the eyeball, and lowered the eyebrows a bit–I haven’t changed the anatomy yet since I wasn’t entirely sure what you were suggesting:


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The features are already exaggerated, I listed them in my reply. The suggestion was to use real anatomy and proportions as a baseline.

But your intent wasn’t clear. To me she already looks like an alien because of the realistic rendition, especially for the eyes, and for a more realistic character there are proportion and feature issues that I listed.

There are cartoon characters with very unrealistic proportions, like Elsa from Frozen, but her rendition is also very unrealistic. Her face is an expression display, and they sell it by not making her look too real. They simplify, exaggerate and enhance to guide the viewer. Eye area is the most important for expressions but her eyes don’t use real eye texture nor reflect real environment. Her mouth is small and narrow, which works as a secondary tool for the expressions. Color/saturation is contrasted.

Same with Merida from Brave. The red hair is the most prominent feature and it’s really red, and big. Eyes are smaller than Elsa’s, but also don’t use a real eye texture. Both have relatively pale skin that helps to make contrast with the features.

Too realistic and she looks like a freak. Could test that with photo manipulation - If you take a picture of Scarlett Johansson and make her eyes way big, pull the hair line down, eyebrows up, that wouldn’t be pretty. The further away you’re from realistic proportions and features, the more clear you have to make it’s not real, otherwise you’ll end up with a movie monster that won’t be suitable for small children.

Forum gallery has examples, gathered a few from different artists