Lorelai Says: That's one detailed potrait. ^_^ I especially love his beautiful eyes, and the way you made his eyes and hair reflect the light so wonderfully. My only concern is that his nose appears slighly too long for his face, and - now this is all ignoring any personal style you have - it seems that his mouth is a bit small, and perhaps too delicate for a man. The coloring is great! I like the subtle shadows that bring out the contours, bone structure, and roundness of the face. I would really like to see you try CG, you'd be awesome because you know where light and darkness fall. This is a marvelous picture; next time, draw the whole person! I'd love to see it! Plus, dig into your treasure box of ideas, and make this cute guy do something. Portraits are wonderful, but including a body, or even just a gesturing hand or a angled/turned neck and chin into the picture can do wonders for its effectiveness, creative value, fluidity, and impressiveness-factor. ^___^ Here's a pic of Agrias Oaks that does that neck thing. ^_^;;; Ok, so she's a bit too sexy to be Agrias, but I claim artistic license!!!

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Min Kwon Says: Hoi! Looks like you got the hang of coloring, so I'll concentrate on the face structure here. ^_^ First, take a look at this picture. This pic shows how things are proportioned in a typical anime style. The eyebrow --- end of the nose part takes 1/3 of the face. Another important thing in it is that between the eyes, there should be enough space for at *least* another eye to fit in when seen directly from the front. And here's another one. Okay, so I'm not good at realism/semi-realism but this pic should show you a bit about the real face proportions although I should've given a bit more space between the eyes. Do you see the space between the lips and the nose? Lips are not very visible in anime styles, but try picturing the lips when you draw face because it'll help you figure out how much space you need between the nose and the lips. This depends on the 'style' and 'mood' though. A typical 'cute' anime character has very little space between the nose and the lips while a 'pretty' (or oogly for that matter. ^_^;) character has more. And the ears should fill up a wee bit less than the space between the eyebrows and the end of the nose. I hope it helps!

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Audra Says: Hi hi! This is a nice start! With only 4-5 colors, you've got a nice colorful start. Your line work is well done. The lines are a little wobbly but clean. That type of line work works well with the cel style that it seems you're aiming for. The colors go well together and the coloring is reaching a nice smooth color. For the critique... First of all, to achieve a more anatomical "correctness" to your image, you will need to study the human face a little more. What you have currently works a little better for girls: the large "galaxy" eyes, the small mouth, the pointed chin. The thing that makes your picture seems masculine is the long straight nose and the thick neck. I see a little of the "shojo" (girl-art) influence (i.e. Clamp (Magic Knight RayEarth, X.), so what I am suggesting might clash a little with your style. To make your portrait seem more masculine, you might want to enlargen and bring the jaw out further. This way, you can leave the neck the thick size it is. ^_^ Also, you can leave the eyes in the relatively same placement and it will look okay, although you might want to move the eyes a little more the left and straighten out the underside of the nose so it's not too upturned. Lastly, because you are limited in colors, you may want to leave highlights white. (in the hair) It'll help make it stand out more. Getting a good grasp on contrast will help in the long run. It'll help you find shadow and highlights. Also, with limited colors, try to blend what you have. The softer the lead of the pencil (i.e. prismacolors) the easier time you'll have with a lot less pressure.

Meriko Says: Wow! You stretched those 5 pencils to their limits, didn't you? ^_^ This is a gorgeous pic, I must say. Even though he's got sparkly-big eyes, I didn't for a moment doubt that he was a guy. The shading is detailed and strong, *clap clap clap* and your command of light and shadow very admirable. Boldness! Yay! Eh...looking over your critique request, I don't see any specific points to cover, so I'll just dive in. The highlighting is beautiful, but you might try leaving out the outlines...the difference in colors will delineate the highlights from the base color just fine, just as the shadows do. Unless of course, this is your "style," then just tell me to shut up. Oh, and when using color pencils, I find that rubbing the colors into the paper with a Q-tip really blends everything beautifully. My colors come out richer and smoother when I do...try it if you want. A note about the eyes and eyebrows...his right (my left) eyebrow seems to be uniform in thickness, while the other becomes markedly slimmer as it moves away from the center of his face. Also, his right (my left) eye has separate eyelashes that curve up and away, while the other eye uses a stylized version of eyelashes. I'm a stickler for symmetry (don't look to my art for examples, though!) and this just caught my eye. All in all, an excellent picture. *applause*

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