Toribash
Original Post
Rate a starving artist.
So I've been doing this head texture stuff for quite some time now. Could never afford PS so I'm using Gimp. I took a long break for about 7-8 years but now I've picked it back up. I feel like I've become a lot better from when I left but, I'm still blown out of the water by better artists using better software.

So I make this post to help figure out what i do right and wrong. I will update with recent examples of my work (right now I've only so many). I ask that anyone (beit brash or kind) let me know what I should change, improve on, or keep doing. I really appreciate any help i can get.

Finished Product


WIP



TLD; Rate my heads. What I do right/wrong?
Last edited by kingmonste; Oct 3, 2018 at 04:42 PM.
Well for that first head you have so many different art styles colliding. A horribly pixelated cartoony hair with one solid bright color, then a very well done mouth with shading multiple tones etc. The nose is literally just a caret symbol, you need to have consistent work around the whole head. It makes the mouth look like a google image because it blows the rest of the head away.

For the robot, i don't even know how to put my feelings into words, but the teeth have this dirty type of shading, and the shading on the middle tooth looks very strange as well.

It just looks like a head people would have paid a lot for in 2009, but it's utterly horrible now.

Hopefully someone who knows art better than me can guide you
tbh.. the mouth is a straight google rip atm. I have plans to go back and make one. I'm trying to figure out how to get more detail in the hair, and if I can get the detail on the mouth and rest of the face right, the nose won't look so out of place.

I see what you mean with the teeth. It's probably from me mirroring it, I'll try to shade it as a whole and see how that comes out.

Edit: updated the mouth with something handmade. I can't seem to figure how to get more detail in to it without making it look cluttered or ugly.
Last edited by kingmonste; Sep 24, 2018 at 08:03 AM.
Since the first head isn't entirely yours I won't comment on that (you should write it in the thread tbh), so I'll give you some suggestions for the robot head.

It's not clear which style you are going for, there are some bold outlines that make me think of cartoon but then you shade the teeth with a soft brush ruining the cartoon feeling. You should decide which way to go and stick with that otherwise it will look like "I spent a lot working on outlines, now let's just take a big soft brush and shade it in 2 seconds".

The teeth don't look good at all, idk what kind of teeth you are looking to replicate, but human teeth aren't grey when they don't spend their time sucking an exhaust pipe. Try to shade them as little as possible on the edges to give only a feeling of depth, don't color them grey. But that again depends on the style you are looking for, realistic teeth require a lot of work to look good, cartoon teeth are very easy.

Work on line quality, everything seems very pixelated and that alone kills the head value. It's imperative that at least the outlines look clean if you want to sell it for a good price. Do some experiments with different brushes, see what works. I suggest you to try Krita instead of Gimp, it's more beginner friendly and I personally like it much more. And it's free.

Last think, when you want to make something glow it has to pop up from the texture. That's why generally the glow effect should be on a layer above the outlines, otherwise you kill the feeling of brightness that you want to deliver.
Now im, not an artist but that second head doesn't look right the shapes on the top(and around the face) don't even look like it's finalized it looks like a sketch. The teeth look stolen and enlarged from something I've seen before and it looks pixilated. 3/10. But keep making art man!

Good notes. I'll try to work on consistent styles. I see how the shading on the teeth looks pretty gross, plan on fixing that today. I havn't tried many brushes yet. Do you suggest a pack or just custom settings? Currently I've just been using path tool (I don't have drawing pad)


Originally Posted by WeppetKo View Post
Since the first head isn't entirely yours I won't comment on that (you should write it in the thread tbh), so I'll give you some suggestions for the robot head.

The first head is original now. The only thing copied was the mouth with the tongue. I'd love an opinion on that one. Maybe a way to get more detail in the hair?


Originally Posted by Stance View Post
Now im, not an artist but that second head doesn't look right the shapes on the top(and around the face) don't even look like it's finalized it looks like a sketch. The teeth look stolen and enlarged from something I've seen before and it looks pixilated. 3/10. But keep making art man!

It is sketch. That's why it's WIP lol
Last edited by kingmonste; Sep 25, 2018 at 12:26 AM.
Well both of those heads look good imo, they are better than anything I could ever do too! Keep up the good work it'll just get better with practice! 5/10
eVo
What can i say, you're getting somewhere man, was like you myself, key rule is to practice a lot, and i mean A LOT. You should also pay attention to the toribash head texture template (that is if you use it), you can clearly see where the neck colides with the head on it so you don't draw stuff that'll get covered, so is the top, the top maps really weird so be more precise and careful with it, sketch stuff before you draw (figured you do but just saying) so you could then check the mapping of it ingame or in the www.toribashtextures.com website, that way if you start something that can't get redone, it wouldn't be time consuming in the future.

One way to improve and learn new things is to just trace stuff, and i mean fully redraw, for instance: toribash head textures or some random illustration of the net. (of course that would only be for practicing so you shouldn't do anything with it afterwards besides sharing your progress).

Other way would be looking at someone drawing (on youtube or stuff like that), though it's not as educating as doing it yourself but it still works if you get stuff somewhere, be it shading or how a perticular artstyle works.

Sorry if there are any repeats in context, Also might've went a bit off topic, but hope it helps!
Last edited by Crollex; Sep 25, 2018 at 06:33 PM.
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I Think on the Robot head You Should've made The lines Thicker For the Markings, The Lines being Thin Kinda Works, but You should've made it thicker.Also The Eyes Look Really bad You should've Made them Look more Solid Rather than using an Airbrush. i know it's Just An WIP but..
Thank you for all the excellent feedback. I'll have an update with that robot head in a few days. Just been caught up with life atm.

Originally Posted by Crollex View Post
One way to improve and learn new things is to just trace stuff, and i mean fully redraw, for instance: toribash head textures or some random illustration of the net. (of course that would only be for practicing so you shouldn't do anything with it afterwards besides sharing your progress).

I used to do this from time to time. Both with virtual images and pen and paper, it's helped me to understand things like shading, depth and so on (granted not fully lol).


Originally Posted by czarech16 View Post
I Think on the Robot head You Should've made The lines Thicker For the Markings, The Lines being Thin Kinda Works, but You should've made it thicker.Also The Eyes Look Really bad You should've Made them Look more Solid Rather than using an Airbrush. i know it's Just An WIP but..

Yes those lines were just kind of a test for shapes. I don't know where I want to go with the design for the rest of the head yet (I've got a few layers with crap lines like that). The eyes I got a little carried away and started using smudge tool, shadows ended up looking not so shadowy. I'll try something more solid like I have in the top image. And probably some sort of vent for the mouth.