the_amazing_murderstone, on 29 November 2012 - 04:14 AM, said:
is this better
You missed the point entirely, and you didn't read the whole post. No, it is not better. Tiny is useless. We can hardly see a damn thing because it's so small. Go back and read through the whole post, and read the whole post it links to when you get to that part.
Silentbreeze, on 29 November 2012 - 05:40 AM, said:
First of all I'd like to thank you for taking the time to write all that to me. Second of all, I'd like to address what I previously said before. The thing is, I tend to write things that come out very sassy and quite frankly rude at times. Indeed, I have 20/20 hindsight. As you can probably tell not only am I an aspiring artist, but I'm an aspiring young artist. Thirteen, to be precise. And like any other teenager, I get defensive, rather easily too. It helps, I think, to take a moment to read again and try and not see from my point of view but from an objective one.
Indeed, I actually find it difficult
not to write half a novel when I've got something on my mind. Ironically, it's why I really hated writing essays about things I didn't care about in school; I didn't like doing it, but I always ended up writing much more than necessary. I, too, tend to write stream-of-conscious; but because of the amount of time I typically spend on writing something, my 20/20 hindsight tends to wander and re-read what I've written over and over again before I've even finished, and I tend to catch and re-write the sections I find were a bit too…
impulsive when they were first written.
I was a teenager once too, not too long ago. I know all too well about getting defensive, especially about something you've invested time and effort in and want so desperately to be proud of, only to have others shoot it down no matter how valid their reasons are for doing so. I made some pretty nice background artwork for a simple side-scrolling game project when I was a bit younger. I was complimented on the quality of the artwork, but criticized for the fact it just didn't fit at all well with the intended theme of the game. Man did that burn, and you can bet I got defensive about it. That was a bit before I began to appreciate the actual value of criticism and feedback, so in that regard, you're already leaps and bounds ahead of where I was at your age.
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Everything you said is true. The thing is, I'm not bad at designing (at least I like to think so) characters (pony or otherwise).
I wouldn't
yet say you're good at it, but you're not necessarily bad at it either; the best assessment would be that you're simply inexperienced, and the only real way to fix that is with practice, feedback, observation, and patience. It takes all four to get better.
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But I've always had trouble with personas/furnsonas/ponysonas; whatever it is, you name it. It's probably that I try and fit to much of me into one design when it really seems I don't know me. Either that or I change my opinions much too often. They always end up cluttered and looking back, very ugly looking.
Bingo. You
think you know you, and to an extent, you do; the problem is, you're having trouble separating what you
know of you from what you sometimes only
wish you could be. Another problem is that what you
wish you could be often lacks any sort of appropriate context for you to fit into, and this is what causes character designs to be entirely overdone to the point they stick out like a sore thumb. Jaybird was created in the absence of the context provided by the show. On her own, or even among the vast majority of OC's, you might not notice anything wrong with her. Place her in the middle of the market in Ponyville, and suddenly she's the walking freak-show everypony begins to circle around to stare at from a safe distance. That's the power of context.
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You did address two ways I definitely might have reacted; and while I didn't actually think them at the time (okay, maybe the first one initially), you make valid points. For now, I'll probably scrap Jay until further notice, as I honestly would have ended up throwing the design out in a week or two's time anyway.
You know the only way I could have figured you out so well—for who/what you are, what you really needed to hear, and how you'd react—is if I'd been there myself.
Your confessions about how dissatisfied you end up being with many of your character designs (and the admission that you'd have scrapped Jay after so little time) is evidence enough that you have more or less the right mindset, but currently lack much of the actual understanding behind how make great characters. You can learn quite a lot just from reading the info in my profile and going through the links provided there, including the link about the very large skin request I did because of how well-designed the characters were.
You might even want to go back a few pages to when I started helping this one right here:
Thunderstar4, on 29 November 2012 - 05:46 AM, said:
I'm not as expirienced with this as Waffles is but i too have a suggestion to make. You said you wanted to make her a Jaybird style pony? Well the purples in the mane and tail don't go with the jaybird theme. Also jays are usually a light blue. Having a color scheme that includes more light blue and light gray would come off more jaybird than that purple which reminds me of flowers. That's just my perspective. Part of the art of making an effective OC is letting go of the colors you like and using colors that suit the character and his/her personality. And usually going with more unsaturated colors will go a longer way than saturated ones. With making a character the saying 'less is more' is extremely prevalent.
You, madam, have caught on quite quickly to what I've taught you. Well done. /salute
Indeed, the design must come after establishing the character. You should never get too attached to an early character design, as professionally done characters undergo several revisions before ending up with the final design. It's crucial that the design be an accurate reflection of the character, and that it can provide the viewer with an accurate first impression of what the character would be like to encounter in person. The colors also need to be chosen to carefully represent what the character is all about. The picture should be worth a thousand words. But you should still go read my profile page to get more insight into critical core character creation concepts.
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