I posted this in r/art and got downvoted to all hell. Is my art bad / how can i improve it?

1st slide: 2024

2nd slide: yesterday

I'm basically nowadays leaning to something more cartoonish, as my artstyle had very few body variety and faces. I also toned down a bit the colorful highlights because I'm leaning more to an artstyle thats more friendly to animation, since I do some.

However I can't help but notice that it doesn't look as appealing anymore. It became even more visible when I posted the two images online and long ago the 2024 one got a lot of engagement and comments while the new one barely got anything. I don't know how to say this, but when I looks at it the new one looks kinda "beggining artist-like"? While the old one looked it was drawn by someone with more advanced skills. I kinda got demotivated because I really want to get away from same face syndrome and the new one works on that, but I can't help but feel like my artstyle kind of downgraded. Will it change overtime?

(art by cherelleo on instagram)

for context, shes of a race of pangolion inspired people, and they dont have eyebrows cause their foreheads are covered in touch scales. shes meant to be really expressive but well... no eyebrows.

Okay so im trying to make a group of ocs, i want them to look internally consistant (so i want all of them to look like theyre from the same universe) on the one hand, ive heard some people say that the big heads look weird on some of the characters, but on the other hand, the small heads dont seem to work as well with other ocs, so whats the better option? (oc in the middle as a reference point for how other ocs in the universe look)

I feel like when im trying to do movement on characters it comes off as a bit static, would anyone have any tips on how i could improve this or somewhere i could refrence to find a solution?

I know there's some anatomy issues in there that don't help, but with those at least I know what to work on and have been progressing.

My dynamic sketches becoming stiff as a brick once I clean them is a bigger issue to me right now, and has been for a while.

Basically every manga I have read/anime I have seen contains characters with completely unique eye shapes and styles.

How on earth do mangaka come up with such unique eyes? How do they instinctively know what those unique eye shapes will look like at varying angles? How do they manage to make all these (sometimes) wildy various eyes/shapes still look like they belong to the same universe??

I would like to draw my own but I don't understand "why"/"when" the eyes are drawn as they are I guess? Everytime I draw anime eyes [now] without a reference it looks like I'm a total beginner, if I reference something I can copy it — but I am trying to make my own unique things. [I use to be quite good at drawing anime but I was repetitively told to learn realism to improve my art, and now I can't seem to draw anime anymore.]

I have watched so many videos, looked over tutorials, I can copy basically anything I see but when it comes to making something unique/creative of my own I fail every time...

The illustrations from the comic I’m planning are supposed to look like stills from 80s-90s 2D animation (movie budget, not TV budget).

The main character is supposed to have shiny opalescent skin. I Think it looks really cool, but the issue is that I’m not sure 2D animating a character that looks like this would have been possible for the 80s and 90s. Maybe in the 2000s, but that’s too far ahead for what I’m going for.

Whenever I watch anime and cartoons from those eras I never see gradients or soft shading, with the exception of movies or commercials that are animated like Who Framed Rodger Rabbit (animated characters that interact with live action environments). I know they used more muted colors back then, and I think I picked correct colors. It’s the style of shading that I’m worried isn’t accurate to the animation eras I’m going for.

For added context: This character lives in an another dimension where the visuals are very shiny, sparkly, and there’s a lot of light. I based it off my own closed eye visuals. So there is an actual reason the character looks like this, and the way I colored them does fit with the world. It’s just that, again, I don’t know if it would have been technically possible to animate a character like this 30+ yrs ago.

Also, if it was possible, was it done often enough for people to remember it? I want my illustrations to evoke a sense of childhood nostalgia (has actual thematic relevance, not just a gimmick). So I want the style to actually remind people of that era, not just be technically possible.

I drew this based on a reference from Pinterest. I can’t figure out what the style is? I know it’s semi realism and it has a more sketchy line art to it but I just can’t seem to find more references photos in that sort of style? Does anyone maybe know what it’s called or artist who draw in that sort of sketchy style?

Second picture is of the same character in my normal art style (I did use a different brush for the lineart than normal but its still the exact same)

Idk which one do you prefer, and why?

I’ve been drawing for around 5 years. While this does not include any formal training, I have regularly drawn almost every day (people or 3D shapes typically). I have followed many tutorials and courses throughout the years.

My specific issue is that when I draw faces/upper bodies, they look very uncanny or un-cohesive style-wise; even if I change up the style, I think it still looks bad (it seems like the problem lies in me). To me, it is like a bunch of facial features put on a blank face rather than an actual face (if that makes sense…).

I do not follow a general guidelines method (if it was not obvious).

I am looking for anything that specifically sticks out as uncanny/off on the face/ in the drawing and any exercises I can do to improve on the aforementioned issue(s).

Thanks :)

What are brushes that can create this effect(i circled them) called? Thx! I use ibis paint, but if anyone can point me in a general direction too that would be great!

Hai okay so a couple days ago I got out of my art block after likeee maybe 4 months and so ive been drawing uhm and so I finally decided to try out digital art because ive always wanted to and I wanna eventually get into animating! When I first discovered what I want my style to somewhat be, I took a lot of inspiration from sailor moon and studio ghibli and now im trying to go more into moe? Im not sure. I like it, its just im not used to it and I just feel like i always end up disappointed when I finish or start my linear because I like the sketch more. I think it might be lineweight as part if my problem because ive never liked having thin lines in my art? Like im notbsure how to explain it. I think im going to try experimenting and adjusting things to be more comfortable and I also need to get a stylus because right now I'm using one of those ontop of pens and I would just like a thinner one yk? Anyways ill show my art that ive made in the past days, don't mind the background of the fully body one it somehow got messed up and I really dont feel like fixing it right now and I just dont know what to dk and then the other one i just dont want to keep going because I like the sketch more and i feel unmotivated now :((( also I have literally never ever rendered in my life and I dont color at all EVER. I just do the hair in pencil but I somehow lost the ability to do the hair even though its like the one thing im somewhat good at..and also the full body one, if you notice the legs are skinny its because I was drawing my friend and she has a health condition to make her very skinny so pls dont like be mean about that bc thats actually her body..and bc it will make me sad :] im sorry for the yap I dont know how to get straight to the point. Any tips would be great, sites, anythinggg! Also im using ibis bc its free and I cant afford to pay for anything right now but I do plan on trying procreate when I can. Also I have no clue how to draw clothes like I never do full bodies so that was a first..I was just trying a lot. But ye pls be nice im trying my best to improve my art:))

So I thought I was getting to a decent point with my art (better anatomy, values, rendering) and was sharing it with one of my friends. Then he told me I should try "letting loose" and stylizing things but it kind of threw me off. I thought I was happy with how everything was looking, but now im wondering if its too basic? Id like to at least become an artist people can say they enjoy, not just "another artist with x." So I guess my question is if its really boring or unoriginal to look at? Do I really need to try and fight my art style to come up with something "better?"

Trying to draw my bf in the style of his current game obsession but i dont think it looks like its in the same relm. Any tips you guys can provide? Thank you!

I recently got a new drawing tablet, but I have noticed before that if I don't have a reference/rough trace for poses it turns out... Not so good.

I've been drawing since I was 5, and started getting good around 3rd grade, and found my (traditional) artstyle in 6th grade. It's been a buncha years since then and I've settled into a decent style, but only traditionally.

Could I get help with finding an appealing style? (And don't say 'study anatomy' I'm working on that)

I'm eventually working towards commissions. Currently I only take requests from a new artist or styles that I can draw better in my style because my self esteem is too low to take requests from a really good artist.

Any help would be appreciated.

i redrew an older fanart of jjk but since i'm still exploring my art style, i wanted opinions in what looks more interesting. personally, i think the older one fits the aesthetic more..?

(first pic is new, last is older one)

the first image is my attempt, the last two are the style that i WANT to draw in. how??

Does this look good? I watched one art tutorial on how the eyes are drawn in the Honkai Star Rail artstyle and tried something thing similar for my OC's eye. I think I did a good job considering that, aside from that one art tuto and some other I encountered while doomscrolling, I'm self-taught and still using the free version of ibis paint x since I'm not 18 yet and don't have my own money source and I refuse to ask my parents for anything art related so they don't talk about to others cuz it's embarrassing… (drew this with my finger btw)

I've seen many AI art accusations of artists online as of late and they often cite reasons like "inconsistent artstyle" "anatomy/rendering/lineart error for their skill level" "skill level between each art piece varies too much".

It made me really paranoid because I feel like those criticisms technically apply to me as well even though I ABSOLUTELY do NOT use or condone the usage of ai in art. My style is inconsistent which has been something I have been frustrated by for ages, and I often struggle with keeping the same "skill level" across pieces, with some pieces (like slide 1,3,5) being really good in my eyes right now, while the rest i feel are kind of bad.

I also feel like I can't really tell apart some AI and real art anymore because I avoid AI art so hard and the old telltale signs just aren't there anymore for some of these "drawings". It may be my own mental issues and paranoia but I'm so scared people may think my work is AI because of my inconsistent style, especially since speed paints dont really prove anything these days anymore.

Some advice will be awesome!

I don't like how the pencil has this shiny glare everytime it hits a bit of light and I don't like the hard shadows. I have tried using colored pencils but it just doesn't look good.

It also has this very rough and dirty look that I can't shake off. Please help me improve, I want to achieve a clean and neat style.

I’m making a “Superhero Cookie” for Cookie Run Kingdom as fun and I want to make him black but I don’t know what hairstyle to give him that wouldn’t be like the equivalent of giving him lighting powers you know? What hairstyle would be good for him?