Hi everyone! It’s me, it’s me, it’s F-F-P! Coming at you live (not really) and I NEED YOUR HELP.So for context, this is my favourite OC, Blanche. Her design has changed quite a bit over the years as I got more serious and developed her personality and story more. However, most people I’ve spoken to actually prefer the old design. It does have that lowest common denominator of being more traditionally attractive than the current design, but I really do think the new one fits her lore better. As an artist, I want to portray my own visions faithfully to myself but I cannot lie when I admit that my audience and colleagues opinions hold sway over me a bit. The allure of popularity and/or minor fame is intriguing.Before I ask my question formally, here’s some background on the character:Blanche is a dragon-person who, as an egg, was stolen away by a mischievous demon, and gifted to an enslaved underground people as a prophesied saviour-like figure that would free them. This promise would lead these underground people to raise her as a living weapon and a goddess. They gave her brutal martial training in secret but also sacrificed their resources to ensure she would grow big and strong, entrusting all their hopes and dreams into her. This leads Blanche to becoming a little apathetic to the underground world, begrudgingly doing as she was told since it was all she was taught and knew. After freeing the enslaved people from their oppressors, they installed her as the primary goddess of their society and relegated her to sitting in a temple most the time, sacrificing and praying to her. Because of her status, she makes no personal connections with anyone. Now she dreams of returning to the above ground world she’s only heard about in myth and legend.So now my question is thus: How can I merge these two designs into the best version of the character it can be? Any and all thoughts welcome, rude and genuine! I’m in a real pickle!Thank you.
>>7964155I will be posting more art so you can get a vibe for her. This is old and new art of her hatching from her egg.
>>7964158Sketch of her training as a child. It was cult like, harsh, and not fun. But the people were so desperate and narrowsighted, they were willing to do whatever it took to turn her into the ultimate weapon.
>>7964159This is the Blanche Triumphant. A mural detailing key pieces of world building lore as well as Blanche's victory over the Mole King who was enslaving her "people."
>>7964160Lastly, this is sort of where she's at currently, being treated like a goddess, accepting offerings from her subjugated enemies, following a strict schedule she doesn't really care for. All she wants is to get out of here and escape the subterranean world to the surface but doesn't know where to start nor anyone to really confide to.Hopefully this has all painted a decent picture of her character for you to discern where I should go.Some have said I should keep the idea of her actually having fur instead of just wearing it like her original design used to. Many have pointed me in the direction of Monster Hunter and to make her both monstrous and sexy. Any thoughts on how to do that or just character design tips in general? Thanks! FFP signing out.
>>7964155Ok, so you made her way out of shape. I guess that makes sense, but strictly speaking, magical beings don't need to follow such rules if you don't want them too. The giant rotund belly and cankles look just isn't appealing to the majority of people, and is a hard line to edge while making a character look appealing. See also; God of War's rendition of Thor, who still looks like a washed up battle god, but not so fat that I assume it's a fetish.So, firstly; dragons are beautiful, in an inhuman way. Glittering, shiny scales, sinewy necks, long graceful bodies, ect. It's part of horror of them. So why did you make her face so fucking ugly? I can understand making to get away from the generic anime look, but this isn't the way. Making her face beautiful but also inhuman would be a great direction imo. You could also dec her out with some scars, since >>7964159 and >>7964160 imply she's taken at least some battle damage over time.I also just don't like the new horns. The arrangement isn't as bad as the implied texture/shape, where it looks like she's wearing a weird set of those dried bones people give their dogs. I also don't like the leopard dress, but that could be part of more general dislike of leopard print( I've literally never seen it not look trashy).
>>7964155Based
>>7964209Thanks for the criticism. You've actually listed a bunch of things people tend to agree on (the dress not looking good, the ugly face, etc.)As for why I made the face so ugly? I think you're correct in that I was trying to get away from it being too anime/cartoony but I also thought that making her face more rugged or tough would help get across the idea that her upbringing was also quite rugged.Originally, before I even came up with her story, Blanche was just a little art activity in which I based a character design on my birth signs: Year of the Wood Dragon (Chinese Zodiac), Pisces (Zodiac), Aquamarine and Bloodstone (Birthstone), and Jaguar (Aztec Zodiac). Which is where a lot of her traits are derived. And, at the time, even though I never watched it, I thought Satsuki Kiryuin from Kill La Kill was really hot so I gave Blanche big eyebrows and bangs.In making her greasily rotund, I gave her another form she could use in battle. Similar in effect to the Akimichi's Three Coloured Pills from Naruto, she can expend calories to increase her physical abilities for a short time. If I make her too skinny again, I don't really have a reason to have this form for her but ig it's not really mandatory.
>>7964162I remember that pic from when you first posted it.Tell you what, it's one of my favourite drawings on /ic/ ever. I love the intricate details, the different textures and the sheer amount of creativity to think up this whole scene to begin with.You don't know me and I don't know you either, but seeing your work is always a huge inspiration. That mural is exceptional as well.
>>7964587Thanks a bunch! I really appreciate the kind words! If you ever want to get in touch, I use the same name on Twitter and Discord. It's actually kinda crazy that you remember when I first posted that. That was like 3 years ago. /ic/ really does have a small but devout community of regulars.But back to the topic of the thread, is there anything you would criticize about the character's design? Anything you would change or like to see? If not, any good resources or tips on character design that could help?
>>7964512>I think you're correct in that I was trying to get away from it being too anime/cartoony but I also thought that making her face more rugged or tough would help get across the idea that her upbringing was also quite rugged.Scars will communicate this far, far more effectively. Viewers looking at her current face will go "she's ugly" and stop; scars will show them that she's been through a lot instantly with no need for additional context.>Similar in effect to the Akimichi's Three Coloured Pills from Naruto, she can expend calories to increase her physical abilities for a short time.Personally I find this thing gimmicky, but you do you. I'd still advise drawing it back, because right now it looks like fat fetish art.
>>7964609Yeah I think general consensus is that she shouldn't be as big so I'll definitely scale it back to God of War Thor levels if I can pull it off. Ig I can also get rid of the gimmick forms, they were sort of like power-ups she gets from killing other characters like power-ups. Though I'm loathe to admit, the inspo for the forms themselves are the power-ups in WarioLand 4. Kinda off topic but I also wonder if there's a way to draw obese characters that don't look either ugly or fetishy. Because no matter how I draw her, people always say it's one of the two: Ugly or it's fetish art.
>>7964155How do I worship this BBW Goddess ?>>7964624>if there's a way to draw obese characters that don't look either ugly or fetishy. Because no matter how I draw her, people always say it's one of the two: Ugly or it's fetish art.Look it's easy to understand. Most people find obese women ugly and those who like them have a fat fetish (like me) so you literally cannot win and you have to take a stand.Ok there might be a solution. Look at ho Disney used to draw fat women (like in sleeping beauty). They arent fetishy and while they won't win any beauty contest, I have hardly seen anyone call them "ugly"
>>7964771Believe it or not there's an even bigger Blanche form I made to represent when she goes feral.Anyways, when it comes to animated fat ladies, I think Eve from Dragon's Lair 2, designed by Don Bluth, is the best there is. It's in this nice in-between of caricature and attractive imo. It might be something I aspire to.
Your art is gross
>>7964855Fair. You're not the first to say that. A lot of ig high /int/s would say the same. Anything you could recommend I'd work on or is it simply a preference over the subject matter?
>>7964815The difference between this and yours is, for lack of better words, the difference between "fluffy" and heavy. Eve's drawn in a way that doesn't get caught up in the details and smooths over things like the fat rolling over joints, and looks light on her feet. Her fat deposition is also more appealing, leaving her bottom heavy rather than generally rotund with massive sagging tits(perky>sagging, generally). She's very pear shaped and the lines of the flower...bikini(?) help make her figure look more feminine, the shape design is on point here. Very butterface though, she almost looks like a Kanker sister, lol.
>>7964958I did attempt to draw her in a more cartoonish style once. I actually quite like it but it makes me wonder how I could transfer it over to a more serious(?) dark fantasy art style and tone without being so simple.
Thanks for everyone's suggestions, I'm exploring different body shapes/sizes and mixing the old and new designs together, so thanks!
>>7964958This is great advice.Keep the saggy tits though OP. Or at least don't make breasts that size overly perky It's always ridiculous when that happen and even anime has stopped indulging in that when they draw massive tits>>7964980>>7965090Excellent. Smoothing out the details does wonder. It's like foot fetishists. You can always spot them when they draw massive details on their feet like dirt, creases, lines, lmaoPost your blog also
>>7965262Good morning, I've been working on redesigning the face shape, hair shape, antlers, and head in general. I think maybe she looks to young(?) or just not rugged and grizzled enough. The old version had a much more robust face shape that I think added to the monstrous look. Anon No.7964209 said dragons are gracile and beautiful in an inhuman way but the dragons I'm taking more inspiration from are the greedy stout beasts from How To Train Your Own Dragon or the Scholastic Books "Dragons: Fearsome Monsters From Myth and Fiction."As for my socials, I'm literally FlashFirePrime everywhere; Twitter, Instagram, Discord, etc. etc. except on DeviantArt, I'm HallowedMarmalade.
>>7965290Thank you
>>7964857Not the anon but I did send a discord invite and I had the same issue for a very long time. The ugly i think is related to the problem you are having, because we percieve living things in both form and function, and the functional goal of hitting your aesthetic benchmarks seems to be getting in the way of implementing your techniques on the computre.The stuff >>7965090 here looks very nice. I bet that if you figured out some better form abstraction abilities you could find the shapes and design you are after.
>>7965382I think I'm getting there in terms of the abstraction I want from the body's form BUT now it comes down to still trying to get the warlord look into it without losing the attractiveness. Thx for the Discord add btw
>>7965390A lot of the forms of a figure are actually about body language, not anatomy. Those side sloping breasts are caused by strong arch to the back to counterbalance the weight distribution of a large tummy over a small contact point on the floor. It's a lot like architecture in a way, where the shapes tell you both what the shaper considered pretty but also what they required to accomplish teh structural goal.
>>7965397Unfortunately, I think my taste as an architect is fucked. As the great Pierce Brosnan once said:"Big beautiful belly… i love big women… with oversize breasts larger then head, milk breast, vein breast… puffy nipple engorged sensitive to touch, pepperoni. saggy downward, heavy with milk. milk breast. wide hip and big breast. wide hip with plump ass. fat ass. obese ass. cellulite ass and dumptruck, 60 inch hips… thighs bigger than waist, massive cellulite legs like treetrunks. fertility. pregnant and fertile like goddess. twins in stomach, triplets, sextuplets, octuplets. overfertilized and worshipped… pamper for feed her. I love big fertile women.. plump her up and feed and breed my big wife, 10000 calories a day, I want to feed my wife nonstop.. hunt animals for my wife so she survives the winter. Then reproduce again…"
>>7965676Yeah, sounds like your tastes are fucked.
>>7965677Aw shiet. I'm sorry mang...
