Kyubi Kitsune Says: Hoi Sassy~ ^_^ I must say, you put a lot of effort into giving this drawing the depth is has, and it shows! There is a great amount of character in Sephiroth's expression and the light from the single candle makes the scene that much more "real". The extra things like the ripped up paper on the floor and books scattered all over the place just add that much more descriptiveness. Great work!

As for your outlining, what you might want to do is work at a higher resolution and/or dpi. Keep the linework a little on the thicker side and when working large, it's a lot easier to clean and fix if necessary. Also, when you size it down, the linework, if a little jagged, looks smoother. Work large and in muliple layers.

My last comment is on your perspective. It's really nice how you put that extra work to make the room a room with a desk and shelves, but keep in mind the points of perspective. Keep the horizon line in mind and remember that the lines converge upon that line, be it the books, the chair legs, the table top, or even Sephiroth. Don't feel discouraged because even now, I'm *still* reviewing perspective in my drawing classes (and it's rather frustrating...^^;;). It takes time to train yourself to see things that way and it's always a good thing to know! Good luck and keep up the great work! ^_^

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Deranged Laine Says: i think you did okay with the lines , except maybe your scans got screwed up ( that is usually the case since its hard to get inks that are jagged ) . when you scan , scan in at a high resoultion like ...400 dpi and then cg at that size , then minimize later for online viewing :D i scan in grayscale too...since my inks usually have grays if these are scanned in then the jaggedyness is lessened .

another problem might be cg technique...do you use multiply ? usually using multiply instead of cutting out the inks and pasting them onto another layer doesnt produce jagged lines since when you are cutting out the inks there are some parts that will not be selected and thus jagged teeth will come out =/

another method to smooth out lines is to use vector programs like Illustrator or Xara ...but i dont know about that :P ( go ask..Wang :D ) or retracing with a tablet ( ask...Kon :D ) personally i just scan in large , then dive in and clean the dirt up with an eraser and retrace whereever necessary with the path tool .

i'm a huge detail freak ~ ! although i seldom practice it myself , putting lots of details into your art will add a lot of credibility...eg. the books at the shelf could have titles , creases ...yellowish glow from the lamp . the folds on his clothes look rather unatural to me ... only remedy for this is to practice lots :P

the mood and message you are trying to project is great ! :D seph frustrated and confused at his angsty identity ^_^ (when i first saw it though , i thought " seph's cramming for an exam ! " coz im in exams now hwhhaha *BRICK* )

hope this helps ! gambare ne !

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Kon Says: Hiiii!.. Not bad.. I like the amount of detail you put in your background and the frustrating look on Seph is great.. heheheh. To ge smooth outlines you can try to retrace it with a tablet.. but it'll take awhile.. probably as long as redrawing it with vectors.. O_O A quicker but not as fine method that I use a lot is to scan the image, adjust the contrast and brightnest until you get a darker more define line. In Photoshop I would use the eraser tool to clean out "dirty" areas. For smoothing out the lines... I use the smudge tool and gently smudge around the edges... this will give it a slightly blurry but smoother looking line. As Kit noted, the perspective is a bit off.. most noticable is the desk. In perspective, things get smaller as they recede. The front edge is closer than the back edge... but it is smaller.. O_O Unless this is a trapazoid shape desk it needs to be reverse. The lighting gives the scene a good moody feel.. but it's a bit off. In a one light source scene, anything closer to the light is brighter. As things get farther, they get darker. We sometime forget these simple logic when we are drawing...hehhehe.. I know I do sometimes. There is an abrupt line between the candle and Sephiroth.. the light should fad more gradually as it gets closer to Sephiroth. Also the back corner of the room seem too well lit for being so far away. Just pay more attention to lighthing and perspective and your next drawing will be even better.. =D