I love wotercolors! To me they're supposed to be a little messy! Also I prefer the first one as the background colors are more saturated and vibrant.
^w^ thanks for your feedback! I also think I prefer the first one, but the more I looked at it, the more I began to worry that it looked muddled. I was aiming for "their colors are blending together", and I like the feel of watercolors (so dainty and delicate!), but I'm a natural worrier.
I like the first one too! I'd recommend layering colours with less opacity instead of single colour layers if you want it to look cleaner and more watercolour-y.
This is my latest Warmage page:
I am trying for a delicate balance here. The page starts out in a 3D programme, then goes to GIMP for post work. I do a stack of layered filtered and altered images for each panel, and then adjust transparency until I have the look I am going for. I am not trying to hide the 3D origins of the page, but I am trying to give it more of an artwork vibe, kill the photoreal look, and eliminate or at least minimise the uncanny valley look.
Currently, the stack of layers goes like this, in this order:
Outline (with alpha colour)
Inkdrawing (with alpha colour)
Shadows (picture reduced to B&W with alpha colour)
Pastels (with strong strokes)
Comics (The standard reduced colour outlined filter, set to 50 colours)
Paints
Original
I generally set the paints to 100% and then the other layers to varying degrees of transparency depending on lights, shadows, and so forth. There's no formula that works, I just have to play with the levels on each panel before I load it into the page.
So the question is, does this solve the listed problems?
Eagle
(As that is the goal)
The sepia does have a nice tone to it. It's not overbearing and provides contrast.
Just a personal note, if you can get away with it, always try to have your shadows as a dark color rather than just black. It can change and entire feel for a comic.
Like having the color set to orange for a warm moment, blue for a cold or sad, and red for anger. It can help with what types of emotions you want portrayed for a scene.
14 days later
The first version looks cleaner. The tweak just seems like extra noise and is out of place in my opinion.
Hello, I need help! Some people told me that in my comic Life of Panda1, sometimes it's difficult to identify the main character, and that I could try coloring it in a diferent color. So here it is:
Is it better? Should I use a different color for the main character? Stick to just one color?
Thanks!
I personally didn't have a problem figuring out who the main character was. She is the first one to speak and she has a different hair style then everyone else. These are two important ways to make the reader know who the protagonist is, and you did it.
While I kind've like the idea of the main character being a different color, I don't think it's entirely necessary.
Hi there! I'm working hard on my comic, Xander's Legacy, and I have two versions of the same panel. I would like to know what version looks the most appealing to you. Should I use thick lines or thin lines? How's the shading? What do you like and dislike about both pictures? Please let me know.
A:
OR
B:
The hard shading definitely looks better. If you want to use a softer style of shading, you really need to blend it more. At the moment you're using the softer brush as if you're cel-shading, and the soft edge makes it look untidy rather than giving it depth or realism. Make sure you stay within the lines either way, and try to keep the edge of the shaded area smooth, so people can't see the edge of your pen strokes.
For the inks, the thicker lines look more dynamic, and you've got some variation in line width there. It does make mistakes in your lines more obvious, though. For both styles, it would look better if you drew the lines more quickly, so you get a smooth line with less wobbles. If you do make a mistake, or need to join two lines together, use the eraser to hide it. Also, I don't know what you're using, but your lines are blunt rather than tapering off, so you might want to consider using a tablet with software that supports pressure sensitivity.
For both images, there are some anatomy issues. The most obvious one is where you haven't drawn the hands. For tricky poses like this one, take a photo of yourself or a friend/relative making the pose you want, and copy it. Don't cover up the hands or feet to avoid drawing them. It will look weird and the readers will know, and if you don't start trying, you'll never get any better.
The first one catch my attention first. Though, I'm in no position to give criticism and point out helps like others- A stood out more than B as it's more bolder and cleaner. It's more pleasing to my eyes at least. 
B might seem more recessive compared to A. The font seems like it's fading together with the background- maybe if you put an outline around it it'll separate from the background and give more impact.
//Cheers on you from the sideline 
//
Actually for me the problem is not with the character but with the compositions of the panels.
Your drawings are nice and your characters are different enough, but when you draw a comic there is some rules you might want to follow so the readers can understand the action and where the characters are.
Here I tried to do a quick drawing to help understand what causes the problems (I actually spend a while thinking about this haha, composition is tricky) :
First of all, as you can see, in the second panel, the action lines were in the wrong direction. She turns her head to the right, so the line should guide the movement. I also add her friend behind so we might understand better were we are)
On the third panel, what I add is not necessary but I thought it would be easier to understand that the person who's talking is not on the set with the bubble lines going out of the panel (and as the girl in her costume is somewhere to the right, the bubble should point to the right).
On the fourth panel, the girl in her costume was in the wrong direction (it might be easier for you to draw a rough plan of the top of the set to understand better where are the characters, and where they goes).
Also it's better to keep the sister to the right in the different panels, because it's easier to recognize her right away (you might understand better why by reading this1) . I add her shoulder, it's not necessary but I think it's more readable.
In the last panel I had to change the posing because I changed the direction of the character in the previous panel, so she would have been in the other way, not looking at her sister anymore.
And that's it, I hope this will help you
Composition is really hard, I have myself a lot of hard time with it, I think drawing a comic is 80% about thinking of the composition (which makes me sad cause it's really a pain in the ass).
Hm. I like B, if it had the font direction of A. Thinner lines are definitely better, however it would go so much further if there was a bit of line weight (Even just the lines that are against shaded areas, or the back of the hair, etc) It makes things "pop" more, which is what I'm assuming you were trying to accomplish in A. Also, your font direction in B is a little confusing. The top line is angled in one direction that the second line doesn't follow, giving a very confusing sense of the direction of movement (this is also apparent in A but to a lesser degree, however I like the extreme angle a bit more --it gives a more immediate feel of fast movement) .
This is my main characters design so far and im not sure if what i should i improve with - thanks
im sorry theyre so big (◡△◡✿)
*also for Takara's age im most likely changing it to 13 instead just in case anyone would reply about that
Hi! so i've been playing around with how i color hair and I was hoping to get some opinions. If you think theres anything i could change to make it look more visually appealing if you think it doesn't.
I guess whats really bothering me is that near the middle and towards the end, the hair just seems to feel like its gotten flat. :\