Refugees: Arrested by PhilattheGame on DeviantArt (original) (raw)

Overall

Vision

Originality

Technique

Impact

Hello there! I saw this piece while browsing and it immediately jumped out at me with the bright colors-contrasting starkly with the horrified expression and pose of the character. I was interested in this Valora, and read all of the Refugees pages you made so far, and I'm definitely intrigued and fascinated by the concept! There are plenty of stories with anthropomorphic characters and plenty more with humans, but I've never seen one that had the two meet.
Going back to this specific piece, the expression really sells the scene for me! Other artists (myself included) would probably try to make the mouth larger and more exaggerated to increase the expressiveness, but seeing this piece makes me realize her small mouth is a strength, as it looks not only scared, but hopeless, as do her eyes. Staying on the face however, I believe it would be best to not have the eyes and cheek fur show through the hair. I know that is a common stylistic choice, but I believe this piece would capture her fear better with one eye covered. It also breaks the thin line you're walking between realism and these anthro characters. Therefore if you want to really sell the idea of this comic's world, you'll need to carefully balance realistic and more fictional elements.
Looking at the rest of the body, you have a good understanding of proportions, but it is weaker in some places. First off the knees should come down to the same spot, as it looks like neither leg is more bent than the other. I also believe the curved line signifying the top of the knee is unnecessary and the bottom line should be move down a little bit on both legs. The next issue is the arms. While the forearms and hands are drawn well, the upper arms are a bit too short, and the elbows seem to be, missing? A good thing to keep in mind would be that the fore and upper arms are about the same length, and the elbow is usually visible from all angles, whether it be the inner or outer elbow. If a rounded elbow doesn't look right, you can always try tufts of fur where the elbow would be. That brings me to my next point, this character looks much too smooth. I'd imagine that after crash landing, being held in a building, and then falling out she'd be pretty roughed up. If not full on bleeding from scratches I'd imagine her fur, especially her tail, would be much messier.
Moving on to the shading, there doesn't appear to be a defined light source in this piece. If it is it's complex, as some parts of the torso and legs suggest the light is coming from both sides and above, but not in front of her. When planning the shading it might help to actually draw a little sun symbol and then lines from it to the part of the body it's hitting. Having a visual idea of the light direction will help you better understand where the shadows would then be. I would also suggest being more consistent, as currently the hair and ears don't have shading at all.
My last concern is the background. Plain backgrounds can work, but this one has no shadow from the character or anything else, making it lack depth. The bricks are also really large and makes her look tiny. That would work if she was a mouse or other small animals, but the tags make me think she's a wolf? Another thing you could try is adding occasional crack or spots to vary it up, making it look more natural.

That's all, sorry it's so long and nit-picky, I really love this piece and your comic as a whole, so I hope you continue to make awesome art and learn how to make it even better! I look forward to your next updates! <img src="e.deviantart.net/emoticons/b/b…" width="15" height="15" alt="" data-embed-type="emoticon" data-embed-id="366" title=" (Big Grin)"/>