Oni Head Study

Hiya,

I'm doing a commission of this character but am not really satisfied with the initial composition I came up with. So while mulling things over, I did this greyscale study:
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/51372873/
:link has been edited:

what don't you like about it?

Your to hard on yourself, I'd kill to be able to draw that well.

Sorry, there's a wip in my scraps section that i had posted a few days ago. This one isn't what I was referring to, just a sketch while I mull the other layout over.

I think it looks fantastic!

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what don't you like about it?

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It's gotta be the general blankness of expression being conveyed. There's nothing wrong in the technique or style.

Wraith's really in a corner though on conveying a catchy expression given that a) the mouth is covered up, b) there is no pupil feature to the eyes, and c) the facial tattoo pattern interferes with (hairless incidentally) eyebrow definition. If you look closely you can see there's an attempt to make a specific placement of the left brow muscle, but it's obscured by the need for too much overlapping detail. The end result is that there's simply no clear and natural visual cue for the audience's subconscious to latch onto to derive what the subjects emotional expression is supposed to be. Well... except for the devilish horns of course.

In fact, audience members experienced with anime will tend to misinterpret blank eyes as suggesting a hollow soulless shell like a zombie. It seems unlikely this is what Wraith is going for.

Is there any way to get more of the body into the perspective Wraith? A more dynamic pose (like one of those crazy Spider-man contortions) and/or a more extreme fisheye-like perspective (like one of the recent pieces featuring Juggertha as a subject) might give you more of a canvas to get the right expression across to the audience.

Other than that, you might have to consider dropping the cowl to expose the mouth. If that's still undesirable, you might have to put in the cartoony gimmick of little burst lines near the left eye to indicate a surprised or otherwise immediate and abnormal emotional reaction to something off-camera.

I'm sure there are lots of other ways that can work, but they're all going to be hard to pull off if you don't have the brilliant stroke of insight on how to best use the skill set you have for this problem.

Do you think "sinking" the eyes in more would give more expression? Then you could play with the brow a little more.

Thanks for the comments guys. I changed the browline a bit, lengthened the shape of the eyes, and added a hint of a pupil. But basically that is the character. A demon with a cowl covering the lower part of the face.

Let me reiterate that this isn't the piece I was disatisfied with. The one I was working on for the commission is
this one.
I drew this head study just to practice a slightly different linework approach with this figure. It's not a real serious piece or anything. I should've just posted it and left that comment out.

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The one I was working on for the commission is
this one.


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Certainly this piece shares the same facial qualities that lead to a blank expression, but since this is a broad kinetic scene instead of a tight facial portrait there's tons of room to convey expression through setting and pose without having to lean exclusively on the face.

The only real problem I see with this piece is that there isn't enough contrast between the monks and the demon given that by all the visual clues they're both aware of each other's presence. They all look kind of blah about the fact they're all together in the same scene.

So I'd suggest either make them appear more confrontational towards each other, or add visual cues that suggest the monks are unaware of the demon's impending presence. Like a shrouding veil of smoke around the demon's body or some dizziness to the monks heads that suggest they're experiencing an illusion of normalcy. I think I prefer the smoke idea because creative smokiness is more fun to draw and eliminates the need to draw some of the seemingly-irrelevant background on the left side of the page.

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I drew this head study just to practice a slightly different linework approach with this figure. It's not a real serious piece or anything.


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It shows talent and inspiration. I tend to take that seriously.

Heh, for a point of reference...

I did not give BW much to work with as expressions go ; )

Oni was not created to express emotion in any human capacity though, as everything she does is an expression of her sacred duty. Holy, or unholy, she likely wouldn't have any gripe with the monk/priest in this situation, since her only duty is guarding the gate...and occasionally escorting 'lost' travelers back to their proper side.

I like what she has managed with what little room for expression there is on this character, though. In all honesty, as a stone/DA brute, she has a very dynamic range of motion in her powers, which I think more then makes up for her being fugly as all get out. When Oni wants some one to know she's angry, they'll get the hint when the ground starts shaking ; )

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Do you think "sinking" the eyes in more would give more expression? Then you could play with the brow a little more.

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QFT. I think there needs to be some eyebrow work done to his face, which will exude an expression which is otherwise obscured by his facial garments.

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Originally Posted by Deus_Otiosus This entire post should receive some kind of award for being both hysterical and fantastic. Well done.

That's not a man baby!