Mara looks better! But now the lips are too dark (imo).
Sanreils looks better, but that lip is still irritating me. (Not that my irritation matters xD) - His hair is much better though!

The coloured characters are looking really good, I don't think I can add anything more than what has already been said by the people far more qualified than me.

@Griatch

Thanks for the feedback! Makehuman is an invaluable tool, but maybe my sketches were a bit too faithful to the output Posemaniacs may be a better learning tool, but it's more difficult to test various angles. I deviated more from the output with Mara than Sanreils, and maybe that's why he feels more like a 3D render.

I went through and softened his edges a bit, and I think that helps. I hadn't thought of adding hair growing out of his temples - adding that seems to help a lot with his hair. I think he's looking much better, now. I finally feel like his hair is "attached," and hopefully others agree.

While I was tweaking things, I added a few more highlights to his hair and eyes. I may need to tweak it a bit more, but I think it's a step in the right direction.



While I was at it, I tried your suggestion with Mara's eyes' shadows and I rather like the result. I had to keep her wide-open eyes, though... that's just part of her character



>> it's challenging but it's looking very promising so far!

Thanks for the encouragement! I felt I needed to break out of my comfort zone. I consider myself much more of a landscape / environment artist than one of human subjects.

@AnMal
Thanks I agree her "new" lips were much too dark. I lightened them in the above redo. I think taking away much of the shadow under his hair helps remedy the "wig" effect - along with Griatch's suggestions. Eyes are more difficult than I thought they'd be - I'm used to drawing very simple eyes just because my figures are scaled much smaller. I may need to experiment a bit more, but I did work with the lighting a bit.

The older drawings of Mara are still on my blog (such as the 404 error page), but at some point I wonder if she'd even be recognizable.

@molly Thanks

@PhotoComix I used to use photos, Daz4, and posemaniacs for references. I started using Sketchup and Makehuman more. Someday I'll make the time to take an art class; having real human references would be best.

@Mokonafan I think his lower lip may have been too big. I thinned it out a bit.

@he4rty Thanks!

Better still! Nice work!

Thanks!

Yep - they are excellent!

merrak: i'm so impressed with these now - you've made great work with the hair and the eyes look a lot more expressive now! the rest will be much easier after all you learned on these two, right?

Thanks




The first one is always the hardest. So hopefully they'll get easier! I haven't worked on #3 in a while, been too busy with midterms

I love seeing the progression of Mara from not much more than stick figures to such a life-like version. She is not just a girl in boots any more, she has become a person, so to speak.