Working on this. needs more defining but looks like it will be fun.
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Pokemon Painting Pikachu
Lunatique
#3
I already replied to Yoel in the private Alumni Lounge forum for Becoming a Better Artist workshop, where he also posted the two Pikachu images, but I’m reposting my reply here too, so those of you reading the thread can see it.
Pikachu’s proportions and forms aren’t quite right. Although there are some variants to the way Pikachu is interpreted by different artists, it generally has slightly more infantilized proportions and features, with wider-set eyes, wider face and rounder head (not as tapered at the top), and no nose bridge. You seem to have flattened the forms a bit too much, and overall it needs more volume. When you look for references, don’t just search for 2D artworks of Pikachu–also search for 3D versions to really see the forms.
Pikachu in swamp - This Pikachu looks more authentic than the other one in terms proportions. The fur is a bit scruffy but maybe that was intentional.
The foliage in the front looks really flat and use a bit more sense of dimensions (angle of leaves, lighting information). The leaves on the treee and in the background can be improved a bit too. Try using at least two different customized brushes for leaves, so that one is the more perfect straight-on angle with size and angle jitter, while the other has the brush shape squeezed and also with those jitter parameters, so you get the angled leaves. You seem to be doing that already, but visually there isn’t enough distinction so make it more obvous.
Where the roots meet the ground can use more detail–it’s too vague right now.