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Lucain Custom Design Feedback

Postby ToxicShadow » 03/21/2016 4:05 PM

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So these are the designs.
(Yes, they're shaded, no they are not official, just fancy mock ups.)

They are supposed to be based on two manga characters. More examples right here.
Other examples can be found from looking up "Cain and Setsu Heel."
(Also note that, while I was not responsible for scanning any of the images, I do own a set of the mangas from which the images were scanned, and all art belongs to Yoshiki Nakamura.)

The male's colors are pretty obviously taken from the fact that he pretty much only wears black and even has black hair. The red eyes come from parts of the manga, where he's actually wearing red contacts. The red on the body is kind of there for a splash of color, as well as the fact that he kind of wears a scarf sometimes and, based on his style preferences, I figured it would be red. The grays, well, he's portrayed with some grays, namely on the buckles of a pair of his shoes, which the Banded marking accounts for. The main markings are Hooded, which I think my reason for choosing that was pretty obvious, and the other being Reaper. He's an actor that plays a villain, a murderer, to be exact, and Reaper just fits with that as well as his general vibe, so I feel.

The girl, her colors mostly manifest from her hair, although I've made them a little richer. The addition of black is for the fact that she also wears lots of black, to be a matched set with the guy. Her marking selection of Leopard and Arach actually comes from me wanting to make her look cute (because the male just thinks she's adorable no matter what) AND fierce, and no other marking combo gave me that exact feeling. Her eye color comes directly from the manga cover image.

Over all, I also wanted their markings to be different.

Soooo... My primary questions are these. Do you feel like the designs portray the characters that they are based off of well? Do you like the designs, in general?
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Re: Lucain Custom Design Feedback

Postby zapdragon555 » 03/23/2016 9:58 PM

Finally got a chance to sit down and take a proper look at these! ovo

Ahh, my friend is obsessed with Skip Beat, though I'm not familiar with it! xD

I think your marking choices for both Lucain are super well thought out and have great meaning, as well as looking pretty darn good together. The girl's leopard even reminds me of cherry blossoms, which are always nicely prevalent in shojou manga. xD! So I think you definitely have some great designs, given your reasons!

Boiling down to personal preference, the male is a little on the dark side for me (but again, it seems to fit his character so honestly just disregard that xD), and I've never been a huge fan of grey on brown (the Banded marking against his body color). However, he really does look rather dashing as a whole, even if he isn't my style! I think you did a great job and these both look really great. :^)



But there will come a time
You'll see, with no more tears
And love will not break your heart
But dismiss your fears
Get over your hill and see
What you find there
With grace in your heart
And flowers in your hair



"Tomorrow will be a good day."


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Re: Lucain Custom Design Feedback

Postby Kyrit » 03/24/2016 12:47 PM

The lack of colored examples definitely makes this hard. I even tried looking them uplay in a wiki, and Cain is listed as having dark blue hair, when... the one colored example is black. XD

I did do a tiny bit of wiki reading, though not much. And the choice or Arach and Leopard for the gal do sound fitting, as the extra beads of Arach and the spots of the Leopard are reminiscent of jewelry, which she's stated as always wearing. I don't know if it'still just this tablet's screen, but it looks like you used pure black on her markings. Those should probably be lightened just a tad, especially if you did use pure black.

The male is so dark that I honestly can't really see anything about him. I get a tiny hint of red around the neck, and I can see that he has Reaper and banded, but that's all I can make out. He'said just too dark if you don't lightend anything for contrast.

Aside from that, I know information about that shading wasn't requested, but when I first saw them I didn't realize they were shaded. I'don't suggest darkening the shadows more and bumping the highlights up a bit.
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Re: Lucain Custom Design Feedback

Postby Jaykobell » 03/24/2016 2:41 PM

Hmmmmm I'm not very good when it comes to designing according to personality, but. Perhaps some of these might inspire something else in you too, sooooo

Oh, and I also don't know the characters or the story or the manga... so yeah, it's mostly... looks. xD

For the male, I have no comment; he looks great! His design really, really well-thought out, and his design is visually pleasing while defining his personality and general human appearance (i.e. the Banded representing belts). I miiiiiight have given him his original eye color, myself, but that's a personal choice 110%. And like zap, I'm not a fan of grey on top of black (honestly I don't really like shades of grey in general), but it matches his design here, so it honestly doesn't bother me for him specifically.

I'm not as big a fan of the girl, though again it's mostly for personal reasons. I'm not a big fan of body gradients, and I find the two markings to be very busy and overwhelming together; the colors themselves, though, I do like.

Again, this is mostly personal opinion (especially considering zap and Kyrit seem to both really like her... so it might just be me?? lol), but if you're open to suggestions maybe, that one colored cover gives me a Jacket Fox/Dweller sort of vibe; that lace/tying on the chest reminds me of the Dweller marking, and the arm covers remind me of Jacket Fox. I find it could still give her the 'cute but tough' feel you want for her, since Jacket Fox is pretty generic but soft and nice, while Dweller is a bit more mysterious and has those sickle-like markings that give it an edge.

As for colors, since you mentioned you made them a little more vibrant, I guess here it would depend, hmm.... I think it'd be nice with her original colors regardless; where the two of them will be 'muted' in theme. But it's also a nice contrast that she's so vibrant and he's got only black and very, very muted/dark shades of colors.

I find she doesn't reeeeeally seem to match, hmm... the same thematic? As the boy; who kind of reflects a lot on his clothes, but she doesn't. Maybe that's why she strikes me a little bit more?

But, that is only to maybe open up more possibilities. Obviously, the important thing is for you to like the designs, hahah.
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Re: Lucain Custom Design Feedback

Postby ToxicShadow » 04/09/2016 3:25 AM

Thank you for the feedback you guys! <3

I honestly wanted to address everyone, but I couldn't seem to find the time, so this is... a very shortened version.

I know it's rather difficult to judge colors, since there is only the one piece of officially colored art for the two characters, and I didn't exactly go into detail about the characters, themselves, all too much.

The only other official colored reference for either character is Setsuka, being, well, Setsuka, next to the REAL character that plays the Setsuka character. (Lol. Both characters that I am basing the Lucain off of are actually characters that the main characters of the manga are acting as, because they are professional actors. It's... complicated.)

Addressing the male possibly being too dark, while I understand that, yeah, he's dark, that was intentional for the character. The only obvious parts are supposed to be his neck, and the bit of his Reaper and Banded. His Hooded marking is the same black-ish color as his base, with the same red highlights. He just does not wear much color at all and, is described in the manga, as always just wearing all black. So, as long as the few bits of gray and red are barely noticeable, that's kind of what I was going for. Adding any more color or lightening him, I'm honestly worried it wouldn't reflect him accurately.

Even his "casual" wear, at home, is black.

Now, for the girl, it is entirely true that I made her based her more on her character's hair/other aspects and not her clothing choice, unlike the male. However, unlike the male, she never really wears the same outfit twice. That is, the male pretty much always wears the same long coat or hooded coat, same shoes, same general pants and shirt. (He even sleeps in his clothes, not even taking his shoes off, if she lets him get away with it.) Instead of buying himself new things, he's content with what he has, and SHOWERS the female in new clothes (and anything else he can throw at her). They go shopping, she's trying on a single item, while he's rushing to buy her ten new pairs of pants and a dozen or more shirts before she can stop him. So, there isn't really a set outfit to go with. (Through all of her appearances in the manga, she is NEVER in the same outfit from day-to-day, switching from pants, to shorts, to skirts, long sleeves, short sleeves, tank tops, coats, gloves, everything.) The only thing that is consistent about her is her lip ring/earring combo and SOME sort of necklace/choker.

More Setsu right here
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