Most Bishounen FF7! Final Fantasy 7 pen, color pencils, Photoshop Sandara-3	The One I Care About Xenogears Prismacolor pencils Lorelai	Ahead on our Way Final Fantasy 5 unspecified Shinryuu
Maria and Seibzehn Xenogears unspecified Young Wang	Aeris looks up at a Visitor Final Fantasy VII watercolor, 3DstudioMax Young Wang	The Final Eve Parasite Eve unspecified Young Wang
The Demon Within Xenogears pencil Calis Cheah	Locke holds the Phoenix magicite Final Fantasy VI Meta-Creations Painter 5 Laura	Fei Daydreams Xenogears Micrografx Picture Publisher v5.0 Tigerlily
Graveler is unstoppable Pokémon unspecified Sneakers	Edea thinks carefully Final Fantasy VIII markers, colored pencils Jayme Barnes	Cute Little Feena Grandia Photoshop SephiMage

Ask Lorelai (A Critique Corner spin-off)

Young'uns

Hey. First off, I want to say you're doing a -great- job with the fan art section. Before you came along, I never even bothered to check the fan art section, but it's more than just "Here are a bunch of pictures I chose from my mailbox at random" now. You've helped my drawing ability quite a bit with your Critique Corner section, too. I had a fan art piece I was working on with Rydia, but I couldn't get her to look like a little girl -- just like a miniature full-grown woman. Also, a piece I was working on that was completely unrelated to RPGs -- it was inspired in part by Dream Theater's "A Change of Seasons," if you've ever heard that -- had two babies at the focus of the picture, and those came out looking like Raggedy Anne dolls with diapers. Could you maybe put up some help for how to draw babies and little children? Thanks, Andy Procter

Lorelai: Heh, it is SO weird how the fanart I was working on for the week always coincides with someone's question. How lucky! Well, Andy, you could try checking my Xenogears fanart that I submitted this week. In the picture I've drawn Bartholemew and Marguerite Fatima, who are supposed to be around 13 and 9 years old, respectively, in this picture. I'm no expert, but I did grab a few key points: Bart, in his budding teen years, is lanky and thin, yet muscular, especially about the arms. His proportions are still juveniles. Margie's face is rounder and her eyes are bigger; her arms are thinner yet childishly round still; indeed, her entire body shows youth because it is not lean and wiry like Bart's. And of course there's always size difference ^_^ If you want to illustrate babies, just drastically round-ize Margie's features. Babies have very large heads (and in anime, VERY large eyes), and every part of their body is rounder and chubbier than even the youngest toddler. Babies tend to bundle into a ball, pull their feet up, and make fists rather than open palms.

Critique Corner V

Bravery and Rote

Artist: Dragonwynd Subject: Red XIII Medium: Pen, Pencil Comment: I hope it's good, since it took me about 8-9 days to finish it. If you want, you can use this for critiquing. Great job Dragonwynd, Your RedXIII came out quite accurate. It must have been tedious to work on this drawing for so long. Anyway, since I know that you used the Squaresoft version of RedXIII as a basis for your art, there's not much I can critique. However, I do suggest that you try and draw Red over again, this time without any reference. Drawing once with a model teaches your hand the proper moves and techniques to draw that certain subject, and I swear, your hand actually REMEMBERS how to do it. You will find that drawing it again will be immensely easier. And when that happens, try different poses and stronger shading with your pencil. It will make Red more alive.

Artist: Sarah Ashrael Subject: Heroes of Suikoden II Medium: colored pencils Comment: And for the critiques corner, I want to ask about the folds in the clothings. I just simply can't get it right! (see the pic and you'll know what i mean) It's not that you can't get it right, Sarah, it's that you have a fear of it. From your picture, I don't see an attempt at folds at all. Be brave!!! Lorelai is beside you! (valiant music plays) er yeah...well, anyway, All I can suggest is: observe real wrinkles. Folds in clothes are visible everywhere you look. Your sleeve; your classmate's sweater; everywhere. You can also "fake it" soemtimes with S-shaped curves and general V-squiggles, but I don't suggest it. For reference, you can look at the fanart I submitted (at top) especially Margie's sleeve and pants. I drew those while observing my own clothes in a mirror.