Silk Strands

One of the sections of the column I love to see is this critic corner. Although I am hardly an expert, I do have a few pointers that may be worth listening to. One of the best ways to improve one's artwork is by getting comments from others. After all, after playing around with an idea for a while, a new perspective can help to smooth out the problems and point out areas to work on.

An area that I have noticed many fanarts seem to neglect is background interaction. (And yes, I am guilty of that as well!) Probably the main cause behind this is the very nature of the vast majority of published character designs out there. After all, how many shots of [insert any game character here] released by the publisher are totally without a background versus those that are complete pieces of art?

Background interaction involves not only the primary character (or two or three..), not only something behind him to define space, but also overlapping objects at varying distances to create a feeling of depth. It is not just a person sitting, but a person sitting in a chair, leaning on a table and carefully tracing a path on a map laid out before him, a nearly empty bottle and glass of wind by his hand and shelves full of books behind him. It is a person walking through a forest, trees closer to the viewer and further away, the nearer leaves hiding his feet and legs while other tree trunks are blocked by his body. In short, it is the difference between a really nice figure drawing and a stunning full piece of art.

Character drawings certainly do have their place with games as their purpose is to illustrate what a given person looks like. But they lack the spirit and demonstration of personality that a full piece can show. A shot of the villian sitting with eyes turned evilly upon the viewer is not even half as effective at portraying his blood-thirsty nature as a similar shot of him reclining in a massive iron throne decorated with skulls and faint traces of fresh blood, placed in the center of a great, dark chamber lit by a scant few torches and dozens of hideous creatures with glowing red eyes lurking in the shadows. While one aptly shows what the villian looks like, the other shows what the villian is.

So my challenge to everyone is to take a bit of extra time and make a complete piece of fanart involving some sort of interaction between subject and background. Pick your favorite character and show his personality, how he would act in a given situation. Don't rush it; go the extra mile to make that really killer shot of Frog swinging his sword so much better by fitting in a terrified Blue Mage hopelessly trying to avoid the blade all the while a Jinn dematerializes out of the walls behind the two, preparing a spell to catch the amphibian by surprise. Let's see if we can fill Silkenray's box up with them for the next update!

- Alia