Asking for Critique 🌱

[dandah.art]

Hi,

i'm sort of new in character design.
Until a few weeks ago, i really tried to avoid this field, because sometimes I can hardly stand it when my drawings are bad and from my point of view, drawing characters is so difficult in so many different ways because there are too many areas at the same time in which I am not "good enough". So in the past, I've just dipped my toes in that water a little bit.

However, since I have once again realized that it won't get better if I don't start and grind, I have decided to finally delve into this area and endure the failures.
So i started with a more unrealistic, chibli style, i think this is a little bit easier and i can build up from there.

Here is one of my first Characters:

It's Lenni, the peacefull bounty hunter.
Actually, the boy is a pacifist and denies all violence, but bills have to be paid.

Because i also want to implement a feedback loop i wanna ask you for some honest critique, with the focus on the Emotions on the left side.
How can i improve the readability for the emotions and feelings.

Thank you so much for your feedback.

I wish you a nice Day,
Dan

[StudioHannah]

You won't get better unless you start and grind, INDEED! I'm also working on some things that are particularly hard for me, you're not alone in this quest.

That said... I LOVE HIM. This pushes all the right buttons for me, I want stickers, I want t-shirts.

Portraying emotions on a skull face is difficult and I think you did a good job overall. Anger reads well for me, and fearful is almost there... I think maybe push the open eyes and brow bones up a teensy bit more and you'll have it. Sadness didn't really track for me but if you're using the line for the brow bones like eyebrows you can push them in and up in the middle to get more of a "sad" look. Same for the happy emotion, play with those brow lines. I know they're not eyebrows, but they can indicate a lot of what we're used to seeing on uh... skin-covered faces.

Love Lenni and his giant sword and his little flower and his crayon tattoos. Keep him safe.

[Yogita Chawdhary]

I absolutely love Lenni! The character design is super cool, and I really like how the flower reacts to different emotions- it’s such a fun detail.
The readability of the emotions is great, especially for anger, fear, and happy. To push it even further, you could try exaggerating the expressions a bit more- like playing with the eyebrow lines and tweaking the top and bottom of the eye sockets based on the emotion, like in the mockup here.

Wishing you all the best on your character design journey!

[dandah.art]

@Yogita-Chawdhary Wow, this is soo helpful! Thank you so much. The different between mine and yours is very impressive. I will try to push it even more next time. I think i will do some more expressions for Lenni.

Thanks again and have a good day

[dandah.art]

@StudioHannah Thanks a lot for your feedback. I really appreciate your words and it’s good to hear that this struggle is normal.
I will try to push everything a little bit more. And play and try a bit more.

Thanks for your advice and have a nice day

[Meg Clayburn]

I agree with @Yogita-Chawdhary. Really push the eyes. Her draw over is great. My one other suggestion is maybe to make his little tattoos squash and stretch with his eyes? That might be dumb since he’s made of bone, but it might help exaggerate his expressions more.

[dandah.art]

@Meg-Clayburn Oh this is such a great detail, i will try that too, thanks a lot