El Goonish Shive

I think half the problem is too much detail in the inking process. I think he's got all the muscles more or less placed and shaped correctly, but the fact that each one is fully outlined makes them look bulbous and freakish. It's also quite jarring considering the lack of detail in other areas like facial features.

It's just one of those "less is more" sorta things. I'm sure he'll work it out. He mentioned once having a similar problem with male nipples, but he's learned to do them without them being too distracting.

... or maybe it's just that the horrific growths below the nipples are now distracting from the nipples themselves. That's... one way to do it...

Too much.

The muscles look right but the definition is excessive. There's a perfectly good guide out there by Coelasquid of Manly Guys Doing Manly Things that is PERFECT for anyone that needs to know how to do these things right and well.

It's my go-to. It should be everyone's.

The guide in question I think.

Yeah, I've seen that guide on dA (A link provided above by a helpful ninja). It was very useful, especially since I am horrible at varying my guys. I agree, the best I can tell the anatomy is right, but he need to soften them up with a little more fat under the skin. The only people I've seen with muscles that defined are body builders, and they have to starve themselves before the competition to look like that.

Wait, is this what the MV 5 form is going to look like?

edited 15th Oct '15 11:23:26 AM by DatLonerGirl

Most likely.

Addendum - not only do bodybuilders have to starve themselves in the day or two before competition to get that definition, they deliberately dehydrate themselves in the hours before to further bring it out. I think the overly detailed muscles trigger a sort of Uncanny Valley response from people - in short, "damn, that ain't healthy."

I mean, at least Shive's consistent - he also will draw the female form in a fashion that's so stylized as to be disturbing, too. Though not as much anymore, admittedly.

He's done it more, so he's better at it. Ten years from now he may be able to do realistic beef.

Which feels sort of ridiculous to me since I'm younger and obviously haven't been at this Art and drawing people lark as long as him but have a better grasp of drawing reasonable muscular. It isn't that difficult to look up and use the right references, he had to learn how to make that freaky super detailed stuff from somewhere.

Ten years, indeed....

A thing to note is that this is an immortal taking a fairy form he chose himself. Are we certain it's supposed to look at all realistic in the first place? Immortal interactions with mortals directly tend not to be subtle.

edited 15th Oct '15 3:15:57 PM by Daremo

Good point. I guess these are the people who throw hissy fits over who gets to be named Zeus.

On the subject of Immortal names... why Helena and Demetrius? Helena was a Stalker with a Crush and Demetrius was a complete dick that only loved her after brainwashing.

I can only assume Romeo and Juliet (not that they're much better) and all the other cutsey coupley Shakespeare names were taken by stronger immortals by the time these two regenerated together.

Or maybe upon regeneration, they didn't remember the exact details of the play, just that it was a fun story, and had a couple with cool names in it.

Naming yourselves as a couple after a half-remembered work of fiction is bound to have awkward consequences somewhere down the line.

"Hey babe! I had an idea for our date night!"

"Yeah babe?"

"I found a copy of those movies we used to like!"

"Which ones?"

"The cool space one with the blond kid with the swordlaser and the tin man and the sasquatch and he blows up the moon and falls in love with the princess and they marry at the end or something probably."

"Oh! The ones we got our names from!"

"Oh- oh yeah! That's right, Leia!"

"Aw, Luke! That's so romantic!"

edited 15th Oct '15 5:51:57 PM by PapercutChainsaw

Also you have super detailed muscles, with these smooth baby like faces. It will be jarring no matter what.

NP.

"typing finger mouths"

I don't know why I find that phrase so amusing. Must be because it's late.

I hate to say this. But how does that sweater dress even work?

Very well.

Like this◊, only less so. Or possibly more so.

Shive's doing the guilt thing. "It's a sweater dress with short shorts under it!"

No. You can see her hipbones and the curves of her crotch through it; it's so revealing that the only reason she's not showing cameltoe is that Shive will never in a million years draw one. There is no way this is a particularly thick fabric. Additionally, given how high up it ends, anything she's wearing under there would be best classified as underwear anyway - and would have visible lines, because see above, re: super revealing.

edited 16th Oct '15 8:17:38 AM by TobiasDrake

So in other words, Vapor Wear.

The real live sweater dress is longer than Ellen's.

NP

Saying "holy carp" is a blasphemy against Cod.

Or some sort of Japanese koi kami.

Not sure if Sarah is self censoring or if Shive had a Dyslexia moment.

edit: And now that I've read the commentary, it's actually Shive trying to be funny.

edited 19th Oct '15 3:33:04 AM by stevebat

I've become somewhat desensitised to profanity over the years. Now when I actually want to swear I have to resort to compound obscenities like "twatting shitballs".

If Shive thinks "Holy carp" is funny, I suddenly have a whole bunch of answers about recent attempts at comedy.

Right now I like compound profanities too, but more in the form of ironic malapropisms like "What in the nine fucks?"

Well, sure sounds a bit childish, but still way better than Darker and Edgier profanity for profanity's sake.

edited 19th Oct '15 6:58:07 AM by Medinoc