I normally sit back on art, since my knowledge in that field is mostly technical (I know how to use Photoshop and Illustrator, and a lot of the principles of composition and design), but I lack most any real creative skill, and my drawing of anything more than the most simple object becomes a major ordeal.
However, there are times when I see something that I feel a need to comment on.
I like the art in this. I'm not a "Anime" guy, but I do hang around, and I don't really discriminate based on artistic medium.
Anyway, I got sidetracked. The reason I'm writing this review is to give advice.
- Bundle in a .zip. You can include a .txt file (or most anything, really), and everyone will be able to read the license, without having to figure out how to get the images from a pdf (since the license does say you can use them in a web application).
- While I like analog coloring, it should be even, or shaded. White space in an image that has no reason for white space is bad. Similarly, over-bright colors are oftentimes best replaced by a slightly less saturated color (the green as seen on the cover), to look more vibrant (yes, believe it or not).
- Anime is traditionally associated with computer-based line graphics. This can be simulated easily even in a program like Inkscape (which is free and open source), just by setting the program up to trace the image into a more anime-esque one. It will keep the lines and color, but make it look more like a traditional cel or CGI image. It won't look exactly like it, but instead of looking like it was drawn with colored pencils (Ok, my lack of art lore is showing here, since I'm pretty sure this isn't actually drawn with color pencils, but can't think of what it would be drawn with), it'd look like the sort of thing that you could actually animate, and the lines could be made more crisp.
Of course, remember, I'm trying to give constructive advice here. Now, I'm off to the actual review.
It's some well-drawn images, and you can see from the preview whether or not it'd be useful. I like the persona that these create, if not the actual appearance. The only thing weighing them down is that they are a little pricey for only being able to be used on a character sheet profile image or as a handout. If there were paper miniatures included (basically scaled down versions with an appropriate template for cutting), I'd say that these were a bargain, but as is they're good.
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