Portrait Suggestions

[SilverSpook]

Latest version of the Neofeud protagonist here.  He was super low-def previously and something was super wrong...  I think I figured out why he looked too much like an anime character and not a cybernoir protagonist -- his eyeballs were two sizes two big for their sockets.  I know there's some weirdness going on with the background -- some of the lo-res hair is poking into the shot, I'll take that out later.  Also I know the shirt appears to be still fairly lo-res or with some sort of watercolor filter on it.

Main thing is, I'm trying to sell this dude as a kind of hardboiled ex-cop dishonorably discharged burnout.  Like a cyberpunk Bruce Willis from 2030 (more mixed race, obviously).  A guy with some room for redemption.  Little details that might help add some character, or out-of-character details that might be subtracted from the portrait are the kind of things I'm looking for, if you know what I mean. 

Thanks in advance!

[Grok]

Made a few quick fixes on the face.

The ears in your picture are way to small. The ears should be about from the height of the eyes to the bottom of the nose.

Real brows don't go up that way. Painted on eyebrows might. Moved the eyebrows to a more realistic position.

Eyes. The reflected light is on opposite sides. Moved the left one.

The mouth is to narrow. The corners of the mouth should be about under the pupils of the eye when the person looks straight ahead.  Broadened the mouth. Also made the upper lip darker to make the mouth look stronger.

Don't know if this is what your looking for, but there you are.

[SilverSpook]

Thanks for the pointers!  I was kind of looking more for reactions to the character itself, but technical art fixes can't hurt.

I will disagree that eyebrows never naturally arc like that:

[Cassiebsg]

I actually like the original eyebrows and mouth better. Though the mouth does look like he's "pointing" his lips, like he's getting ready to give a kiss... But it transmits, to me, a more inquisitive/suspicious type of face.
Grok's edit is nice, but he looks more "soft" and relaxed. Less menacing, if you get what I mean.

As for the portrait, maybe a scar?

[SilverSpook]

Thanks Cassiebsg, and yes, I think a scar is probably in order!

[Ykni]

I would make the mouth a bit wider, and darkening the upper lip is a good idea as well. Adding lines from the nose to the mouth will make him look a bit more fierce, like this.
The arced brows are ok, though it gives him a bit of a surprised look. The brows in the image that you posted aren't arced that much. Here is a nice reference of facial expressions, the eyebrows play an important role in the expression but they should match with the other elements that make up the expression. So if you want to make him look angry, the eyebrows may be ok, but you should add some creases between the eyes to make it work.

[SilverSpook]

Thanks for the notes and reference pic!

I wasn't thinking of him being particularly angry at the moment, but rather just having a peculiar bone/muscle structure.  Resting asshole face.  I might just de-emphasize the arc a bit and pull the caterpillars up out of his eye sockets.  The inner ends of the brows are probably a bit low.

[vertigoaddict]

I was actually going to say (as a guy with a severe case of Bitchy/Asshole Resting Face- my profile pic took effort), my eyebrows do have quite an arch:
Exhibit A:

Admitedly it resembles more in between your original and Grok's edit.
And there's always Christian Slater:
Eshibit B:


I don't have much to add, except that since your art style is kind of impressionist, I don't think there's going to be a problem if you took a less realistic approach and went more stylised to express the character's personality better.
As for making him more "burnt out, hard-boiled" Perhaps add more noticable frown lines? (Your guy already has them but maybe make them deeper, like Christopher Meloni in SVU)
Exhibit C:

I know that's mostly the lighting, but that's where the possibility of adding in hyper-reality comes in.
Grok's edit feels too soft in my opinion.

[ThreeOhFour]

Really hard to read his expression with that mouth, I think. Kinda throws the whole thing off and changes any expression he might have into a pout.

I find faces aren't simple for me to draw, but maybe something like:



(I think the proportions of his mouth compared to the rest of his face are still a bit off, but couldn't say for sure)

[SilverSpook]

Another version, lowered eyebrows slightly, more Willis-esque sneer lines by nose/mouth, added scar.

Trying to watch out not to make him to dark and mopey, or he might start suffering from Jon Snow syndrome.  Although he was recently dishonorably discharged, so that would bum you out to put it lightly.

Also, thanks all for the helpful feedback and comments.

@vertigoaddict: Epic resting asshole face man!  Yeah, I kind of have that a bit too.  People cross the street diagonally sometimes and I'm not even black. :O  Also thanks for picking up on the impressionist art style.  It's always cool when someone understands the angle you're going for.  Partly I wanted the crazy eyebrows just to have something extra distinctive about the look of the game.  I find if you overcorrect technical issues you can often end up ironing out the character along with the wrinkles.