Awn, thank you. I'm glad that I've been able to have so many people that admire my talents even though I'm not a huge fan of how they are currently. ^^; In any case, I'm always happy to help aspiring artists, such as yourself. ^^
A big break like that is quite... hindering to the skills, that is for sure. I don't think I could ever go that long without picking up somethin and doodling. I think the most I've ever gone was three months, and after then, I had to spend a while reteaching myself my style. Haha... But anyways... I've gotten to red line your work, and I'm actually quite glad to say that there isn't much that I caught right off the bat.
The very first thing that I noticed was the head. Since I draw the head first in all of my drawings, it's something that I look at first, then the details that follow. My art teacher always scolded me about drawing big heads back when we hung out.... However, yes, it is a style that many people develop, and sometimes it looks good in certain styles, though it's mostly saved for chibi type drawings.
In anime and manga, people have taken the human anatomy into their own hands to make it work more times than not, the most notable change from something realistic to the manga/anime style are the heads. Many different anime and mangas portray their characters with, well, rather big heads. So, I'm by no means saying that you shouldn't continue with your style as it is.
The next thing that I noticed were the shoulders. They curve too low for such a feminine figure. Normally males would have their shoulders curve down more if they're muscular in build because of the muscles located between their necks and shoulders -- the trapezius. Since females are normally smaller and more 'soft' in their features, their shoulders would be more straight. ^^
The placement of the elbows was a little off as well. It's not as drastic as other works I've critiqued, that's for sure, but take care to place them on par under just where the rib cage ends -- basically at the point where you can bend forward or backward above the hips. While going on this, I'll also talk about the placement of her body's left arm. Since her right arm is up to have the back of her hand placed against her hip, the other one is supposed to be relaxed and at her side. How you have it placed makes it look a tad tense. ^^; So instead of that, in my red lines, I drew how it should look like in a more natural position. Also, the elbow doesn't touch the body since the female figure has curves -- the only time that doesn't apply is if the arm is deliberately placed there through force from either the character or an outside source.
The last thing I'll go over is the shoulder to hips line up. Usually, girls have their hips and shoulders match up -- which is why you see a lot of measurements with the bust and hips being almost the same. There are some exceptions to that, obviously, so this one isn't as major as the other things that I've made mention of.
Overall, you're really pretty good, and if you keep at it, I can definitely see you producing really great art in the near future. You've already got making cute characters down. ^^
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And to actually update this thread with new work...
Entering text here so I'm not breaking any rules. Derp, derp, derp....
