I've made a new cover for my novel, drawn completely from scratch. But because I, like so many artists, cannot see the beauty in my own work, I've come to you lovelies for critique. I'm terribly guilty of abusing soft shading, but it looks so s m o o t h
I also can't draw fire. :/
I kinda hate the magic-blob thing around my name so might get rid of that idk! looks like yick. I think it's too cartoony compared to the rest of it.
I wanted a kinda Final Fantasy-esque feel to it, like realistic-ish but brighter and more fantastical so idk.
Thoughts?
Front:



Back:

Your art is really good!
I notice you mentioned you have difficulty drawing fire and were going for a final fantasy look but brighter so I looked at final fantasy quickly for reference so I could make suggestions about that

So first off, the hair on the 4 small figures looks really nice! You also did an amazing job drawing the faces, I'm envious of your abilities!

For the fire I found some tutorials you might find good to study and try out?
https://i.pinimg.com/564x/de/0c/2b/de0c2bedb4a77abeaded8fba7aaee585.jpg
(this one looks pretty nice and looks like it would fit the realistic look you've got going for everything else)

Suggestions on final fantasy part:
I would say the eyes are maybe 50-100% bigger on them and they've got some real pointy chins(not super pointed but definitely not squared, they have hella sharp cheekbones or something)


Basic Suggestions:
I think adding more dark shading along with sharper lighting to everything would help it a lot and add a lot of definition to the characters and their features

For the man with the white hair, the top of his head/hair looks a bit too high in between the horns. I would also add more shading to his hair
I cannot draw realistic hair myself yet but his hair has too many noticeable lines because of how much space they have?(I can count the hairs at the ends)

The wing doesn't feel like it fits in with everything else for realism, I'd suggest studying some bird wings or realistic wings that others have made to see how feathers are layered and which direction they face
https://i.pinimg.com/564x/d5/8a/98/d58a984825704ced1e3c6811debd57cd.jpg
https://i.pinimg.com/564x/f4/53/ad/f453adcc0f1550a005f85d54b2991f80.jpg

There is a lot of empty space in the top left corner and on top of the title and due to the positioning of all the characters if feels a bit left heavy, maybe try swapping the title and your name?(this would create more of a pyramid shape with the smaller text on top and then the art and heavier text on the bottom)

Thank you for taking the time to look this over! I'm certainly going to work on the shading and contrast more. With bright light sources like fire, stark shadows and light are a must.

For Light's hair (he's the white-haired guy) what I'm getting from you is that the brush size is a bit large for the individual strands? /more shading for the hair in general.

Yeah wings are another yikes for me. Tbh I kinda forgot about them until the last minute and kinda threw them in there. xD I couldn't find a lot of 'feathered wings in profile' reference images, but I like yours.

Spacing-wise I'd say I'm not going to change anything - name/title placement has been solidified.

The FF-type thing I was going for was more like this (couldn't/too lazy to find a pic last night)

-but I also wanted to add my own touches/not make the chins as pointy. I don't like pointy chins/faces in general lol.

I'll be sure to post my revisions after I've finished. :3

Thanks again! :D

Yeah, I think if the brush size was smaller it may look better or if staying with bigger have some of them come together in groups/bundles like? And I think shading would help because of how white it is that it looks very solid?

Aah, I think I get what you meant with the FF typing- and understandable with your personal style choices of not wanting that cartoony :)
You did good with it ^^

Wish you the best on your piece, it's really cool so far :)

my wrists...
Figured you might wanna see how it's come along. Fixed the wings, gave Light some more shading.
Checked out your art, too! Love the style and use of color. It's all so clean and clear I'm jealous lol.

The wings look so good! The shading of the face and smaller hairs on Light look awesome too :)

I'm happy that you think my art look alright ^^
No the biggest fan of it myself so appreciate it, I'm happy the colors are noted since I've been trying to be better about coloring :)

Yes, it's brilliant! Hint: Don't listen to art tutorials/all those videos that go, "don't do this if you wanna art!"
Bc they're mean, and art is about creativity. I hate art YT channels for that reason lol. Keep on arting!

That is true, as long as you're enjoying yourself and are happy to be creating your art I think that's enough :)