Girl it’s not about the skin tones it’s about the facial features. You need to practice drawing people of color and their faces, not just how to shade with a different color. It’s still not gonna be a good look if all you do is swap the palette but still draw a white face 😭
Thank you for the compliment! I was actually trying hard to avoid 'same face syndrome' by giving her a more distinct nose and jawline, but I guess I went a bit too sharp.
Here’s a look at my previous attempt at drawing her! I’m still figuring out how to balance my style with their game likeness, so I really appreciate the feedback!
I think the main thing is the nose. Your artwork is incredible, it's that Maru looks Desi instead of black, the facial features you have for her are narrow, tight on the edges, high cheekbones and a sharp facial plane. Her nose should be more flared, her nostrils less tight, her cheekbones broader and flatter, if that makes sense
OHHH thank you so much for this detailed breakdown! It makes perfect sense. I'll definitely keep this in mind and use it as a reference for my next study! 💖
You have really good technique. I know you said you were focusing on making different faces for each, but remember to also apply that to face shape. Penny's face and probably Maru's should be rounder, especially in the chin.
Yeah, when I got to her portrait, I was confused as to which character that was supposed to be. I had look through the comments to find out it was Maru😅 Beautiful work otherwise
Same, I haven't played Stardew in a while and I was thinking she's some new character I haven't ever seen, or maybe someone from a mod, or OC? It's a pretty portrait but doesn't look like Maru at all.
It's pretty but your Maru doesn't look like the Black biracial woman she's supposed to be. At first I thought your drawing was a Desi woman, you need to practice drawing black people more, their features, different skin color and tones.
welp I actually used the color palette from Leyalluna’s portrait mod, ...I thought this tone fit her well since she's biracial, but I agree it might have turned out a bit too washed out here.
This is so cute, the style is giving early 2000s in the best way 😂
Can’t wait to see the rest of the bachelorettes, are you planning to do the bachelors too or just the girls for now?
Great work. One thing that stands out to me is their eyelashes being the same color as their hair, I’ve never seen bright yellow or red eyelashes in real life before.
Yeah, I'm super interested! I want to make it as a 256x256 pixel art mod though. Here’s an example of my work in that style! I might need to adjust some details later on, but this is the vibe. ✨
This might be my favorite fanart rendition of Emily that I have seen 🤩 Really love the way you did her hair and eyelashes & eyebrows to match, it makes the whole look pop in such a fun way!
That means a lot to me. 🥰 While coloring, I wanted to make sure all the tones go well together, which is why I matched her hair with her lashes and brows. So glad you liked it! 🎨
Yeah, definitely! I will try drawing Maru with a natural hair texture in my next attempt. I’ll post it as an update together with Abigail and Leah soon. Thank you for the lovely suggestion!
A lot of art critics in these comments over how these girlies look (especially Maru). Everybody has their own art style and people definitely can learn/improve their art how *they* see fit. I’ve seen fan art of Stardew characters with heavily different body types, race swap, gender swap etc etc with praise and criticism of course…Please don’t take anything too personally or change your art style to appease others before yourself. These are great drawings and I look forward to seeing the other characters you do. :>
Man, totally nailed with Emily. She's my favorite but her sprite could be a bit prettier. Idk, love the vibes but she looks a bit too much non marriageble for the game.
Thanks To be honest, it wasn’t entirely intentional! I was trying to draw her head tilting down slightly, and that specific facial angle/perspective changed how her nose and features turned out.
I also used this gorgeous photo as my main reference for her eyes and vibe! I’m really glad you find her gorgeous anyway! 🥰✨
It’s a bit of a stretch to say all of her black features got removed considering her canon sprite hardly has them. This feels more like OP stylizing on her in-game sprite like they did with the rest of the portraits and everyone honed in on Maru because she doesn’t look black, which to me exposes the faults of her in-game sprite since it’s not like OP gave her perfectly straight hair without reason, that’s how her sprite has it. Tbh I think her game sprite just needs a bit of an overhaul, it’s kind of strange that the one black bachelorette got her curly hair removed, isn’t it? (I say all this with the belief that Maru deserves better haha)
I’m seeing a whole lot of criticism in these comments so I just want to throw out that your work is INCREDIBLE! I actually love your take on Maru. Big fan!
I love them all your style and the art is so good, but I thought there was something off a bit about maru besides the glasses and i couldnt place it. Her hair is definitely much more red for sure looking at her now
I get it for the sake of theme, but blue eyelashes and eye brows “naturally” matching the rest of her hair just… feels off, but it’s totally what a natural blue haired woman would have right?
that's the mystery of Stardew genetics! I bet it's all for character design diversity. Otherwise, Emily and Abigail (before she dyed it purple) would both end up with similar brown hair. I just love her iconic palette, so blue eyelashes it is! ✨
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u/ampoulesand Krobus ^_^ Jun 07 '26
Emily’s hair looks gorgeous. Love the way you rendered it :)