Lovely. I really like seeing the technical practice next to an example where it's applied to personal work.

A vintage-fashion "expert" has been highly critical of indie animation, notably for historically inaccurate fashion design. They rudely went after someone's portfolio pieces for their Spindlehorse application.

They themselves are an aspiring indie animator with a project in development.

At least we get a reference to it in Helluva Boss.

The grunge texture for the shading is such a neat trick.

That's good news.

I really like the contrast between lines such as, "You're nothing." with "You are the 'pride'", and "You must." with "'You're not ready'".

To me, it puts emphasis on how 'Niss put value on being useful, and how quickly that validation could be invalidated.

I love how you included a slight glow around the eyes so that no matter how much I adjust the brightness, his eyes are always super intense.

I really like the way his eyes are still striking and intense even with the main light source coming from the blinds.

I love how you not only captured the imagery of smoke as a visual motif but also subtly included the shadows from the window grids.

That's great! I like the prep work you've already put into it.

I love the illustration of 'Niss dying in a pool of his blood. It's a good depiction of how he might have died.

Also, are the top two photos WIPs for an animation?