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Donmai

Tag discussion: downcast/downcast eyes

Posted under General

jxh2154 said:
More examples would be good first, but the idea is okay.

Going through looking_down to see what I find.

post #410950

Reimu is not actually looking at anything. There is also the feeling of sadness to the picture. That would be the distinction.

post #446918

This is another great example because you can see a reaction from Sakuya (concern). Remilia is looking at nothing.

post #628756

Flandre is tearing up in this one. Again no fixed point for her eyes.

Basically there will always be a frown (of some degree) and you will get a feeling the picture is sad for some reason. The character will not be looking at a fixed point. Their heads will always be slightly to significantly lowered.

looking_down is looking down at something (there is always a point of focus).

downcast_eyes is "looking down" at nothing (no point of focus) with a very specific set of emotions (sadness).

There could be more examples but I just went through the list fairly quickly and picked ones that stood out from the thumbnails.

post #212435
post #281804
post #330104
post #358991
post #374286
post #434917
post #554767

From sad. There are more but due to the way the artist draws the character it is too hard to say for sure. These would be the best examples.

post #178512

Is example of one that is tricky due to the angle of the image, so it is hard to say.

Updated

I think there's also a component of the concept in that the head is not or only slightly tilted, whereas the eyes are clearly pointed downward. Usually with looking_down the head is clearly pointed in the direction the person is looking and the eyes more centrally positioned.

Also as Siegmund pointed out, focus is also important. A distinct lack of focus would be downcast_eyes, if focus is evident, looking_down would be more indicated.

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