looking for portfolio site help (pg6)

brokecracker

Thanks Nibcrom!

Working on getting out of my comfort zone, did this in Illustrator, will post a time lapse video once the bastard is done rendering:

brokecracker

Here is the time lapse video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiMHwFF_ARY&feature=youtu.be

brokecracker

more, this time traditional ink...

lyrium

I really like those, and not just because you drew a monster and a cephalopod (<3<3)! Probably the best thing about the cuttlefish drawing is that in the time lapse you can see that it was really solid before you went in to draw all the tiny things.

Iruka

The traditional one has a lot more sensible things going on and it makes a huge difference. You can tell that you took both light and volume into account, and the result is something actually three dimensional. Keep at it, dude.

NibCrom

This pleases me so much the forums posted it twice!

NibCrom

This pleases me.

brokecracker

Thanks everybody!

I nearly scrapped that elephant-horn-eye-monster-thing midway through, but I think it turned out nice. I have a bad habit to hatching and shading and then wind up turning areas I hatched into pure blacks later down the road. I need to do more planing before I put ink to the page.

I am gonna have to find a way to reconcile my digital/traditional disconnection, but I think any kind of practice helps. I think I start loosing focus on the shape when I get all zoomed in and ignore the big picture.

Thanks for the nice comments everyone, glad to know I am heading in the right direction!

brokecracker

Here is a quick one and another time lapse video. Mainly for shits and giggles, but whateve's, still trying to get the whole "illustrate in Illustrator and color in Photoshop" flow down...



and the time lapse video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70KGAXnpwF8&amp;feature=youtu.be

brokecracker

Well, I have been clogging up the doodle thread long enough, I might as well revive this old thread. Here is the stuff I have been dumping in the doodle thread:






And then I was struggling with colors on that guy:





and this was a quick project using the Kuler tool (https://kuler.adobe.com/#themes/mostpopular?time=30) @Iruka told me about. Not so much focused on the composition, technique or general skill, mainly focused on color:



Sorry for all the reposting of images but I am looking for crits for where I am struggling right now and I think the last few things I have done really, uh, illustrate that.

NightDragon

In general, try not to use a similar width line for shading, when elsewhere it's being used to describe form. Can be kinda visually confusing. The traditional piece you posted last vs. the digital stuff kinda shows this - you seem much more aware of "nice-looking-widths" when you're doing something traditionally.

brokecracker

Thanks ND! That is definitely something I struggle with, the general disconnect between my digital and traditional stuff. I think "Will Scare For Candy" is the closest thing to my traditional work I have done, but still not on par with it.

Cleaned up the Onett poster into just shapes to try and simplify it, I think it is looking more like I intended now:

Iruka

Whats up with the bad compression? Check your export settings.

brokecracker

that's photobucket, I know there has to be a better hosting service. Any suggestions?

EDIT! re-hosted via my tumblr page

brokecracker

More Earthbound poster designs. Once again working on color schemes and layout:

Nappuccino

brokecracker wrote: »

that's photobucket, I know there has to be a better hosting service. Any suggestions?

EDIT! re-hosted via my tumblr page

imgur is also a good option, though it has been giving me upload trouble in the last week or so...

It might just be my color-blindness, but the color scheme of the first picture is really hard on my eyes. The yellow and green shades seem much too close.

brokecracker

Thanks @Nappuccino! I will check imgur out! I have struggled with the colors on that one, the first round of it was so saturated it hurt to look at for too long. I will try and darken the tone of that green to add some contrast. Thanks!

brokecracker

taking a break from painting and side projects to do something fun and dumb:

lyrium

It's awesome. Your death-squid and my all-squid should be friends.

brokecracker

Absolutely! I loved that painting!!!

you know, I never set out to draw or paint a lot of octopi or squid, but damned if I don't wind up with a fuckton of tentacles in my stuff.

brokecracker

Gonna try and use my sketch books more this year. I guess I am trying to just draw more, period. That said, even though a lot of these will not be as focused or look as finished, I would still love feedback as much as possible. If I am just sketching I tend to try out more things and experiment with technique more, so let me know if something is really off or just plain rubs you the wrong way. I tried to do a copy of a character from Doug TenNapel's "Creature Tech" and some other sketches.

brokecracker

Ink and brush family portrait, fun with a cardboard box:

brokecracker

Hey Everybody!!!

Working on a new one, penciled and inked it traditionally and gonna color it digitally. Would love to hear crits or thoughts!!!
I will post the rest once it is finished:

b_albs

There's a certain literature to the frog that I enjoy. I really feel a whole story told in the confines of that image.

I like how the physical objects are blocking the the lighter 'spears' of purple, but it's bothering me that they extend through the implied ground of the piece. I was assuming they represented rain, but now I'm not so sure.

I absolutely love the expression on the face and the way those lines contradict the smoother lines of the rest of the image.

brokecracker

Thanks @b_albs,
I honestly read your comment about five times before I realized you were commenting on an older drawing from page one! Glad you liked him, always like drawing sad things...
Appreciate the feedback but I think I lost that PSD file when I quit my old job I should really take better care of these things.

Here it is for anyone curious as to what we are talking about:

lyrium

I feel like the inks you most recently posted would look more consistent if you also had some ink filling space on the other dude's outfit. Just having the one big blotch by itself is distracting in an odd way. (Though the eyes are filled in, they are so narrow they don't register the same way for me)

brokecracker

Thanks @lyrium, I totally agree. I started to do the solid blacks in ink and then thought I should finish this digitally so I can experiment more with the solid fills and shading. I should be able to make some more progress with this tonight and I will totally keep that note in mind when working on it! Thanks!

brokecracker

Here is an update on that picture, not sure if I want to do anything else to it or not. Suggestions?

earthwormadam

line, shape, and form look great!

colors maybe a bit too saturated from time to time, but matters of opinion I suppose!

Katie

I adore HHGTTG

Two critiques. Firstly, hands. The hitch-hiking hand is brilliant (I like the shading) but Ford's other hand is boneless and a bit flat. Arthur's hands are off too and the one behind his head looks a little club-like.

Secondly, and this more to do with my own taste, but the way you do those oblong eyes is really starting to creep me out. They look like holes in their skull/souls. Your frog and 'giving the finger' guy have such expressive eyes, I think you're selling this piece short. Do eyes!

Also, I love Arthur's hair.

brokecracker

Oh hey! Thanks guys!

@earthworm Yea, I tend to over saturate my colors, since I am gonna make some changes I will knock them down a bit.

@Katie I am working on those changes and will upload a redo. Agree about the hands, totally see that. Redoing Arthur's hands and re-shading Ford's. I am gonna go ahead and change the eyes too, just to see what comes. I like the long eye look but I can see how it would rub people the wrong way.

Probably be a bit before updates, but thanks for the feedback

brokecracker

Ghaaa! Still slowly editing that H2G2 pic, but knocked out a little comic in the meantime.
Working on restricting color palettes would love to hear thoughts :

TheJoe

brokecracker wrote: »

Here is the time lapse video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiMHwFF_ARY&amp;feature=youtu.be

I never realized Adobe Illustrator made such fluid line art so easily. Can't wait to get home and try it out and see if it's something I like -- thanks.

Iruka

the color pallet on the recent comic is nice, broke. I think its a little long winded, but I like the message.

brokecracker

Thanks all!
@Thejoe Illustrator is my go to nowadays for digital inking. It does a tad bit of autocorrect sometimes which is honestly more of a hindrance than a favor, but still my favorite program at the moment. Would love to hear what you think about it!

@Iruka Yea, it is a bit long. I had kind of wanted to do a longer, journal-esque comic and thought this would fit the bill. I laid out all of the text quickly and then did all of the drawing without re-reading it. When I was done I re-read it and was like "ugh, i sound like a confusing pompous asshole." but whatever, trying not to over think it so much. Might try a short one with minimal text next.

brokecracker

Working on something...still tweaking the inks

brokecracker

update on the pic above. It is supposed to be William, the pleaser from the Tom Waits song "Lucinda." Love the characters in his songs. Kind of want to do a series. Would love some feedback of what works, what you don't like, you know...any sort of old feedback...



Also, I guess I can show this now. This is one of those videos that I drew the assets for. I get a list of items an animator needs and then I draw and build them in illustrator so that they are in the correct layers to animate, and then the animator drops them into After Effects and makes the movie:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNX16BHFybE

brokecracker

More, ummm, stuff? Still looking for crits and advice and whatnot...



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpRI6rPDedw

brokecracker

I know I haven't posted in this thread for a while but thought I would once again organize a bunch of stuff I have been cluttering up other threads with.

I revisited the Lord of Horns thing and tried to color it with an earth tones pallet:



I went out for a drink and draw night with Seig and doodled this Pac Man thing:



This was my Cryptozoology thing:



I drew this quicky tattoo ish thing for a friend:



I know I tend to not draw, um, "pretty" things very often, but my daughter just got into Cinderella like whoa. So I tried to draw one for her and damn, old school Disney shit be hard yo.



I also doodled some Mad Maddam Mim:




Feedback and crits are always welcome and wanted. I think I am going to have to do more old Disney studies and more drawing from life cause I feel myself slipping towards too cartoony.

tapeslinger

Man, you can't go wrong with some studies of the classics. (Love the Madame Mim ones in particular!)

I like the direction of the past few pieces. Have you tried doing your color work by hand, or at least thumbnailing in color on paper rather than the screen? I think it'd solve a few of the oversaturation problems if you have a road map to the color scheme. (I tend to do the same thing when I do digital color work so I've tried a few things to counter that impulse in my own work)