The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.
Sorry if they seem too big, but if you can critique them and tell me what ya think that would be awesome!
Thanks!
A little information about how it was done... for those that dont know, this is scratch board, the paper or "board" is covered in a black clay kind of substance, and underneith it is the white paper, when you scratch away the clay it shows the white... simple really, but takes quite a while
Man I have a decent sized monitor and those are HUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGEEEEE. Please shrink them.
The hands on the last one are butchered little mittens. I can't say much for the format, but I would think it's similar to inking in a way - Maybe some variation in line width would help these images out a lot. And more consistency with the shading as well.
scratchboard is fun to mess around with, but you need to take more time with each piece. You scribbled to block out areas, when you should instead take your time (yes it takes ages) and neatly lay down the marks so they don't scribble.
Thinking about each mark and the direction it goes in, what overlaps and all that is especially important for mediums like scratchboard, where each mark shows. They don't blend, it isn't a very forgiving medium at all, it is a bit like pen and ink that way.
grrr i re sized them but now the 2 top ones are super small..... and yes i know that the hands are skrewed up on the last one, i couldn't get the guns i wanted, or the detail i wanted...
@Belruel i was pressed for time on a couple of the pieces, and the last one was the literal 1st one i ever did, and the one at the top i got sick of, the middle one i did because i happened to have a little spare time haha
then why post them up here for critique? I do not mean to be cruel, but this is a board for critiquing artwork. you should post your best work, that you put ample time and effort into so that we can critique you at your best, and then there are no excuses.
Next time I'd suggest working much slower, and more diligently...plan things out better next time. These are rushed, and it's obvious in your execution.
Also, the beauty of using clayboard is that there is enough material to rework things a bit, if you mess up...or if you need something evened out.
Scratchboard makes every stroke you make extremely apparent...so, if that is the purpose of your piece - the scratches need to be excellently and thoughtfully placed, while considering the pressure you're using as well (because a harder pressure will dig out more material and leave you with a larger stroke)...if not, they will look messy, as yours do. If you want your strokes to be hidden, though...you need to make many more of them, and they need to be thin. You need to blur your vision, look at where the scratchboard has a dark mark (where you're trying for an even value of shade), and gently work at that spot until it matches its surroundings. Likewise, if you blur your vision and a spot is too light, sometimes that can be fixed with a bit of ink (either from a quill pen, or from a liquid ink pen (in other words, not the goopy-ink Bic pens).
Some examples for you:
For the swan and elephant, the strokes are tiny, and well-placed, so they are - for the most part, if not entirely - hidden. In the other two, the strokes are intended to be much more apparent...and so, they are thoughtfully placed. You want to avoid cross-hatching like this:
...because it looks incredibly messy, and can even mess up how your form is reading. Cross-hatching "messily" can work sometimes, if that's the style the person is going for...but they have to be a pretty skilled artist to understand how to pull that off effectively, and I certainly wouldn't recommend that a scratchboard/crosshatching beginner attempt it.
Posts
The hands on the last one are butchered little mittens. I can't say much for the format, but I would think it's similar to inking in a way - Maybe some variation in line width would help these images out a lot. And more consistency with the shading as well.
Thinking about each mark and the direction it goes in, what overlaps and all that is especially important for mediums like scratchboard, where each mark shows. They don't blend, it isn't a very forgiving medium at all, it is a bit like pen and ink that way.
@Belruel i was pressed for time on a couple of the pieces, and the last one was the literal 1st one i ever did, and the one at the top i got sick of, the middle one i did because i happened to have a little spare time haha
Also, the beauty of using clayboard is that there is enough material to rework things a bit, if you mess up...or if you need something evened out.
Scratchboard makes every stroke you make extremely apparent...so, if that is the purpose of your piece - the scratches need to be excellently and thoughtfully placed, while considering the pressure you're using as well (because a harder pressure will dig out more material and leave you with a larger stroke)...if not, they will look messy, as yours do. If you want your strokes to be hidden, though...you need to make many more of them, and they need to be thin. You need to blur your vision, look at where the scratchboard has a dark mark (where you're trying for an even value of shade), and gently work at that spot until it matches its surroundings. Likewise, if you blur your vision and a spot is too light, sometimes that can be fixed with a bit of ink (either from a quill pen, or from a liquid ink pen (in other words, not the goopy-ink Bic pens).
Some examples for you:
For the swan and elephant, the strokes are tiny, and well-placed, so they are - for the most part, if not entirely - hidden. In the other two, the strokes are intended to be much more apparent...and so, they are thoughtfully placed. You want to avoid cross-hatching like this:
...because it looks incredibly messy, and can even mess up how your form is reading. Cross-hatching "messily" can work sometimes, if that's the style the person is going for...but they have to be a pretty skilled artist to understand how to pull that off effectively, and I certainly wouldn't recommend that a scratchboard/crosshatching beginner attempt it.