Arfenhouse - Sketchdumpsterdive

Arfenhouse

Hello AC! Been a while since I posted here. About to graduate from college and I'm looking to get some feedback on some of my digital art.

I'm currently a little directionless at the moment. I have passion for digital art, but I'm still not sure what I want to do as a career.

Also, does anyone here own a Wacom Cintiq 12WX? If so, what are your opinions of it?

(In parentheses I've noted self-criticisms. I will take all feedback and add it to my own crits if/when I end up going back to any of these images. And of course I'll take feedback for future works too )



Having fun with some custom brushes. 2 hours. (May a little overzealous with the background. Some anatomy issues and cleaning up to do.)



More fun. 2 hours. (More development in the background maybe?)



Playing around with different canvas dimensions. 2.5 hours. (I like this one. Might clean it up.)



Perspective. Tried to treat it like a comic book panel. 3 hours. (Would like to add more detail in the buildings.)



Once a Deadpool fan, always a Deadpool fan. 2 hours. (I liked this one)



Dual lighting. 3 hours. (Might have over-exposed and over-glow'd it a bit.)



Doodle turned into a fun painting. 3 hours. (Too bright in the light, I know)



Steve Buscemi! 1 hour. (This one was for Reddit )

These are a few pages from a 24-page comic I did for free for a friend of a friend. He supposedly had an interview with Marvel but I have heard nothing back. I did not write the story. As I'm not posting these for commercial gain, I think it's okay to share. If not, someone please tell me and I'll take them down. I don't know what the rules are on that.

Also, these pages were done incredibly hastily. I had about two weeks notice to do 24 pages. I was fitting them in when I could (I did seven pages in one day at one point), so if they look a bit sloppy, there's that.

Two pages from the beginning of the issue:



Two pages from the end:



Thanks for any and all feedback!

Vargas Prime

Your Deadpool has huge gorilla arms, as does the superhero at the end of your comic pages there.

Other than that you've got some really nice work! I think a couple of pieces (the dude holding the flaming baton and the floating guy over the city street) could use more contrast to help clear up the figures/composition. Also, there seem to be A LOT of traffic signals in that dude's city. Driving there must be maddening.

I really like the second piece. I like the style you have there (although the part of his leg that is coming back in from the bottom of the frame seems a little off). I really like the style of your Deadpool, too, long arms notwithstanding.

Arfenhouse

Vargas Prime wrote: »

Your Deadpool has huge gorilla arms, as does the superhero at the end of your comic pages there.

Other than that you've got some really nice work! I think a couple of pieces (the dude holding the flaming baton and the floating guy over the city street) could use more contrast to help clear up the figures/composition. Also, there seem to be A LOT of traffic signals in that dude's city. Driving there must be maddening.

I really like the second piece. I like the style you have there (although the part of his leg that is coming back in from the bottom of the frame seems a little off). I really like the style of your Deadpool, too, long arms notwithstanding.

And what if I LIKED gorillas? Did you ever think of that, HUH?
no but in all seriousness it's a bad habit, I'm trying to break it

And I definitely agree about the contrast. Thank you :P

amateurhour

First off, your work is great.

My only crit is that you don't need that many sets of traffic lights in the superhero piece. I'd stick with two or three max. Personally I think it detracts. The rest of the piece is glorious though.

Also, how do you get that white outline around your characters in your comic book pages? I'm looking to do something similar with a project I'm working on, but I hand draw because I'm bad with a tablet.

Arfenhouse

amateurhour wrote: »

First off, your work is great.

My only crit is that you don't need that many sets of traffic lights in the superhero piece. I'd stick with two or three max. Personally I think it detracts. The rest of the piece is glorious though.

Also, how do you get that white outline around your characters in your comic book pages? I'm looking to do something similar with a project I'm working on, but I hand draw because I'm bad with a tablet.

I definitely agree with you and Vargas about the traffic lights. Once I'm done with school next month, I'm going back to all of my favorite pieces and putting in a few more hours into them, just to tighten them up.

The white outline is just selecting the empty background, going to Select > Contract and getting the right width, then filling the selection with whatever you want. To be honest I think I overused bland backgrounds too much in the comic with the time contraints and all, but I do like the white outline as well. Used sparingly, it's a nice pop.

Edit: And by selecting, I mean the magic wand tool in Photoshop. If you're hand drawing and scanning in, it may be a little trickier. Keep working with the tablet, I promise you it gets to be second nature to use.

Neolight

Arfenhouse... I know that name as a bunch of flash movies I used to watch over and over again back in middle school.
Did you make those? They were hillarious.

Anyway, cool post man! I'm suprised to hear that you're at a loss of where to go with your art. You could obviously develop yourself into anything you want to be so I suppose that doesn't help focusing in on a particular field or specialty.

Five years from now, what do you think the most badass artist version of yourself would be doing?

Arfenhouse

Neolight wrote: »

Arfenhouse... I know that name as a bunch of flash movies I used to watch over and over again back in middle school.
Did you make those? They were hillarious.

Anyway, cool post man! I'm suprised to hear that you're at a loss of where to go with your art. You could obviously develop yourself into anything you want to be so I suppose that doesn't help focusing in on a particular field or specialty.

Five years from now, what do you think the most badass artist version of yourself would be doing?

No I didn't make those flash animations, but I thought they were hilarious as well! I never saw the creator do anything else with the name, so I took it myself. These days, I've actually been going by Arfenhaus, not Arfenhouse.

As much as I appreciate the kind words about my art, I have no idea what I will be doing in 5 years. The comic that I did for free (the pages I posted) was a comic I did for a friend of a friend. Just about an hour ago, I found out that the writer got an internship with Marvel, leaving me in the dust.

Needless to say, I'm disheartened.

I have no idea anymore what I'm doing, and this is kind of a huge blow to me. I thought doing this comic for free would open all sorts of doors. But instead, it just showed me how much of an asshole man can be to its fellow man. I thought my comic art would be at least enough to impress someone into contacting me for something, but I guess not.

I guess, with the art world, you can't count on anyone but yourself. Franzia time, anyone? Yeah.

The_Glad_Hatter

Arfenhouse wrote: »

I thought my comic art would be at least enough to impress someone into contacting me for something, but I guess not. .

I don't know if you've done this already, but perhaps it's better to actively send out stuff than to wait for contact?

Anyway, your stuff looks pretty damn good, and i'm sure lots of people can recognize that when they see it.

Arfenhouse

The_Glad_Hatter wrote: »

Arfenhouse wrote: »

I thought my comic art would be at least enough to impress someone into contacting me for something, but I guess not. .

I don't know if you've done this already, but perhaps it's better to actively send out stuff than to wait for contact?

Anyway, your stuff looks pretty damn good, and i'm sure lots of people can recognize that when they see it.

Whenever I have the funds, I will start compiling hard-copy portfolios and sending them out everywhere, as well as digital copies to places to that will accept emails. It's just a matter of cash-flow at this point. Once I graduate and can start working more, that will fix itself.

I guess I was just hoping that having my stuff seen directly by a Marvel interviewer would spark some interest. Oh well. Life sucks sometimes, gotta roll with it.

Thank you for the kind words. I like your stuff a lot too, had a gander at your blog!
need to start my own blog

The_Glad_Hatter

Arfenhouse wrote: »

Thank you for the kind words. I like your stuff a lot too, had a gander at your blog!
need to start my own blog

Just do it! it relaly motivates me to do at least one decent post a month.

Also, with the internet these days, and there being a million great artists out there, the changes of "just" getting noticed are slim to nil..

Arfenhouse

The_Glad_Hatter wrote: »

Arfenhouse wrote: »

Thank you for the kind words. I like your stuff a lot too, had a gander at your blog!
need to start my own blog

Just do it! it relaly motivates me to do at least one decent post a month.

Also, with the internet these days, and there being a million great artists out there, the changes of "just" getting noticed are slim to nil..

Done and done (check the sig)!

And yeah, I'm not trying to just get noticed. I apply to artist positions around the country for all sorts of things on a daily basis. Got the full resume + cover letter + online portfolio thing going around the clock haha.

New thing I did today. 2.5 hours

NakedZergling

Thumbs up. Love your style and color.

Arfenhouse

NakedZergling wrote: »

Thumbs up. Love your style and color.

Coming from you, NZ, that's a big deal. I've been admiring your stuff for years here as a lurker. Thank you!

Arfenhouse

One quick thing before my spring break trip. Will probably post some sketchbook pages after I'm back.

2 hours.

NakedZergling

Whoa bro! Im glad you like my stuff! I Think your Steve Buscemi and the one above it are like EPIC. I would totally hang those in my studio!

Arfenhouse

Back from New York! Quick painting I did after unpacking.

Scosglen

I think you would be well served by taking some time to practice with incorporating some slightly softer brushes and better edge control/blending into your work.

I am seeing a lot of these 100% hard round brush strokes with overlaying opacity that is really more often than not kind of a hallmark of someone who doesn't know how to use photoshop. To me, it's a sign of carelessness and is visually unpleasant. It reminds me a lot of some of my older digital work and is something I certainly used to struggle with until I got more fluent with how to manhandle photoshop, case in point with this old gem, particularly in the background and on the curved forms in the armor:

The way I overcame this was to do a lot of digital rendering exercises, trying to accurately as possible make studies of life or photo reference. What this does is force you to find new novel techniques for achieving a certain look, in order to successfully match the forms present in your reference, and as a result it expands your mental toolbox for how to lay down forms from imagination.

m3nace

Great advice scos. Think I'll be trying that too.

Arfenhouse

Scosglen wrote: »

I think you would be well served by taking some time to practice with incorporating some slightly softer brushes and better edge control/blending into your work.

I am seeing a lot of these 100% hard round brush strokes with overlaying opacity that is really more often than not kind of a hallmark of someone who doesn't know how to use photoshop. To me, it's a sign of carelessness and is visually unpleasant. It reminds me a lot of some of my older digital work and is something I certainly used to struggle with until I got more fluent with how to manhandle photoshop, case in point with this old gem, particularly in the background and on the curved forms in the armor:

The way I overcame this was to do a lot of digital rendering exercises, trying to accurately as possible make studies of life or photo reference. What this does is force you to find new novel techniques for achieving a certain look, in order to successfully match the forms present in your reference, and as a result it expands your mental toolbox for how to lay down forms from imagination.

Amg Scosglen in my thread!

That is great advice, and I will take it into careful consideration for the future. I like your style of work and you've got a great thing going on, your posts in the doodle thread are always inspiring.

trentsteel

I want to see this guy do an entire comic book. This stuff is great.

Too bad about what happened with your friend, I don't think it was necesarily like that though. They might have just picked him because of his writing and for whatever reason did not need another artist at that point.

I would try to casually reconnect with him and just show him some of your new stuff and see if he offers to show it to anyone or let you know about a job opening.

Arfenhouse

Current WIP.

Arfenhouse

Quick little other something I did today.

Iruka

I think some pieces would look more finished without the stray lines. I think they work in the Buscemi pic, but in a few of the others it just makes your painting look low opacity and like and sorta unfinished. I also agree with scos. I really like that last one, but really want that shadow between his eyebrows to look like a shadow and not a brush squiggle. Experiment a bit, maybe download some new brushes. There are some ones with a sort of low opacity middle and a hard edge that I really like for layering.

Also, in general, I much prefer to paint with a low flow over a low opacity, something to play with if you havent.

Arfenhouse

Iruka wrote: »

I think some pieces would look more finished without the stray lines. I think they work in the Buscemi pic, but in a few of the others it just makes your painting look low opacity and like and sorta unfinished. I also agree with scos. I really like that last one, but really want that shadow between his eyebrows to look like a shadow and not a brush squiggle. Experiment a bit, maybe download some new brushes. There are some ones with a sort of low opacity middle and a hard edge that I really like for layering.

Also, in general, I much prefer to paint with a low flow over a low opacity, something to play with if you havent.

I can definitely agree that I sometimes let my stray lines become too distracting or too out of place. It's a bad habit and I'll definitely start paying more attention to that.

I'll also try out some new brushes, just to experiment around and see what feels right. Any specific set suggestions?

Low flow over low opacity...it's always fun to try something new!

To everyone else, I won't be posting anything new for a week or two, I'm training to be a server this weekend, and my last week of college is next week (what whaaaaat), but please leave feedback on my work in general, I'll be checking it on my phone when I get a chance.

Iruka

I like these brushes:
http://adonihs.deviantart.com/art/My-Brush-Pack-118954791?q=favby%3Apa-artistcorner%2F38652889&qo=15

there are also some more here:
http://pa-artistcorner.deviantart.com/favourites/38652889

I also keep Rob G's brushpack on my 4shared for safe keeping. Its easily my favorite, and its not around since he exploded his old DA
http://www.4shared.com/file/S20_VVs7/RobGs_Brush_Pack.html

(Also, if you aren't already, get acquainted with your Brush Settings

NakedZergling

Love your textures

Arfenhouse

A couple of WIP I'm doing in my free time. Aced the server test, two days of class left til graduation!

Arfenhouse

Doing a painting of my mom for Mother's Day. I've never really drawn my family before, so I figure now is as good a time as any.

Arfenhouse

Downloaded that custom brush set you recommended, Iruka. So far, I'm really digging it.

Here's something I worked on today whilst doing another things.

NakedZergling

I LOVE your style. It just really edgy and fun, with a twist of dark. Great stuff.

Arfenhouse

Graduating tomorrow! Here's a quick dump.



Character for a Star Wars tabletop I joined.



45 min sketch I did while waiting for the girlfriend to get home from work.



Sketch 1



Sketch 2



Ewwww



Because why not.



The girlfriend.



Drunk pen sketch.



Whoa ho, good sir!



Giggity.



Scribble scribble scribble.

Kendeathwalker

Im commenting on style so I know its all just a matter of preference. I think the design of your drawings would be improved if there were more curves and softer shapes to offset the straights and points.

Theres not much contrast in the type of line right now.

The girlfriend sketch is quite nice.
ITs got a nice balance of curves/straights. Pleasing overall design as well. Do more like that!

m3nace

The girlfriend is really nice.

Arfenhouse

KDW, I definitely can agree that the gf drawing has more life to the lines, and is less angular and sharp. Like you said, it is a stylistic thing, but it doesn't mean I can't experiment with that further in the future. It's always nice to get gestural



Randomsauce



First thing I did with my new 12WX!



Close-up of my Star Wars RPG character.

ninjai

scribble (x3) with the daggers is sick. can I has?