Beav's Stuff: Beale Street Memphis

beavotron

Hey my lovely forums!

I've been a terrible neglectful mod! Basically, I've not had much time to myself these past few months. I'm working non-stop (which is good) and finishing my degree (also good). it's summer now though, and I have my projects under control so I'm putting some focus into my portfolio! and the forums!

Specifically, I'm undertaking an absurdly large project that I'm refusing to let die.
I'm sort of just calling it "Places" right now.
I'm trying to capture the way I feel about all the places I've been the past couple of years. I've done a lot of travelling, Japan, Greece, giant cross-continental road trip, california , cuba, home... and all of them make me feel something distinct. I'm trying to ... draw that... yeah I know, that sounds weird and artsy, but it's pretty standard looking stuff.

anyways, I want some crits!
I want to see what sort of emotions you guys get from them, and what you think I can improve on!

These ones are new, there's some old ones that you guys may have seen already, I'm not gonna repost those, they're on my deviantart and website and crap

Albuquerque:



Dallas:

PROX

Welcome back beavs. These look cool. We never got to hang out when you were in California.

Mustang

Albuquerque looks more like I would've imagined Dallas to look, while Dallas looks like a good place to kill yourself.

Cool pics Beavs, welcome back.

Siegfried

The birds in Dallas give off a pretty cool feeling to me, dunno about wanting to kill myself though. That's more like Maine or something imo.

I think the 2nd Albuquerque one could use a little something else. Unless you're going for "desolate," but even then I don't really see it from that angle.

Tam

Dallas is often a bleak network of concrete and I think you have captured that. There's something that's off about those mountains in Albuquerque. The lighting makes some of the top sections look sort of "chunky" in a way that they aren't. Bacon would have better words for this. Or I'm blowing hot air out my ass.

(hey listen you got your Harry Potter birthday drawing, right?)

F87

Beavssss! Glad to see you around again!

I agree with Tam about the Albuquerque mountains. Not exactly sure what it is, but I felt like something was off at first glance.

Love the Dallas one.

tynic

I love the colour sense you're bringing to these. I haven't been to any of the locations so I can't comment on the accuracy, but the mood is conveyed really well and I like the compositions individually. One thing I would be interested in seeing (although this may conflict with your conceptualisation of the series, I don't know) is some change-up in angle and perspective - at the moment, they've all got a front-on, snapshot feel, which may get repetitive after a while. (On the other hand, it may be the best way to tie together such disparate subjects - hard to say at the moment).

acadia

I love the Dallas one. Very cinematic framing and angle. Ditto on the Albuquerque mountains chunkiness. The night shot looks great, but that daylight mountain seems to have a disconnect between the silhouette of the mountains and the actual detail.

earthwormadam

Yaaay Beavsss.

I also really like the Dallas one. It captures a feeling and a moment, while the other two just seem distant and not as invested. I really like how the highway seems so bleak, yet there's a distinct beauty there too. I think you captured the water (puddles/rain) in a really nice, minimal way. Your style is really suited to things like these, because if you look quick it seems very realistic, but upon closer inspection you can see the wobblyness (like in the overpass) in the lines that makes it feel hand-drawn.

cheers

beavotron

man did i ever miss your guys' input

I totally agree about albuquerque

I actually went to redo it and couldn't put my finger on what was off.
I feel like the mountain feels... small? Like if i stare at it for a bit, it doesn't feel like a mountain anymore.

I'm trying to figure out what to do with it, but now I've stared at it too long.

I also feel it's cropped too tightly, and a bit of space, especially at the bottom with a bit more distinct fore and mid ground might give it some help

tynic: yeah I really do want to get some better angles, especially since i'm going to use this for a portfolio to show my strength in designing scenery like this. I'm using a bunch of photographs from a car window for refs so I need to figure out a way to just sort of take that and work with it a bit.

tam: No! where is it? did you message it to me on here? I have a bunch of unread messages I haven't checked yet.

I'm glad you all like dallas. I want to try more of those moment shots, because that one actually really sends me back to that moment, whereas the albuquerque ones don't as much
Part of me feels the bottom half needs just a touch of punchier contrast
then I think that might alter the effect of that really moody, soft lighting rainy day
I'm going to try it and you guys can just pick for me

Tam

it's probably somewhere in your messages, but:

beavotron

oh my god! thats awesome tam! thanks so much!

Tam

yep yep, no problemo

m3nace

Gosh we need that thread back!

Beavs those are awesome. I love your style and that Dallas one! Sooo cinematic.

Nanaki

I am a beautiful animal! I am a destroyer of worlds! I am Harry Fricken Beaver!

Love these Beavo, especially the Dallas one! Earthwormadam hit the nail on the head when he described the look and style of it. At first glance it really does look like it could be real. However (and this is super nitpicky, sorry) there's a spot on the top rail in the upper left hand corner (right next to the lamp) that looks a bit too thick. For some reason my eye keeps being drawn there every time.

beavotron

was there a harry potter thread that i missed?

we should make a new one if so... in celebration of the last movie.

Nanaki: don't apologize! Nitpick away! I see what you mean, I'll fix that up thanks!

F87

I concur.

ImaginaryRobot

I used to do a lot of hiking in New Mexico and while your second landscape does a great job of capturing the colors and shapes of NM, what seems to be missing is the sense of space. I think the reason that your mountain feels small is that there isn't a lot of separation between the cactus and brush in the foreground and the mountain. Maybe pushing the angle down a little bit and edging out of some of the sky would give you the room to do that.

I've always thought of deserts a little bit like oceans. Part of the energy of those landscapes comes from capturing the sense of movement created by the vast receding depths.

beavotron

thanks robot, that's a great idea, i'll give it a shot.

Iruka

Nice to have you back around bevo!

Mood wise the Dallas one is getting alot of familiar sounds and movement that make it easier for us to feel the moment, I can hear the rain, see the birds flying, I can pretty much imagine my hands at the steering wheel in the foreground of that picture, Interesting angles are good, but If you want to get personal I would try to not always pull out, and sometimes pull in and put yourself back there. Maybe a little lizard ran by your feet in the desert, and a diptych of you looking down at your feet and then at the desert will make me think of all the times I've looked down at my feet and then a wide expanse. Stealing a bit from comics to have just a touch of sequence.

Just my idea though, perhaps you want to focus more on the snapshots people tend to take and try and get the mood in there.

beavotron

Hey Iruka!

yeah those are good ideas.
I think I'll try to do a good mix... illustrations that look like snapshots and then illustrations that are a bit more personal.
When I think back to the trip, it's a lot of fleeting moments, and it's sort of combinations of the two, so I need to capture that.

So much work! hahah

TheySlashThem

HAY BEAVS

Brolo

Beavo!

So good to see you back, girl!

The rendering of rain on "Dallas" doesn't quite sit right with me... I know rain is usually rendered as thin lines, but you never really see it that way (especially if you're on a car on the interstate, you'd almost always recognize rain as splatters on your windscreen and puddles instead of lines in the sky).


I'd also love it these were embiggened significantly, thumbnails don't do your work justice!

beavotron

Thanks so much guys, i'm going to be posting some updates to these probably monday.
In the meantime, here's a Beale Street sketch

m3nace

You're the bee's knees beavs.

Kendeathwalker

this might just be my personal bias, but your shadows readl a little chalky to me. Id like to see the saturation increased in them. Particularly the Albuquerque mountain one, I could also see some reflected blue atmosphere hinted at.

PROX

I think you could use more exciting shapes. Use some more angular language. Perhaps you are being too timid. I agree that your value range isnt that full either.

beavotron

Agreed and agreed. I think I need to be bolder and more deliberate.

Tam

beavo why are you up so late

you old people need your rest

ImaginaryRobot

I've always wondered if Joe is some sort of giant, unknown restaurant magnate. Maybe it's actually a front for the secret cult of Joe's. If you actually eat at Joe's it's part of the initiation ritual.

More on topic and less silly, there's something about the value of the purple glow that pulls my eye away from the guitar player. Maybe it's just me but it seems to be competing a little bit.

Ikage

Always a joy seeing your work Beavotron!