Newbie Post So Lets Start With A Dump!

Crusty

Hello, always been afraid to post here since I take crits to heart so I have lurked here many years...but TODAY I have finally decided to share what I have made for the world, my t-shirts and other such ventures. Feel free to say what you will
Here we go:

Weird Angel Thing:



Cartoon version of myself:


Fallen Angel expeiment, yeah I know, spelling errors as well as countless problems with the angels themselves, none the less:



A sketch I did while bored, LOTS wrong with this:



Dreadlock Zombie:



Dreadlock Zombie badly placed on background:



A sketch...a fav. of mine in fact:



Character Sketches:



More character sketches:



Annnnd More:



Hook Mouth Shirt Design:



i-Life:



Junkie, Zombie things....just a sketch, NEARLY at the end I PROMISE



NO idea what I was thinking:

Mustang

A tentative first step, it wasn't that bad was it?
I don't have anything critical to say about it, for what it is, it's nicely done. I would like to see more of your stuff before commenting any further.

earthwormadam

The patched up ragdoll are coming off a bit flat. Try to give them more form.

I would stick to black and white for now cause some of those colors aren't too easy on the eyes.

Also, using photos for illustration backgrounds is a nono.

Mustang

That's better

The earthworm would be the man to listen too with this style of art. Have to agree with all of that.
Try working on form and construction, you'll find that will improve your art 10 fold.

Crusty

Mustang: Thanks, I got a few more bits and pieces floating around I'll post now. It's been a rather unproductive year I must admit :v:

Just a sketch of a reaper character (yeah I do comics from time to time)



Reaper design for a shirt:



Zombie Bunny, also for a shirt:



Thanks for the crits, I've noticed myself the stichwork (I'm guessing that's what you mean) is looking a bit flat, I tend to enjoy making things look a bit obscure but I should work on the details. As for the colors Im using those because alot of my stuff ends up on t-shirts and it just looks better on the finished product, but I will try to tone it down a bit. Thanks for taking the time to check my stuff out, I'll post more later if anybody is intrested

Crusty

Oh and the photo backgrounds I tend to agree on, unless it can be done well it shouldnt be done, I was just messin round with some ideas.

desperaterobots

It's sort of too stylised and cartoony to do any real criticising. The 'life's not fair' sketch has some good detail on the arm bandages though. Overall not exactly my cup of tea. A little too... emo? Goth? Subcultures have moved on so much since I cared about them.

Crusty

desperaterobots wrote: »

It's sort of too stylised and cartoony to do any real criticising. The 'life's not fair' sketch has some good detail on the arm bandages though. Overall not exactly my cup of tea. A little too... emo? Goth? Subcultures have moved on so much since I cared about them.

Ive been really inspired by Jamie Hewlette for a long long time and I guess to each their own but thanks for taking the time out to crit me best you could:) I'm sort of working through that akward stage of finding my niche and comic art has always been a passion of mine so I dunno. Thanks again though.
One more pic before I dissapoint others haha:
My personal fav. shirt, wearing one right now!

desperaterobots

Well yeah, it looks like you're feeling out your own style at the moment. That's good! Look forward to seeing how you progress.

Mustang

I think you could definately benefit from doing some true to life stuff, I just get the sense that there is the lack of understanding with structures and forms that's holding you back at the moment. Don't be frightened to use references either, I've recently started take photo's of my myself in different positions (using a mirror or tripod) if I'm having difficulty nutting forms out on my own.

Yeah either way, I think it'll be fun to watch your progress.

Angel_of_Bacon

Crusty wrote: »

Thanks for the crits, I've noticed myself the stichwork (I'm guessing that's what you mean) is looking a bit flat, I tend to enjoy making things look a bit obscure but I should work on the details.

Whoa now, hold on there partner. I'd say it's less a matter of working more on details, and more a matter of paying more attention to everything else that isn't the details, chief among which is form and construction.

I'm glad you mentioned Hewlett, because even though he has some stylistic 2d flourishes, for the most part is construction is extremely solid and 3d dimensional. Your work starts to falter because it doesn't have the same three dimensional construction to hang all those details off of in a coherent manner- wrinkles and zippers and bandages just run straight from a line denoting the left side of a form straight across to the right side, without accounting for how the volume of that form will effect that detail. As you noted, this results in flattening the figure out.

Hope you don't mind, but I took one of your dudes up there and did a pass on it with a more pronounced emphasis on construction. It's the same design, basically, but as you can see as I started out with it, I wasn't bothering with all the wrinkles and rips and other junk, I just put down the figure in terms of simple three dimensional shapes- spheres and cylinders.

Once I had those forms solidly laid down, it made it much easier to throw in all those details and bits while still making sure that the pose and the figure read correctly- in fact, rather than flattening the figure, the curving of the bandages and overlapping rip patterns help to drive forward the sense of foreshortening even further.


Working this way builds up a hierarchy of importance to the drawing, and serves to keep you on the task of remembering what's important to the drawing: pose and form. Without getting that essential bit right, everything else down the line is going to fall apart, like trying to put up drywall in a house when the frame hasn't been put up yet.

Next time you see a Hewlett (or any other) drawing you like, try copying it in these terms, rather than on the tiny details. John K gives a good rundown of analyzing drawings here: http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2007/10/heckling-hare-step-by-step-construction.html

Now, maybe you'll throw me the argument that you don't want more dimensional drawings, you want to keep it 2d and abstract; that's fine too, but then you have to push everything even more in that direction, figure out what- if not form- is that important, essential element to the work, and push and make sure that that thing reads as clearly as possible. More flat, more geometric, more scribbly, more whatever.

Right now I'm not convinced one way or another, it's more of an unhappy middle ground in between, where some things look like they're trying to be three dimensional, and other places where it looks like it's supposed to be totally flat, with no readily discernible reasoning behind the discrepancy. The viewer needs to be made aware of what you're trying to do and why you're trying to do it, if any style you might go for is to be successful.

Crusty

Hey Bcon thanks a ton with all the advice, I really like the sketch you reworked. I've always had trouble with the perspective/dynamics thing because I of course would like to make my work feel a bit more alive much like hewlettes yet in my own style. I guess i'll start practicing mapping out characters in shapes first.

My biggest problem is I have massive artist's block when I try and come up with poses1

Crusty

And now I'm ripping my hair out trying to find some dynamics...and it isnt easy! Help ayome?

misosoup

not a crit because bacon said everything you need to know right now, just keep working on it, you'll get it eventually.

but it reminded me of this picture (I don't know who the artist is, sorry, but it was one of the alternative covers for Korns "issues")



thought you might be interested to see it

(sorry about the crappy quality, for some reason I couldn't find a better version)

Crusty

Yeah that guy had a site, i forget his name but the site was called blu monkey or something like that...very cool work. wish I could find the link to show you guys!