That girl's head looks weird (in the panel where we see her from the front). Her look is scary and her the height of her hairs almost makes her look like a mini-Conehead.
Flash? Craziness. I thought using Illustrator for inking was pretty far out.
Anyhow, only a couple things that stand out to me... the other arm on the guy with his head being blown off...where is it?
But your coloring is certainly improving. Good stuff!
Bummer, now that I dont know how to reply. :shock:
Say it's at a perpendicular angle to his torso, instead of the backwards angle the visible one is at.
First time seeing all this, so obligitory, looks good!
Only thing that made me wonder, was why they had a fingerprint scanner to get in, but no bullet proof glass on the security station.
The_Glad_HatterOne Sly FoxUnderneath a Groovy HatRegistered Userregular
edited April 2007
The lock in the middel of the 2nd one's face is pretty distracting.
Also, with the wide shoulders and small hips reaally make her look like a dude. I only saw she was female just before i started typing... my first crit was going to be "don't accentuate a dude's lips that much, he'll end up looking like a chick"
other than that, congrats to you for doing this all in macromedia *shakes his angry fist at his flash icon*
I'll tackle the colors. First off, are you coloring in Flash? If so, you crazy. If not, proceed, because I know nothing of Flash, and would only serve to add confusion to the mix.
The colors feel "dirty" - kinda' like when people use black to do shading, and they mix it in their paints. It just makes everything look really dark and dirty. Also, the shading is awfully soft, and in your previous efforts, the shading has been more hard-lined. I prefer the hard-lined for the look you've had so far. It really accentuates the clean lines, and doesn't muddy up all that detail you've put in.
Perhaps, and this is what I've been playing with, try shading with complimentary colors. There is a link near the top of the questions forum that takes you to a kick-ass coloring tutorial. It's the one at pensnpixels, but I believe it's a dead link. (my internets are crazy)
Man, colours are difficult. Your colours are too saturated, and there is not enough contrast. The lighting always seems to look like an overcast day.
Your colours should start off closer to white, and gradually get darker by painting over the lighter colours with darker shades of the same colour. That is, if the environment is brightly lit. I found it helpful in my own experiments with light/shading to develop a sense of exactly which point the light is emanating from, and make everything else black. Then i'll add one light source at a time to build the form of the figure.
So if theres a light in the background, you start off with characters that are sillhouettes. Drop in a red light to the left of someones face, i shade with red where i think the light should fall. Refine and repeat until the figure looks hot.
Not an expert, just fumbling with this stuff myself. hope it helps.
You know, I was gonna comment on how you should give your characters a little more energy when they're in an action scene or motion in general, but since this is more or less the actual style of the comic, i'd hate to alter it. I don't know; I just usually build up the majority of my characters with lines of motion to give them that sleek, electric vibe.
Wouldn't hurt to brush up on a little bit of anatomy though. You're probably already doing that, but spending an extra hour or two a day on the subject would do wonders i'm sure. It's not bad; just not great.
Not so much as your lines being shaky as how many useless lines you have. Like on the wall, ceiling, and floor. It looks like its growing hair. I don't know if there cracks or what. If they are cracks, try to make them go with perspective, and more thought out. Study.
I think you should focus on basics really, major things pop out with the inking. There's no lineweight whatsoever, the lines are flat and a lot of them are unecessary. More major things pop out with basic anatomy, like her fingers in that last one are like sausages, and the people themselves are somewhat unproportioned.
As for the coloring, try working out the mood and tone of the colors with the background first--then move on to coloring individual objects. By doing this you can get a local pallette of colors that can compliment eachother instead of conflict with eachother.
Ok, well, I'd suggest really working on your inking. I did the same thing when I was first starting out. Your lines are rushed and haphazard. You're not thinking about light sources when you ink. Though, you don't seem to be thinking about that when you're coloring either though so I guess it's to be expected. You're not really approaching it with a plan of attach other than a setting and which characters will be there. Having detail is well and good but you're perpetrating a fraud when you just add lines to imitate detail. Liefeld does that and that's where the comparison comes from. Check out this inking tutorial. Hopefully it'll give you some better guidance than you're already using.
Anyway, im trying to avoid the "american look" in my comics, which means the people come from real-life mates of mine (for example, the one which had the not-so feminine hips, well, many women have that) so im staying away from the american style. Although hands still remain my biggest f-ups (more evident in my rpg sketches) and Im rtying hard with the anatomy.... *sigh* I should really have taken some kind of art classes.
And the inking Im going for moebius-style, or old school-Geof darrow, simple consitent lines, and colours as well, this is my first comic, and Im really trying to get away from the Wolverines and batman´s style i drew as a teen, and set a different style of my own, not emulate american comic books. While my stuff still is way below average, i do hope that with every page I can get better.
And damn I need to improve my light sources, im doing live model drawings now to practise anatomy, but anything that can help with light?
Wow. Massive improvement on that first panel. Anatomy on the second panel is a bit screwy; the arm/head/arm ratios aren't right, but its an ambitious angle. Looks like you've tried to cram everything in to the panel though. Less LINE MADNESS = improvement.
The lighting/colour choices really work with the environment. Is there light coming from that blue thing in the wall? If so, some blue light should be casting on the back of his head etc.
It seems like you're starting to control your detail alot better. Not just random detail for the sake of being detail, but detail that makes sense and adds to the image as a whole, rather than just a single element. Also, yeah, your anatomy is getting better, keep working at it.
A crit: I really don't think his foot at the bottom should be breaking into the gutter. It makes it seem kind of like he's floating above the 2 guys standing in front of him. A small complaint.
Here´s the coloured version. What did I do wrong/could have done better?
This one I like the line art quite a bit on. The characters in the background have a little too much detail, and it's distracting but other than that it's great. I think the color on the girl is what needs work. Brown hair, brown suit, pale skin. Bleh. My eye is much more drawn to the cool looking blue and red guys in the background. To me she could be a giant statue in the background, I don't really feel like she is the focal point at all. I really like your coloring technique, I just feel like a different color choice could help accentuate the girl better.
The color came from the client who paid for the comission, I had a lighter brown for her suit, thanks for all the crits, past weeks Ive been overloaded, someone´s actually crazy enough to pay me to draw 53 character/npc potraits for a D&D game of his, and aside from some tv ads done in Flash and some comissioned animarion, I havent ahd the time to touch the Wacom for my own stuff for quite some time...
Here are some stuff I got to drawing last night-
I´ll post a colored page tonight, as well as finish the gal
Wooooah. The perspective in that first panel is all kinds of fucked.
The detail in the environment is great, but a lot of the objects in the room are simple two point perspective/isometric (all parallel lines that don't move closer to each other the further they recede into the background), but then the doorway arch and the characters drawn in 3 point perspective.
Is that girl leaning sideways against that wall? I mean, consider that the line between her shoulders is relatively straight, and then match that line up against the lines on the object she's leaning against. Think of her chiropractic bills! Same with the guy walking through the doorway; he looks top heavy, hunch-backed and sort of looks like he's falling over because his feet recede/shrink too much compared to the environment. The angle says that his feet should actually be under his head; we shouldn't be able to see his whole back and thighs and stuff.
Is foreshortening the problem here? I'm not sure of the correct term.
Ouch, drawing lines between the shoulders on the guy and the gal showed theyre way off alright... guess its time to redo the first panel.... Maybe I could put a slight perspective slant to offset the isometric background?
Thanks... err.. wheree did the other guy´s post go to?
Also the grip is way too long in relation to the barrel. About the last page, Why does he burn through the ropes tying his arms then kick the woman in the face? Wouldn't it be easier to, you know, knock her out first then untie himself? Just sayin'..
Posts
How bad is it now, for a first-time colorist.?
http://img391.imageshack.us/img391/9676/8copywi3.jpg
Just one more page and the soppy stuff stops and killing starts, but anyone knows where to get good reference for exploding heads?
My digital art! http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=8168
My pen and paper art! http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=7462
Tx for the crits
My digital art! http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=8168
My pen and paper art! http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=7462
The movie Scanners would be a good place to start
My digital art! http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=8168
My pen and paper art! http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=7462
In progress
My digital art! http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=8168
My pen and paper art! http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=7462
Anyhow, only a couple things that stand out to me...
the other arm on the guy with his head being blown off...where is it?
But your coloring is certainly improving. Good stuff!
Bummer, now that I dont know how to reply. :shock:
My digital art! http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=8168
My pen and paper art! http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=7462
Say it's at a perpendicular angle to his torso, instead of the backwards angle the visible one is at.
First time seeing all this, so obligitory, looks good!
Only thing that made me wonder, was why they had a fingerprint scanner to get in, but no bullet proof glass on the security station.
My digital art! http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=8168
My pen and paper art! http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=7462
http://img184.imageshack.us/img184/5526/gsemultipart47765kh8.jpg
http://img184.imageshack.us/img184/7775/a612013fr7.jpg
http://img186.imageshack.us/img186/6127/a612014ov1.jpg
My digital art! http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=8168
My pen and paper art! http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=7462
Here´s the line art for the first cover, drawn with Macromedia Flash
Here´s the coloured version. What did I do wrong/could have done better?
And now this is the second cover Im wrking on, anything that I could do to improve it?
My digital art! http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=8168
My pen and paper art! http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=7462
Also, with the wide shoulders and small hips reaally make her look like a dude. I only saw she was female just before i started typing... my first crit was going to be "don't accentuate a dude's lips that much, he'll end up looking like a chick"
other than that, congrats to you for doing this all in macromedia *shakes his angry fist at his flash icon*
The colors feel "dirty" - kinda' like when people use black to do shading, and they mix it in their paints. It just makes everything look really dark and dirty. Also, the shading is awfully soft, and in your previous efforts, the shading has been more hard-lined. I prefer the hard-lined for the look you've had so far. It really accentuates the clean lines, and doesn't muddy up all that detail you've put in.
Perhaps, and this is what I've been playing with, try shading with complimentary colors. There is a link near the top of the questions forum that takes you to a kick-ass coloring tutorial. It's the one at pensnpixels, but I believe it's a dead link. (my internets are crazy)
Anyhow, keep at it. I'm enjoying your stuff.
Your colours should start off closer to white, and gradually get darker by painting over the lighter colours with darker shades of the same colour. That is, if the environment is brightly lit. I found it helpful in my own experiments with light/shading to develop a sense of exactly which point the light is emanating from, and make everything else black. Then i'll add one light source at a time to build the form of the figure.
So if theres a light in the background, you start off with characters that are sillhouettes. Drop in a red light to the left of someones face, i shade with red where i think the light should fall. Refine and repeat until the figure looks hot.
Not an expert, just fumbling with this stuff myself. hope it helps.
Wouldn't hurt to brush up on a little bit of anatomy though. You're probably already doing that, but spending an extra hour or two a day on the subject would do wonders i'm sure. It's not bad; just not great.
Not so much as your lines being shaky as how many useless lines you have. Like on the wall, ceiling, and floor. It looks like its growing hair. I don't know if there cracks or what. If they are cracks, try to make them go with perspective, and more thought out. Study.
Will post some stuff over the weekend.
My digital art! http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=8168
My pen and paper art! http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=7462
The line art drawn in Flash
The page drawn in Photoshop
My digital art! http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=8168
My pen and paper art! http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=7462
also 'Young'n'
That's cruel.
I think you should focus on basics really, major things pop out with the inking. There's no lineweight whatsoever, the lines are flat and a lot of them are unecessary. More major things pop out with basic anatomy, like her fingers in that last one are like sausages, and the people themselves are somewhat unproportioned.
As for the coloring, try working out the mood and tone of the colors with the background first--then move on to coloring individual objects. By doing this you can get a local pallette of colors that can compliment eachother instead of conflict with eachother.
PSN: MaximasXXZ XBOX Live: SneakyMcSnipe
http://www.teamspecialolympics.com/tutorials.php?id=12921
Heh, Liefeld.
Anyway, im trying to avoid the "american look" in my comics, which means the people come from real-life mates of mine (for example, the one which had the not-so feminine hips, well, many women have that) so im staying away from the american style. Although hands still remain my biggest f-ups (more evident in my rpg sketches) and Im rtying hard with the anatomy.... *sigh* I should really have taken some kind of art classes.
And the inking Im going for moebius-style, or old school-Geof darrow, simple consitent lines, and colours as well, this is my first comic, and Im really trying to get away from the Wolverines and batman´s style i drew as a teen, and set a different style of my own, not emulate american comic books. While my stuff still is way below average, i do hope that with every page I can get better.
And damn I need to improve my light sources, im doing live model drawings now to practise anatomy, but anything that can help with light?
My digital art! http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=8168
My pen and paper art! http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=7462
My digital art! http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=8168
My pen and paper art! http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=7462
(Pity, because his Hawk and Dove stuff in DC wasnt bad)
My digital art! http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=8168
My pen and paper art! http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=7462
The colored version, where I reduce lines and make an attempt to actually use light sources.. (any success guys?)
My digital art! http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=8168
My pen and paper art! http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=7462
The lighting/colour choices really work with the environment. Is there light coming from that blue thing in the wall? If so, some blue light should be casting on the back of his head etc.
A crit: I really don't think his foot at the bottom should be breaking into the gutter. It makes it seem kind of like he's floating above the 2 guys standing in front of him. A small complaint.
This one I like the line art quite a bit on. The characters in the background have a little too much detail, and it's distracting but other than that it's great. I think the color on the girl is what needs work. Brown hair, brown suit, pale skin. Bleh. My eye is much more drawn to the cool looking blue and red guys in the background. To me she could be a giant statue in the background, I don't really feel like she is the focal point at all. I really like your coloring technique, I just feel like a different color choice could help accentuate the girl better.
Here are some stuff I got to drawing last night-
I´ll post a colored page tonight, as well as finish the gal
My digital art! http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=8168
My pen and paper art! http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=7462
The detail in the environment is great, but a lot of the objects in the room are simple two point perspective/isometric (all parallel lines that don't move closer to each other the further they recede into the background), but then the doorway arch and the characters drawn in 3 point perspective.
Is that girl leaning sideways against that wall? I mean, consider that the line between her shoulders is relatively straight, and then match that line up against the lines on the object she's leaning against. Think of her chiropractic bills! Same with the guy walking through the doorway; he looks top heavy, hunch-backed and sort of looks like he's falling over because his feet recede/shrink too much compared to the environment. The angle says that his feet should actually be under his head; we shouldn't be able to see his whole back and thighs and stuff.
Is foreshortening the problem here? I'm not sure of the correct term.
Thanks... err.. wheree did the other guy´s post go to?
My digital art! http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=8168
My pen and paper art! http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=7462
Here's some animation sprites for a flash game
Since my art output has reduced drastically, might as well post my pen and paper stuff too
Unfinished sketch of Satan (from the demons thread) drawn in a bus, quite shaky
A character comission
Another one... think I screwed the leg though
EDIT, some wallpapers, spoliered not to break horizontal scroll
My digital art! http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=8168
My pen and paper art! http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=7462
I realize this is from months ago, but I think the gungrip looks kind of wacky.
http://www.handgunsmag.com/tactics_training/grip_0925/
My digital art! http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=8168
My pen and paper art! http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=7462