Laziness and Procrastination (A Love Story)

Mustang · July 2009

I'm about to bump up the DPI on this, so I just wanted to let you guys run your discerning eyes over it for any glaring errors before I get too far down the track.

Radar6590 · July 2009

Gotta say, it looks pretty sick for an in progress, man. I'm assuming you're using reference. I personally would maybe exaggerate some colors here and there to make it a little less bland. Everything's kind of on a neutral palette. But the perspective and composition look good. And man, I am loving those rocks so far. Really strong colors in there. Add a little more details to them and really define some key points and I'd bow down to you.

Tam · July 2009

The texturing on the rocks in the foreground is superb. Radar's definitely right- spice up the colors.

Mustang · July 2009

Hmm I had suspected the colours were still a bit bland, thanks duders.
And yes, this is a ref from a photograph I took when I was in Edinburgh in '99, i'd always wanted to do something with it.

winter_combat_knight · July 2009

I THINK ITS LOOKING PRETTY COOL. Maybe play around with the comp a bit? Maybe moving the picture a little more to the right, and adding a bit more to the cliffs/rocks on the left. ATM its very central. Which isnt bad, but maybe it will look more interesting/dynamic if its off centre just a little more. But yeah, very cool.

EDIT: BTW, on further look. are the windows on the house a bit too big? Looking at the wall/fort, those windows and barrack things are quite small. Maybe shrink the house a little or increase the size of the wall.

Mustang · July 2009

Thanks WCK, I'll try playing with the comp a little.

Hmm, on consideration, there might be a bit of disparity on those windows.

Here's a ref similar to mine.

desperaterobots · July 2009

Looks good mustang. Needs more giant squid eating the house though. Just my opinion.

Radar6590 · July 2009

desperaterobots wrote: »

Looks good mustang. Needs more giant squid eating the house though. Just my opinion.

Yes

...

Seriously now.

Looking at that reference, I don't think those windows are that off. I just think it has big windows.

Mustang · July 2009

desperaterobots wrote: »

Looks good mustang. Needs more giant squid eating the house though. Just my opinion.

You're probably more right than you know.
After this I'm going to do something a bit more 'giant squid consuming stuff' and a little less 'dentist waiting room'

desperaterobots · July 2009

I think a squid coming out of someones mouth could work well in a dentist surgery?

Mustang · September 2009

Blurgh, I've worked myself into a corner with this and I can't find a way out and even if I could I just couldn't be bothered with it anymore, so I'm letting it go.

beavotron · September 2009

something that's really going to fix this is to unify the colors a bit

you have this great, dark, overcast sky but the hillside and house look like they're being lit by the sun on a nice day.
the lighting on the side of the cliff also doesn't coincide with what's on the front of the house if the house is in fact being lit by the sun going down to the left of the screen

throw a color adjustment layer over the whole thing
bump down the warm colors, bump up the cool

Mustang · September 2009

Thanks Beavs.

Better? I don't even know anymore, everything looks bad to me at the moment.

Image removed

desperaterobots · September 2009

Hope you dont mind the paint over. I'm not an expert with colour, and I can't write out what I mean right now (hung over).

Tried to pull down the saturation on that grass, put some reflected light on the rocks to give them more volume, decreased the contrast of things as they receded into the distance so it felt like there was atmosphere, tried to match up the shadow colours/values on stuff that was made of the same material and generally tried to exaggerate the value difference between objects/shapes... Your coloured stuff often feels really bland/washed out because the contrast isnt particularly high.

Anyway. Again. Not an expert.

winter_combat_knight · September 2009

I like what you're doing with the blues in the foreground shadows. But i think youre using too much black in the shadows. I dropped it into photoshop and turned it to greyscale. Its waaay to dark in areas, especially the wall. Bump it up a bit, add more lighter blues to the shadows and i think it may help. Other than that it seems to be going well. Cool sig by the way. I need to design one myself.

desperaterobots · September 2009

It's okay having darker darks towards the front of the image, but shadows should become less black the more distance between the viewer and the object to allow for light diffusion... but yes, look at that greyscale image and look at the difference in contrast between your building shadows and the clouds... they almost melt into one another. And look at the rocks on the bottom left - the lighting is great, but the rest of the rocks there have none of that reflected light goodness. Consistency!

Angel_of_Bacon · September 2009

Agree with Beavs, though I could see there being some direct sunlight even with the mostly cloudy background. However, I would think it would kick some more cool light into those hillside shadows, and create more shadow area on the right side of the hill. Too much of that bright green grass under these lighting conditions just makes it look florescent.

Also if you're going for direct sunlight, I'd use that vary the value of each plane on that wall so it's easier to figure out what direction each plane is facing- it's hard to tell on the very diffuse lighting of the photo ref.

Also softened a lot of those clouds because too much of the hardness was getting distracting, and brought the building color to more of a grey/red just because I thought that shade of yellow used made it look too much like a yellow-painted building rather than a naturally colored one being made yellow by the sun- too much green in it, makes it look a bit acidic.

EDIT: shit there are a lot of paintovers in here.

desperaterobots · September 2009

Bacon is the superior paint-over-er.

Kendeathwalker · September 2009

The problem I see personally with some of the paintings before bacons paint over was the shadows were being painted a very cold black. But before that even can be addressed the above paint overs werent really establishing a warm vs cool at all.

Bacon established a very muted cool vs warm

My only issue was he made the shadows a bit to cold in the cliffs that are in the foreground. Given that warm things advance and cool things receed things closest to you should be among the warmest. Im really not going to go to much more indepth as the concept starts getting very abstract..(the still lifes ive been posting in my thread are pretty much all about this.)

Hopefully the visual below will prove that Im not just talking out of my ass.

Bacons is the top paintover
My suggestion is below it.

I also just scribbled so the concept being expressed would need a bit more refinment to be believable.
My personal bias is more towards a bit more vibrant use of color so take my paint over with that grain of salt please.

beavotron · September 2009

really, to me all that did was change the feel
it went from very overcast day to sun breaking through the clouds and shining directly on the house

it depends on what feel he's going for really, neither is more right or wrong than the other

DeeLock · September 2009

I'm dissappointed because i read the thread title as, "It's a big crab castle..."

Otherwise, you're really making some good improvements Mustang.

Guy Bell · September 2009

Composition is cool. Makes you fell like you are walking right up to the front door.

Mustang · September 2009

Wow, thanks for all the input guys. I know I made some fundamental value mistakes at the start and then knowing dick all about colour just compounded the problems. I was actually going for something like Kenny painted there in the second version, I wanted that dramatic sunlit building against a stormy background. I think that paintover has best captured what I was aiming for.

look at that greyscale image and look at the difference in contrast between your building shadows and the clouds... they almost melt into one another

Yup, I had picked that up already, the whole thing is a cautionary tale on what not to do with values.

Anyway, I'm going to take a break from it for a week and attack it again on the weekend.

Mustang · February 2010

Okay I finally gots around to doing something about this with your multiple advices (thank you they were invaluable)
Anyway I decided to ditch the dark clouds because they really weren't working and do something a bit happier with it.

Also I'm taking this thread on tour and adding all my bits too it. My bits being my art. I'm not adding them right now, but I will when I do stuff.

Angel_of_Bacon · February 2010

Mustang wrote: »

Anyway I decided to ditch the dark clouds because they really weren't working and do something a bit happier with it.

Yeah, but now everything other than the one yellow face of the building looks too desaturated and out of place- planes facing the sun need to be warmer yellow, and planes in shadow would be more prominently blue, as light reflecting from the blue of the sky would bounce onto those planes, and value contrast between the lit and shadow planes would be increased, owing to it now being a more direct rather than diffused lighting situation.

Changing the sky isn't as easy as...well, just changing the sky, because doing so effects every other piece of the picture in a significant way.

Mustang · February 2010

Shit, you're right.
Fucking fuck!

Mustang · February 2010

Some quick pen sketches while I'm at work. I've been thinking of doing some kind of space thing with mining ships or something, not sure yet.

Mustang · April 2010

A Dave De Vries rip off thing I've been working on. Getting towards the end of it now, I have no idea what I think of it.

Nappuccino · April 2010

You're doing it wrong. Clearly those cabinet handles are actually breasts in the original drawing.

Paradise · April 2010

Yeah, that's pretty similar to The Monster Engine. Still cool though. Who is the kid?

I actually met Dave Devries a few years ago when I first started drawing cartoons. I did a few quick sketches for him and he said I was very talented. :winky: *not arrogant*

Mustang · April 2010

Yup I ripped the idea from the monster engine. I thought it would be a challenge, which it really was, trying to give form to something that has none is a real pain in the ass.

My niece did the original drawing. Jasmyn is her full name, but she hasn't quite got her head around the spelling yet.

earthwormadam · April 2010

i like it

Mustang · May 2010

I was looking through some of my old stuff and thought I might toss this design on a t-shirt and see how it does at threadless, because according to market research on deviant art, people like cats. Either way it's worth a shot.

I'm not to sure on the layout though. A, B or other.

A.

B.

worstcase · May 2010

I like A better. it felt...clearer?
Love the shirt though

Paradise · May 2010

Threadless is a bunch of vampires. I like the top shirt though.

Mustang · May 2010

Good, I liked the top one too.

I know they're vampires, but I figure it's something to put on a resume that is currently pretty devoid of any art-achievments.

Fletcher · May 2010

obsevational -> observational

apart from that though, i reckon you could afford to go a shade or two darker with the colour of the shirt itself

just to make everything stand out a little more

Flay · May 2010

Fletcher wrote: »

obsevational -> observational

apart from that though, i reckon you could afford to go a shade or two darker with the colour of the shirt itself

just to make everything stand out a little more

I agree with both of these things. Also The spacing around the division symbol seems a bit weird, I think it needs a bit more room.

Other than that, it's a pretty neat shirt. I'd wear one. :^:

Mustang · May 2010

Fletcher wrote: »

obsevational -> observational

Can't believe I missed that. There was a mathematical error with the theory too. Flay the can opener being on an angle like that is what's causing that wierd spacing. I've tried a few different angles but I was losing more than I was gaining, so I'm willing to live with it.

Agreed on the darker colour of the shirt.

Also what does every one think of the name Professor Snuggly Wugglington? It's a bit kitsch, but I was trying to get across that it was a cat owned by some sad old spinster who gave up any chance of a normal life for the sake of her kitty.
Another option was Professor Catsingburg, but I'm open to suggestions.

tynic · May 2010

It seems a little long. You could go for something like Professor Snugglesworth (except more original). On the other hand, I like the way the text lines up currently, so maybe it's best left as is.

Mustang · May 2010

hmmmm......HMMMM....I don't know, if it even makes it to the voting stage I'll be pleased.
Wugglington's <- is that right to have an apostrophe? Where's Tam when you need him.

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