Greg Rose's First PA fanart attempt

Gregrose · October 2009

Here's my first Attempt at some Penny-arcade fanart.

It's of course the cardboard tube samurai. Comments/critiques welcome, just keep it in good taste... or not. whateves.

Other of my work can be found at http://tentu.deviantart.com/
heh... a little self promotion I guess. anyway... enjoy

Mustang · October 2009

That's actually a lot better than what I was expecting when I read the title.
What's with the fuzzies though? The face is sharp, but everything else isn't.
Granted you're getting a depth of field effect but the gain isn't worth what you've lost.

Nappuccino · October 2009

Mustang wrote: »

What's with the fuzzies though?

That is exactly what I was going to ask. Tighten it up a bit and i think it'll be a rather solid picture.

tynic · October 2009

Also, I've never been convinced that simulated depth of field works in a digital painting. But yeah, tightening up the foreground would be a big help.

Kendeathwalker · October 2009

tynic wrote: »

Also, I've never been convinced that simulated depth of field works in a digital painting. But yeah, tightening up the foreground would be a big help.

I think jason chan pulled it off pretty well here

[IMG][/img]

the problem with it in the op is he neglected atmospheric perspective.. also blurring things in the foreground as much as things distant isnt helping either..

iglidante · October 2009

I don't mind a fuzzy background either, as long as it's executed well. But the CTS needs to have some tight, sharp linework in order for that to work. He doesn't. Everything is fuzzy, and that really makes it difficult to look at for long.

Perspective on the tube is pretty weird, too - it feels like it's leaning toward the camera, and then bending back around his arm. Also, his "area" (read: crotch) is strange - it looks far too wide. Maybe the shadows need to be darker, to give more depth. Or maybe his legs are just too far apart (his hips are too wide).

Godfather · October 2009

I think the, um, pose is a bit questionable.

iglidante · October 2009

Godfather wrote: »

I think the, um, pose is a bit questionable.

It's confusing, because he's spreading his legs and giving the "what if I am?" look to someone in the distance, not the viewer.

Gregrose · October 2009

Wow... This was not the place I'd expect to find a bunch of people with GOOD art critiques.
Thank you for your input! I had a little bit of time to work on it earlier, so bear with me...

I removed a few elements that weren't working out, added the Stone he's sitting on to adjust his perspective, and tightened the hell out of it. (I read the comments this morning, looked at the picture, and shook my head in shame at how right everyone was)
So ...yeah... not much more I can do without re-adjusting the whole picture, but any help is still appreciated. (at this point I haven't the time to change the pose. It'd be more effective to re-do the entire thing. instead, I may make minor changes, but at this point I'm pretty ready to move on.)

Nappuccino · October 2009

Gregrose wrote: »

Wow... This was not the place I'd expect to find a bunch of people with GOOD art critiques.

We do our best.

I think the changes you've made create a stronger picture. Just keep working on the getting things to look crisp (in the foreground) and working on the trees. As they are now, they're not blurry "out of focus" blurry but blurry "Did i just drink a bottle of Absinthe?" blurry. In otherwords, they don't really look like out of focus trees, even cartoonish ones, but they look like trees someone might draw if they haddn't looked up some references

Skelly B · October 2009

I think DOF effects can work fine in paintings, but I don't think it works well with line art. The fuzzy lines have an unfinished look.

In your piece the 'focus' isn't consistent. Why is the hand so tight, but the rock it is on is completely blurred and other objects at the same distance are blurred as well? There's lots of contradicting information about where that arm is in space. The same problems are happening through out the piece.

Also, cankles.

iglidante · October 2009

Really, this kind of thing works best in layers - keep it all sharp as a tack to begin with, and apply your blurring selectively after the piece is done, if it will make the finished art look better.

Skelly B · October 2009

you can do some pretty cool things with the lens blur filter too, but it won't look painted.

Wassermelone · October 2009

Putting the other problems already mentioned aside, you also have an issue with perspective. The rock, character and horizon are sit on one perspective plane, while everything else has another entirely. Try to think of EVERYTHING in the background in terms of enforcing the horizon line you want.

Right now your background looks to support a horizon more like this:

A really quick paintover showing that if some quick repainting can gel the whole thing together mostly by changing the bottom of the bushes to support the horizon line:

IE:

iglidante · October 2009

Basically, lines are always crisp. If you want to make something fuzzy, it needs to be "painterly," or at least subtle. Blurry lines are...kind of an oxymoron.

...so the rock shouldn't be blurry. It's confusing that way.

Kochikens · October 2009

Fuzzy lines of the rock right next to the sharp lines of his hand look especially distracting.

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