cheers man. i agree with it looking more confident. iIve stopped focussing so much on the technical aspects (perspective, blending, technique) and mainly focussed on trying to have a concept/tell a story.
Ive started this pic tonight. might develop it further tomorrow
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EncA Fool with CompassionPronouns: He, Him, HisRegistered Userregular
cheers man. i agree with it looking more confident. iIve stopped focussing so much on the technical aspects (perspective, blending, technique) and mainly focussed on trying to have a concept/tell a story.
Ive started this pic tonight. might develop it further tomorrow
I love the emotion on this one.
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MustangArbiter of Unpopular OpinionsRegistered Userregular
edited December 2009
I like this one but the detail in the sink hole is contrasting quite badly with the rest of the image. You either need to bring up the detail in the rest of the image, or lower the detail in the sinkhole.
I like this one but the detail in the sink hole is contrasting quite badly with the rest of the image. You either need to bring up the detail in the rest of the image, or lower the detail in the sinkhole.
Cheers man. Yeah it doesnt go well. Its temporary until i work out what the hell im going to draw there. I was thinking maybe a bunch of cult memebers performing a sacrifice, kinda like in indiana jones. Adding some cool fire to contrast against the icy blue walls.
Ive been working on this image for about 5 hours today (no photos used:))
Started with a rough thumbnail composition and have developed it to the point where i'm happy with the compositon and content, and am ready to re-draw over it using a colour palette.
Ive come up with 4 colour schemes using the layer filters. I'm not sure what one to pick. Anyone like any in particular?
I'm not one to knock away environmental design (because it's absolutely vital to do if you want to find work in the industry), but a lot of these concept art pieces wouldn't pass inspection if it were in a real studio.
If they're simple practice studies (which i'm sure they are), then just keep doing whatever you feel, but if you're trying to plug it for a portfolio, it'd be very wise to go beyond basic monochromatic color schemes.
I won't go into detail with this cause I got assignments and housework that needs to be done, so i'll leave it up to you if you'd like more feedback.
I think you would be surprised how often concept artists use photos in the work to quickly punch up their ideas. Fine illustration really isn't the point of concept art despite that sometimes it makes fine illustration.
On the other hand, the only people who can effectively do this are the people who understand the fundamentals well enough to be able to splice the two almost invisibly. IE, WCK shouldn't really be doing this quite yet.
If they're simple practice studies (which i'm sure they are), then just keep doing whatever you feel, but if you're trying to plug it for a portfolio, it'd be very wise to go beyond basic monochromatic color schemes.
These are just studies, BUT, i am treating them as though i am actually trying to score a job with these (i.e giving it my best effort). For a lot of my more recent work, i've been looking a lot more at colour and trying to generate something which is more interesting which tells a story and mood.
I think you would be surprised how often concept artists use photos in the work to quickly punch up their ideas. Fine illustration really isn't the point of concept art despite that sometimes it makes fine illustration.
On the other hand, the only people who can effectively do this are the people who understand the fundamentals well enough to be able to splice the two almost invisibly. IE, WCK shouldn't really be doing this quite yet.
Oh yeah, I know concept artists do it and I don't have a problem with it at all. But WCK is not working in a high-pressure job with a suit breathing down his neck clamoring for new art for his hot new intellectual property, he's got nothing to do BUT spend time doing the best he can.
So I guess I don't see how presenting a sketch with some dropped in photographic elements (without flagging for us which parts we're to take as his work and which parts are lazy imports) is going to help him improve. I mean, take out that photographic element and the image is a half-completed doodle at best. When the element dropped in to 'punch up' the image is the best thing about the work, something's wrong, and WCK will just flounder in mediocrity unless he learns to actually render stuff.
Like you said, now isn't the time to be resorting to short-cuts. Now's the time to deconstruct the problem using what he knows so far and put his knowledge to work solving it. Otherwise he might come to rely on photoshop bullshit and it could really undercut the development of someone who we've all spent time providing feedback to, and really want to see level up his Art skill.
I have an update of my latest pic. Its taken a lot longer than i thought it would to add the details (i decided to add more defining lines now in the greyscale version, before i do the colour paintover) Im really trying to define the shapes and planes on the cliffs. If anyone has any general thoughts or opinions id like to hear them. also, im trying to lead the viewers eyes from the high contrast area under the bridge - to the castle - then to the little dude climbing the stairs. Is this idea working?
Again the derivation from natural perspective connections is throwing me off. Check your lines and see what i mean.
I also don't think the structure makes much sense. A mansion built ontop of a fortified base seems pretty unconventional at best. Where does that huge gate lead into? The basement of the mansion?
Why is that man carrying a light when we can clearly see the entire surroundings (supposedly) from the the light flooding in the canyon and surrounding the fort/mansion.?
It just doesn't add up.
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MustangArbiter of Unpopular OpinionsRegistered Userregular
bwanie - you're right about the mansion looking weird. I'll start re-designing that using references. As for the man carrying the light... it was going to be a nighttime shot, but i thought i have done too many of them lately. Still need to fix that up.
mustang - im not sure how i'd go about fixing the staircase. do you mean the steps are out of perspective, or the shape of the entire staircase? (if its the shape of the staircase, im not too sure how i should go about fixing it)
below is the perspective grid, if that helps with critique.
cheers fellas.
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MustangArbiter of Unpopular OpinionsRegistered Userregular
edited December 2009
Y'know, you've thrown me now. I know it doesn't look right but I can't figure out why... i'll have a think about it and get back to you.
i played around with it in photoshop a bit, but now Im thinking it may be that everything looks really narrow, like ive taken the image and squashed it together.
i took the image and stretched it out a little. What do you guys think?
gonna gave the above pic break for a few days and come back to it with a fresh mind
Been working on this picture for about 4 hours now. I can tell my pencil work is improving, but im still unsure about how to apply the line directions to imply form. Still a bit iffy at the moment.
Yeah, the landscape doesn't work because it's essentially an escher drawing.
The guy at the bottom of the stairs is as big as the doorway at the end of the bridge, which would be fine if the bridge was supposed to be further away from the viewer than the guy at the bottom of the stairs.
But those two parallel beams running from underneath the bridge door connect with pretty much the same plane that the guy at the bottom of the stairs is on, so it makes absolutely zero sense. It throws any sense of scale out of the window.
Your perspective set up doesn't do much to help the mood of your image either - If you want things to appear towering and huge, looming over your character, maybe your horizon line should be much lower in the frame. I'd also suggest pulling your vanishing points closer together - it will make the image pop into 3D space with more oomph, and mimic a wide angle lens as a result. Think about more interesting ways to convey your idea through framing and composition too -- you seem to be doing a lot of middle-distance 2D views with superficial 'scale' stuff to create the illusion of depth (ie, big rocks in the foreground, misty horizon in the background, crisp flat detail in the middle). What about seeing the guy climbing up the stairs from WAY above, peering down on him from the very top of the tower? Or putting the viewer just behind his shoulder as he looks up at the tower?
A lot about perspective is just doing it on the 'vibe' of what's right - you can correct as you go. But if that's failing you, you should be starting with discrete geometric shapes - cubes/rectangles - to get your most important shapes down first, and to create the form of your castle - then start digging in and cutting away to create the details finer details.
You're right about experimenting with more interesting compositions/perspective angles. I'll try fixing it up, but if its still not working i'm thinking i may just take what ive learnt from this and start over from the beginning. Cheers for the crits dude!
Also, spent another 2 hours on this. had to re-draw his left eye a few times but i think ive finally got it right!
:^: The fact that you're doing this and spending your time on it is huge. There are some things that I could point out, like not having the bottom plane of the eyelids in there quite yet, but I'm not going to get on your case about it quite yet.
Thanks robots. I can see how that adds more interest to the shot.
Worked more on this image. I think i'm sick of it now
I'm using bond paper for this, which 'm really liking. the pencil marks dont gloss as much as on regular paper.
EDIT: also, may as well post these studies ive done. working on female anatomy a bit lately.
Some new studies from today
focussing on different methods of building the figure. Plus, im finally understanding how weight distribution and hip/shoulder direction works ! Yay!
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MustangArbiter of Unpopular OpinionsRegistered Userregular
edited December 2009
I would avoid reffing those magazine type photos of women. They tend to be blasted with a head on flash and airbrushed to hell and gone...which doesn't make for a very good study of how light would react under normal conditions.
Haha. True. I searched the net today and found some really good photography websites with great contrast lighting which really shows the form of the figure.
Im finding i'm really slow at these anatomy studies. I see people on conceptart.org who are doing about 10 pages a day! I'd be lucky to do a quarter of what they do! Though i guess its not quantity, but quality.
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MustangArbiter of Unpopular OpinionsRegistered Userregular
Working on this without a reference. Trying to apply what ive learnt in the last week, without the help of a reference image. Trying to test myself i guess.
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This is actually pretty nice, feels a lot more confident than your other environments.
Ive started this pic tonight. might develop it further tomorrow
I love the emotion on this one.
Cheers man. Yeah it doesnt go well. Its temporary until i work out what the hell im going to draw there. I was thinking maybe a bunch of cult memebers performing a sacrifice, kinda like in indiana jones. Adding some cool fire to contrast against the icy blue walls.
Sure did. Its from a photo of some really awesome looking reservoir.
*i got lazy*
It's when shortcuts like that yield better results than actually putting the time and effort in...
Started with a rough thumbnail composition and have developed it to the point where i'm happy with the compositon and content, and am ready to re-draw over it using a colour palette.
Ive come up with 4 colour schemes using the layer filters. I'm not sure what one to pick. Anyone like any in particular?
I'm not one to knock away environmental design (because it's absolutely vital to do if you want to find work in the industry), but a lot of these concept art pieces wouldn't pass inspection if it were in a real studio.
If they're simple practice studies (which i'm sure they are), then just keep doing whatever you feel, but if you're trying to plug it for a portfolio, it'd be very wise to go beyond basic monochromatic color schemes.
I won't go into detail with this cause I got assignments and housework that needs to be done, so i'll leave it up to you if you'd like more feedback.
I think you would be surprised how often concept artists use photos in the work to quickly punch up their ideas. Fine illustration really isn't the point of concept art despite that sometimes it makes fine illustration.
On the other hand, the only people who can effectively do this are the people who understand the fundamentals well enough to be able to splice the two almost invisibly. IE, WCK shouldn't really be doing this quite yet.
These are just studies, BUT, i am treating them as though i am actually trying to score a job with these (i.e giving it my best effort). For a lot of my more recent work, i've been looking a lot more at colour and trying to generate something which is more interesting which tells a story and mood.
I'm going to be spending today working on this one, and i'll post an update later. I'd appreciate some more feedback/advice if you get a chance.
Definately agree with that.
Oh yeah, I know concept artists do it and I don't have a problem with it at all. But WCK is not working in a high-pressure job with a suit breathing down his neck clamoring for new art for his hot new intellectual property, he's got nothing to do BUT spend time doing the best he can.
So I guess I don't see how presenting a sketch with some dropped in photographic elements (without flagging for us which parts we're to take as his work and which parts are lazy imports) is going to help him improve. I mean, take out that photographic element and the image is a half-completed doodle at best. When the element dropped in to 'punch up' the image is the best thing about the work, something's wrong, and WCK will just flounder in mediocrity unless he learns to actually render stuff.
Like you said, now isn't the time to be resorting to short-cuts. Now's the time to deconstruct the problem using what he knows so far and put his knowledge to work solving it. Otherwise he might come to rely on photoshop bullshit and it could really undercut the development of someone who we've all spent time providing feedback to, and really want to see level up his Art skill.
I also don't think the structure makes much sense. A mansion built ontop of a fortified base seems pretty unconventional at best. Where does that huge gate lead into? The basement of the mansion?
Why is that man carrying a light when we can clearly see the entire surroundings (supposedly) from the the light flooding in the canyon and surrounding the fort/mansion.?
It just doesn't add up.
Yup particularly where the staircase curls, that's particularly wrong.
mustang - im not sure how i'd go about fixing the staircase. do you mean the steps are out of perspective, or the shape of the entire staircase? (if its the shape of the staircase, im not too sure how i should go about fixing it)
below is the perspective grid, if that helps with critique.
cheers fellas.
i took the image and stretched it out a little. What do you guys think?
Been working on this picture for about 4 hours now. I can tell my pencil work is improving, but im still unsure about how to apply the line directions to imply form. Still a bit iffy at the moment.
The guy at the bottom of the stairs is as big as the doorway at the end of the bridge, which would be fine if the bridge was supposed to be further away from the viewer than the guy at the bottom of the stairs.
But those two parallel beams running from underneath the bridge door connect with pretty much the same plane that the guy at the bottom of the stairs is on, so it makes absolutely zero sense. It throws any sense of scale out of the window.
Your perspective set up doesn't do much to help the mood of your image either - If you want things to appear towering and huge, looming over your character, maybe your horizon line should be much lower in the frame. I'd also suggest pulling your vanishing points closer together - it will make the image pop into 3D space with more oomph, and mimic a wide angle lens as a result. Think about more interesting ways to convey your idea through framing and composition too -- you seem to be doing a lot of middle-distance 2D views with superficial 'scale' stuff to create the illusion of depth (ie, big rocks in the foreground, misty horizon in the background, crisp flat detail in the middle). What about seeing the guy climbing up the stairs from WAY above, peering down on him from the very top of the tower? Or putting the viewer just behind his shoulder as he looks up at the tower?
A lot about perspective is just doing it on the 'vibe' of what's right - you can correct as you go. But if that's failing you, you should be starting with discrete geometric shapes - cubes/rectangles - to get your most important shapes down first, and to create the form of your castle - then start digging in and cutting away to create the details finer details.
Also, spent another 2 hours on this. had to re-draw his left eye a few times but i think ive finally got it right!
24 hours to go! Make that sucker shine.
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Worked more on this image. I think i'm sick of it now
I'm using bond paper for this, which 'm really liking. the pencil marks dont gloss as much as on regular paper.
EDIT: also, may as well post these studies ive done. working on female anatomy a bit lately.
focussing on different methods of building the figure. Plus, im finally understanding how weight distribution and hip/shoulder direction works ! Yay!
Im finding i'm really slow at these anatomy studies. I see people on conceptart.org who are doing about 10 pages a day! I'd be lucky to do a quarter of what they do! Though i guess its not quantity, but quality.
Working on this without a reference. Trying to apply what ive learnt in the last week, without the help of a reference image. Trying to test myself i guess.