Thanks, Squidbunny! I agree, I am lucky to get such awesome feedback.
Halen - I reduced the fade some, hopefully it works now. Thanks
@NightDragon - The Lighten brush is really cool! Looks much better than the way I was doing it. I tried to touch on everything you mentioned, I think it's looking pretty good now! : D
Still, I'm not sure if I should call it done or put some more polish on it? Or perhaps something still looks pretty bad? Hard to tell at this point :P
Edit: The face is really not working for me... : |
And honestly, you could tweak this until your hands fall off, but that's up to you. You could probably further implement some of the critiques I suggested, but they're things that you might just develop faster after more practice, rather than trying to perfect those critiques in this one specific piece.
My only suggestion at this point is that for your future pieces, try nipping those issues in the bud by avoiding them during the painting process, rather than after.
I agree with ND, I think this shows major improvements, so hold on to them by immediately applying your new knowledge to the next work. Cement it in before you get frustrated and backtrack.
Some quick thumbs for my captain character redesign:
I have the basic character in my head, I'm just pinning down the basic shapes now.
My goal for this character is to solidify my process, get to the actual color/painting stage and knock out the saturation, hues, variations, etc. beforehand
Also, I updated the gem hunter guy some, I couldn't stand his face!
Edit: I also made this:
Edit2: I figured I post the new captain sketch. I decided to try a female captain, a loose cannon type character. Leader of the gang! I'd really like to emulate this guys awesome style : http://cghub.com/images/view/233226/
Edit3: I'm surprised at how quickly this is coming along, I've only spent about 2 hours on it. I think having the process fresh in my mind helps a lot. I'm trying to be very conscientious about the hue variations and saturation.
Going good so far, but somewhere along the line the design fell apart. As a captain girl with a gun, it was OK, but adding the mesh and some shiny leather + tights and now she gives off a bit of a hooker vibe. : |
When I saw the sketch of your captain last night my first reaction was "That's a hella lot of skin for a captain!" I think that you can take away a lot of the hooker vibe if you cover her stomach by putting an extra inch on the booty shorts to make them look more practical and not strippery and then bring the top down to meet it. You could also cover more of her chest or drop the sleeve length of the coat but you wouldn't have to do both, no need to cover her completely. Also I love the tattoo on her neck so you don't want to detract from that. I love the leggings and the mesh, I think it's just the about of skin and the tiny shorts that are working against you. Oh, and does her left hand have six fingers?
Muchas gracias, mi amigos! After taking some time to carefully adjust the colors (early on this time!) I tried to apply all of the feedback and worked on the design some more:
What do you guys think? (Please ignore the hands for now, I keep putting them off...also the ear! holy crap)
Her skin is like roast salmon or something. Also, the glove blends too much in with the gun and just looks pretty awkward all around.
I'm digging the miner.
Definitely looking more spunky captain of her own ragtag crew than someone sent to entertain them! I'd wear the whole outfit, she looks powerful. I'll let the proper artists critique everything else but I like where you're headed
Yep. skin is a little too saturated, but this is a much, much better first attempt! So that's great.
Her neck seems a little too long, though. Also, while I'm really liking the red tones you've added into her outfit in the non-red areas, the straight red on the sky blue seem too intense. I'd knock those waaaay back to just give the sky blue a "warmer" feel, rather than a "hard switch" over to red.
I wonder if I could pull off the sky blue parts as chrome type reflective material? Also, from the pony-tail / gun / red jacket (similar too hoodie), I'm kind of getting a L4D Zoey vibe? If no one else thinks so, I wont worry about it.
I wonder if I could pull off the sky blue parts as chrome type reflective material? Also, from the pony-tail / gun / red jacket (similar too hoodie), I'm kind of getting a L4D Zoey vibe? If no one else thinks so, I wont worry about it.
Ah, looks better. And you could definitely pull that off - but look up reference first! It's going to need to require a much different treatment in regards to highlights and shadow.
Design wise, I dont think this girl is that bad. I just want to put out there that women are a different shape, but not a different species. Generally woman can/will wear the same exact clothes as their male counter parts in militaristic situations because that is what is the most utilitarian. Meaning, unless your intention, (or, better, the characters intention) is to be kinda sexy sleek and stylish, You can approach girls the same way you do men when ever you draw them.
Girl characters can show skin and be hot, But the difference between "cosplay/hooker/Slutty version for Halloween" is utility. Sexy Asari in mass effect still have gun holsters if they have a gun. Shepard's only accessories are armor and ammo packs, which makes more sense for her character which has no real ambition in fashion sense. If you are building a character who is conscious of her fashion/sex appeal for one reason or another, then build her outfits appropriately.
I realize that to some degree, gender issues may not be your primary concern when it comes to concept art, but If you want to have a portfolio that makes you seem more thoughtful than "sexy lady, sexy outfit" You will benefit from keeping this kind of thing in mind. Our own McGibs does an excellent job of militaristic women. There are various tumblrs where you can get Ideas for girls that are different shapes, sizes and weights and COLOR THERE ARE OTHER RACES and Girls who hold different standards to how they have to display their gender. Do not ignore this, it is important.
You are right! Thanks for the feedback and resources, I need to learn how to paint other skin tones and study the differences in features between races. I wont ignore what you wrote!
I don't know if the first doodle is something you're going with, but if so, I'd suggest you draw a handful of different faces for that girl. You tend to draw a lot of female faces exactly like that, with only a slight difference in hair color, and usually with their hair in a ponytail (that same ponytail)! If you consider how many variations you could get out of developing different faces (with different face shapes, lips, eyebrows, noses, cheekbones, eyes, jawline, etc) with different hair (different styles...even different styles of ponytails, if you're set on that) I think you could end up with a much, much more interesting design...and one that is different than what you've done before.
High heels are a generally bad choice in combat situations of any sort, or, you know, standing for any long period of time, just putting that out there. Girls can also have shorter than shoulder length hair.
I wasn't sure about the high heels. She isn't necessarily part of the team that leaves the ship though, so I put a bit more "fashion" in her design rather than 100% function. Still, I doubt it's easy to walk around a ship in high heels, but she is a professional!
Also, I'm going to draw some crazy different people soon!
I think the animators at work literally just flip between an open eye and a closed eye. And sometimes add a closed eye where the brows go down a bit too.
RankenphilePassersby were amazedby the unusually large amounts of blood.Registered User, Moderatormod
for the blink, half a half-closed frame on one side of the blink but not the other. It'll read more like a blink and not a flash. You can also offset the eye blinks by a frame or so - Pixar does it constantly, and it adds a lot of life, but it's sort of become so ubiquitous and associated with Pixar that it tends to read as a bit cartoonish.
Also, don't forget that the lower lid comes up to meet the upper lid, just not nearly as much, which results in a very minor movement in the sack and cheek below the eye. It's super common to overlook, but adding a very slight movement there will help it read a lot more alive.
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MustangArbiter of Unpopular OpinionsRegistered Userregular
Frank you've really made some great progress this year.
The desaturation you've got in his hair is a bit extreme (as is the pure red highlight)...you want his hair to still *read* as red, so the saturated/desaturated effect you have can be evened out quite a bit. Add a little more color to the shadowed areas, and slightly less of the pure-ultra-red in his hair.
When going for this effect (less saturated in shadow, more saturated in the light) try building it up slowly, rather than falling right in. I think that'll prevent you from going too extreme with it.
[edit] I'm also not sure what's going on with his neck. Is that a tattoo? If so, remember that first, you need to show form. A tattoo is secondary to that, so it shouldn't be rendered as contrasty/dark as the muscles of his neck.
Thanks, ND! I will work on the color a lot tomorrow.
Edit: Environment I've been struggling with:
Anyone have some tips for starting environments out? I always want to do something simple that reads well, like this guy, but I always fuck it up and noodle too much along with way. The whole process seems so much more elaborate than designing characters.
Started with a couple thumbs this time, that def. helps. I need to remember that and slow down some more. The actual selling point of this is just too ambiguous.
One thing you'll notice about the environments by the guy you linked at CGhub is that he's got very strong silhouettes for almost all his major shapes. The contrast between those edges is very tightly controlled so that it's very easy to separate the elements of the composition that exist in different spaces, and as a result you get a great sense of depth and solidity.
A problem I'm seeing with these last two environments is that your focal areas get a bit fiddly and indistinct. On this most recent piece, for example, a lot of the vertical objects get a bit lost in the main structure, which itself is a bit lost in the slope of the mountain behind it. I might suggest trying some slightly simpler designs and focusing on really nailing the foreground-midground-background separation and having a very solid read on all your major shapes.
Hey guys, I've been working on this for the past 2 days now. I need boat loads of feedback so I can fix it up and finish!
This is the captain Bastiat and the ships medic(still figuring out her name and backstory) from my comic project! The ship and character designs are pretty much finalized and I wanted to try a full illustration out. My friend and I have a good deal of the main characters fleshed out, even some of the first chapter written.
I love the atmosphere you have going and while I can't comment on technical matters I'll tell you what jumps out at me. Firstly, Captain Bastiat is posing in a very feminine manner. It's as if he's wearing high heels. In fact, his pose seems to be the mirror of your medic. I'd actually recommend in future actively avoiding these stances but then when you're drawing your story their body language will play to events/conversations etc, so (hopefully) won't be so static.
Secondly, in the foreground is there someone reaching out a hand?
Lastly, do you have a story for what's going on in this drawing?
I'm really looking forward to seeing this develop and I can't wait for the actual story to begin. I admire your committment (and bravery) to receiving and building on feedback.
(I really hope this makes sense, I think I forgot how to write proper sentences in the night)
@Katie - I really appreciate the feedback! I tweaked the captains pose, tried to stick his chest out and make him seem more confident. Yes, that is a hand! This is sort of a "rough" landing in enemy territory. Maybe I could show that more in the background? Thank you so much for the help and kind words.
I know the squarish cropping is generally a bad idea, but I think I've gotten it to work here. I'm pretty happy with this, but it needs a lot of work. I've been staring at it for so long, maybe I need a day away from it, plus lots of feedback! What do you guys think?
Posts
Halen - I reduced the fade some, hopefully it works now. Thanks
@NightDragon - The Lighten brush is really cool! Looks much better than the way I was doing it. I tried to touch on everything you mentioned, I think it's looking pretty good now! : D
Still, I'm not sure if I should call it done or put some more polish on it? Or perhaps something still looks pretty bad? Hard to tell at this point :P
Edit: The face is really not working for me... : |
And honestly, you could tweak this until your hands fall off, but that's up to you. You could probably further implement some of the critiques I suggested, but they're things that you might just develop faster after more practice, rather than trying to perfect those critiques in this one specific piece.
My only suggestion at this point is that for your future pieces, try nipping those issues in the bud by avoiding them during the painting process, rather than after.
[edit] thanks squid! :P
Some quick thumbs for my captain character redesign:
I have the basic character in my head, I'm just pinning down the basic shapes now.
My goal for this character is to solidify my process, get to the actual color/painting stage and knock out the saturation, hues, variations, etc. beforehand
Also, I updated the gem hunter guy some, I couldn't stand his face!
Edit: I also made this:
Edit2: I figured I post the new captain sketch. I decided to try a female captain, a loose cannon type character. Leader of the gang! I'd really like to emulate this guys awesome style : http://cghub.com/images/view/233226/
Edit3: I'm surprised at how quickly this is coming along, I've only spent about 2 hours on it. I think having the process fresh in my mind helps a lot. I'm trying to be very conscientious about the hue variations and saturation.
Going good so far, but somewhere along the line the design fell apart. As a captain girl with a gun, it was OK, but adding the mesh and some shiny leather + tights and now she gives off a bit of a hooker vibe. : |
In the words of Tim Gunn: Make it Work!
Get cracking on your next one.
What do you guys think? (Please ignore the hands for now, I keep putting them off...also the ear! holy crap)
I'm digging the miner.
@m3nace - haha, damnit. I went ahead and worked her skin tones over, does it look better? Also, I asked you to ignore the hands :P
Her neck seems a little too long, though. Also, while I'm really liking the red tones you've added into her outfit in the non-red areas, the straight red on the sky blue seem too intense. I'd knock those waaaay back to just give the sky blue a "warmer" feel, rather than a "hard switch" over to red.
I wonder if I could pull off the sky blue parts as chrome type reflective material? Also, from the pony-tail / gun / red jacket (similar too hoodie), I'm kind of getting a L4D Zoey vibe? If no one else thinks so, I wont worry about it.
Ah, looks better. And you could definitely pull that off - but look up reference first! It's going to need to require a much different treatment in regards to highlights and shadow.
Girl characters can show skin and be hot, But the difference between "cosplay/hooker/Slutty version for Halloween" is utility. Sexy Asari in mass effect still have gun holsters if they have a gun. Shepard's only accessories are armor and ammo packs, which makes more sense for her character which has no real ambition in fashion sense. If you are building a character who is conscious of her fashion/sex appeal for one reason or another, then build her outfits appropriately.
I realize that to some degree, gender issues may not be your primary concern when it comes to concept art, but If you want to have a portfolio that makes you seem more thoughtful than "sexy lady, sexy outfit" You will benefit from keeping this kind of thing in mind. Our own McGibs does an excellent job of militaristic women. There are various tumblrs where you can get Ideas for girls that are different shapes, sizes and weights and COLOR THERE ARE OTHER RACES and Girls who hold different standards to how they have to display their gender. Do not ignore this, it is important.
also http://womenfighters.tumblr.com
--
Character sheet for the captain redesign:
And yeah, all of NDs points.
Also, I'm going to draw some crazy different people soon!
Another gif:
Edit: Consolidating my ship doodles:
Also, don't forget that the lower lid comes up to meet the upper lid, just not nearly as much, which results in a very minor movement in the sack and cheek below the eye. It's super common to overlook, but adding a very slight movement there will help it read a lot more alive.
@Mustang - Such kind words! I needed to here that, thanks man.
--
Environment doodles. probably will do a few more and chose one to finish.
When going for this effect (less saturated in shadow, more saturated in the light) try building it up slowly, rather than falling right in. I think that'll prevent you from going too extreme with it.
[edit] I'm also not sure what's going on with his neck. Is that a tattoo? If so, remember that first, you need to show form. A tattoo is secondary to that, so it shouldn't be rendered as contrasty/dark as the muscles of his neck.
Edit: Environment I've been struggling with:
Anyone have some tips for starting environments out? I always want to do something simple that reads well, like this guy, but I always fuck it up and noodle too much along with way. The whole process seems so much more elaborate than designing characters.
Started with a couple thumbs this time, that def. helps. I need to remember that and slow down some more. The actual selling point of this is just too ambiguous.
A problem I'm seeing with these last two environments is that your focal areas get a bit fiddly and indistinct. On this most recent piece, for example, a lot of the vertical objects get a bit lost in the main structure, which itself is a bit lost in the slope of the mountain behind it. I might suggest trying some slightly simpler designs and focusing on really nailing the foreground-midground-background separation and having a very solid read on all your major shapes.
Since I'm not really comfortable with these yet (compared to characters), I'm focusing on the value and composition right now.
I think it's better than the last two and I need to finish it!
Edit: Also, check out this dude walkin' !
Edit2: Getting frustrated with this!!
This is the captain Bastiat and the ships medic(still figuring out her name and backstory) from my comic project! The ship and character designs are pretty much finalized and I wanted to try a full illustration out. My friend and I have a good deal of the main characters fleshed out, even some of the first chapter written.
Anyways, let me know what you think!
Secondly, in the foreground is there someone reaching out a hand?
Lastly, do you have a story for what's going on in this drawing?
I'm really looking forward to seeing this develop and I can't wait for the actual story to begin. I admire your committment (and bravery) to receiving and building on feedback.
(I really hope this makes sense, I think I forgot how to write proper sentences in the night)
Site: Zenfar
@Katie - I really appreciate the feedback! I tweaked the captains pose, tried to stick his chest out and make him seem more confident. Yes, that is a hand! This is sort of a "rough" landing in enemy territory. Maybe I could show that more in the background? Thank you so much for the help and kind words.
I know the squarish cropping is generally a bad idea, but I think I've gotten it to work here. I'm pretty happy with this, but it needs a lot of work. I've been staring at it for so long, maybe I need a day away from it, plus lots of feedback! What do you guys think?