John's Thread (Used to be super active! Still the longest thread name ever in CD)

[Fedodika]

Oooh boy John, thanks for the comment in my thread, i'll have a nice reply for it later tonight!

Well, I can't believe I never stopped by here before, hmm


"I've been knocking on the same not-to-be-named game company's door for at least half a decade already, I still get the same critiques. Weak anatomy. Weak understanding of light. No knowledge of composition. And the list goes on. That's 5 years of me applying what I thought I know was correct incorrect."

I can see why they said that. Umm, let's see...

John I think one thing you could try, is to stylize more. Like, pick some artists you like and rip them the hell off. Some of your things look technically correct and grounded, but they are just not cool looking. 

For instance, these girls

http://crimsondaggers.com/forum/attachme...--ver2.jpg

They are not sexy, despite having sexy aimed costumes. They have very plain looking (realistic) faces, no visible curves or big titties/ass/hourglass figure etc. The girl on the right looks like she eats a lot of microwavable food, the girl on the left has just a very boxy body. The poses are very stiff, like just locked up, flat camera angle. If they came to life, they would look like two cosplayers from Wisconsin who want to hit up a doughnut stand

You know for sexy women you want a good angle that, yea, objectifies them, think of the pose and the camera angle first.

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/ori...e8c3d8.jpg


http://crimsondaggers.com/forum/attachme...J-MGsm.jpg

This guy has like the dad bod, like superhero's should have huge muscles and a super sculpted body.
http://outalpha.com/wp-content/uploads/2...dadbod.jpg

Like super slim waste line, huge pecs, traps, deltoids, legs, arms you name it. 

His body looks like it's aimed at being correct and functional, but you know, what if he suddenly to life, he wouldn't look very intimidating you know?

You want to go for a sketch in lines that someone could say, hey I want this on a shirt/wallapaper/cell phone cover/profile picture. Something that's just cool you know? I mean, that's what I'd do.


http://crimsondaggers.com/forum/attachme...%20(1).jpg

Now I think this is a step up, but still these superhero characters are just not that "cool" looking. 

See here like Joe Mad stylizes the jaw, the browline to make him look really tough and intimidating, just in the face
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-S8rThmTzDFY/UF...hor300.jpg

His very features look tough, you know?

See also how he stylizes the muscles, making them look accurate, but even cooler than accurate. They are angular and dangerous looking.
http://media.virbcdn.com/cdn_images/resi...irst06.jpg

The way you're drawing the faces and muscles and stuff, they just need some more juice, like make things pointier and more angular. It's not the only way to enhance your work, but it is certainly a good way and a route many take with great success. Like your deadpool in that sketch, I think he'd look a lot cooler if you like slanted his eyes inward to kind of look angular and more menacing. 

Like, sure you could go for all out realism, but you'll have a much easier time just exaggerating the shapes. Remember, at best in realism, it's going to be a cosplay. In art, we can break the rules of reality and push them into interesting areas. 

And everyone stylizes dude, even a little. Even Sargent, just look at his photos of his sitters compared to the painting. You wanna make things look attractive and cool or interesting, not just correct.

Now below I'll provide an example if you do take this advice on something I have done a lot to analyze styles. I'll look at the very line shapes and patterns within the composition to discover how the artist was thinking when making the drawing. Just analyze, don't copy, this would teach a LOT about composition, because that particular field is entirely about the initial scribbles you put on the paper, and how they balance with eachother with shape value and color. I think if you did a lot of these, that would really improve your stuff. and focus on the Line/vs black and white elements of it, more than the color. 

When I had a folio review from Art Director Zoe Robinson, her main advice was to thumbnail a lot and try to make the characters and story as interesting as possible. Design a lot you know? And I think it'd do you some good to like, spend less time on things? try to draw a character in different poses and in different emphases on things. Try to make it look like it could be a great piece without color. Like the shapes are so cool or attractive whatever that it doesn't need painting. You're not bad at values and color matching, I think your biggest weakness is along the lines of gesture and shape language. Doing those analytical studies (on top of other artists work) of how artists arrange shapes would do you a lot of good. And lay off painting for a while if you can.

I learned a lot of this from this thread by Sam Carr despite it's brevity:

Something he said

"I felt like I learned more in 3 days than I had the last few years about constructing images. Trying to drill into my thick skull that nothing should just be on the canvas by accident, and studying these paintings is definitely reinforcing that."."