12-08-2014, 03:01 PM
Your stuff is looking SICK, Rafa!
I haven't logged in in several months, but I had to just to say that. Keep it up!
EDIT: Actually I flipped through your work here and on your blog and I thought I might drop a suggestion, too!
Your work is really solid and shippable -- however you are definitely best with your linework and values. (That's the more important stuff, though, so awesome place to be!) I'm noticing that you don't really have as good of a handle on either texture or color.
Texture: All of your forms read really well with how you do your value break-ups and shading, but pretty much everything has the same texture quality to it. Even your hair, which is slightly textured, seems to be somewhat of an afterthought where you do some loose strokes to indicate the texture difference.
Examples: Hair && Distress
Artistically, and compared to the level to which you bring everything else, the lack of thoughtful texture mark making leaves a little to be desired. I can definitely see the individual brushstrokes laid on top of the piece, and while your work is "painterly" in the blizzard WoW sense, if I was looking at that shoulder armor without the brushstrokes I wouldn't really think about how I was looking at a painting but rather a depiction of the object -- whereas with the scratches on top of it, I immediately think about the brushstrokes that I'm seeing. They aren't integrated into the rendering. With the hair, you tend to do solid shape blocks that feel more like a clay block-out than soft hair -- and in shorter areas where the texture is more defining than the shape it's done again with loose indication.
Again, in this piece: Buff Dude
Everything has that smooth, clay texture. This guy is a buff dude, there's something a little off about his perfectly hairless body. I'm guessing this guy is an underwear model with a waxed body, and that accounts for this, but nonetheless a lack of clear or extremely different textures is something I've noticed is pervasive in your work.
That being said, these pieces do work stylistically and they are solid pieces that get the point across.
Color: Another thing I'm noticing in your work is a tendency to block out your local values in masses of single colors.
This is a crutch, particularly for skin where we should be seeing a lot of color variation to give that sense of life.
Girlie Boyboy girlie2.0
In general, these skin tones are falling flat for me. I do see a /little/ bit of variation, like boyboy's cheeks being redder, and girlie2.0's forehead is more yellow than the bottom portion. I'm not seeing the full yellow/red/blue transition in any of them -- particularly where the facial hair involved, it would really boost the indication of stubble if you had the bluer color around the jawline whereas it seems you've just painted hair over the yellowish skin tone. In general, though, I think you could push it a lot more and still end up with a perfectly reasonable result.
Even in general, a little more color variation across all your forms might give a more visually interesting result!
And again, that being said, you do have a color sense and in any given image, all of your colors will work together. It would just be really nice to see more variation!
I know you're really big on improvement and always working hard, but your art is already really solid in a lot of the respects you practice the most! I'd love to see you focus more on texture and color, especially studying and pulling this stuff from life. If you could nail this stuff, it would bring your work to the next level.
I haven't logged in in several months, but I had to just to say that. Keep it up!
EDIT: Actually I flipped through your work here and on your blog and I thought I might drop a suggestion, too!
Your work is really solid and shippable -- however you are definitely best with your linework and values. (That's the more important stuff, though, so awesome place to be!) I'm noticing that you don't really have as good of a handle on either texture or color.
Texture: All of your forms read really well with how you do your value break-ups and shading, but pretty much everything has the same texture quality to it. Even your hair, which is slightly textured, seems to be somewhat of an afterthought where you do some loose strokes to indicate the texture difference.
Examples: Hair && Distress
Artistically, and compared to the level to which you bring everything else, the lack of thoughtful texture mark making leaves a little to be desired. I can definitely see the individual brushstrokes laid on top of the piece, and while your work is "painterly" in the blizzard WoW sense, if I was looking at that shoulder armor without the brushstrokes I wouldn't really think about how I was looking at a painting but rather a depiction of the object -- whereas with the scratches on top of it, I immediately think about the brushstrokes that I'm seeing. They aren't integrated into the rendering. With the hair, you tend to do solid shape blocks that feel more like a clay block-out than soft hair -- and in shorter areas where the texture is more defining than the shape it's done again with loose indication.
Again, in this piece: Buff Dude
Everything has that smooth, clay texture. This guy is a buff dude, there's something a little off about his perfectly hairless body. I'm guessing this guy is an underwear model with a waxed body, and that accounts for this, but nonetheless a lack of clear or extremely different textures is something I've noticed is pervasive in your work.
That being said, these pieces do work stylistically and they are solid pieces that get the point across.
Color: Another thing I'm noticing in your work is a tendency to block out your local values in masses of single colors.
This is a crutch, particularly for skin where we should be seeing a lot of color variation to give that sense of life.
Girlie Boyboy girlie2.0
In general, these skin tones are falling flat for me. I do see a /little/ bit of variation, like boyboy's cheeks being redder, and girlie2.0's forehead is more yellow than the bottom portion. I'm not seeing the full yellow/red/blue transition in any of them -- particularly where the facial hair involved, it would really boost the indication of stubble if you had the bluer color around the jawline whereas it seems you've just painted hair over the yellowish skin tone. In general, though, I think you could push it a lot more and still end up with a perfectly reasonable result.
Even in general, a little more color variation across all your forms might give a more visually interesting result!
And again, that being said, you do have a color sense and in any given image, all of your colors will work together. It would just be really nice to see more variation!
I know you're really big on improvement and always working hard, but your art is already really solid in a lot of the respects you practice the most! I'd love to see you focus more on texture and color, especially studying and pulling this stuff from life. If you could nail this stuff, it would bring your work to the next level.