09-08-2014, 10:40 AM
Cool stuff you got going on here mate! Pretty interesting tracking the hours you've been working on getting better, wish I had thought of it, although I'm unsure if it would motivate me or discourage me haha.
Anyway, your latest post are showing some seriously sick improvement. I don't know how, but suddenly you seem to be able to grasp values, edge control and color in a very simple and efficient way, really awesome and inspiring my friend. The enviros are particularly strong and some of the portraits are really neat too.
On the book cover thingie I have a crit though. It's technically ok but it lacks storytelling left and right. I mean, it's just a dude standing there, in a rather stiff pose , in a pretty much blank environment, there's literally nothing going on. Plus everything is way too clean, it looks like a boat that just came out of the factory. For a book cover you'd need something that interests the potential buyers of the novel on what's going on in it. Even if it was a simple book about pirates that talked about it in a documentary like fashion, your client would want some fascinating cover to sell more books. I'd recommend a brief research on the topic you're going for. Like what did pirates do that hasn't been portrayed so much? We've all seen pirates drinking rum, killing people, and enjoying the spoils, but there are tons of historical facts that haven't been depicted regarding piracy. Maybe find out one that you find original or interesting and try to show a scene of that very thing that tells it in an appealing, way, doing tons of rough thumbnails to chose the best composition,etc.
While technical skills are a must, the most important part of illustration is the story-telling, and the one I'd recommend you hone the most, since there's some really great craftsmen out there, story tellers? not so many.
Still I really like your SB man, and I always like to see them hours growing with eveyr post, so keep up the very inspiring work ;)
Anyway, your latest post are showing some seriously sick improvement. I don't know how, but suddenly you seem to be able to grasp values, edge control and color in a very simple and efficient way, really awesome and inspiring my friend. The enviros are particularly strong and some of the portraits are really neat too.
On the book cover thingie I have a crit though. It's technically ok but it lacks storytelling left and right. I mean, it's just a dude standing there, in a rather stiff pose , in a pretty much blank environment, there's literally nothing going on. Plus everything is way too clean, it looks like a boat that just came out of the factory. For a book cover you'd need something that interests the potential buyers of the novel on what's going on in it. Even if it was a simple book about pirates that talked about it in a documentary like fashion, your client would want some fascinating cover to sell more books. I'd recommend a brief research on the topic you're going for. Like what did pirates do that hasn't been portrayed so much? We've all seen pirates drinking rum, killing people, and enjoying the spoils, but there are tons of historical facts that haven't been depicted regarding piracy. Maybe find out one that you find original or interesting and try to show a scene of that very thing that tells it in an appealing, way, doing tons of rough thumbnails to chose the best composition,etc.
While technical skills are a must, the most important part of illustration is the story-telling, and the one I'd recommend you hone the most, since there's some really great craftsmen out there, story tellers? not so many.
Still I really like your SB man, and I always like to see them hours growing with eveyr post, so keep up the very inspiring work ;)