@Darktiste Yes I have heard of weight distribution and balance from studying Bridgman and trying to better understand those aspects and concepts in life drawing with gesture drawing.
I understand what you mean by speeding through an image. I do tend to work more aggressively and make production / execution a big goal in my work. I figure if I will ever be of use to anyone that I need to produce as quickly as possible. I do spend alot of time in my life doing art studies and research on my own time that I don't bother sharing, this way when it is time to produce something I can approach things with more speed and confidence.
As far as how much is in the scene, I just try and make the image interesting. I know a lot of the times less can be more with art and design. For this particular image I decided to take a more cluttered approach and challenge myself in that respect. I also planned to render many elements of the background out more lightly and loosely while keeping my primary color saturation and detail focuses on the focal points of the image. I do know about using some 3D programs and Google sketch up is a very good free program to use for what you are talking about, even better I feel is to just go into any mega metropolis on google earth, like the city of New York, or Chicago, and just drop the little man down and start hitting camera angles and taking screen shots of the city elements and cityscapes. I am guilty of enjoying trying to challenge myself to draw from scratch and imagination as much as possible. I do loosley thumbnail but don't like to get to a point of exhausting too much energy into that part of the process; I generally like to get a strong idea going and get right into tackling it unless I have someone like an editor or client directing and demanding changes otherwise.
In regards to the mark making I'm still presenting just a very rough draft, and since I am drawing most everything from imagination with a little reference for things like the car and buildings, it's just a lot of trying different things lightly, erasing out and leaving old marks behind, and then drawing back in, and back and forth, and back and forth, until I get the overall drawing correct as possible and the way I see fit. There is still a final loose line work to solidify the drawing hence, leaving the blue rough stage and then applying darker black lines which will then be dropped in opacity to be a darker shade of gray and colored over. Keep in mind I'm drawing all this into a desktop computer using an old Intous Pro tablet as well, which can be a bit cumbersome to draw with.
Thank you so much for the paint over for all it's worth as it does make a lot of sense especially in the observation of getting rid of the hand flame thrower element on the character and letting the volcano in the background take the stage more. I think I was definitely getting a bit carried away on all the characters abilities and wanting to show them all, but that isn't very necessary considering the character description always helps illustrate the rest of the picture that isn't there. I do try and strive to tell a story of the character visually to where there would be little to no description involved in the projects equation. I do understand what you are attempting to do with the pose but I honestly still like my version better because I feel it commands more authority and super villain energy; the paint over you did is interesting but I feel takes away a lot of the attitude and strength factor of the character.
I think sometimes it's better for things to just look cool than to be over anatomically or politically correct. Again, if this was an editor demanding this change then it would be done, but if it is up to me, I will choose to keep my original pose for the most part aside few new changes. I feel posing characters and anatomy are forever studies in the visual arts, we can never practice, or do enough to get them right, even referencing poses directly from photos can lead to stiff and lifeless figures. Some of the best success in referencing comes from screen shots from cartoons or movies in my opinion but it's very difficult to come up with an original idea and then finding a reference to brush up on that, so it seems a lot easier in this process to seek out the reference pose first randomly with maybe a little idea of what one is looking for and then built out on it from there. I really do enjoy doing studies silently in the background and challenging myself to draw the characters from scratch as much as possible to try and best build up my understanding to how the anatomy goes and my overall visual library. I greatly appreciate you taking the time to break me down on all that you have, and some of the advice I'll take and other parts I'll leave out of this project at least, but will certainly have them in mind for others.
Shifting focus over to your AI concepts:
You are really showing the power of AI here which I have been aware of, and this couldn't make creatives more intimidated indeed. People have every right to fear for their jobs and potential work opportunities cause this AI stuff is very good and has gotten so much better from just 9 months ago where it was flopping on things like the hands etc. The AI still seems to be hit or miss for the most part.
#5 Serpentia: These concepts are very impressive for the most part. I think the AI does exceptionally well with things like armor and costume design. I really like this first one as a whole.
#6 Shadowstep: These concepts are really good too, and I would have never imagined this character to be a female and like this. I think all the concepts here have potential, but the top left and the bottom right stand out to me the most; a combination between these two could be very interesting in my strong opinion.
#7 Pyroclasm: I really find these concepts to be kind of cheesy, if I had to really go with one it would be the top right.
#8 Psionic Overlord: These concepts are a little weird and I wish they would show more of the body situation to get a better idea of the overall character and not just settle with a high bust. There is a big time Bram Stoker's Dracula kind of vibe going on here, but they all have potential for sure. I do like the bottom right cause it's the oddball of the bunch, but there is something the face and demeanor of the top right and the hands work well from the top left, I also like the psychic ora / energy showing around the head in the bottom left. Combining all these elements together could make a very cool old villain indeed.
Overall you again have definitely proved a point in showing that the AI has a very powerful place in character design and creation now pretty much to a point where an artist is no longer needed aside from fine tuning and adjusting the image where the AI drops the ball a little bit or something small and immediate is desired to be put in place along with any contrast, color, or overall lighting and special effects adjustments.
So, what is the next step now for you to render one of these out? Do you take the pride and dignity of sketching it from scratch and doing your own thing using the AI as a powerful reference source? Do you simply trace over the reference that has been provided and render it out from there as you wish while using the AI as reference for form and light source, or do you just smudge here and there with some texture brushes and paint directly over the AI concepts to wield a finished painterly looking end product as is? Perhaps all of the above and whatever order as needed.
In simple is seems that the AI is more of a replacement for visual image makers aside from it being used as a tool. It can be used as a tool for things like referencing and from all angles via poses, lighting, costume design etc, but over all it does have a very end all feel to it especially where concept work is involved. I can see illustration work being more visual image maker / human artist needed, but then again not even really because I have seen some pretty amazing AI illustration that if one gets the prompts right to create the right image, it's a done deal. The AI can create "REALISM" which is what people are obsessed with overall in the visual arts and ultimately judge what good art is by how "REAL" it looks, second to this is complexity of tons of bits and pieces, details, which AI is great at, and to end the whole thing, AI is able to mimic artist's styles which is the absolute worst part. For those interested in trying best to take the extra steps and precautions possible to safeguard themselves against image scraping feel free to check something out called glaze, hailing from Chicago.
Glaze: Protecting Artists from Style Mimicry (uchicago.edu)
If we really want to let the cat out of the bag here....
Here is a R.P.G. I have been following online since its recent start and all the imagery has been created via AI plus photoshop adjustments and enhancements. You can see their IG page here. Notice that there first post was from July 10th, 2022. Notice the quantity and quality of the content. They have been able to create an unbelievable amount of quality content in a very short period of time, hence they have all this with only 1,520 followers. Whether or not this will be successful is a crap shoot but all in all now with AI, "ANYONE CAN DO THIS" if they so wish to allocate their time and energy in such ways. Even if their R.P.G. is unsuccessful what do they really loose but a little bit of time and money doing what they did and paying for their AI and Photoshop subscriptions, along with whatever printing they've invested in. Either way, with the money they have saved in having to hire a team of artists to bring their R.P.G. to life, they can easily afford to cut their losses.
Big companies like Marvel comics started off with just a bunch of guys getting together trying to make a buck, and this is going to be no different; you can check out some of those artist interviews on Youtube and hear it straight from their mouths. I think artists definitely have a better chance of success at this point to go back to working analog and doing either custom, or fine art genre work, anything digital has been cheapened by the AI at this point, it holds no value, especially to the general public that is aware they can just type in a prompt and get a great, or "good enough" product, or so it very much seems this way already.
https://www.instagram.com/roar_battleforcortaan/
Marvel's John Buscema Interview:
The John Buscema 2001 Shoot Interview by David Armstrong - YouTube
Marvel's Late (R.I.P.) John Romita
The John Romita Sr. 2001 Shoot Interview by David Armstrong - YouTube
You can also feel free to check out a fellow tattoo artist from my old part of town, Hollywood, Florida, who has capitalized on the AI in full to make Bonafide reference packs of the Greek gods for art and tattoo reference applications. He started off selling 100 of these high-quality images for $1 but has now upped the price to $5 because people gave him a hard time. None the less, look at the sample images of the references for yourself and tell me they are not very good and quality imagery, especially in the light of one of us sitting there trying to noodle one of these things out via photoshop and tablet from a white screen up, with or without reference, 3D modeling etc.
https://tattooedtheory.com/collections/a...-resources
Coming to terms with what the AI is capable as seen in @darktiste images and the imagery I have sourced above can easily make someone going back to drawing and painting, with, or without working digitally, feel like they are trying to cut a football field of grass with scissors.
In conclusion, I draw and paint because I was a child of the 80's and 90's who was encouraged by friends and family to pursue what I enjoyed doing, the whole do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life dream, etc, etc. I do genuinely enjoy the process of drawing and painting though, so I continue doing and will continue doing if only for self, and while pursuing paid opportunities where possible, but it is obvious that dreams of being a commercial artist are quickly diminishing with the rapid advancements, and development of the visual AI when it comes to being more on track with the drawing and painting aspects. It amazes me to still see artist like Jesper Ejsing and Alex Ross, doing commercial work, but analog, although Jesper does occasionally produce digitally. Either way to each their own and we all have to make a living while also having things we enjoy in our very short lives.
I understand what you mean by speeding through an image. I do tend to work more aggressively and make production / execution a big goal in my work. I figure if I will ever be of use to anyone that I need to produce as quickly as possible. I do spend alot of time in my life doing art studies and research on my own time that I don't bother sharing, this way when it is time to produce something I can approach things with more speed and confidence.
As far as how much is in the scene, I just try and make the image interesting. I know a lot of the times less can be more with art and design. For this particular image I decided to take a more cluttered approach and challenge myself in that respect. I also planned to render many elements of the background out more lightly and loosely while keeping my primary color saturation and detail focuses on the focal points of the image. I do know about using some 3D programs and Google sketch up is a very good free program to use for what you are talking about, even better I feel is to just go into any mega metropolis on google earth, like the city of New York, or Chicago, and just drop the little man down and start hitting camera angles and taking screen shots of the city elements and cityscapes. I am guilty of enjoying trying to challenge myself to draw from scratch and imagination as much as possible. I do loosley thumbnail but don't like to get to a point of exhausting too much energy into that part of the process; I generally like to get a strong idea going and get right into tackling it unless I have someone like an editor or client directing and demanding changes otherwise.
In regards to the mark making I'm still presenting just a very rough draft, and since I am drawing most everything from imagination with a little reference for things like the car and buildings, it's just a lot of trying different things lightly, erasing out and leaving old marks behind, and then drawing back in, and back and forth, and back and forth, until I get the overall drawing correct as possible and the way I see fit. There is still a final loose line work to solidify the drawing hence, leaving the blue rough stage and then applying darker black lines which will then be dropped in opacity to be a darker shade of gray and colored over. Keep in mind I'm drawing all this into a desktop computer using an old Intous Pro tablet as well, which can be a bit cumbersome to draw with.
Thank you so much for the paint over for all it's worth as it does make a lot of sense especially in the observation of getting rid of the hand flame thrower element on the character and letting the volcano in the background take the stage more. I think I was definitely getting a bit carried away on all the characters abilities and wanting to show them all, but that isn't very necessary considering the character description always helps illustrate the rest of the picture that isn't there. I do try and strive to tell a story of the character visually to where there would be little to no description involved in the projects equation. I do understand what you are attempting to do with the pose but I honestly still like my version better because I feel it commands more authority and super villain energy; the paint over you did is interesting but I feel takes away a lot of the attitude and strength factor of the character.
I think sometimes it's better for things to just look cool than to be over anatomically or politically correct. Again, if this was an editor demanding this change then it would be done, but if it is up to me, I will choose to keep my original pose for the most part aside few new changes. I feel posing characters and anatomy are forever studies in the visual arts, we can never practice, or do enough to get them right, even referencing poses directly from photos can lead to stiff and lifeless figures. Some of the best success in referencing comes from screen shots from cartoons or movies in my opinion but it's very difficult to come up with an original idea and then finding a reference to brush up on that, so it seems a lot easier in this process to seek out the reference pose first randomly with maybe a little idea of what one is looking for and then built out on it from there. I really do enjoy doing studies silently in the background and challenging myself to draw the characters from scratch as much as possible to try and best build up my understanding to how the anatomy goes and my overall visual library. I greatly appreciate you taking the time to break me down on all that you have, and some of the advice I'll take and other parts I'll leave out of this project at least, but will certainly have them in mind for others.
Shifting focus over to your AI concepts:
You are really showing the power of AI here which I have been aware of, and this couldn't make creatives more intimidated indeed. People have every right to fear for their jobs and potential work opportunities cause this AI stuff is very good and has gotten so much better from just 9 months ago where it was flopping on things like the hands etc. The AI still seems to be hit or miss for the most part.
#5 Serpentia: These concepts are very impressive for the most part. I think the AI does exceptionally well with things like armor and costume design. I really like this first one as a whole.
#6 Shadowstep: These concepts are really good too, and I would have never imagined this character to be a female and like this. I think all the concepts here have potential, but the top left and the bottom right stand out to me the most; a combination between these two could be very interesting in my strong opinion.
#7 Pyroclasm: I really find these concepts to be kind of cheesy, if I had to really go with one it would be the top right.
#8 Psionic Overlord: These concepts are a little weird and I wish they would show more of the body situation to get a better idea of the overall character and not just settle with a high bust. There is a big time Bram Stoker's Dracula kind of vibe going on here, but they all have potential for sure. I do like the bottom right cause it's the oddball of the bunch, but there is something the face and demeanor of the top right and the hands work well from the top left, I also like the psychic ora / energy showing around the head in the bottom left. Combining all these elements together could make a very cool old villain indeed.
Overall you again have definitely proved a point in showing that the AI has a very powerful place in character design and creation now pretty much to a point where an artist is no longer needed aside from fine tuning and adjusting the image where the AI drops the ball a little bit or something small and immediate is desired to be put in place along with any contrast, color, or overall lighting and special effects adjustments.
So, what is the next step now for you to render one of these out? Do you take the pride and dignity of sketching it from scratch and doing your own thing using the AI as a powerful reference source? Do you simply trace over the reference that has been provided and render it out from there as you wish while using the AI as reference for form and light source, or do you just smudge here and there with some texture brushes and paint directly over the AI concepts to wield a finished painterly looking end product as is? Perhaps all of the above and whatever order as needed.
In simple is seems that the AI is more of a replacement for visual image makers aside from it being used as a tool. It can be used as a tool for things like referencing and from all angles via poses, lighting, costume design etc, but over all it does have a very end all feel to it especially where concept work is involved. I can see illustration work being more visual image maker / human artist needed, but then again not even really because I have seen some pretty amazing AI illustration that if one gets the prompts right to create the right image, it's a done deal. The AI can create "REALISM" which is what people are obsessed with overall in the visual arts and ultimately judge what good art is by how "REAL" it looks, second to this is complexity of tons of bits and pieces, details, which AI is great at, and to end the whole thing, AI is able to mimic artist's styles which is the absolute worst part. For those interested in trying best to take the extra steps and precautions possible to safeguard themselves against image scraping feel free to check something out called glaze, hailing from Chicago.
Glaze: Protecting Artists from Style Mimicry (uchicago.edu)
If we really want to let the cat out of the bag here....
Here is a R.P.G. I have been following online since its recent start and all the imagery has been created via AI plus photoshop adjustments and enhancements. You can see their IG page here. Notice that there first post was from July 10th, 2022. Notice the quantity and quality of the content. They have been able to create an unbelievable amount of quality content in a very short period of time, hence they have all this with only 1,520 followers. Whether or not this will be successful is a crap shoot but all in all now with AI, "ANYONE CAN DO THIS" if they so wish to allocate their time and energy in such ways. Even if their R.P.G. is unsuccessful what do they really loose but a little bit of time and money doing what they did and paying for their AI and Photoshop subscriptions, along with whatever printing they've invested in. Either way, with the money they have saved in having to hire a team of artists to bring their R.P.G. to life, they can easily afford to cut their losses.
Big companies like Marvel comics started off with just a bunch of guys getting together trying to make a buck, and this is going to be no different; you can check out some of those artist interviews on Youtube and hear it straight from their mouths. I think artists definitely have a better chance of success at this point to go back to working analog and doing either custom, or fine art genre work, anything digital has been cheapened by the AI at this point, it holds no value, especially to the general public that is aware they can just type in a prompt and get a great, or "good enough" product, or so it very much seems this way already.
https://www.instagram.com/roar_battleforcortaan/
Marvel's John Buscema Interview:
The John Buscema 2001 Shoot Interview by David Armstrong - YouTube
Marvel's Late (R.I.P.) John Romita
The John Romita Sr. 2001 Shoot Interview by David Armstrong - YouTube
You can also feel free to check out a fellow tattoo artist from my old part of town, Hollywood, Florida, who has capitalized on the AI in full to make Bonafide reference packs of the Greek gods for art and tattoo reference applications. He started off selling 100 of these high-quality images for $1 but has now upped the price to $5 because people gave him a hard time. None the less, look at the sample images of the references for yourself and tell me they are not very good and quality imagery, especially in the light of one of us sitting there trying to noodle one of these things out via photoshop and tablet from a white screen up, with or without reference, 3D modeling etc.
https://tattooedtheory.com/collections/a...-resources
Coming to terms with what the AI is capable as seen in @darktiste images and the imagery I have sourced above can easily make someone going back to drawing and painting, with, or without working digitally, feel like they are trying to cut a football field of grass with scissors.
In conclusion, I draw and paint because I was a child of the 80's and 90's who was encouraged by friends and family to pursue what I enjoyed doing, the whole do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life dream, etc, etc. I do genuinely enjoy the process of drawing and painting though, so I continue doing and will continue doing if only for self, and while pursuing paid opportunities where possible, but it is obvious that dreams of being a commercial artist are quickly diminishing with the rapid advancements, and development of the visual AI when it comes to being more on track with the drawing and painting aspects. It amazes me to still see artist like Jesper Ejsing and Alex Ross, doing commercial work, but analog, although Jesper does occasionally produce digitally. Either way to each their own and we all have to make a living while also having things we enjoy in our very short lives.
LEGEND'S SKETCHBOOK_001
To all artists struggling to create and are intimidated by A.I. (anti-imagination)
"Everything has been done, but not by you"
To all artists struggling to create and are intimidated by A.I. (anti-imagination)
"Everything has been done, but not by you"