Crit/paintover - Ninja/samurai/Faceless one - warrior

[Vorseth]

Hey guys

I've been working on this one for days changing and re-changing I'm trying to develop my own style as all of my work is different to all the others.. I would LOVE a paintover or some crit on how you guys would finish this one off? I'm up for just about anything.. Its my first new piece after doing a heap more loomis sketches and figure practice.. not the best post but a big improvement for me... Would love some Pro advice :)

Welcome to background suggestions too because I am stumped..... haha

Many thanks!

[Vorseth]

Anyone? lol anyone at all? :P

[ChantalFournier]

What is it? A portrait? Concept art? A spot illo? A study?

[Amit Dutta]

Ok gonna be quick cuz I got to work on stuff so I may sound blunt, but I don't mean to!

Why did you pick this pose in particular? It's balanced and correct, but IMO it looks pretty dorky and not as graceful and dangerous of a pose as befits a ninjurai warrior.
The focal point, which for characters we tend to go straight to the face for, is just a black mask with no form or detail at all. Even if he does have something covering his face, it should have some level of interest in it.

The render level is sharp, but overall your colours are very desaturated and there are no highlights to make the image pop anywhere. You haven't really accentuated any direct light source so things are quite flat and matte and because of this your materials don't read as well as they could. They aren't bad, but could be better. You would need to accentuate the effect the light source has on his form and cast shadows and add highlights and saturation to the areas that are hit by the light. Also refine his cast shadow more to be accurate to his shape to ground him on the floor a bit better. The perspective of the shadow implies a higher viewpoint than the perspective he is drawn in.

The cape is throwing off the silhouette of the character and the drapery is very simplisitic and not moving very realistically. In fact why is it and the headband moving at all, considering his pose looks very static and unmoving? I'd be tempted to lose it completely or do studies on how it should fold and separate the shadow areas from the shadow areas of his figure a little.
In terms of composition he isn't in a logical place on the canvas and his ninja skewer is almost touching the edge, which is a general no-no. Just centre him with enough space around including below his feet to present this, as this seems to be just a straight character concept. Also as it is a concept, you don't really need to worry about background as well...keep it simple. just a netural gradient indicating some background and 3D space should be enough.

Honestly though, the pose does ruin it for me, so I'd suggest making something a bit more fitting...or if you've already spent too long rendering this then moving on to something new and nailing the pose first before getting to this stage.
Again don't mean to be blunt, just trying to be quick. Hope that helps!

Oh also, don't be concerned about style...that is something you develop after years of just working and improving. I'd push it to the back of your mind and focus on your skills :D

[Vorseth]

What is it? A portrait? Concept art? A spot illo? A study?

Concept art, :)

---

Ok gonna be quick cuz I got to work on stuff so I may sound blunt, but I don't mean to!

Why did you pick this pose in particular? It's balanced and correct, but IMO it looks pretty dorky and not as graceful and non threatening of a pose as befits a ninjurai warrior. The render level is nice, but overall your colours are very desaturated overall and there are no highlights to make the image pop anywhere and because of this also your materials don't read as well as they could. They aren't bad, but could be better. The cape is throwing off the silhouette of the character and the drapery is very simplisitic and not moving very realistically. In fact why is it moving at all, considering his pose looks very static and unmoving. I'd be tempted to lose it completely or do studies on how it should fold and separate it from his figure silhouette a little. In terms of composition it isn't in a logical place on the canvas and the sword is almost touching the edge, which is a general no-no. Just center him with enough space around to present this, as this seems to be just a straight character concept. Also as it is a concept, you don't really need to worry about background as well...keep it simple. just a netural gradient indicating some background and 3D space should be enough.

Honestly though the pose does ruin it for me, so I'd suggest making something a bit more fitting...or if you've already spent too long rendering this then moving on to something new and nailing the pose first before getting to this stage.
Again don't mean to be blunt, just trying to be quick. Hope that helps!

Oh also, don't be concerned about style...that is something you develop after years of just working and improving. I'd push it to the back of your mind and focus on your skills :D

Hey thanks! that wasnt too blunt :) i dislike beating around the bush. He was originally holding a spear style thing but it looked wrong so i changed it to Sai's It's my first concept character i've done as a concept character if that makes sense. He was surposed to be doing a pose like he was doing formations in a group which is why he's in horse stance, I think i'll have to drop it and do it over as i've spent ages rendering stuff .. it takes me ages because i suck at rendering!

Im always having trouble with color, i do things in B&W and then when i go to color things it always looks unrealistic and washed out >_< It's very frustrating..
I have the practicle light and color book as well as some DVD's but i still cant wrap my head around it yet.

Thankyou for taking the time to give me some feedback on this!

very much appreciated.
Jace.

[Amit Dutta]

No worries dude. Look working with grayscale is a great idea and it can be difficult to get a nice colour result with just using colour modes etc. At some point you definitely have to go in there and attack things by painting on them. Get James Gurney's Colour and Light book. It is awesome and cheap and is written in an easy to understand manner to be able to wrap your head around colour theory. Loomis' Creative Illustration does an ok job on Colour theory as well, but Gurney's is the bible

http://www.amazon.com/Color-Light-Guide-...0740797719

Rendering takes time! I am also really trying to learn the patience to get a good finish..and it can be tough. Don't be afraid to leave work once you've learned what you can from it and take on the next challenge using what you've learned from how you failed. Also remember concepts don't always have to be meticulously rendered all over, they do have to read and present well to get the idea across.

Good luck with the next.

[jjeeaann]

I second Monkeybread.