Rotten's Pocket

[Pubic Enemy]

Sorry to hear about the illness Rotten; hope you're feeling better. The original version of this piece was already pretty good, but your new version is definitely an improvement. The face in particular is more beautiful and naturalistic.

[dimensional-knight]

I hope you feel better soon. Chronic illness is hell.

I'm a bit late to the party, but I love your food and botanical illustrations! And your patience with all that hair and feathers is impressive. Amazingly detailed work!

Just to make myself useful — and please don't take it as something you got to fix in your latest piece as it's very advanced already, but as something to keep an eye in future artworks — there are some minor placement issues that are flattening her image.

Her torso is too flat, which in my book is way better than a too cylindrical of a torso, but can easily lead to placing shoulders too far to the sides, outside their sockets. Her left shoulder which should be slightly occluded by her body is the most noticeable. It's taking her entire torso out of alignment with her neck and head. This can be avoided by drawing circles for the sockets so you can better guess where the back would connect with them, resulting in something more like this:





Also, keep an eye out for where the sternocleidomastoid ends. It not only nests between the clavicles but more or less grabs the underside of them.




Depending on the pose, in women it often looks like thin tendon-like structures converging to between the head of the clavicles. When they're visible sometimes the hollow between them is higher and gentler, when it's deep it'll sit lower than the top of the clavicles.

[RottenPocket]

That's alright, it's what this place is for. I tried to incorporate changes it regardless. I'm still out of it, back at work which has its own set of challenges [trying to refrain from venting about it] and have continued to chip away. I promise to come back and give everyone some attention but I may take a break for a bit. I'm so tired.

[AChi]

amazing work! lots of detail in wings and hair. for next step I would suggest to focus on hands/arms as they are a bit out of perspective.
but first of all, hope you have a good break.

[dimensional-knight]

Great work! But please do take a break, rest all you need. I hope you're feeling better when you return.

[JosephCow]

Dang, that looks sick dude! The detail of the hair is kind of unbelievable.

[neopatogen]

That's alright, it's what this place is for. I tried to incorporate changes it regardless. I'm still out of it, back at work which has its own set of challenges [trying to refrain from venting about it] and have continued to chip away. I promise to come back and give everyone some attention but I may take a break for a bit. I'm so tired.

Looking cool as usual!!

[RottenPocket]

A Drawing a Day keeps the demons at bay. Managed to get some ideas down but not carried through further than a rough sketch.


Turns out I maintain my reputation for crisis happening in threes - I broke my toe shortly after my last post. Not going to go on about it but there was a big ass bruise, an xray with an angry snapped metatarsal and so I've forked out a few hundred on an electric scooter, because walking is my main mode of transport and used to have only two speeds, go and go faster, which I can't do currently... And I also now need to buy shoes up in size because a pinky toe is not only useless but incredibly painful when you shatter it.


 


I just had a pose in mind - and a headdress which this looks nothing like. I wasn't using my design brain much but the idea's down for me to revisit later...

[Leo Ki]

She's badass. Waiting for the next iteration with the design brain turned on.
May your pinky toe keep the promise of healing fast.

[RottenPocket]

Hello,

 I don't have much to show for my time except a bunch of janky faces and half hearted attempts at rendering. It's been hard to keep the furnace burning and be productive. It gets harder every new life change but it is what it is. Have at ye.

[RottenPocket]

I took a week off from work as a combined avoidance strategy for several events that converge this time of a September - and to Paint. It's already Tuesday...



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It's dark, which is intentional for two reasons, hide the fur so I don't have to paint it and wolfy eyes.



I could have spent another week on this one, or gone over it with a steady hand instead of the turbulent commute to work. 



Overall this was a fast one done yesterday morning. I would have coloured it but I enjoyed the sandy monochrome so it only has a slight tint on the skin hair and jewellery. I had intended to join the previous CHOW but couldn't get it down in time.

[cgmythology]

Loving your latest update, the arms/hand in particular are very impressive. Now you're just showing off! :)

[Artloader]

Hey RottenPocket - sorry to hear about your bronchitis and broken toe! Ouch! Hope both are on the mend now. Loving your work - that angel lady with the floating crown is so wonderfully intricate! All the best with keeping that furnace burning as you say :).

[Lege1]

Great sketchbook Rotten, really love the fungus character. I hope you work life is treating you better in the times, I can see the struggle through your posts. I feel many of creatives go through this where it's either feast or famine when it comes to work, and then of course the struggles that come with working for others, or working for self; there seems to be no winning. Anyway, really great and inspiring work from your corner and I hope you continue always creating and pursuing your passion; you're too good not to.

[RottenPocket]

Loving your latest update, the arms/hand in particular are very impressive.  Now you're just showing off! :)

 I have to, or I won't get famous. Or I forget that I can paint.

Hey RottenPocket - sorry to hear about your bronchitis and broken toe! Ouch! Hope both are on the mend now.  Loving your work - that angel lady with the floating crown is so wonderfully intricate!  All the best with keeping that furnace burning as you say :).

Exhibit A:
 I only got the x-ray three weeks after the fact, mostly to make myself feel better. I've so far successfully avoided rounds 2-4 of Covid, breathing and walking both back to normal after doing a 10000 steps tournament. 

Thank you! She was worth redo-ing and even though it's not a full illustration really, I feel like I learnt from it. 

Great sketchbook Rotten, really love the fungus character. I hope you work life is treating you better in the times, I can see the struggle through your posts. I feel many of creatives go through this where it's either feast or famine when it comes to work, and then of course the struggles that come with working for others, or working for self; there seems to be no winning. Anyway, really great and inspiring work from your corner and I hope you continue always creating and pursuing your passion; you're too good not to.

 On the downside my February was swallowed up by my corporate life - the details I will spare everyone, but I have not been abandoning my plans to start producing more art and regularly. There's been an overhaul of my online socials and I've gotten quite a lot of good feedback and opportunities from it. I'm just doing what I can, when I can. Thank you for your kind words <3

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In January I recently completed this DnD character commission - As always I feel I could do more, but I also had to keep it within the terms of the brief (and payment bracket). Overall I really enjoyed her, and the decorative frame. I will consider next time leaving more of my construction lines - I just always feel better about form and texture when I leave them in. Sample images provided included Iren Horrors so minimal linework and washes of colour. Dimensions and design to fit Tarot aesthetic :) 



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I fell through on my promise to stream more after work - even if most of you in the discord are asleep of working at the time, I just wanted to be present from the land down under. There's been changes to my work arrangements and I may have more time in my afternoon/evenings, we will see how we go!

Not gonna lie, I will probably binge watch the live action ATLA when it airs tomorrow...

[Lunatique]

Nice work on the latest one. Her left hand blends into her shoulder area a bit due to the values being similar. Although there are thin lighter value lines to help it separate more, it's not as helpful when the image is seen on smaller screen devices or the brightness is not turned up higher. With styles like this (the Brian Froud watercolor look with lots of darker values), this can happen unless the values are managed carefully in the image. Lighting can help separate the forms, but you mentioned you wanted to keep the time spent within the range of the client's pay, so more elaborate lighting might not be feasible.

This is a difficult situation, and I've had this talk in the past with my students. There are generally two schools of thought when it comes to client budget vs amount of work put into the project. Some feel you shouldn't put in more time than what the client paid for, while some feel if the work is going to be seen by the public at any point, then you should put in as much work as you can to make it look the best it can, because your work seen by the public is the best advertisement you can ever have that represents your technical ability and artistic sensibility.

With artists that haven't had the chance to attract high-profile clients, if all they ever do is work for clients with very limited budgets, and they work they turn out are always done to match the limitations of those budgets, the public will never see what the artist can really do when those limitations are lifted. Yes, portfolio pieces can address that problem, but you can't control how clients display your work, so for many people, all they see is what the clients have displayed, and if they aren't impressed, they won't even bother to look up your online portfolio to see what else you're capable of.

This is why my advice for my students is to put in as much time and effort as they can regardless of what the client is paying, because that is the only way to attract higher profile clients--by only doing work that showcases the very best of your ability. Yes, it's a gamble because there's no guarantee all that extra work will pay off, and you might be stuck spending far too much time on jobs that only pay for a fraction of the time you spent, but how else will you get your name out there and attract attention?

Another solution is to take the work you've done for clients and then punch them up some more for showcasing in your portfolio, so the pieces represent the highest level of your ability and sensibility more accurately. But the problem with that approach is how the clients might feel when they see those improved versions in your portfolio. You can explain that the version you turned in reflected their budget, but it will still be an awkward situation. Also, if you're going to spend the time punching up the work later, you're still technically "losing money" on the project, so might as well just do the very best you can on the project in the first place and then let your work do the advertising for you.

[JosephCow]

Nice job on the latest, Rotten! I like the framing with the intertwined roots. It's very tarot-card, but at the same time looks like elven decoration from LOTR movies. So it seems the perfect style for the dnd commission.

Also, if you're going to spend the time punching up the work later, you're still technically "losing money" on the project, so might as well just do the very best you can on the project in the first place and then let your work do the advertising for you.

This makes so much sense, i really like this advice. For me sometimes commissions are also on a pretty fast timeline, so even if I want to do more, there sometimes isn't the time to put into projects to make them as good as you'd want before it needs to be done, though.

[RottenPocket]

Agreed, it's very good advice.

I received the inquiry fortuitously before I had taken a couple of days off straddling one of our public holidays, most of that time did go into this. The details show better on larger formats, as it was designed for the owner to print I made the original at least 12" on the short side. I'm happy he was happy, although my main concern about pushing it further was in regards to the brief, over-doing it and moving further away from the original idea/technique. One of their sample images of what they wanted was of Iren Horror's work.

That really comes down to my ability and expertise - my digital art is still not up there with my pencil/mixed art and I need to work on speed/efficacy of my painting - I think Tarots are a good project so I would revisit them again, just not with this property.

[Dominicque]

Love the creepy vibe of the 9-12 piece and LOVE her hands. For the latest, I agree with Joseph about the boarder. How it's curving around like a tree, but also looked hand-carved makes it look magically looking. Unnatural, but beautiful, definitely matches the theme! I'm not too familar with DnD, but is she a zomie of some kind? She looks spaced out and her mouth a little goofy and off-beat.
Hope you are felling better, now.

Your digital work (at least from by perspective) is very good. You already have a solid style down, but if this isn't your full ability, I would be very interested to see your traditional work. :)

[cgmythology]

Great job with your latest, it's very well drawn and painted. I don't have any serious critiques on it since you were working with a budget and it wouldn't benefit you from over working on it, but overall well done! Looking forward to seeing more works from you as I really enjoy your style, so please keep it going!