Crimson Daggers — Art forum

Hope you are well again, take care of your health - fruit and such! D:
Your leading lady turned out great (already mentioned that somewhere), love the fact that you took your girlfriend as a reference. Who doesn't enjoy being painted as a strong warrior queen <3
As for some critique: For my taste, the blue feathers are a bit to intense. While I am sure that google will find a bird that has feathers like this, in the context of all that meatl, brown and gold it looks like they are synthetic, not real bird's feathers.
I'm having a bit of a hard time with the hanging leather straps (?) below her sword - it's a bit hard to read if that is meant to be ornamentation of the sword, a half-skirt or attached to the leather chestguard...
If I want to start nitpicking, I would mention the hands - especially her right one is a bit brown (compared to the color her neck has in the shadow for example). But other than that, great work Jaik :)

Sup Jaik - as usual lots of hard work and good stuff here.

I'M GOING TO CRIT YOU NOW

(specifically your Leading Lady char)

These are just some aesthetic opinions of mine that I hope are helpful and maybe you can think of in your future works. I actually think you did a pretty good job. Really digging. her pose and overall design.

- Armour looks a little too "smooth and plastic-ish" texture wise. I feel that it could definitely benefit from more material indication (high contrast highlights and core shadows, reflections, some wear and tear, etc) to really sell it as battle armour. There's a lot of stuff in your study that I feel you didn't incorporate.
- Hands look too small (I think a good proportion for hands is that it's roughly the height of the face)
- The feathers look a little too "tacked-on"? I think perhaps you were running out of time and rushed it. They could definitely benefit from some reference or study. Your cloth rendering looks a little rushed as well.
- The ground shadows could use more definition as well.

I would actually highly recommend you look at images if knights or armour done by artists you like and see how they approach painting armour, cloth, leather, etc. I think it could be really helpful, it really does help cut down a lot of the guesswork.

But man, honestly I think you're pretty much on the right track. There is definitely a lof of improvement so keep doing your best!

Oh, one last crit. I think you should rest and not overwork yourself, haha. Health comes first!

Thanks Cracked :D It's always worth it to push your limits. Especially repainting something you know you have already done, thats a killer...

Thanks Denikina :D

You are definitely right there Blewzen, I can see it so clearly now @_@

Thanks Lyraina, and congrats again xP. Yeah, the feathers were meant to be dyed blue for the sake of colour harmony and to be kind of striking, but I think I missed the beat there and pushed them too far on the wrong way. Thanks for the crits though :) I will be sure to apply them to my next piece.


Thanks LongJh :D Such a long and good crit :D <3 Some of those were definitely because of running out of time lol, but a lot of what your brought up was valid and I will work on them in the future! Thanks again :)

--

Sad days for my computer. It completely died. Not sure how, why or what died on it. I would turn in on and it would freeze after about 2min. I don't have the time, or money, to replace every part individually. This problem has been getting consistently worse over the last year, starting at a frequency of once a week and getting worse from there. I thought it was a software problem so I rebuilt the operating system and it still persisted, and then started replacing parts and it is still there. I will now part it out and sell it, since each of the individual parts seem to be working fine.

But, I am now ordering a new custom built laptop, which will take around 2 weeks to get here.

Anyway, so thats the reason I don't have much to post, all my digital work is on my computer, which doesn't turn on anymore so I can't post it. I will be able to get to everything again, but since I am in the middle of a house move, I have my docking station for HDD's packed somewhere and can't get to it -___-

So just some sketchbook shots which I don't usually bother posting since they are too much effort. I did a fair bit of How to Draw by Scott Robertson, but thats mostly straight lines and circles. Nothing worth posting.

I would also like the thank the judges for Crimson Arena for the crit. I will take everything under advisement and work for a better piece next time (Namely applying those studies better and choosing my studies more carefully)

Ah, nice to see you're a fellow carrier of the pocket sized sketchbook there, Jaik!
Really like how you've captured the sense of depth by varying the thickness of your lines in the environment drawing, impressive!
Personally I think it would be nicer of you had some more dark values in your graphite rendering to give it more contrast and depth you know. Then again, personal preference and dunno what pen you use, hard to manage that with a 2h I suppose. Bring on them scans!

Sorry to hear about the computer D: But seeing those sketches, especially that enviro sketch with the house, I feel like you will be able to put that digital-painting-less time to good use :) Time to rock those pencils!

Sketchbook works look good! Switching working method is a good exercise for your thinking muscles :)

Adzerak: I completely agree with adding more darks. Sometimes its the camera, but most of the time I just don't have the ability to make it darker. It never works :( Pen always seems TOO dark compared to the other parts.

Lyraina: I did try..filled up them sketchbooks, but mostly with doodles that dont mean anything xP

Thanks meat :D


---


Alright guysssss, I'm back after my hiatus. The house is all set up (more or less) but I spent far too much time out of my days pretending to be a carpenter instead of drawing, but I did get some sketchbook stuff done, which I will probably photograph in the fullness of time.

I also got a new laptop, which is different when I have only ever really used desktops. Its powerful enough to drive my huge 27" Yamakazi screen though, which is awesome. So no loss of desktop space, only learning curves for using less usb ports >.> Anyone know of a decent USB hub?

I started out this week slowly getting back in to drawing, I was amazed by how rusty I got just from not drawing for 2-3weeks, it's scary. But I caught back up prettyt quickly.

The break did give me time to think though, and looking at my work, I really need to apply more of my studies and also turn out pieces I would be happy to put in my portfolio, which have been few and far between these past couple of months. What I am lacking is application. But that will change now :D (not right now, because the end of the week was spent doing studies >.>)

So the first one is a failed attempt at digitizing that enviro sketch, then realising I have no idea how to paint rocks in a good fashion. So, while there arent many pictures this week, the pure frustration and hitting my head against a (rock) wall saturates these images. But I think I have worked out how to do it, a little.. Give it a shot soon.

Welcome back man!
You probably are already aware of this, but its a good idea to construct the portfolio about the subject matter that you love.
Also for darker skin tones, this might help> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALIBrFzIQ8s

Hey man! Cool stuff! From looking at your recent posts in your sketchbook I kinda got the feeling that your digital stuff are much better than your pencil stuff. I don't know about others but I think they should be progressing together, so my advice would be to do some more pencil work. Look into how to render stuff, do life drawings and stuff like that. Anyway, post more, dude! It's coming out great! :)

Yes yes yes for more application.

So funny to see the quick quality increase in your three rock studies. Love the texture and crispness of the last one, although you could go over the image in the end to soften/diffuse some of the hard edges.

Lips are looking good, although some are still hovering a bit over the face, instead of being a part of it (even though this very well might have been like this in the reference, just that the brain usually doesn't question a photo). When you're doing something like the reflection on the upper part of the upper lip, always think of how your brush stroke is going to support the form. The lips in the middle right is top notch!

Welcome back <3

Cracked: Oooh, nice vid. Yeah, for portfolio I basically just want some enviros showing off what I can do. Environments first, then move on to characters since I enjoy painting them :D Thanks for the advice!

Othrandir: This is probably true. I usually reserve traditional stuff for sketchbooking ideas and life drawing. But I think putting some effort in would be a good idea. Thanks for stopping by!

Lyraina: <3 Thanks! I tried to apply going back in the next studies and softening. Hope it sort of worked :S Thanks for the advice on the faces. Will keep that in mind next time!

---


So still working mostly on environments this week. Combination of Shaddy's tutorial and some other bits and bobs. Subject matter seems to be the biggest problem I have when I do environments. Its all well and good to paint a mountain, but if there is nothing interesting about the mountain then I am not too sure that it's worth painting.

I wish happy accidents happened as often for me as I see it working for other artists. I feel like I am drawing blood from stone most of the time.

Hey, lots of good stuff here, also the enviro is looking solid for now, keep it up.. :)

Your updates never fail to scare me, in a good way XD Like "omg when did he get to that level, I need to work harder!"

Happy accidents... I think that mostly depends on your workflow (and therefore you can influence/trigger it to an extent). The more controlled and planned you work, the less room there is for random stuff to accidently happen. I do have a creativity problem most of the time (can't think of things to paint or interesting shapes to design etc), so I try to force my brain to SEE something - depending on the context of course, you could for example lock transparency and stamp around with a messy texture brush (depending on the "feel' you are looking for, then try to see something in the mess you made. Works on a macro and micro scale. Also, experiment and try to break free of what you know will work. That's another recipe for happy accidents I think. I can relate to the "is a generic mountain without anything interesting worth painting" problem though... haven't figured out how people do come up with cool concepts or ideas as well... I'll let you know if I do.
Yeah edges look a lo better in the new studies! The Iceland piece is really lovely. In the application, I miss a bit of repetition of the golden egg shape somewhere else in the piece. If you want to keep them only where they are now, I'd suggest pushing that area as a focal area a bit more, while toning down the other mountains/hills in the foreground (focus wise) to make sure the viewer grasps how special they are.
The last enviro looks a bit static to me, very ... designed. Not sure how to change that though D: But a small foreground figure for size comparison might be a good idea as well?

Love that iceland study! brushstroke directions are really tasty, especially on the mountain's shadows. It doesn't really seem like the golden eggs are the focal point of that painting, maybe if you cropped it in a bit closer it would work better. I'd consider cropping the left and losing the foreground mountain on the left, it doesn't seem to be doing much for the image
on the newest one from imagination, vary the spacing from the waterfall to the tree to the tree oto the other tree, the spaces are too close to being perfectly even amd it looks very designed

Thank you so much for visiting my sketchbook!
The iceland study is amazing, I really like it, the brushstrokes are beautiful. I totally admire people who can work with digital brushes and brushstokes in such a good way!
You too, keep it up!!!

Nice mannn, loving that Iceland study! Juicy colors all around. A couple quick crits: on the bloodsports piece, the vertical staff would generally be a composition no-no. Or is that just a placemarker for now since it's a WIP? Would recommend angling it regardless, and hoping to see some cool cloud shapes or something in the background to fill all that empty space. Can't wait to see the finished version man!

Lyraina: Great suggestions and good thoughts on happy accidents. I think I'll give the 'random shapes' a try.
The egg one really was not a solid concept. I could go back and fix it but I think it would just be polishing a turd. I'll try and replace it in my portfolio as quickly as possible.

Samszym: Thank you! That suggestion of varying the distance and scale was great. As soon as I did that, the image got 100 times better in my opinion. Thanks again!

Cyprinus: Thank you :) Thanks for dropping by too!

pnate: Thank youu :) That was more a 'inspiration sketch', but regardless, I didn't even think of that so I think I will have to keep that in mind for next time.

--

I thought I would have more to upload than I did. But I suppose that can't be helped.

I started to try and learn some more 3D this week. Nothing worth posting yet but I am hoping to have something next week. Such a huge learning curve. If anyone has any good places to go for Cinema4D tutorials, please send me a link!

Really dig the Iceland study, the brushstrokes are sooo good!
And nice work on the Monster Hunter piece! I would switch the shadow in his hood and let it be dark on the right and fade in to the left, it would bring more form to it. Maybe make his waist a bit thicker, too, I mean he has a couple layers of thick and warm clothes on him :)

Those photostudies are really paying off for your environments, and the one you just finished did leap forward with the crit. The red-green palette looks great on it. One thing that niggles my eye with it is the rock bridge in the foreground - though the background has a lot more depth, perhaps the arch is just a bit too compressed to the frame the image, so it doesn't initially read as being above the river. Also it may help to enlarge the highlights a bit to separate it more from the values of the tree behind it.

Absolutely loving the sketches and building of your monster hunter design. The variety of textures in his final costume works out well - it looks interesting, but you used the studies well to make it consistent.

Great stuff Jaik! I mean crap I can see the depth in your enviros its insane o_o and your char design is looking cool, believable as well

Good idea learning 3d stuff, if I find any tutes for c4d I'll link away
The only thing I could suggest is try varying up the poses of the chars. Designing the pose that enhances the persona of the character y'know?
Anyways keep up with it man it'll be great to catch up again and sketch and shiz :)