Artloader - Sketchbook

[Leo Ki]

Strong personality in this last piece!
If you have the lines on a separate layer, I would suggest fading some of them, especially on the chair.

[graphicnovelist]

woah, your comicbook panels in acrylics are awesome! I saw on the first glance, the topic doesnt really interested me, because of personal taste, but only because of the artwork, it made me curious anyways!

also I dig your storyboards with the sword-shooting-crossbow (if i interprete this right)!

[Artloader]

@Pubic Enemy:  Thanks man - glad the 3D construction came through - I agree about alternating between reference and invention.

@Cgmythology:  Thanks for dropping by dude.

@Leo Ki:  The people I did this for wanted a comic-book feel to it so I wanted the lines to show through - but I agree that the chair lines were probably too strong.

@Graphicnovelist:  Yeah I like to paint traditionally as well as digitally.  You read the sword-shooting-crossbow right - although I call it a "swordlauncher" :).

Been a bit busy with one thing or another recently but I saw that Gimp 2.10 is out so I thought I'd give it a spin for old times sake as it was my first digital art tool - took me ages to work out how to use the smudge tool again.




Then I tweaked the brush dynamics to give a more natural stroke:

[Artloader]

Another rabbit.

Getting used to rendering a bit more in Gimp 2.10.

Blocking in and then losing edges with the smudge tool.

[darktiste]

If you want to really practice edge lose the linework atleast in the end else how are we suppose to tell?

[Artloader]

@Darktiste:  Good point man :).  I guess I'd gotten into the habit of leaving the linework in recently as some friends of mine have asked me to do a comic-book style series of artworks for them.

I've been experimenting with charcoal effects in Gimp 2.10 and messing about with brushes in there.  Also experimenting with textures.

Not really sure of what I'm doing with the textures - I want to have a contrast between realistic and abstract like Yizheng Ke or Wangjie Li or Toko Suzuki.

[darktiste]

Great stuff keep going.

[JyonnyNovice]

recent work looks great! you've definitely out levelled me in portrait painting! The textures look nice, they add this level of sophistication - I think you want to treat them like any compositional element, purposeful areas of high detail/texture vs the looser softer parts in between to frame the subject, arranged in a way that leads the eye back to the face and all that. In your portrait if you had that wavy line of texture that leads off the page top right, instead looping down and back into the image or something it could work with the face more. The stuff in the hair, back of the neck, around the nose works great tho!

[Fedodika]

if you want some good texture brushes, download clip studio, then get Frenden's gumroad brush pack, its insanity

Hundreds of custom made oil, charcoal, pens, etc. from all genres made by a brilliant cartoonist who is obsessed with mark making and inking.

It'll run you 65$ for all that, but its worth it :)

[cgmythology]

Those rabbits look great! You did a great job with construction as well as likeness, keep it up!

[Artloader]

@Darktiste:  Thanks dude!

@Jyonny:  Thanks for the kind words and the advice about the using textures purposefully - useful stuff :).  Although I would have to disagree that I have out-levelled you in any way - but thank you :).

@Fedodika:  Thanks for the tip-off about those brushes - 600 brushes for $14?  Sounds like a bargain!

@Cgmythology:  Thanks dude - all those drawabox exercises are coming through - everything is either a box or an egg or something in between!

I've been busy with doing stuff for other people in recent weeks but I'm determined to get stuck into making my comic so I thought I study my favourite comic book artist - Esad Ribic.  I did a study of one of his pages from Secret Wars (I'm hoping to get the graphic novel for Christmas :)).

Here's my study - proportions and likeness are all over the place but my aim was just to get it done and see what I could learn from the experience:




Things I think I learned:

1. Use thinner lines - my lines feel too thick and clumsy.
2. Make the lettering more bold - my lettering seems to faint to be read clearly.
3. Make my shadows darker - I think I was a bit timid with the lighting.

Here's the reference from the main man himself - love this guy's artwork:



Any other pointers would be appreciated - thanks!

[chubby_cat]

Hey Artloader. Cool comic page study!

A quick pointer would be to study how Ribic uses colour to add a sense of atmosphere and interest. Your study feels a bit washed out with colour compared to the original. This is most obvious in the background gradients - like in the last panel note how intense his yellow/green smoke is compared to your more beige/grey version. With comics you can really pack punches with colour (or lack of) so don't be afraid to experiment and push it (there's always the option to reign it back in later down the line!). Take further notice of the colours and temperatures he uses to get some interesting vibes.

Hope that helps!

[Pubic Enemy]

You copied the general shadow shapes really well. But yeah, I agree that darker shadows are a good idea. Strong shadows and colors are a big part of the Western comic style. It really makes it, uh, "pop". It's easy to get scared of making the contrasts too strong, but it's worth it. Your good taste will tell you if it's too much.

Also, very cute and 3D-looking rabbits up there. They really jump out.

[JyonnyNovice]

that's a beautiful page! Really filmic with the cuts between her straight on and the other characters right then left then back to her, then this 'overlapping action' in the last panel by revealing a bit of what's coming on the next page. I don't know if you heard this before, but a useful comic technique is to always end the page with a mini cliffhanger to ensure the reader is going to turn the page. This guy does it in a great way : D

Colour wise I think just the process of doing it and observing it so closely already gives so much value. In particular with this page I think some things that really give it the sophisticated look is the use of hard and soft edges. It's really minimal but just having them makes it you think 'oh this guy knows what he's doing'. The little spots of colour saturation, like the strong purple on the guys lips in panel 2 and this warmer colour at the bottom of her face are things that leap out to me.

Great job tho! Does he colour his own work?

[cgmythology]

That page is ridiculously good, everything from the dynamic lighting to the choice in colors is very well done! Great work!

[Artloader]

@chubby_cat:  Yep, you're spot on with the washed out colours - I will try to push the saturation a bit more next time - thanks :).

@Pubic Enemy:  Thanks dude, yep, making the effort to get the shadows and values right definitely pays off in the end.

@JyonnyNovice:  Yeah I love using hard and lost edges - although sometimes I overdo it with the lost edges and it ends up looking overly blended.  Also, thanks for pointing out the spots of saturation here and there, I'll see if I can weave that into my work going forward.  Yes, Ribic colours his own work, I think he actually works in Gouache as well as digital.

@Cgmythology:  Thank you sir, although I can't take credit for the original reference - that was a page by the awesome Esad Ribic.

I needed to refresh my memory on chest and shoulder muscles so I watched a couple of Proko's free YouTube videos on the subject and then did a study (ref. by Damir Spanic on Unsplash - which is a great place to get royalty free images by the way):

[Skeffin]

Good to see you're doing fundamentals like drawabox, and proko's anatomy - I bought the full version and would honestly say it's worth it, but that's because I have no head for learning anatomy on my own. If you're doing portraits, I found it really useful to use an Asaro head when doing photo studies, to help me break down the forms.
Someones already mentioned the colours in the comic study being more washed out than the comic, I'd also add that the values in your study seem to have less contrast. Turning the study and the source image to greyscale helps me check if I'm deviating too far.

[Skeffin]

Also here's a really quick paintover I did in like 5 mins for your chest study - I think you're focusing a lot on the detaills such as the veins, and small thin muscle lines (I forget what they are called). It's far more important to get the large shapes and forms correct first .
I've simplified it (probably too much) in the paintover but hopefully it gets the idea across

[Artloader]

Hey Skeffin - thanks for taking the time dude - you did that paintover in 5 mins??  You're a fast painter!

Also thanks for the reminder about focussing on the big stuff first - it's one of those things I know I should do but too often I forget to do it!

Although in this instance I was actually studying how to paint veins and muscle structure - hence the detail.

Anyway - I'm in the process of recreating the comic page study from memory - been resisting the urge to peek at the original and just going off and doing some research to fill in the gaps as well as trying to push the colours and values a bit more.

I read somewhere that Ribic will sometimes make a solo image and then cut and paste it and re-use it in multiple places - like with the statue of the giant monster Thor in this page - I believe he drew the whole statue and then chopped it up to re-use in multiple panels.

It's all helping me learn what goes into creating a page like this.  Any critiques would be appreciated - cheers!

[Artloader]

Still in the middle of trying to repeat this Esad Ribic comic page study from memory.

It's funny - for a while I've been trying to be a bit of a purest with my art - trying to emulate a traditional workflow in my digital work - avoiding layers and avoiding the undo button - that kind of thing.  This was also preventing me from using time-saving features such as copy and paste but now I realise that if it's good enough for Ribic, then it's good enough for me!

Next I will cut and paste different parts of the monster Thor to fit into the various panels ...