Look what the Sonoran wind just blew in!
#3
alright jephyr my man, glad you stopped by the forum... I took a look at your site and i think i can write up quite a substantial critique of your stuff 

So its gonna consist of a few things, Ill go through a few  sections on your site and critique the work. the overarching critique of your work i think is your choice of shape design, which is a personal thing, sure, but may be more outreaching than just me. I could imagine an art director for a large project seeing these shapes and not seeing them as all too promising.

For digital paintings 

http://artistjeffcurtis.wgd-entertainmen...tHome.html

The anatomy is pretty good, but the water is very... fake looking in comparison to the figure. shore water on the beach becomes more transparent near the shore, youd see browns coming through from the  sand underneath, and the hills near her are  covered in fog despite being quite close. The overall image is so blue, and nothing feels like its harmonizing, almost like the figure was copied and pasted into the scene

Despite that, this is probably the best piece on your site, mainly because it  lacks the goofy whimisical shape design.

http://artistjeffcurtis.wgd-entertainmen...eller.html

For this one, the rendering is okay, but the caricature is more uncomfortable and strange looking than funny or clever.  So i googled "robert mueller caricature, and this is a better example of an attempt at it

https://live.staticflickr.com/894/392647...68f0_b.jpg

So you made muellers eyes bigger, which arent the most prominent feature of him. He has a larger jaw and big nose. Generally when you caricature men, you want to emphasize things other than the eyes, and focus more on the jawline, heavy brow ridge, since thats more prominent in men and big eyes are more prominent in women and small children. Also your rendering of the hair is blocky and weird. Hair has lots of soft edges in a painterly look, but if you render hair full on with max realism, it'll look more crisp and sharp like the above picture. Yours kinda looks like a gray sponge , and the hairline is hard, which is also unrealistic.

Some of your anatomy studies are pretty good like this 
http://artistjeffcurtis.wgd-entertainmen...Study.html
and this 
http://artistjeffcurtis.wgd-entertainmen...gnment.htm
(your life drawings are in the right direction, albeit some fatal proportional errors and the whimsical shapes creeping into things, harming their natural beauty.) 

Then when i see your imagination work, its really whacky and goofy and unnappealing. For example:
http://artistjeffcurtis.wgd-entertainmen...oogie.html
This creatures legs are unlike that of a crocodile/alligator. In fact i cant really think of any animal on the earth that has legs like this, which are skinny in the middle and large and tumorlike in the foot with reptillian toes.  When you cartoonfy, try to think of function, cut and carve to make it work. 

Sure mickey mouse has big feet, but its balanced with other shapes that are also unbelievable like his simple ball as a torso, ball as a hands. With your gator here, his chest is like a realistic male chest with realistic bone structure, it hits the uncanny valley, which is present in almost all of your drawings. 

Cartoonists avoid the uncanny valley by simplifying, like stephen silver. He uses basic forms to make things flow together. Even a study you did
http://artistjeffcurtis.wgd-entertainmen...Cowboy.htm
You can see all the shapes on this dude are lanky and long. big top/ big bottom/ lanky in between. 
http://artistjeffcurtis.wgd-entertainment.com/Brawk.htm
This is a seemingly square shaped dude, but every contour is rounded,  you seem to turn every straight line into yet another circular shape, which gives everything this potato like quality. 

or this 
http://artistjeffcurtis.wgd-entertainmen...Rodeo.html
The hair is blocky and strange, the foot is smack dab tangenting the pants, the hands are so big, the depth is  just... theres so much wrong with it i dont even know where to start 

http://artistjeffcurtis.wgd-entertainmen...heAir.html
This character is disturbing looking, but i suppose its supposed to be funny or endearing? His feet are alienlike and his tiny thighs just feel so strange

I cannot find even one face on your site that is attractive/pretty or handsome, Every face is bloopy, old, wrinkled, poorly drawn, weridly stretched etc. its mainly from always using round shapes in  just about every contour

http://artistjeffcurtis.wgd-entertainmen...ertie.html
http://artistjeffcurtis.wgd-entertainmen...evour.html

It really really reminds me of burne hogarthes work and i see now why alot of people warn against using  him as a reference too much as his balooney shapes are not appealing. maybe you also like tom richmond from mad magazine? He has that vague of element of goofy design, but he knows how to make things appealing with straights and curves, as well as how to draw beautiful women and men, then exaggerate them. 

Ultimately i think youd benefit from analyzing master artists who have more of an angular style like JC leyendecker or andrew loomis/jeff watts/erik gist. They curtail their shapes to be more suited for attractive drawings and people. Im not saying you have to draw pretty people to be successful, people like max verehin draw hideous monsters but his shapes are just more appealing and articulate, which makes them go further. 

Watch this, to see what i mean about nice shape design
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKfsZaNrmzM&t=10458s


Maybe im missing something, im not sure, it seems youve been doing this a long time and in my opinion, developed a lot of fatally bad habits. I used to draw in a similar style to this around page 50 or so in my sketchbook and it took a long time to unlearn it, and i cringe to the depths of hell thinking i thought that style would get me anywhere.

Im hope im not being to hard on you, i went through a similar struggle. Maybe you do well for yourself, i have no idea. Anyways, welcome to daggers and feel free to keep us updated

70+Page Koala Sketchbook: http://crimsondaggers.com/forum/thread-3465.html SB

Paintover thread, submit for crits! http://crimsondaggers.com/forum/thread-7879.html
[color=rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.882)]e owl sat on an oak. The more he saw, the less he spoke.[/color]
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RE: Look what the Sonoran wind just blew in! - by Fedodika - 10-01-2019, 08:31 AM

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