02-12-2012, 01:38 PM
Mick, that's an excellent set of goals and you're already well on your way to developing the skills that you will need. I know that you're already WAY better than I was at 16.
For the most part, the critique will be all the same, but it's very valuable: do studies, learn anatomy and form and shape design, draw a LOT and do tons of sketches. That being said:
This first piece already has some interesting forms and finishing power to it. You're already heavily designing the silhouette of the character and the shape language of the composition. I have noticed that you completely obscured the feet - and I believe this is a mistake. They're hard, and it might not look the best, but the sooner you learn how to properly ground your characters, the better they will eventually look because you've worked out center of gravity and how to make two objects look like they're actually touching. The instinct to use soft brushes is a good one, but see if you can simplify your gradients further, or perhaps just make the value progression much more subtle.
So I see you've discovered the magic of sharpening filters: be warned! Sometimes they will make a piece look more "finished" since they true up your edges and make things more distinct. However, sometimes a nice lost edge is what you need in a certain location... and if you run more than one sharpening filter on the same image you end up with little jaggy artifacts on your edges. Used sparingly these filters are a blessing, but they can be easily taking too far. Secondly, I know this is hard, but try to collect the different elements of your image into easily identifiable value groups. You definitely have the white foreground guy separated out, but the figures in the background look like they're trying just a little bit too hard to stay out of each others' way. You'll definitely want to figure out how to properly have things overlap. James Gurney wrote an excellent piece about "busy edges" that I think applies to your work.
One thing above all: PRIORITIZE! Figure out what is the most important part of the image, then the next most important part, then so forth and so on down the line. What kind of story are you trying to communicate, or what sort of character are you drawing? The anatomy, shape design, colors, and everything else should be SLAVE to this primary objective. Then take the next most important part. The shape design is much more important than the value structure, the values and lighting are more important than the colors, the colors are more important than getting the little buckles and skeleton teeth rendered meticulously.
I hope all this helps, and I'd also like to say that if you ever have any questions or wish to receive any crits, feel free to shoot me an email or msg me on aim or gtalk. I'm usually around.
For the most part, the critique will be all the same, but it's very valuable: do studies, learn anatomy and form and shape design, draw a LOT and do tons of sketches. That being said:
This first piece already has some interesting forms and finishing power to it. You're already heavily designing the silhouette of the character and the shape language of the composition. I have noticed that you completely obscured the feet - and I believe this is a mistake. They're hard, and it might not look the best, but the sooner you learn how to properly ground your characters, the better they will eventually look because you've worked out center of gravity and how to make two objects look like they're actually touching. The instinct to use soft brushes is a good one, but see if you can simplify your gradients further, or perhaps just make the value progression much more subtle.
So I see you've discovered the magic of sharpening filters: be warned! Sometimes they will make a piece look more "finished" since they true up your edges and make things more distinct. However, sometimes a nice lost edge is what you need in a certain location... and if you run more than one sharpening filter on the same image you end up with little jaggy artifacts on your edges. Used sparingly these filters are a blessing, but they can be easily taking too far. Secondly, I know this is hard, but try to collect the different elements of your image into easily identifiable value groups. You definitely have the white foreground guy separated out, but the figures in the background look like they're trying just a little bit too hard to stay out of each others' way. You'll definitely want to figure out how to properly have things overlap. James Gurney wrote an excellent piece about "busy edges" that I think applies to your work.
One thing above all: PRIORITIZE! Figure out what is the most important part of the image, then the next most important part, then so forth and so on down the line. What kind of story are you trying to communicate, or what sort of character are you drawing? The anatomy, shape design, colors, and everything else should be SLAVE to this primary objective. Then take the next most important part. The shape design is much more important than the value structure, the values and lighting are more important than the colors, the colors are more important than getting the little buckles and skeleton teeth rendered meticulously.
I hope all this helps, and I'd also like to say that if you ever have any questions or wish to receive any crits, feel free to shoot me an email or msg me on aim or gtalk. I'm usually around.