ABANDONED HIDEOUT

[Jeso]

Hey Jyonny, cool stuff man, I suggest you get yourself a 6b pencil, so you can really dig in those darks. Full value range is key for successful still life. And.. yea..

Yo guys... so here is a new comp i came up with.. what do you think?

[Jeso]

Paul, Its more like a pin up 'a la Cryptids' thing.. like.. just looking cool, kinda image.

[Amit Dutta]

Hey Jeso, I have a similar feeling to Paul. I think what might help is a look back to what you are trying to emulate! Ie LOTC cards. In all of their cards, when there is more than one character in it, they always relate to eachother and the environment in an obvious way with narrative. Even the pinup style singles, are "cool" poses but all elements suggest some story with the setting, the pose, the expression.

Check these out. I challenge you to find one card with two or more characters where it is just a cool pose for the sake of it with no narrative shown directly or implied behind it. It will be hard.
https://www.google.co.nz/searchq=legend+...CAgQ_AUoAQ

I would suggest that two characters in a dark forest would not just be striking a battle pose for no reason. Give them enemies, or make the setting as dynamic to suggest there will be a battle going on. (I even saw one card just like that, and it worked). Think about your POV and how it helps the narrative, why do we feel like the viewer is hiding behind a tree in the bushes, again diminishing the immediacy of any action? Narrative and context is more important than "cool" factor, for illustration. With concepts you can get away with cool for cools's sake. It could be as simple as just adding a ring of enemies surrounding them or some such thing.

[Jeso]

Amit, challenge, accepted, done over 3 times, and it didnt take long. These 3, and pretty much 90% of the single character cryptid cards do this. I appreciate the tips, and i completely agree, but sometimes cards are made, with illustrations that look cool for cool's sake. And the other thing is that i've been trapped in this illustration for 3 weeks, and i havent gotten past sketch, now you have to know this is for a class, this aint a free time project haha, i need to do this already, period or i'll get a big fat 'F'

But i really appreciate it Amit, and you can count on me not making this shitty mistake again.

thanks Amit and Thanks Paul, you guys rock.

Here are the 3 i found.

---

So a the end, i took the branch out, and i decided to go with this. I just gotta move forward with what i have, and make the best of it.

[Amit Dutta]

ha, maybe that explains why I don't like most of the uber render posed cryptids artwork. It's just so much bling for bling's sake, but they are only to give a visual cue to deeper content in the game, so perhaps they totally hit that mark.There are some amazing pieces in there too of course, but yeah a lot just isn't to my preference.

Anyway one thing I will say is that even in those comps you pulled out, look at the POVs and the dynamic composition and movement. The characters are still involved in the middle of some action, most aren't just full body just standing there looking like they are striking a pose.
And that is the thing with yours I guess, is that it's the looking like they are striking a pose, rather than being in a pose as a result of some continuous action. It's gesture and weight and movement that goes into that that seems at odds with the whole thing.
In that last piece (which is the weakest piece imo) the background or other elements/scarves and whatnot flying about are used to drive movement into the quite boring 'strike a pose' feel.

I guess for me the important bit is how you add actual character to your emmm characters, using all of that stuff, rather than blinging out a pinup pose, and that might come in the render.
In the end you have to do what your gut is telling you and achieve what you need to deliver, that's all that matters. :)
Good luck on the next stages and save up the learnings for the next go around!

[JyonnyNovice]

Jeso On top of what Amit said, all those cards you posted are cropped too. You could shift around the little guy and overlap him higher and crop it all from the waist up, might make more of the look of the cards.


Some more of my still life challenge, thx for the comments before, trying to do all those things - trying to get darker tones with 6B / 8B and focus on the lightest / darkest areas. Getting a little better, maybe.

[Jeso]

Jyonny, didnt say i wanted to ref those cards, those are just to answer Amit's challenge of finding a cryptids card with characters posing just for the hell of it. Like i said, i cant dwell on sketch face anymore, i have a deadline. But thanks for the suggestion.

[JyonnyNovice]

Sorry dude, was late at night when I posted that! Didn't articulate very well. Good luck with your assignment anyways!

[Caisne]

Know what, I also feel that Cryptids cards arent done for an artists, but to sell for broad range of consumers - regular people. People are so spoiled with photos that they treat a hyper rendered and overdetailed look as the biggest achivement in art. "OH FUCK ITS JUST LIKE PHOTO DUDE, LOOK"

[Caisne]

I know I say it all the time but it took forever, more then a month (((

[KurtJeremy]

howdy guys, im new here. it seems like a likely place to stay , Abandoned Hideout.
need to be surrounded with the good guys. heres my contribution for today



@Caisne wow its finally finished. its awesome dude!

[Jeso]

Thats pretty cool Caisne, sweet colors, how come it takes you that long?

[JyonnyNovice]

Caisne Looks great! I remember when it was just a circle ^^

Foxfire Welcome to the hideout! Figure is looking nice, drapery is really loose, pose / gesture is nice and flowing and the hair looks really convincing. Over rendered her scapula / upper back a bit I think - lower half is nice and healthy looking but up top she is too bony and anorexic looking. Great job ^^


My still life from today. They don't look too bad on paper but when I scan them every little mistake seems to get highlighted. Anyway, I keep trying~

[Caisne]

@foxfire1345 Welcome! You did a good job, the figure holds together, proportions are seems to be right, but you should think about focus, even in the figure studies like this, Right now the all image is pretty loose and eye tent to wander around without nothing to be hooked by.

@JyonnyNovice That is way better man! Know what, try to look for some hatching techniques, study them and apply to your work.

[Hobitt]

Thinking about doing studies and then trying to do pieces or something , im not really sure how to finish a piece....

[JyonnyNovice]

Caisne Thanks! I tried some hatching today, need to work on it a bit more (story of my life XD)

Hobitt Welcome to the hideout! I'm not exactly good at finishing things myself, but I'd say start with thumbnails, and keep hammering them out til you get one you are super stoked with - even if it takes a week. Get something really great that you really want to finish - not just for the sake of finishing something. For me, if I'm even a little unsure with the basis, I always end up giving up halfway through the illustration. Good luck!


My last day of (self imposed) still life challenge. Struggled to make the overlaps read, then resorted to the heavy line weight on the leaves which kind of killed the look I'd been carefully building up, so ended up just messing around experimenting with the background then called it a day. I'll do some more of these in a few weeks time.

[Hobitt]

@JyonnyNovice
Thanks!
And with the still life i would advice to make sure to think about the light source also assign base values to each object so they will have different value ranges, and take your time shading slowly build up values, pencils can be tricky ,never press hard with it! And try to follow the form of the object.

[Caisne]

Study from the morning stream

[Jeso]

Hey Caisne, what does the 4,15 stand for? 4 hr 15 min?

[Caisne]

no tahts apr 2015