Taylor's Finished Works 2014 -2015

[Einver]

Hey Daggers Family <3.

I figure it's time to gather some feedback on what I consider 'finished'.

To let you know a bit about my goals when giving feedback, I'm aiming to hit artistic aesthetics that are loose, yet finished. Kind of like Jaime Jones or many of the 19th century masters. I've got a HUGE love for Japanese and Korean character design too, but I haven't really implemented much of that yet.

For career goals, I want to work for MTG and Applibot-- though I also want to break into fine art in the next 3-4 years.

As far as subject matter and fundamentals go I'm shooting for:

- More figures in the compositions
- More dynamism and action
- Greater narrative and emotion
- Better interiors and more object-populated/believable scenes.

Anyway, fire away! This is the best I have right now.

[Amit Dutta]

Hey Taylor, didn't know you were a dagger. Some nice stuff I haven't seen from before on your site.

I like the range of styles you showcase. I think there are still some anatomy/proportion/action issues to some of your character work.

I wish you numbered them so it was easier to refer to, but hopefully you know what I'm talking about.

The most successful ones I feel are the girl with the goggles and fire hands and the skull warrior dude, for that looser style.

The little green orc girl is cool for the tighter style. There is a lot of demand for this kinda stuff in mobile games from what I have seen. Should have no issues finding work with that.

I really like the muted pallete mid torso portraits of the girl in the hood and the girl with the ufo in the background. I feel like they could be part of the same world and could be a cool little webcomic or something. There is a more unique tinge to these than some of your other character stuff which is a bit more generic (the knight, the horned lady, the harlequin, the two dude's fighting) The ufo girl's left hand is a bit off. Nice lighting and general feel.

Love the tree fight sketch, but the blue dude is really stiff with proportion and/or foreshortening issues and drapery is not convincing. A really cool piece otherwise.

The large dragon, not the flying one, is awesome. Real nice lighting and textural work there!
The flying one is rendered well but I don't think the chromatic aberration effect is doing it any favours. The anatomy and twist to the dragon torso is not that believable to me. How does it walk on the ground with those hind legs and those forelegs? The wing material itself really needs more work and it doesn't really look organic at all.

In all your pieces you don't handle drapery and especially drapery in motion very convincingly. Probably need some study and rework there.
The final knight guy is rendered well enough (though perhaps those shoulder plates stick out a bit too much) but I just find it a little bit empty or generic, and that drapery....

I would say the pieces that shouldn't go into your folio are the horned lady with the glowing hand (a few too many issues with it) and maybe the harlequin girl (more a personal preference with the design treatment even though it is rendered fairly well)

All these things are technical and relatively nitpicky, but they were things I noticed in a quick scan. I think for Applibot you probably have to show them no issues in fundamentals and at least one really mindblowing piece of card art. That said, why not just apply if you haven't already and see what happens? I personally got a big nothing from MTG so far, not even sure I would bother with applibot because I don't dig their generally crazy uber render thing.

Hope that helps and that you are ready for LA! :)

[Einver]

Hey Taylor, didn't know you were a dagger. Some nice stuff I haven't seen from before on your site.

I like the range of styles you showcase. I think there are still some anatomy/proportion/action issues to some of your character work.

I wish you numbered them so it was easier to refer to, but hopefully you know what I'm talking about.

The most successful ones I feel are the girl with the goggles and fire hands and the skull warrior dude, for that looser style.

The little green orc girl is cool for the tighter style. There is a lot of demand for this kinda stuff in mobile games from what I have seen. Should have no issues finding work with that.

I really like the muted pallete mid torso portraits of the girl in the hood and the girl with the ufo in the background. I feel like they could be part of the same world and could be a cool little webcomic or something. There is a more unique tinge to these than some of your other character stuff which is a bit more generic (the knight, the horned lady, the harlequin, the two dude's fighting) The ufo girl's left hand is a bit off. Nice lighting and general feel.

Love the tree fight sketch, but the blue dude is really stiff with proportion and/or foreshortening issues and drapery is not convincing. A really cool piece otherwise.

The large dragon, not the flying one, is awesome. Real nice lighting and textural work there!
The flying one is rendered well but I don't think the chromatic aberration effect is doing it any favours. The anatomy and twist to the dragon torso is not that believable to me. How does it walk on the ground with those hind legs and those forelegs? The wing material itself really needs more work and it doesn't really look organic at all.

In all your pieces you don't handle drapery and especially drapery in motion very convincingly. Probably need some study and rework there.
The final knight guy is rendered well enough (though perhaps those shoulder plates stick out a bit too much) but I just find it a little bit empty or generic, and that drapery....

I would say the pieces that shouldn't go into your folio are the horned lady with the glowing hand (a few too many issues with it) and maybe the harlequin girl (more a personal preference with the design treatment even though it is rendered fairly well)

All these things are technical and relatively nitpicky, but they were things I noticed in a quick scan. I think for Applibot you probably have to show them no issues in fundamentals and at least one really mindblowing piece of card art. That said, why not just apply if you haven't already and see what happens? I personally got a big nothing from MTG so far, not even sure I would bother with applibot because I don't dig their generally crazy uber render thing.

Hope that helps and that you are ready for LA! :)

Thanks, Amit! This is incredulously helpful, even though it almost stung a bit :P. I was having sort of a slump before reading this, but I feel like the fire is coming back.

Drapery, Anatomy, Dynamism, Posing, and Design (uniqueness).

Lot's of D's to worry about, lmao.

Anyway, I'm very, VERY appreciative. I can now work to correct these issues and ascend to a higher plane of artistic prowess.

I'm definitely ready for LA-- been looking forward to it for months. See you soon, man!

[Amit Dutta]

Ha, yeah mate, I don't mince the crit, but I do try and be as constructive as possible! Glad it was useful. Catch ya soon!