(01-09-2018, 08:33 AM)Artloader Wrote: @Darktiste: Useful crits dude, I need to remember to avoid tangents, I seem to be blind to them at the moment, they just sneak up and slap me round the face before I know it!
I've started working on my next book cover. This one is set in the future where human augmentation is the norm. The protagonist is a woman who is much older than she looks because she has had a lot of work done on her. She is not superhuman, but she is a lot fitter than the average person. She is leading a young man up a mountain.
I've put together some thumbnails, any feedback or ideas would be appreciated thanks:
I like thumbnail 9 best, for the record.
Also, I love the turtles. Definitely do more animals like that!
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The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.
-Chinese proverb
I've been told that I'm crappy with textures, so I sadly can't comment much.
Try to search the web about the topic more, there's no shortage of tuto's done by pro's
@Tygerson: Hey there Tygerson :) yeah 9 is my favourite as well - thanks for the feedback. I love doing animal sketches and will definitely being doing more of them!
@Hirvios: Thanks for dropping by dude, yeah there's got to be some good info out there on textures - you're right. I found a great one by Anthony Jones a few years ago called "Painting Like a Sculptor" where he uses a big round brush and does cross-hatching - gives a really nice textured effect.
Brushing up on my human figures for this current book cover:
“Today, give a stranger one of your smiles. It might be the only sunshine he sees all day.” -- H. Jackson Brown Jr.
Looking good! The studies paid off. You might make her a little higher in the frame, or larger. Her eyes fall somewhat below the rule of thirds line, so she's dropping out of the frame a bit.
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The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.
-Chinese proverb
Phew - life gets busy sometimes - haven't had much time for art over the past few weeks but hopefully I'll get back into the groove soon.
@Tygerson: Thanks - great spot with the rule of thirds - I tried just to eyeball it but I just measured it now and you are spot on - thanks I'll maybe make her larger so that she has more focus since she is the main protagonist.
Did this female face painting study to help me unwind from the business of life. I think I need to get better at rendering hair - it's a bit messy don't you think?
“Today, give a stranger one of your smiles. It might be the only sunshine he sees all day.” -- H. Jackson Brown Jr.
I feel like you had the right idea in constructing the forms of the face, but maybe some of the sense of planes was lost in the painting process. I think some transitions might need to be smoother, like the light on her cheek. Maybe a check in grayscale would help, looking carefully where light transitions to dark. Is it sharp, gradual, or just a line of light?
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The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.
-Chinese proverb
Value across the form: the hair overall looks a little flat and you don't really get the roundness of the head coming through. Might help to do a quick basic underpainting to nail the larger value transition across the form before building up the sections of hair and then the individual strands.
Edges: The hair line and outer edge of the hair should be much softer if your going for something more realistic. Same with the eyebrows too. just softening these parts and and layering some soft individual stands could make quite a big difference.
design: The shapes and flow of the larger sections of get lost among the individual stands you've added (and among some of the harsher value transitions), which is creating that more random messy look. designing the larger shapes/sections of hair (or more accurately copying them) and making sure the smaller stands of hair follow their shape and flow could really clean things up. than the fly away/ random stand can alway be added later
@Tygerson: Yep, thanks for the honest feedback about the light transitions - I'll pay a bit more attention in future. Also, I took your advice about the positioning of the woman's head in the book cover piece - hopefully it obeys the rule of thirds a bit better now - thanks :).
@Joe: Awesome tips about hair mate - tried to apply some of this to the book cover piece I'm working on.
So here is that book cover piece - still a work in progress crits most welcome:
“Today, give a stranger one of your smiles. It might be the only sunshine he sees all day.” -- H. Jackson Brown Jr.
I made a big change to my process this time - trying to work in shape instead of in line.
I was a bit worried that when working in shape, I would forget to construct in 3D but after some practice I could still use my drawabox.com skills with shape painting.
“Today, give a stranger one of your smiles. It might be the only sunshine he sees all day.” -- H. Jackson Brown Jr.
I really like the form studies you had done!
the turtles in particular look really well. Nice lines and sense of 3dimensionality.
For your latest piece I would say the man's face looks a but odd. Like the cranium is smaller than the face. And the jaw is a bit too wide. Maybe looking for reference in the same pose could help out a lot!
The lighting is looking very interesting.
Looking forward to the rest!
@VoodooMama: Thank you so much for the great crit! That face definitely looks off and you're right, I failed to reference it which was a bit sloppy. I've moved on from that piece now but will bear your comments in mind for the future.
The next book cover involves a spaceship so I've been coming up with some designs. The space ship is supposed to transport 60 cryogenically preserved humans to colonize the far reaches of space, any thoughts would be most welcome.
The protrusions at the front are supposed to be ramscoops for collecting space hydrogen to power the ship.
“Today, give a stranger one of your smiles. It might be the only sunshine he sees all day.” -- H. Jackson Brown Jr.
hey bro, ran some rythms on your portrait and i found some things could be adjusted. The lips were off center, the cranium could use some more mass, the ear needs fixin, and the way you drew the nose it seems to cave in near the crest of the brow, which is a common mistake in seeing that perspective. also made the neck a little more elegant and gestural, and try to simplify that light you had above your brow in shadow, its like you had 2 eyebrows but i imagine you were trying to depict some light shining on that area of the brow ridge, could be wrong tho!
Hey Fedodika :).
Thanks for taking the time my friend. Great call to use the Reilly Rythmns! That bridge of the nose thing was a particularly good spot, thanks.
“Today, give a stranger one of your smiles. It might be the only sunshine he sees all day.” -- H. Jackson Brown Jr.
Have you checked out ctrl paint? The guy is really great with starting from the foundations and basically his philosophy is that all forms in drawing and sculpture start with basic shapes. Thinking like that really helped me.
