The Fancy Bastard Forum

i loooooooove the fingers on fire!

I've only got a few minor things to say, but on the whole, I like where this is going.

The sides feel empty. I know focus is supposed to be in the middle, but it feels like there needs to be goings on. Groupies, maybe? Also on fire?

Under his chin and below the hat I see a bit of a shadow, which makes it look like a cutout, and is neat-lookin', and I wish that look had been carried out through the rest.

But again, I like this piece, and the style you seem to be developing with it.

(And sorry if I came off as a prick; going to a mediocre art school jaded me. :-/)

I guess the first thing that comes to mind is that you need to be bolder with the shading and texture. There's a lot of potential for more detail here, especially on the lake and the rocks. Don't rely entirely on PS filters and brushes for that job; the style you are going for here will benefit most from taking the time to fill in pools of shadow and highlights for the shapes of faces and crags in the rocks, and painting in the reflections on the water.

Re. Eddie's comment:

The sides feel empty. I know focus is supposed to be in the middle, but it feels like there needs to be goings on. Groupies, maybe? Also on fire?

There's ways to do this such that one doesn't need anything extra, but it may involve placing the character to the side or going for a different camera angle and letting the scenery be the "goings on". I think as far as a character portrait goes, this layout is alright. Possibly the character himself needs to be more dynamic, like really getting into the music instead of smiling at the camera.

Other things:

I like the railing, but I think it needs to be either slightly higher or slightly lower than the level of water in the lake, to help along the illusion of perspective.

You might also consider changing the guy's shirt to a different color, or at least a different shade of green. Having it the same shade of green as the guitar takes some of the focus away from the awesomeness of a shamrock guitar, because the shamrock shape doesn't immediately pop out at you.

Posted By: jacob666i loooooooove the fingers on fire!songs to sleep to

Thank you, he's a big guitar hero fan.

Posted By: EddieI've only got a few minor things to say, but on the whole, I like where this is going.

The sides feel empty. I know focus is supposed to be in the middle, but it feels like there needs to be goings on. Groupies, maybe?

Possibly, I've got an idea to work on.

Also on fire?

Que?

Under his chin and below the hat I see a bit of a shadow, which makes it look like a cutout, and is neat-lookin', and I wish that look had been carried out through the rest.

But again, I like this piece, and the style you seem to be developing with it.

Thanks for the feedback. I don't like the way the character turned out, it does look like a cutout, but I wanted a more natural depth, which is what I tried to do with the darker brush around the body. Do you have any suggestions on how to create depth, like a tutorial or pratice method?

(And sorry if I came off as a prick; going to a mediocre art school jaded me. :-/)

Don't worry, you didn't come off as one. I appreciate all the suggestions you've given me, and I'll try to implement them ASAP. This is only a hobby of mine, so it might not be right away.

Posted By: TindomielI guess the first thing that comes to mind is that you need to be bolder with the shading and texture. There's a lot of potential for more detail here, especially on the lake and the rocks. Don't rely entirely on PS filters and brushes for that job; the style you are going for here will benefit most from taking the time to fill in pools of shadow and highlights for the shapes of faces and crags in the rocks, and painting in the reflections on the water.

So I should go back and diversify the textures? Should I use another Brush or what tools do you suggest?

Re. Eddie's comment:

The sides feel empty. I know focus is supposed to be in the middle, but it feels like there needs to be goings on. Groupies, maybe? Also on fire?

There's ways to do this such that one doesn't need anything extra, but it may involve placing the character to the side or going for a different camera angle and letting the scenery be the "goings on". I think as far as a character portrait goes, this layout is alright. Possibly the character himself needs to be more dynamic, like really getting into the music instead of smiling at the camera.

I think I'm going to redo his face, I was trying to get him looking down at his guitar ala Santana or Hendrix, but I didn't know how to do it so I scrapped the concept. I think if I work with Depth and mimicking perspective, I could get the concept down.

Other things:

I like the railing, but I think it needs to be either slightly higher or slightly lower than the level of water in the lake, to help along the illusion of perspective.

Yeah, I'll do that, hopefully it will look better that way.

You might also consider changing the guy's shirt to a different color, or at least a different shade of green. Having it the same shade of green as the guitar takes some of the focus away from the awesomeness of a shamrock guitar, because the shamrock shape doesn't immediately pop out at you.

Yeah, I had another friend tell me near the exact same thing.

QUICK PLEA FOR HELP: Do you guys have any suggestions on how to learn Depth/Perspective/Shading/creating realistic art? That's always been an issue everytime I try to create art, I never was taught perspective, or at least never understood the theory behind it, so I always got frustrated and abandoned the project.

Thanks for all the feedback!

QUICK PLEA FOR HELP: Do you guys have any suggestions on how to learn Depth/Perspective/Shading/creating realistic art? That's always been an issue everytime I try to create art, I never was taught perspective, or at least never understood the theory behind it, so I always got frustrated and abandoned the project.

Foreshortening is a great place to start. It's the idea of drawing a 3D plain on a 2D sheet of paper/ screen. It's closely linked to perspective but I learned it first so... I just learned it first. Whatever.

A quick Google turned up this basic tutorial http://community.livejournal.com/glockart/25477.html

Try this: draw a top down version of a room with a few items in it. You have a square or rectangle, then the tops of a plant, a couch and a robot. Now tilt that room at an angle in your head. Draw the same objects in the same location but this time from an angled side view. You know where each item is in spacial relation from the top down reference. See if you can translate that in your new drawing.

Regarding your current piece of art, one bit of advice. Take the critiques and suggestions you get and try to apply them to this SAME piece and see what version two looks like. But after that second attempt, move on and try to apply your refined techniques on a new piece. Dont keep editing the same one over and over. Just speaking from experience.

Good work and keeping posting your progress.

So I should go back and diversify the textures? Should I use another Brush or what tools do you suggest?

Treat the rocks not as a solid mass to be textured upon, but as a collection of three-dimensional shapes that each need to be shaded appropriately. I'm not familiar with your source for the image, but I think if you study it you will find that the rocks have dozens, if not hundreds, of facets, some in light and some in shadow. You can do this with the same brush you used to shade the character in the foreground.

The hardest part of learning to draw is the "unlearning"--getting away from the mindset of what an object signifies and thinking instead in terms of the object's shape, shading, and colors. I'm self-taught too, and I learned from all the old-school how-to-draw guys. My first drawing book was Jon Gnagy's "How to Draw" book that came with an art set. That was a surprisingly effective tutorial for the basics. I highly recommend every book Jack Hamm ever did on drawing anything, ever--landscapes, animals, people, etc. His books have been helping me for years, and will keep helping me for many years; pros still use them as a quick reference. Also, they're some of the cheapest art instruction books around.

One of the reasons I started drawing was a show that came on before school called "Commander Mark's Drawing Club" or something like that. It was really a fantastic show for kids just starting with art. He taught me how to draw 3D shapes and about perspective and such. I owe the Commander a great deal. If I ever meet him, he gets a hug.

Here's some of my stuff... say what you will. I know most of you haven't been in my dA page where you can find these but thought to give you something ;)







enjoy - if you must ;)

Great job Jarmo, they're very well done!

Posted By: Locke Cole117Great job Jarmo, they're very well done!

Thanks man.

Scheisse... I just realized that this was your thread .. I just read it so quickly that I thought it would be for all art people wanna post :D sorry dude...

Posted By: Jarmo

Posted By: Locke Cole117Great job Jarmo, they're very well done!

Thanks man.

Scheisse... I just realized that this was your thread .. I just read it so quickly that I thought it would be for all art people wanna post :D sorry dude...My deviantArt|FINN-STRIP webcomic

Ha ha, it's fine man. I don't mind. Your style fits what I feel older comics look like (I don't read comics, sadly).

Hopefully I'll have some new stuff to show soon, but don't think you were stealing my thread, I don't mind :P.

Well I'm not at all qualified to critique art, but it really looks like you've done a great job of channeling some classic comic inkers. Are those originals or reproductions of previous artwork? Either way they're great, but if they're reproductions I'd be interested to see how you translate that style to new art.

Well, I made another piece of art, this time for HolyMustang65's (Who never posts, even though he was approved on the podcast!) iPod touch.

Time: 3.5 hours
Tools: Sketch, Photoshop CS3
Notes: I really like how this piece turned out. I tried to create this in the "One run through" method, where I didn't erase many of my mistakes. The Graffiti was fun to do, and fit the whole "Rock is Freedom" theme I was working with. I don't think the Barbed wire turned out well at all, but oh well. The entire thing was meant to look like the Berlin Wall, I hope it does the scene justice. The sunset also turned out better than I expected.