OK I'll bite the bullet: First critique!

TordelBack · 27 July, 2009, 09:54:22 PM

QuoteWe bought four fresh water crabs for my youngest ( who's 8 ) and they live in a tank* in the kitchen...

Oh god no, not the crabs. We had two in our aquarium once. Then one vanished. Then there was a strange smell which wouldn't go away. Then we found the missing crab, very dead, very under a bookcase. Then we woke one night to find the cat chasing the remaining one round the living room. Then we gave up keeping crabs.

Unfortunatley we replaced them with an axolotl, the most hideous creature that ever lived.

Dog Deever · 27 July, 2009, 09:59:57 PM

I'm nae expert either- but I think her right shoulder is a little too long and her right breast a little too large. We're looking at the body 3/4 on and the foreshortening across it should make that shoulder and breast appear smaller than they are. Only a little tweak though.
I think the face thing might be that the mouth is at a slightly different angle from the eyes. Again, only a little tweak.
The chin could pare down a little to make her more feminine too, but again it's only a little tweak.

I hope someone is popping that Hurley pic into the underware thread as I type...

Mike Gloady · 27 July, 2009, 10:23:32 PM

Quote from: LARF on 27 July, 2009, 09:41:56 PM
a glass one not a Sherman that fires bullets

Shame. Give the little blighters a bit of fun I say. And it'd keep everyone on their toes.

Reading back my last post it felt overly negative and po-faced, not my intention at all - so let me reiterate the positive. Cracking illustration, very much in the spirit of the character (which is probably the hardest thing to do) and I totally got what you were going for with the eyes. I look forward to your next one.

The huge amount of talented people here is humbling and being the first out of the box took some sand. Well done Larf.

uncle fester · 30 July, 2009, 02:53:04 PM

So Larf, what is your view on the various critiques that have been posted up? Have they helped you? Have they inspired you to tweak your image? Have we just got the wrong end of the stick and misunderstood your intentions? Have you just been reduced to a gibbering wreck, vowing to never post any artwork anywhere ever again?

Or are you just back in your laboratory shouting "Fools! I'll destroy them all!"

Do tell

The Legendary Shark · 30 July, 2009, 03:48:03 PM

One of the things I find hard about drawing on my Wacom is the inability to turn the paper as one can with an actual physical piece of paper.

I once downloaded a trial of Corel Painter which actually allows you to turn your workspace as if it was a piece of paper, which stops all that weird Twister-type hunching you have to to. (I don't know about more modern versions of Photoshop, which may now also have this facility.)

I did a quick Google and you can download a trial of Paniter from here: http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite/us/en/Product/1166553885783

Emperor · 30 July, 2009, 04:17:44 PM

Quote from: the_legendary_shark on 30 July, 2009, 03:48:03 PM
One of the things I find hard about drawing on my Wacom is the inability to turn the paper as one can with an actual physical piece of paper.

I once downloaded a trial of Corel Painter which actually allows you to turn your workspace as if it was a piece of paper, which stops all that weird Twister-type hunching you have to to. (I don't know about more modern versions of Photoshop, which may now also have this facility.)

I did a quick Google and you can download a trial of Paniter from here: http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite/us/en/Product/1166553885783

Most graphics packages should allow you to rotate the canvas you are working on.

Jim_Campbell · 30 July, 2009, 04:26:22 PM

Quote from: the_legendary_shark on 30 July, 2009, 03:48:03 PM
One of the things I find hard about drawing on my Wacom is the inability to turn the paper as one can with an actual physical piece of paper.

I find Painter's interface really unhelpful, though. I'm currently developing big love -- as mentioned elsewhere -- for Manga Studio as an inking tool -- this lets you turn the canvas as you work, too.

The full version is quite expensive, but the 'Debut' version is a steal at less than £50. I think the features you sacrifice for the cheap version are primarily in the areas of colouring and lettering, both of which I would do in Illustrator and Photoshop respectively anyway, so no great loss as far as I'm concerned. Inking, however, feels a lot like actual inking and I'm thoroughly enjoying it. Both the Mechanismo and Inspectre pieces were inked with it, as was this:

and this:

Cheers!

Jim

uncle fester · 30 July, 2009, 04:54:08 PM

Jim... how long did that Hellboy take to ink...? (Apart from it being excellent, by the way

)

TordelBack · 30 July, 2009, 05:26:07 PM

I've said it before, SMS has come back to us at last!

Emperor · 30 July, 2009, 08:05:59 PM

I caught that Hellboy on your deviantArt page - very nice indeed. I like the lighter inking on the background which makes the foreground stand out.

Jim_Campbell · 30 July, 2009, 09:40:07 PM

Quote from: uncle fester on 30 July, 2009, 04:54:08 PM
Jim... how long did that Hellboy take to ink...? (Apart from it being excellent, by the way )

Thanks for the kind words, folks -- and apologies to LARF for the unintentional thread hijack.

I can't say with any confidence how long it took to ink, because I did it in dribs and drabs across several days. Not that long, I think, because I've separated out the inking onto separate layers which lets you attack the task with quite a lot of confidence. (Which is unusual for me ...)

Cheers

Jim

Jim_Campbell · 30 July, 2009, 10:00:37 PM

Sorry about the errant tag above!

QuoteMost graphics packages should allow you to rotate the canvas you are working on.

Illustrator still doesn't even in CS4, and I believe that although Photoshop does in CS4, it doesn't in earlier versions, and the display is prone to jaggies as soon as you rotate it off a 90° increment.

Cheers

Jim

Peter Wolf · 30 July, 2009, 10:36:10 PM

I liked the Hellboy piece the second i saw it .Not sure exactly if it was to be subjected to criticism or not but his left arm that is holding the revolver looks a bit on the thin side at the wrist especially and needs to be beefed up a bit.

Apologies but its just something that i noticed.

Jim_Campbell · 30 July, 2009, 10:54:48 PM

Quote from: peterwolf on 30 July, 2009, 10:36:10 PM
Apologies but its just something that i noticed.

Cheez -- don't apologize! I want feedback. However, Hellboy's a right scrawny bastard in the comics, PW. They beefed him up for the movies ...

It's actually his other arm that bugs me, basically because that bloomin' great hand of his buggers up the perspective something rotten. I actually drew his right arm with a normal hand and then put the big stone mitt on afterwards, which immediately doubles the effect of the foreshortening and makes his arm look like its eight feet long!

Cheers

Jim

Peter Wolf · 11 August, 2009, 03:34:20 PM

I did this quickly last night and i am looking for criticism as there is something not quite right about it but i am not sure exactly what.