Official Critique Topic

[Purple]

AWYP....

I wanna do it!

Neon ness is that supposed to be bbhood or just regular lite red robin hood?

I planned on doing nothing today, so nothing got done today, but i will do some anatomy sketches soon!^_^

 

[Chronodiver Lokii]

Another AWYP would be fun! Much needed motivation IMO : P

Can't wait to see your sketches! Anatomy drawing and life drawing are two VERY important aspects of improving!

 

[Purple]

Also colors.

I'm totally going to learn colors, as of right now I plan to never use scroll the color swatches down a little bit for better shading -____-. I want every color I choose to have a legitimate reason.

 

[Chronodiver Lokii]

Color theory. A person's best friend.

Just search various color schemes and whatnot.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_scheme

Read the definitions for the various schemes. Since we studied em in color theory, my thoughts on coloring have gotten a lot better

 

[DuckPimp]

for the skypes: soopaface

 

[Neon Ness]

Alright, just so we're straight, this thread's for critiquing artwork, but the last several posts have been veering offtopic.

I'm pretty sure I said this already but one liners with your Skype ID don't belong here.

If you want to discuss holding another AWYP contact me or Virgilijus and we'll iron out the details with you.

More importantly, less "I'm going to post soon!" and more actual art being posted lol. Otherwise it's getting into the idle banter territory. We should either be posting work or responding to work directly in the Crit Topic.

Recommending sites like posemaniacs or tips about color theory are on topic, but they're better suited for when people ask questions in the Tutorial/Q&A Thread. It's fine if you're including such questions/recommendations with your work/critique, but they shouldn't be posts in and of themselves here.

 

[Master Ppv]

Just thought I'd ask before I post my stuff... Would photography be OK with you guys? I know we used to have some in this thread but I haven't seen any for a while so I wasn't sure and I wanted to make sure before I posted anything.

 

[Neon Ness]

Photography is fine.

 

[Master Ppv]

Awesome

Here are a few... Let me know what you guys think! They're from either late last year or really early this year I don't remember but anyway they're a little old. Still thought they were decent though

Sized down for the forum.

#1

Spoiler

#2

Spoiler

 

[Chronodiver Lokii]

...Woah.
Me gusta.
How did you get the fire to go FWOOOSH in the first picture???

 

[Master Ppv]

Aerosol can + candle + slightly slower shutter speed =

 

[ZIO]

Plus many layers and what have you? Still. very well masterfully blended within the picture.

Much appreciation. The fire pic is one of few I have seen in AE that has been . . . well, inspirational, imo.

Not knocking the rest. Just some times there's one piece that really touches a person. And that one in particular does quite a job for me.


I wish I could do more with my DSLR.


Also: Skype = I think it's Zio Zyrr

But, like, I don't go up there often. Oh well. Find me, and I'll let you know if it's me.

 

[Master Ppv]

Plus many layers and what have you? Still. very well masterfully blended within the picture.

Much appreciation. The fire pic is one of few I have seen in AE that has been . . . well, inspirational, imo.

Not knocking the rest. Just some times there's one piece that really touches a person. And that one in particular does quite a job for me.


I wish I could do more with my DSLR.


Also: Skype = I think it's Zio Zyrr

But, like, I don't go up there often. Oh well. Find me, and I'll let you know if it's me.

Thanks! I'm glad it made an impression on you!

I'm not sure what you meant by your first line though... Can you clarify?

Also, since people seem to like the fire one, here's another one from that shoot:

Spoiler

Hope you like it

 

[Neon Ness]

I'm not sure what you meant by your first line though... Can you clarify?

I think he was making a joke implying that you used Photoshop to make it lol

How'd you get the background completely blacked out like that? Seems like if there's that much light being given off we would at least see the wall in the background or something. It's kind of eerie how it's just pitch black back there. I'm with Lokii though, I like the fwooosh.

I also liked the piece with the bird silhouette. I don't necessarily understand it, but for whatever reason I like looking at it more than some other grayscale photography I've seen. It's cool how you toyed around with the shadows.

 

[Master Ppv]

I think he was making a joke implying that you used Photoshop to make it lol

How'd you get the background completely blacked out like that? Seems like if there's that much light being given off we would at least see the wall in the background or something. It's kind of eerie how it's just pitch black back there. I'm with Lokii though, I like the fwooosh.

I also liked the piece with the bird silhouette. I don't necessarily understand it, but for whatever reason I like looking at it more than some other grayscale photography I've seen. It's cool how you toyed around with the shadows.

Ah lol gotcha. There is some editing done on this, but not much. Actually, if you look to the right side you'll see a little blue light that I didn't realize got in the frame. That was the first fire shot of the shoot so yeah, there was a little bit of light that reflected off the walls and stuff but luckily just turning up the contrast a bit wiped that away. For the later shots the camera was positioned differently so that the walls were far enough away to not be hit by the temporary burst of light (and actually, candles aren't as bright on camera as they are to our eyes since cameras are nowhere near as sensitive). Also, it was repositioned in a way that the flames would cover up the blue light from the first shot. Check out the second fire picture I posted above and you'll see the difference.

I'm also glad you liked the other one. Don't worry, I didn't purposely put any secret meaning into it so it's fine if you didn't "understand" it, although I've had people try and come up with meanings which I thought was pretty cool. I just love the contrast and slight surrealness of it and I enjoyed the way the shadows looked so I'm glad you found that interesting as well

Last but not least, for anyone wondering about the upside down part of the fire images, that's not Photoshop, it was just sitting on a glass table lololol

 

[Geist]

Cool stuff Ppv, I'm on the boat with that fire, it's pretty sweet. The composition in the first one was better than the second one of it that you posted. It's got really good contrast too. I also like how much movement you captured, even with the entire shot so crisp. To be honest it makes it almost look like CG xD
Not too crazy about the bird one though, maybe because it's so obvious that the bird silhouette is artificial. A good gaussian blur or a motion blur would have given it much more depth and made it match the other shadow visually. Also it's kind of hard to tell what you're trying to get across in that pic. Maybe it's just me, but it's a bit confusing. Unless you were going for just a visual/compositional conceptualization of some sort. :0

Alright so here's the latest chapter in my ongoing struggle with color. I kind of braved it a bit and went balls deep. Last time I did a portrait I selected the color palette from a photo, so for this one I went right ahead and said screw it and picked everything off the top of my head. Like I completely drew and painted everything with absolutely zero reference whatsoever. Everything. For that reason I'm pretty happy with the result, because it shows a pretty accurate representation of how much I've improved in the past year and a half.

So pretty much this project was an application of everything I've studied the past while; lighting, color theory, composition, structure, anatomy, etc.

CRITIQUE ME
as hard as you can
I dont even care if you nitpick
Just say something
lol

Also: 4 hours of work
Also #2: Just fixed the bg because it sucks. Too lazy to upload. Will upload again here once I upload to DA later

 

[Master Ppv]

Cool stuff Ppv, I'm on the boat with that fire, it's pretty sweet. The composition in the first one was better than the second one of it that you posted. It's got really good contrast too. I also like how much movement you captured, even with the entire shot so crisp. To be honest it makes it almost look like CG xD
Not too crazy about the bird one though, maybe because it's so obvious that the bird silhouette is artificial. A good gaussian blur or a motion blur would have given it much more depth and made it match the other shadow visually. Also it's kind of hard to tell what you're trying to get across in that pic. Maybe it's just me, but it's a bit confusing. Unless you were going for just a visual/compositional conceptualization of some sort. :0

Alright so here's the latest chapter in my ongoing struggle with color. I kind of braved it a bit and went balls deep. Last time I did a portrait I selected the color palette from a photo, so for this one I went right ahead and said screw it and picked everything off the top of my head. Like I completely drew and painted everything with absolutely zero reference whatsoever. Everything. For that reason I'm pretty happy with the result, because it shows a pretty accurate representation of how much I've improved in the past year and a half.

So pretty much this project was an application of everything I've studied the past while; lighting, color theory, composition, structure, anatomy, etc.

CRITIQUE ME
as hard as you can
I dont even care if you nitpick
Just say something
lol

Also: 4 hours of work
Also #2: Just fixed the bg because it sucks. Too lazy to upload. Will upload again here once I upload to DA later

Thanks! Glad you liked the fire one as well

As for the bird, like I stated in my reply above to Neon Ness, I wasn't trying to convey a particular message or try to make the bird's shadow look real. I just found the scene very interesting. For some reason that I still can't quite put a finger on, it was just visually appealing to me, especially with the right kind of lighting giving it that high contrast look. I'm still not completely sure what about the scene fascinates me so much about it. Maybe the fact that it is indeed confusing if you're trying to find some underlying meaning in it... I just know that something about it caught me eye, and that's all I was trying to capture

As for your piece, there are only a few things I noticed that might be improved upon, probably because I'm not that well-acquainted digital art (aside from photography, of course). But anyway, here's what I did pick up:

1) Just above the eyebrow, there's a small spot that seems a bit brighter than its surroundings for no apparent reason.

2) Make the eyelashes and eyes more defined and a little more detailed. I don't know what exactly you're trying to make so I don't know if their current softness is purposeful or not, but in photography, when you're doing headshots, or even portraits in general, the eyes are probably the single most important thing in the entire image and it's almost always good to have them crisp, clear, and vibrant. Although like I said I do admit that I don't know if that's what you're going for or not.

3) The very slight purple-ish tint in her cheek kind of makes her cheek look a little... hollowed, I guess? With the small smile she seems to be giving, that just seems a little bit off since your cheeks usually inflate a little when you smile, even if only slightly.

 

[Geist]

Thanks for the critique man :D

As for your piece, there are only a few things I noticed that might be improved upon, probably because I'm not that well-acquainted digital art (aside from photography, of course). But anyway, here's what I did pick up:

1) Just above the eyebrow, there's a small spot that seems a bit brighter than its surroundings for no apparent reason.

Will fix

2) Make the eyelashes and eyes more defined and a little more detailed. I don't know what exactly you're trying to make so I don't know if their current softness is purposeful or not, but in photography, when you're doing headshots, or even portraits in general, the eyes are probably the single most important thing in the entire image and it's almost always good to have them crisp, clear, and vibrant. Although like I said I do admit that I don't know if that's what you're going for or not.

I was less focused on creating a hyper detailed rendering as I was going for a general aesthetic accuracy. It's funny because I'm absolutely obsessed with eyes and will bug anyone to the ends of the earth when they get it wrong (which is most people)
I wasn't too concerned with the eyebrows as long as the structure was sound and they showed proper translucency with color/lighting. I didn't have enough time to go all out with details like I've done in the past lol
I'll make sure to put a little more detail in them, but I don't want them distracting from the rest of the piece and be inconsistent either.

3) The very slight purple-ish tint in her cheek kind of makes her cheek look a little... hollowed, I guess? With the small smile she seems to be giving, that just seems a little bit off since your cheeks usually inflate a little when you smile, even if only slightly.

In a full smile the levator muscles most definitely would pull upwards and extend past the cheek bones, so you're totally right there. In her expression though, only the orbicularis around the sides of the mouth would be pulled back, which would only create dimples around the corners of her mouth and slightly push out the levator labii nasi outwards.
I feel like a super jerk correcting people's critiques, sorry lol
I actually have a laid out anatomical sketch of her: http://i724.photobucket.com/albums/ww246/19Deschain19/paintingwip01.jpg?t=1323125955

You are on to something with the cheekbone, but it's a color thing now that I look at it. I'm going to change the hue and lighten it up a bit so it doesn't give so much depth.
Thanks again

 

[Purple]

SOrry geist I don't particularly know what to say D:.

All I know is what immediately pops out is that the bottom lip feels a bit too puffy? That's literally -all- I have at this moment that i know that PPV hasn't already stated.

 

[Geist]

alright, well the final product is uploaded to DA here if anyone wants to see it. http://uninfinitum.deviantart.com/art/Personal-test-for-painting-skin-272568218

I took a bit of effort for everyone's critiques and it turned out much better imo. Thanks again :D

 

[Master Ppv]

Nice! Much better doesn't begin to describe Looks awesome man. Congratulations.

 

[Evil-Guy]

Cool stuff Ppv, I'm on the boat with that fire, it's pretty sweet. The composition in the first one was better than the second one of it that you posted. It's got really good contrast too. I also like how much movement you captured, even with the entire shot so crisp. To be honest it makes it almost look like CG xD
Not too crazy about the bird one though, maybe because it's so obvious that the bird silhouette is artificial. A good gaussian blur or a motion blur would have given it much more depth and made it match the other shadow visually. Also it's kind of hard to tell what you're trying to get across in that pic. Maybe it's just me, but it's a bit confusing. Unless you were going for just a visual/compositional conceptualization of some sort. :0

Alright so here's the latest chapter in my ongoing struggle with color. I kind of braved it a bit and went balls deep. Last time I did a portrait I selected the color palette from a photo, so for this one I went right ahead and said screw it and picked everything off the top of my head. Like I completely drew and painted everything with absolutely zero reference whatsoever. Everything. For that reason I'm pretty happy with the result, because it shows a pretty accurate representation of how much I've improved in the past year and a half.

So pretty much this project was an application of everything I've studied the past while; lighting, color theory, composition, structure, anatomy, etc.

CRITIQUE ME
as hard as you can
I dont even care if you nitpick
Just say something
lol

Also: 4 hours of work
Also #2: Just fixed the bg because it sucks. Too lazy to upload. Will upload again here once I upload to DA later

very neat improvement I see the underlying structure of the face but some features aren't as firm as I like it to be

 

[Geist]

CRITIQUE ME
etc

I like changing my style up hardcore-like all the time. So here's some of my styles.

Finisheddddd


Also I'm hyped like mad because we had someone from Pixar Canada here for my demo reel presentation and we were talking about apprenticeships.
So now my demo reel changed to take so much advantage of that ****
So I might work at Pixar
So much hype.

 

[Neon Ness]

Lol I love those facial expressions. I really like the variety in facial structure in the heads as well, I'm sure you could push that even further. The only thing is the lines seem 'shaky' or fragmented in some places. Like on the pirate kid's shoulder for instance I can see where you made 3 separate strokes instead of one smooth continuous line. The lines seem to flow better without interruption on the cowboy/that guy from The Road To El Dorado. Could just be a style/time thing though as it doesn't seem to be an issue in the 2nd painting.

The 2nd painting is really good as well, the subtle hue/value shift looks really good, and the cloak transitioning into the birds looks incredible. The only issue with this one is some minor parts of the composition, some parts give the impression that the canvas is a bit too small or cramped. The way the tip of his left horn, and the very edge of the birds is clipped off looks awkward. If there was a more substantial part of the image that was cut off we could be sure it was deliberate, but when only tiny areas are sliced off it seems like it was an accident/oversight.

Also I like how the curve of cloak draws the eye, but it kind of leads the viewer off of the page without bringing them back. I'm drawn outward towards the birds, and since the birds are facing left, I just keep going without any other elements to bring my eye back around full circle. It feels slightly imbalanced in that aspect, but I dunno. I also can't think of a specific way to improve that so it could just be personal preference here.

And that's awesome about Pixar, I thought you wanted to go into gaming for some reason. Either way, best of luck. :D

 

[Geist]

Thanks lol
Yeah the first one varies a lot in quality because it's mostly just crap I found in my digital sketchbook that I used for an assignment to show that I use different styles other than realism. I might actually end up modelling the pirate kid since it's been getting some generally positive response. If I'm making a demo reel with pixar in my sights I'll have to sidestep realism for my focus and start concentrating some more stylized characters, and that drawing in particular has lots of character.
It's also funny because drawing miguel from the road to el dorado was totally unintentional at the time.
Daniel Day Lewis however, was not.

Also I attempted to draw a bg in for the second painting, but I liked the color shift and the gradient and it was pretty much impossible to keep it without either making the fg look slapped on or without killing the silhouette of the cloak and the birds.
so I ragequit all like >:C
Didn't even consider how strongly the cloak leads the eye away from the whole drawing lol
derp.

 

[Alley Cat]

Lern2lineweight Brennnnnnn
your accuracy is nuts but there's no oompf to it so we can't appreciate the prettyness of your things

Also I really like how you painted the cloaked dude with really general brush strokes. It makes it look much more alive instead of really dead and mechanical like how your lines are :B
Actually your lines are okay on miguel but everyone knows Tulio > Miguel anyways
Also also that pirate chick is mad adorable and I agree that you should model her :0

And and it was really weird when that drawing of me came up during the presentation lmao like 5 people turned around and looked at me like :I

and hi AE peepsssss

 

[#HBC | ZoZo]

Man Brent

In the first row, the third one reminds me of Mulan.
The first one in the second row reminds me of that guy with the coffee mug and big smile reaction face thing.

 

[Purple]

[collapse=what do (preferrably the foot)]

[/collapse]

 

[BioDG]

Geist, I love your work!

 

[Geist]

[collapse=what do (preferrably the foot)]

[/collapse]

I'll draw you up a how to for feet in a bit if you want. I'm in class for like another 2 hours though so I can't now.
Try getting reference and study it. Don't be afraid to just bust out like 20 ****ty feet, because you're not going to just draw a perfect foot after looking at reference. I still have lots of trouble with feet myself.

Geist, I love your work!

Thanks braaahhh

 

[Master Ppv]

Also I'm hyped like mad because we had someone from Pixar Canada here for my demo reel presentation and we were talking about apprenticeships.
So now my demo reel changed to take so much advantage of that ****
So I might work at Pixar
So much hype.

DUDE.
EPIC WIN.


MY TURN AGAIN!
I actually have the most experience in sports photography. Since my high school needed stuff for the school website and yearbook, I provided them with stuff like this. It's kind of a weird but still awesome feeling when you look at your senior yearbook and realize almost half, if not more, of the pictures are yours Too bad I got into it a little late so I only got to do it for one year. But I guess that also made it extra special and even more so because it was my senior year... Lol sorry I'll stop ranting now.

Spoiler

 

[Neon Ness]

Purple, remember to keep the person's weight balance in mind when posing them. She's leaning on her left leg and her shoulders are tilted in that direction as well, so it kind of looks like she's about to fall over. Notice how in the ref, she's shifted weight onto her left hip, but it's counterbalanced by the torso/head which is shifted back/between the placement of the feet.

Feet are a pain to draw. >:C Like Geist I suggest drawing from life reference, use your own if you need to. Again think about the weight being put on the foot in relation to the pose, and whether it should be behind/in front of the other foot, or on the same plane. Watch the placement of the facial features, the mouth looks a little too low, and her hat seems off-center from where her skull is. Otherwise looking really good though, you've mostly got the basics of the drawing down.

Ppv, good stuff as usual lol. Awesome sense of motion, colors, and composition.

 

[ZIO]

The only thing I can note is that the exposure time may have been a tad too long. Picture is mad bright so the men in the white jerseys are drawing in a ton of attention. That, and the blend into each other to look like one object at the very end towards the right.

The colors are fine. Maybe drop the vibrancy a smidgen.

 

[Master Ppv]

Ppv, good stuff as usual lol. Awesome sense of motion, colors, and composition.

Thanks! I try lol

The only thing I can note is that the exposure time may have been a tad too long. Picture is mad bright so the men in the white jerseys are drawing in a ton of attention. That, and the blend into each other to look like one object at the very end towards the right.

The colors are fine. Maybe drop the vibrancy a smidgen.

Thanks man. Yeah, it was definitely INSANELY sunny that day. I dropped my ISO and upped the shutter speed, but I didn't want to close my aperture any further than this because then I would start losing my depth of field. Funny thing is even with all that sun it still wasn't very warm because of the wind. Welcome to Illinois weather lol

Here are a few more football pictures. I'll put up some more of these later since they're the kind I have most of. I enjoy shooting football probably the most out of any sport I've tried so far, although I admit I haven't shot them all. Hope you guys enjoy these

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

[Chronodiver Lokii]

The second shot is such a classic football shot xD Me gusta

 

[Purple]

Those guys have some really nice equipment, good team in your region?

 

[Exceladon City]

[COLLAPSE="Laharl sig"]

[/COLLAPSE]

I've been studying color theory and getting tutored by a friend. See any improvements? Mainly directed towards Neon Ness.

 

[Geist]

Much better man, but I think that blue might be too saturated. Just a bit

 

[Neon Ness]

Looking good. Colors are really nice staying in the blue/violet range.

But something's up with the values. Watch what happens when we look at a grayscale version:

A lot of it lands in the middle-light range which flattens the image somewhat, it's hard to distinguish certain parts near the center. A good range of values can really make an image more convincing and eye catching. Areas with strong, direct contrasts of light and dark can draw the eye to certain focal areas of the composition. Sometimes it helps in GIMP/Photoshop/whatever to constantly make a black and white version of what you're making, and see if the values are working.

I like the composition, the top down angle is pretty cool. The dark circles near the bottom are kind of awkwardly cut off but I like it as a way of grounding the character. Keep it up Definitely improving. Remember we have this thread for sigs: http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=235708

 

[ZIO]

Also, aspect ratio. Was that the original dimensions of the art piece for Laharl? Because he feels kind of distorted, stretched, skewed, and what have you. Looks unnatural to me . . .