More criticque please!

[HULKFish]

OK, the last post got WAY sidetracked but anyway...

Here is a comic-style Captain Jack I did in pencils and painted in PhotoShop.

[Jason Rainville]

right-o, things to look out for;

long arms
jack didn't strike me as being buff, but whatever
His pantaloons seem to be painted on
Theres a lack of lighting, which is making everything dead flat
generally unless your lines are very clean and crisp, you should eventualy lose the pencil layer when painting in PS
The texture is nice, but again due to the lack of form and lighting it loses its effect.

The likeness is pretty good though. Not dead on but good for a bulked-up comic version of him.

[kev ferrara]

Buy George Bridgman's anatomy books like Constructive Anatomy, 100 hands etc. and copy them over line for line into your notebooks.

best
kev

[HULKFish]

Thanks guys great advise!

I do go by typical comic-hero proportions though... Wider shoulders, longer arms and legs, skinny ankles.

As far as the jacket, you are correct Atlantis. It was random, I haven't done much studying of clothes as most of my stuff has always been hero/tights stuff, LOL!

I ALWAYS have a problem deciding on the light source...

Thank you Rhineville! I didn't know to lose the pencils layer either. I need linework help in PhotoShop, not sure the technique's...

[Sinaz]

Thanks guys great advise!

I do go by typical comic-hero proportions though... Wider shoulders, longer arms and legs, skinny ankles.

That is NOT typical comic-hero proportions... it is how the industry hacks draw (like Rob Leifeld... though he seems to have replaced his style with Marc Silvestri's old style...)

Do not use comic books as a source for your own art-- get out there and draw from life. Learn from life. Then distill your craft into a comic book style, if that's what you want.

[HULKFish]

Thanks... That's what I've been trying to do. Oh, and by the way, I really like Rob Leifeld. That's a little rough on him. Dale Keown is my biggest influence though...

[kingshaj]

i really suggest, as hard as it sounds, to LITERALY put all comics away and never ever use them as reference...never? NEVER.

Think only in 3D! make a project of only thinking in terms of 3 dimensions
Space and depth.....i know you’ve had quite a few similar comments but still go ahead and peek at your favorite comic artist for inspiration...dont'chya?
well, stoppit. (slaps wrist)

3d spatial relationships in drawing are the key. it opens the door to ALL the anatomy and proportion issues you'll need, but have been scratching your head over...you will begin to see the body as a series of forms in space.
and your art will show it bigtime

Trust me, if you actualy do it it will work
keep at it!

[Dose206]

Oh, and by the way, I really like Rob Leifeld. That's a little rough on him.

No it's not, Rob Leifeld seems to have no understanding of human anatomy. Or the general rules governing everything based right here in reality. Seriously learn realistic human anatomy and then if you want to take it and blow it into crazy proportions that's fine, but don't learn anatomy from someone who never truly learned it in the first place, that's just asking for trouble.

[codenothing]

my 2 cents would be to put photoshop (or whatever digital tool you are using) away.

You have many many miles of paper and graphite battles ahead of you before you will realy understand the proper use of digital tools. Using things like the paint bucket tool, slaping a noisy wood texture down as a plank, make your work look ten times cheaper.

I also agree to some extent about puting away the comics. Comics, contrary to popular belief, do not contain very good artwork. In fact, most of it is quite terrible. And its been getting worse over the years. But, If thats where your insperation lies, I think its important to keep them around if thats what keeps you driven to work.

The major thing i would express to you, and its SO important, and vital to your existance as an artist, is to research drawing on the right side of your brain. I have had many friends over the years who draw from comics as there insperation, and they are all obsessed with left brained shape and object replication. all of their work looks flat, out of proportion, and exaustingly boring.

If you are serious about being an artist, rule number one is break out of your comfort zone. Do not think you know better than your teacher. Do not ever tell them, "well this is my STYLE..." ugh... just dont. Learn something new, learn new tecniques, and you will find it makes your comic art (if you decide to come back to that) is a lot better because of it.

Its fun to learn new stuff once you allow yourself.



as for the drawing, it looks like a stain-glass image. One reason for this is you did a lot of left brain shapes that are all closed off and a big fat outline around the figure. The other reason is you filled in gineric photoshop junk into the outlined shapes with no real indication of light, shadow, etc...

second, you just didnt realy capture the character. This is more like Davey Jones in a Jack Sparrow costume. Jack isnt a 'tough-guy' he is the oposite. He is visualy a frail, slightly drunk, happy-go-lucky hero. He has his serious moments, but even then its with more of a smerk than a challenging brow.

Like I said, you have miles and miles of paper and graphite ahead of you my friend. and that doesnt mean not doing things you enjoy, but you deffinitely need to research drawing on the right side of the brain, and doing things out of your comfort zone.

Good luck!

[HULKFish]

Codenothing - You are a GREAT artist and I appreciate the advise but saying all of the junk you did about comic books it WAY off. Comic art has progressed 10-fold in the past fifteen years. Look at some of Dale Keown's (who also did concept work for 2003 HULK) work or Mark Sylvestri or Greg Capullo. Not to mention the WHOLE Kubert family! They are FANTASTIC artists with great anantomy, depth, texture, tone and space skills. Those are closed minded comments coming from pre-conceived notions on comics for whatever reason.

I'm also going to post some actual sketches I've done on art boards instead of printer paper which these were done on without the use of ink.

Dose206 - I didn't say I learned anything from Liefeld but I did say I liked him. I totally agree that his anatomy is far from perfect, some of the dimensions he comes up with the character would have to be 10 feet tall (or a head the size of an orange). I loved his run on the Onslaught line years back though.

Another bad habit I've developed is I can't stand using rulers or anything... LOL, probably sounds dum but if I can't sketch it into line I get real irritated. That might be another 3-d issue though.

[Jason Rainville]

I won't comment on comic art since I'm pretty ignorant of it. The fact that ol' Rob also steals from other artists solidifies him as a hack to be held in contempt rather than a hero to be venerated. But that's another thread altogether...

Anyhoo, codenothing hit it square when he said If you are serious about being an artist, rule number one is break out of your comfort zone. drawing the same thing over and over, and worse, over and over in the same way won't get you far, ESPECIALLY if it's imagination doodles. If you HATE environments and suck at them, do a lot of them (as I'm trying to do...) it's frustrating at first, but as improvement comes along it'll get more and more fun. Same goes for feet, hands, faces, technology, anything.

Learn to observe and measure with your eyes (I don't know what you're talking about with rulers) and to relate shapes to one another. Learn to break out of your comfort zone and do new, scary and exciting things. Look to masters of old and your own interest for inspiration.

good luck :D

[HULKFish]

Yeah, I know what you mean... Environments are my weakest area! I can't find interest in doing them and the patience. I actually consider depth a strength but I often don't apply the lighting with enough conviction leaving the character flat.

As far as anatomy, that is how I learned. One part at a time and practiced and practiced. I started with faces, then arms and chest and on and on and still don't have everything...

The only way I could be an artist professionally though is to specialize in one area and expand from there... Characters are my passion. A lot of good advise here and I'm glad for it!

[kingshaj]

sincerely from one artists to another,

Lighting has nothing to do with it my friend, you have a BIG obstacle, and you are ignoring it cause it is difficult at this stage in the game for you to change your habits.

No one is suggesting comic artists are not talented and awesome, but as a learning tool...they will only get you where you are now...not where you want to be. If you're happy at your current level the stick with the comics.

dale keown studied life drawing. his work is not flat he can visualize in 3-dimensions there often alot of depth in his work (and no depth is NOT your strength)

What if a client asks you to draw the character from an 3/4 up angle?
by the afternoon?

this advise comes from the heart.
its not like i made this up...if you’ve been on this site for a while im sure you’ve seen a thousand artists being told the same thing, its basically the motto of Massive Black...the grass is greener on this side of the fence..c'maan over.

MY CA SB
http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=80790

[codenothing]

true, I didnt mean to come off like all comic art was terrible, but I have a realy hard time finding anything I like when i go into a shop. I tend to be drawn more towards the more painterly comics that are out there now.

Major 'classic' series of the past I think is more what I was refering to. Most the x-men, spiderman, super man, etc.... Last time I checked (which wasnt recently to be honest) they were falling to lower and lower standards of art. But i should pay another visit to a shop sometime soon and see whats been goin on.


keep pushin them pencils! :rendered:

[kingshaj]

comic book art is blossoming now...but the main reason is the influx of outsiders I.E. illustrators/ painters traditional artist. basically new blood.

i used to subcontract for marvel darkhorse and DC ( just coloring pages...Tintprep!)
during the 90s
the art got so bad due to the collector's frenzy that comics hit a wall
sales dropped off by half...they simply had to reinvent themselves.
so there is alot out there now both great and terrible

[HULKFish]

That's really cool! Part of the process... Especially if you were part of one of the iconic groups/characters. I totally agree with you on the influx of new talent. I think the new popularization of the movies helped enormously. Don't forget writers too.

[-Pash-]

Oh, you've already gotten a lot of good critiques here. I'm not sure if anyone has mentioned this yet though, but it looks to me as if the bottom part of his leg is too short. The cloud in the background looks too "smudgy" and the pose seems rather stiff. It would look more intersting if you possibly changed the stick to something other than a straight line. You know, really show some interaction with the background. :D

'Sides that, it looks really nice. I like the texture. XD

[HULKFish]

sincerely from one artists to another,

Lighting has nothing to do with it my friend, you have a BIG obstacle, and you are ignoring it cause it is difficult at this stage in the game for you to change your habits.

No one is suggesting comic artists are not talented and awesome, but as a learning tool...they will only get you where you are now...not where you want to be. If you're happy at your current level the stick with the comics.

dale keown studied life drawing. his work is not flat he can visualize in 3-dimensions there often alot of depth in his work (and no depth is NOT your strength)

What if a client asks you to draw the character from an 3/4 up angle?
by the afternoon?

this advise comes from the heart.
its not like i made this up...if you’ve been on this site for a while im sure you’ve seen a thousand artists being told the same thing, its basically the motto of Massive Black...the grass is greener on this side of the fence..c'maan over.

MY CA SB
http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=80790

Hold on now... Don't assume I'm not willing to change habits, I've come here for this advise. Comments here have been sincere and only aimed at helping.

Now that I read the comments a lot of it makes sense, especially the pose in contrast to Captain Jack's actual character. Angles such as 3/4 angle, worm's eye, etc. are all good but they sacrifice detail of anatomy and such because of the angle. That's where that habit comes from, just wanting to draw from an angle that shows the most details. But I'm starting to see now that isn't always the important part. From a lot of the work I see it seems to often be the opposite.

Thanks again, I take all the advise to heart.