jump in jump around update 08/26

[foster]

i think it is done. that is unless i hear some valuable tid bit from one of you.

this is for a tor book, their young adult line. supposed to be for readers 10 to 18 or there about. i tried new things! i was hard! in the end i fell back on the old things, but i think i learned a little.

bengal was my color and original technique inspiration.

jon

[behemot5]

wow ...it's great...i like it a lot even if the face of the girl look strange on the picture..but i'm not good at all...my opinion is surely wrong...
anyway the volume is great..and the tatto (who become alive remind me several pics of vallejo) to...

[Jason Manley]

awesome!!!

j

[Tedsuo]

That's wicked, man! I like the colors, it feels very bright.

Just wondering, but it seems an oddly shaped piece for a book cover. Will it only be covering part of the book?

[el_kyrre]

Wohooo... i like this one, i like it not as much as some of the other stuff you did, but it is still better then anything i would be capabe of!
And I like your stuff in general anyways! ;)

The only thing i would crit, if I am allowed to, is the girl.

Well i am not the one to be able to point things out, since I don´t really have the skills to, but I think there is something wrong about the helmet and the goggles.
They look kind of flat to me... I think the Helmet is out of perspective, and therefor the goggles too.

Well, i know i am no master and all, but i hope you get the point...
el_kyrre

[Marko Djurdjevic]

AHA!
One classic Foster!

See boy, you get enough praise, you know how good you are, go away, we don't need you:bash:

No, for sure, lovely piece, but I have some smaller crits.
-first: The back of the guy is lit wonderful. Anyhow, I think the detail of the tattoo is to clear and sharp. Maybe, you could just use the dodge tool and lighten the tattoo up?
-second: the elipse of the girls helmet is very flat, it is not wrong, it just does not harmonize with the elipse of the guys body.
But take this with a grain of salt, this is just what I felt when I looked at it first. Maybe I'm just talking bullshit.

So long, keep cheering me up with you work!

Marko

EDIT: Beautiful work on the perspective of the back arm. Wonderful! Ahhh...

[ChadTHX1138]

The helmet looks a bit squashed up top and the boys right eye (the one in shadow) is higher than the other.

YAY! I Critiqued... NOW I CAN PRAISE YOU!!!!

AWESOME PIECE! Love the colors. The figure flows and brings your eye around nicely. I dont mind the square format of the piece the cover could have that pulp look about it.

[Loga4]

WoW,great piece,Foster!

[Living Rope]

Yeeeeesss !! A new Foster one !
I like that illo, it seems to differ a bit from the rest of your production. It's a poetic one, very moody, I love it.
But I'm with Marko concerning the fact that the guy's tatoo should be burnt in order to be melted with the back. I love the girl's head and its flatness is not a problem to me, makes me think of some kind of collage and you know I LOVE collage !!

It's funny that you decided to go the Bengal way. If I were you I'd stop right now: that man's not like us. Someone really near from him in his office told me that he signed some weird pact with a minor devil in order to draw like a god. Since then the sun is burning like hell over Paris and we all suffer unbelievable torments due to the hotness... mark my words, that man is doomed !!

[Nordstrand, T]

This piece gives me such a good feeling. It's very harmonious. I think Spectrum material. The girl, to me, looks somewhat underdeveloped in it's setting, but the painting serves it's purpose and more so.

Thank you,

[softdrawer]

looking nice but theres like smthing about the focus/detail thing, anyway...

nice work

alx

[Gezstar]

That's damn cool. I love the guy's tattoos - and the colours are probably my favorite from you yet.

[daarken]

wowowow :O haha. this is awesome jon. i love the way you show the different planes from his side to his chest, it turns very nicely. that tattoo is awesome too. but you see his arm that is in the background? it is a lot more harder edged and defined than the one in the foreground. maybe if you made the arm in the back softer and darker it would go back more and the one in the foreground would pop out. yeah hmmm...i dunno what else to say. its funny how people are always like "dont listen to me, i dont know what im talking about, i could never do something that cool" hahaha

[strych9ine]

A new Foster!!! My pants are so tight my zipper just burst...

I think the girl's face and helmet are fantastic, I like them slightly off-kilter. The guy's right arm transforming into a tentacle made my day, though... so so nice.

[thomasaurus]

bee-a-utiful!! I love the lighting on the girl.

[tegehel]

awesome!

C.

[I.was.ink]

Damn Jon. This is an incredible piece. I have never seen you approach this type of background. Congrats, cuz you defintely pulled it off. I like the robotic, stiffness of the girl's helmet, and I love the the guys dragon hand. This is by far, one of my favorite pieces. This one and catbot, I love catbot. :love:

One small crit, or suggestion rather, would be that the bottom left hand corner seems a little to empty, but its just a small little suggestion really.

Thanks for sharing Jon!!!!!:D

-Iwasink-

[foster]

thank you all. everything said has been very helpful.

i made changes, hope they are apparent.

Some close ups. These were the parts I liked the most.


jon

[foster]

details

[foster]

detail 2

[foster]

woo hoo! i put myself on the second page.

[djfournr]

I love it when I get on here and stumble across something that just blows me away.. I LOVE IT..

Quality work will always astound. If you aren't astounded it probably wasn't worth doing. This is quality work.

[Redmond]

Yeah you know you lost you're way jump jump jumpjump. Is that the right song?

Great piece. The cast shadow on the background is sweet.

[Ant4d]

extra beautiful.
I love how the guy fits with this amazing backround and it has so much depth!

awesome

ant

[dodowa]

wow~

nongravity! unlimited of your expression!

always respect! :chug:

[Fipse]

Not much too say but going with the cheering crowd, very dynamic (something I really love of your pics) very good choice of colours and very good :thumb:

Fipse

[skrubbles]

B E A U T I F U L

I've always loved your art... it's very inspirational. I really need to save up and get your book!

[Krail]

great piece!

I saw you at Comic Con while Android was doing IwasInks protrait. You were looking at peoples sketchbooks so I didnt wanna interupt, and be that guy that all "your FOSTER!... drewl"

Not that you need any crit but here are some things from my sloppy brain.

Some one mentioned focus issues, like the defintion of her lips compared to her goggles or the boys hand

speaking of that hand the shoulder on the furthest away arm seems big? It looks like there a definition mark there that would make it a bit smaller, does that make any sense?

then the movement of the piece, her eyes giude us over the guys ass with the dragon creating a swirl, almost a target behind it, I like that part of it but i get a little lost when I get up to the boys eyes, they shoot off the right edge of the piece. Maybe him looking slightly down at the girl? Im trying for that golden triangle, but its just being picky

Didnt you do a Monk guy with a flag in the background? Dragon Mag cover? reminds me of that.

And last and leastly for sure, just to show how much of a whiner I am, lets get a belt on that kid! Trouers and no belt?

anyhow love the work Mr. Foster, keep it up, your an inspiration to us all.

[ShawnYe]

I think the fix on the tattoo on the guy's back is great because I feel that the previous is jumping out a little too much. Right now it looks awesome to me! I like the girl and the helmet! :D

[endregan]

wow man you've done it again :). youre body poses are dynamic and your painting technique is always really good. :)

dont forget the composition colours style and etc etc!!

Love this work Id buy the book its in when it came out just for the art ;).

Good job foster Im loving this

[gekitsu]

the body of the guy is superb. the light hitting his back, just plain awesome.

the credible hues on the girl's helmet are killer, too.

although, the girl and the guy are in different plane, obviously but they both are painted like they were in the same plane. adding the flat (but nevertheless interesting) background, it confuses the overall impression a bit.

but that isn't really a problem. it's a pleasure to look at.

[3bleadpencil]

I like the childlike proportions on the face......the helmet really pushes that too......man looks like you had good fun with this!..........
regards
3B

[el coro]

nice job foster. great to see youy working outside your normal palette. its very obvious. i dont think i've ever seen you use that blue before. as for the pic, well you know i love all your work, but i'd like to see an even further departure from your standard formula. its nice to try new things, and i think you should work that a bit more. you are a master of your domain, but i personally would like to see you branch out a bit more. i get very excited when i try something different, because its always nice to know that no matter how much time one spends drawing and painting, there are innumerable aproaches to arrive at a similar end. please dont take this the wrong way, but you are an artist who typically falls back on your conventions, and while that's a good thing, after seeing what you can do when you reach outside your normal toolset, i'd like to see just how far you can take it. although i do understand that this was for a job, and the publisher probably wanted that signature jon foster look. also, when are you gonna pick up some real brushes again? i miss your traditional works...take it easy, and keep inspiring ...-c36

[GhostofMacbeth]

Very nice ... I have missed seeing your stuff.

[nardfrog]

I think the tail on the kids arm could transition a bit better - have some more realistic scale on his arm instead of just coming off of it. I also think the helmet sit kinda weird on the little kids head. Love the action in it!

[Isric]

how the devil did i miss this for so long! amazing work. i could eat those textures and be satisfied for the rest of my life.

[Oblio]

i'm with all these guys... like... yeah.. Jon RULEZ and all.
:bow:

Oblio

[R_M]

Thank you.

[hethe]

Foster.

It's such a beautiful image! I think the outline on the boy's left arm works really well. How come the goggle straps around the girl's helmet don't seem to follow the round volume of the helmet? Was that a stylistic choice?

.hethe

[Muttonhead]

Ya, great piece. Very different for you. I think the update really helps the front of the helmet not look so squashed against her forehead.

So much color, yet so subtle, I think that is what is most impressive about your work.

-Muttonhead

[behemot5]

Just a question john.... how tall is a pic like this at the beginning??????

[davi]

this is the best thing i've seen you do foster

man i need to paint the figure more :[

[foster]

i did not push my drawing or composition any further but i tried to push the color.

once again i turned it around to get a fresh look at it.

still needs some clean up and what ever else.

i will reply to everyone when i get the chance to tonight.

jon

[strych9ine]

I didn't think it was possible to like this piece more. I noticed while flipping through my coveted copy of Progressions today how different in terms of color palette this piece is. This is a very refreshing change, man... I love it.

[AmadorL]

Great job Foster still waiting for your next book with processe steps. keep up the great work.


Amador

[behemot5]

i like the colours in this pic... but i have the impression the guy is push out from it.......anyway it's always great

[Marko Djurdjevic]

Jon,

don't get me wrong, but I don't think the new version to be an improval. The first piece had a much stronger harmony in color, also, the shapes of the background didn't appear so clear. In your new version the backgroung recieves to much attention due to the mass of details and small lines, while the foreground is painted with thick brushes and can't compete with the shapes of the background. Also, the composition doesn't work in this new version. In your first approach the eye was led over the back of the jumping figure to the girls head. In the new version the eye is misguided, following the front arm, going over the boy's back but get's lost there, because there's weight lacking in the lower right part of the piece.

Hmm, hope you get this right and don't feel insulted.
Best
Marko

[bwkeough]

Wow, ok, I just spent a good ten minutes flipping back and forth between your update from the 22nd and the one from this morning.

I loved the older one, and I think if I was the art director for this book I would pick it over the newest update. What's tricky is I have such a visceral response to the new one. What I think is better about it is the dramatic use of color. There's a a feeling of suspense in today's. The values and shapes were better from the 22nd, but the colors were more tame. The background today has too much contrast within it, and the tattoos are too dark on the boy, they break up the shape of his body like camo.

If you can find a compromise between those two images you'll have an absolute homerun.

[MindCandyMan]

Fantastic Jon! This is definitely a new direction for you and it's great to see you taking steps to push yourself. It's nice to know that even the pros push themselves! Great great work man. Can't wait to see more updates.

[foster]

i started to write thanks to everyone individually but it seemed just silly. lots of one liners and two liners going down the page.

so, thanks you to everyone for the feedback and comments! as always they are helpful and enlightening.

i have gone back in and changed the color and tattoo again. Hopefully i have the best of both worlds going now.

the composition is a kind of square up, type on top not over the art! yea!

thanks again!

jon

[JoshuaTheJames]

I like the depth in the new one...

-Joshua

[Deth Jester]

I kinda agree with Marko on this one, but I do like the new depth created in this one.. But I really liked the other color scheme you had before.. I especially liked how you had the blue tatoo.. I think Marko had a good point where the first thing you see is the flying guys arm .. the high contrast on his shoulder to the dark of the tatoo that grows off really drags your eye .. *shrug* but with that said, it still looks bad ass.. :)

peace

-mike

[Aleksi]

The new version seems even better to me : more depth, more contrast, stunning equilibrium with light and shadows and I love this codl blue contrasting with the green backlight on the face of the girl...
The tattos look also better on the skin on the guy, not a "collage" anymore...
EXCELLENT !!
MAGNIFICO !!!

[krayz]

Amazing piece. Can't decide which version I like more.. they just seem like 2 totally different pics.

[el coro]

ahhh... that's what i'm talking about! that's soooo different from what you normally do. way to take a chance and experiment. i think it was a success.-c36

[Rusty]

wicked painting there Foster,yer skills never cease to amaze me...
love the girl in the foreground..texture on the helmet is very convincing.
only crit is the guy in the background,his eye just looks a bit of or sumthin,maybe not enough shadowing on it?,to much black outlining the eye ?..just cant put my finger on it..

Rusty

[prismacolor]

It's always great to see your posts, Jon. Always love seeing your textures and the details with the great shapes and brush strokes you're able to achieve. I'm really liking how you're pushing color with this one -- you're on the way to a whole new level, that's for sure. Hey, just saw your cover for Star Wars Reunion paperback --- could see your inimitable style from half an aisle away...good one!

If you're still accepting comments, I've got just one. The foreground figure helmet dimension bothers me somehow. I know it's supposed to be a big helmet on a small person, but still, the dimension from her eyes to the top of the helmet just looks too squashed to me somehow...or the helmet's not tilted back enough for a little person....or the face and helmet together are a bit too wide?...um...sumpin' just looks a little off proportionally/dimensionally...maybe it's just me and sleep deprivation...

..jus waitin' for the update(s), thanks again...
:chug: