help on the rat prince ! BIG DL

[gallon]

Hi! I'm doing a portfoliopiece in a hurry to add a childrenbook illustration. I am sending my portfolio to some bookpublishers in the beginning of next week.

I need help with the anatomy on this boy, riding his rat. He's supposed to be a prince and the setting for the pic is a bauer/Fangorn forest inspired environment.
But I always find it hard to make people ride animals, and still look correct. All help appreciated.
(I made this as clean as possible...will be fully rendered when finished)
http://mywebpage.netscape.com/henrikgallon/kungratta.jpg

[LightBrownboy]

You have a really good start, here are some things to consider:

I'd say, make the rat bigger and the boy smaller. The fact that it is going to be for a children's story, the prince should appear younger, more childlike. Emphasizing his size will help push the fantasy element in that this small boy is actually riding a giant rat. Also, this will help the children connect more to the character (the prince) in the story since it will appear to be someone more youthful.

Anatomy wise, the proprtions look good, but again, he looks more like a teen on the verge of manhood than a child prince.

I would do some research and see how people ride different animals like camels, elephants, and so forth. play around with the saddle,. Right now if that rat bucks the way the saddle is, he will break his back.

Push your style a little more, try to capture the essence of the time the fantasy in it.

Like i said, its a good start, now its time to push it to that next level.

Hope that helps:

-LBB

[gallon]

thank you for the help. It's probably the most intersesting feedback I have ever recieved as it will bring this really forward ( If I can make the most out of it :)). I have already made some changes, and I'll post them as soon as possible.

[OLSEN]

Perhaps you should redesign the head of the spear, it looks a bit too cruel for a childrens book. Make it a more nobel and knightly weapon, thats my 0.50 skr.

[gallon]

Update:
I post the whole image... many things are still to be done.
I have taken your previous crits into consideration, but I guess I could have done more with the saddle, but time is running short (as always).
Anyways the rat is a lot bigger (thank you, that really made the whole pic better ) and the spear is more noble and graceful (hardly useful as a weapon though.... seem a bit fragile ;))
Any crits are appreciated
http://mywebpage.netscape.com/henrikgallon/prinsrat2.jpg

MMh , theres so much information that is lost during the compression....well, life's hard..:)

[LightBrownboy]

Very cool gallon, you are so in the right direction!

Just a few things:
The rat's feet need to meet the rendering you applies to the rat and prince since that is your focal point for the piece.

The fairies need to be worked on a little bit, if they are farther back in the picture there should be less contrast on them. Right now they are sooo bright and smack dab in the center of your peice that they take away from the rat prince. play with their placement a little bit. Also, when I think of fairies i think of small mysterious craetures. Just something to think about.

Remember, as things recede they lose more detail due to atmospheric perspective. This means your details should lessen like how you've treated the far trees in the background.

I know time is an issue, hopefully you will get a chance to take a look and re-evaluate some things, Nice work, you took our suggestions and ran with them. Keep going gallon, you are on your way.

-LBB

[gallon]

small update.... have to sleep :)... I'm guessing I'm about one day behind scedule on this, but thats really no problem.
Made the fairy smaller, moved here, removed the second one, and now I guess my next step is those trees and landscape... any crits appreciated as always :)

http://mywebpage.netscape.com/henrikgallon/prinsrat3.jpg

[fukifino]

It's coming along very nicely, gallon!

My only comment is the length of the spear...or rather where the boy is holding it....take a broom (which is a lot shorter) and tie a book to the end of it...now try to hold it from one end in one hand...damn that broom's heavy, huh?

You could rectify that in the drawing in one of two ways:

1) make the back end of the spear longer as a counter balance.

2) provide some sort of rest for the spear on the front of the saddle. It's a lot easier to hold that weight if you're actually using a lever.

Honestly, I'd suggest a combination of the two, as making the spear longer would require a REALLY long spear and would throw off your composition. But slightly longer and maybe a little saddle notch/prop for the spear would make it less awkward.

Anyways, looking really good!

[nikia]

I've ridden horses most of my life. I'd put the saddle in the middle of the back, not on the neck. Settle the boy's hips into the saddle more, (hips tilted back, (this angle \ ), a more rounded lower back, and his lower leg toward the shoulder more. Thus lengthening the stirrup. If we saw someone riding a horse with the knee bent like that we would tell them to lengthen the stirrup. You don't want a totally straight leg. Just a slight bend at the knee. Hope this helps.

[veinglory]

I agree that the spear should be counterbalanced or longer. Re saddle position. As rats do not walk with a straigh spine I agree that the saddle must be over the shoulder or haunches. Maybe it would look more normall to most people in the middle though. From a real world point over view over the shoulders is good although you have him a wee bit too far forward onto the neck. Nice rat -- but why is he white? And as a white rat why the black eyes?

[gallon]

Hi all
sorry for the no-reply-for-a while...been busy elsewhere.

I think the question why he is positionend closer to the head is answered nicely by Veinglory... Thanks for the riding poses Nikia. I never ride so i dont have a clue :). I'll consider this for the next one.
I've changed the spear a bit, and added some support. Actually the whole pic is finsihed, but I don't have it at this comp. I'll upload it later....
And now the grand finale...The supermodels (and the answer to the question about the rats colours):
http://mywebpage.netscape.com/henrikgallon/forum.jpg http://mywebpage.netscape.com/henrikgallon/forum2.jpg
Our, me and my girls pet rats, Fjodor and Vlad. Cute except when they dig up our plants and chase my sisters guinea pig (they scream real loud those guinea pigs, and all the rats was trying to do was to clean that nervous fellas fur...I think...or maybe bite his head off :), dont know really,,, but they are usually very friendly ...to rats and people)

[veinglory]

Well that is certaoinly a white raty with black eyes -- how cute. I have had pets rats in the past and will again as soo as I settle down somewhere, they're brilliant.

[Johannes]

Looks fine.
Only thing is maybe the princes head cold be a tiny bit bigger (small humans have bigger heads) :D
Looking forward to seeing more :)