abe sapien painting

[fredflickstone]

Well, I dont think its finished, but I have to get it out sometime. I thnk it could use another hour or so of refining, which I will try and get to someday soon.

ENjoy...comments, crits, whatever...have at it.

Ron

http://www.rev-art.com/lemenimages/abesapienpainting.jpg

[John P.]

I think it's really good so far - would be even better with some refining as you say.

I really like the look of the air bubbles, and the surface of the water(above).

I think maybe you should do even more to get the underwater environment across though. Not really sure what to suggest, but some distortion of the characters, a little less saturation, some small air bubbles here and there.... Some hazy light beams coming down perhaps...? Obviously don't overdo it, but it seems you know what to look for yourself, so.

I think maybe the background(the distant background) would be darker. Around where his 'shorts' are and a little above there - way in the distance there I think it would be darker(well - behind the ship I guess is what I'm saying).

-My favourite part is his feet. :D

Nicely rendered.

[Prometheus|ANJ]

The swimming humanoid is great, but the background breaks him up a bit.

Tried adding more ambience? Some colors seem to wanna break out of the scene. The skellie characters on the ship looks a bit unattached to the whole image, due to the lack of ambience and cuz they are quite small in relation to the canvas. There's a lots of dead space around them (canvas edges). I'm getting 3d game vibes from it, you know when there's lots of flat ground and detailed stuff just stuck on. They look a bit too sharp too, try some haze?


Feet are neat, indeed.

Knee too pointy?

[AmadorL]

cool to see the colored version:chug:

A

[Biscuit Maker]

Awesome. Always good to see Abe in action. Made me laugh, recognizing the Howard Pyle reference.

Really good job. Refining? I'm not big on too much refining as a personal preferrence. Lazy.

R.

[Joachim]

Heey Fred(Ron) nice to see you back ! Long time no see. WHat have you been up to ?
Make sure not to disappear again now, stay with us ;)

Nice picture. I remember seeing the pencil version of the character, which was awesome.
I agree with what Prom mentioned. I also think you could make the background more monochromic, so that the character comes more in focus. I'd also make the boat more foggy, or the whole background actually, so you really get the foggy underwater feeling. It would then maybe be nice to make stronger contrast in the nearest part of the background to make the fog changing very clear and also so that you get the feeling that some sun rays hit strongly a few places here and there. Also, I think it would be nice to blur parts of the background a lot, maybe even some edges of the character to make him blend with the water and background. Love the bubbles. The top of the water is very nice too. ANd I think the way you've painted the character is really nice.

I just tweaked some colors and blurriness, etc i photoshop..just layer tweaking. hope it's ok, atleast you can see if you agree or not :)

http://www.joachimart.com/forum/abesapienpainting[1].jpg

Great to have you back. Looking forward to see more of what you've done lately. Still teaching in your atelier ? (post some new figuredrawings :P )

[fredflickstone]

sweet!Thanks Joachim. Oh, I wont be going away, I just need to balance my time to make it back here more often. I am swamped. It is really great to hear from you, and thanks again for the paint over. I was trying to do an abe underwater thing, and I just have never been scuba diving, and havent paid that much attention to costic lighting, and how color tweens underwater. This really helps a great deal.

My other problem, I am having too much fun in painter to get a style to hold together. Every new tool I use changes how everything else looks. I am getting to into the program, and need to get back to the image.

Thank you again Joachim.

ANd thanks again for the comments. THey all are valid, I knew if I brought the image here, I could get feedback on what to do. I have been lost with where to go, and these are definitely the answers. THanks again.

And keep posting crits. They are valid, and most useful....

ROn

[gauss]

i love mignola so yeah, i like this piece :) as has been mentioned, the pose and the bubbles are really quite nice. my only suggestion for the piece would be a little bit more threatening posture for the skeletons--they way they're standing on the deck, as if above water doesn't make me feel like they're an immediate threat to abe. i like the one with crossed arms, but the other ones need to have a bit more of a floating posture/feel for immediacy. in any case, good work.

[boehmke]

Great picture I love your take on Abe. And the detail on the sea floor is very nice.

Only crits would be:
Maybe some schools of fish swiming around. Some in the foreground and vanishing in the distance would give some great depth. The other thing would be to add some floating chunks of ocean debris. When I went diving in Hawaii last year I was amazed at all the crap that was floating around.

Maybe this stuff would fall under your extra hour of refining. Just thought I would add my 2 cents.

[NoUseFrAName]

slick....very awesome.
I think I remember seeing the pencil version of this a long time ago too.

...the only thing that sort of confuses me is the lighting on the left leg(lower) compared to the lighting on the upper body and shorts.....the calf just seems too luminous....or maybe it's the way the shadow works on the shorts.

...at any rate, it's quite stunning and I can't wait to see a refined version if you find the time to do it.

-Rob

[mushuhaha]

i really like the sharpness in the original. i think the problem is you didn't capture the light effect underwater.

http://www.cc.jyu.fi/~ikeskine/kes1.htm

this picture should explain what i meant. light doesn't act the same way underwater as it does on land... and i agree with the others about the characters in the background. particles in water should decrease their contrast and highlight and place more emphasis on their forms. right now, those background characters don't really interact with the space that they are in, which gives it a feeling that they are on a different layer.. also the background's composition is too clean, have one or two of the skeletons cropped off halfway would make it more interesting and extends the viewer's attention beyond the edge of the painting. overall, this picture has a lot of potential, if you get those little things, it will be finally finished.

thumb up to the water bubbles.

[Boom]

Hey Ron

Love this painting. It's going in a really good direction for sure! The rendering and colorchoices are solid as ever.

Now, I've been staring at the painting for some time not being sure what made me uneasy about it, but now I think I've come to some points about what make my eyes uneasy when looking at your painting...

Others have mentioned the underwaterlook, and I think they are right. Apart from the bubbles coming from Ape, there really isnt much that indicate a water envoiroment.

Maybe add small bubbles coming from Apes' fins, trousers etc. Actually anything that can hold small pockets of air. You'll be amazed how long clothing or hair can hold air.

Vision underneath the watersurface degrades rather quickly. Unless you wanted the scene to take place in the calmest of the calmest, and purest of purest water, I think you should make distanced detail blend much quicker. I wouldn't blur things like Joachim did in his paintover, but rather eliminate contrast quicker as the elements distance themselves from the camera...

Last thing, but not least ;) I find the composition abit awkward. Ape is obviously the main char - the good guy. And the piratekaptain zombie is the bad guy. But still Ape is shifting his attention to something maybe even more menacing coming from behind. I mean, it could work - but I think we need something to show the 'thing' that is such a threat that Ape needs to turn and also attracts the gaze from most of the water zombies. Maybe a tenctacle, a shadow ...? Ape turning to the left takes out abit of the dynamics of the pose....

enough spraying of thoughts. Its already a fantastic painting. Looking forward to see it again after an hour of tweaking... ;)
:chug:

[Beer Baron]

That back and the face are beautiful. Perhaps throw in a treasure chest on the left to fill the empty space as Prometheus|ANJ suggested?

(The scene kind of reminds me of something out of Scooby Doo. "And I would have gotten away with it too if it weren't for that pesky Abe Sapien!")
:D

[NOOSE]

Wow I saw the pencils..which were great but this is far better then I thought it would end up! nice work!!

[fredflickstone]

tHANK YOU everyone for the comments on this image. I have been too close to it for too long and couldnt figure out where to go with it. All these suggestions are great, I am going to process these and make some decisions.

Thanks everyone for the help.


ROn

[Howdy]

I like the skeletons better. ;)

Get rid of the fish guy. Put in a human diver with a look of horror on his face, exaggerated like a comic book, and this would be an excellent piece.

The fish guy is good. I am a sucker for skeletons.

[Lono]

Howdy: the "fish guy" is a character from hellboy,,, it has context and whatnot.

fredflickstone: thats fantastic man! i loved the sketch of this guy too.. did there use to be a steering wheel on the deck next to the capitan in the sketch? either way,, i think it would look good there.. give that part of the page a little more dimension. maby a fallen mast somewhere in there too..
great job sofar man.. its coming along great.

-Lono

[Halis_Aetrous]

The pic is awesome, but I wanna know where your amphibious hominid found his jogging shorts.

:p