Suicide suspension

[davi]

I'm doing a painting related to a major interest of mine, body modification and ritual/performance

Http://www.creatureone.com/03/bme-00.jpg

I wanted the red because it shows both blood and warmth, but i know it's also a tough color to use as a background(prometheus|anj hates it).

I'm going to add more to the background and possibley some type of bordering to the ring to make it more interesting.

Any crits or ideas would be helpful. Kind of unsure where i want to go besides making the body alittle better

[bgermain]

Can't wait to see it finished. If he's suspended by those hooks he needs to be rotated clockwise. His right hand appears to be too small.

[Skank]

very cool =)

i have a friend that gets suspended about 3-4 times a month
he just started doing it fromt he front now too

one crit i can think of, it doesnt look like hes hanging, more like hes standing on the ground and gettin pulled on.
i think if you added some gravity to his pose, like hes being pullied down instead of standing straight up, it would add more of a dynamic feel to the piece.

i like it so far, keep at it!

[davi]

bgermain, i'm not totally sure what you mean by he should be rotating clockwise...i can't really see how my piece would be expressing him going clockwise our counter-clockwise..


but Skank you got a good point, i'm not totally sure how to express that he isn't sending. I just bent his knees and i do think it helps a bunch. any other tips beyond that, that you could see improving the piece

[Adam]

i think if his body was tilted more top-right to lower-left that would lend more weight to the idea that he's hanging. Also, his right hand seems smaller than it should be. His pants seem a little on the tight side around his waist as well, but I could be wrong. I really like the color values. Having the head tilted backward seems counter-intuitive to me, but it may have symbolic importance for you.

[davi]

oo i really like that suggestion, not sure how to change his direction without screwing up the piece... i'll do my best.

and yeah the head is upright to be 'symbolic'.

[endregan]

yes...rituals. anyhow about the art - i like the body actually, it is done pretty well but there seems to be less focus of the legs and it disappears making it not suspended.

show some more of the hanging legs drooping, the legs might be too close? its a bit stiff. i think the red works though.

[bgermain]

I was referring to his center of gravity. If you rotate him clockwise then he's centered below the wires suspending him. Otherwise he looks like he's standing and the wires are just tugging the skin (which is fine if that's what you were after).



http://www.bgstudios.com/website/sketches/davi.jpg

[Form]

i agree with the suggestions thus far. Someone hanging in that pose will feel tension in the neck area and the natural compulsion will be to drop the head. However your intended symbolism makes this an obsolete criticism.

the rotation of the figure certainly helps, and consider the possibility of extending the canvas size and letting the circle fall behind the legs rather than cut them off. If you draw the feet pointing down, as they would be when hanging, the hanging figure will be easily identified.

also remember that depending on the skin type, pulling that much at the ski9n from behind could have quite an effect on the tension of the skin at the front. "Pulling" the skin up and across his chest to his neck will add realism to the figure i think.

I think the red works well, it complements the flesh tones and doesnt come out looking too 'prostitute red' or glary.

I really dig the concept and your execution so far. Hope my crits have been of some use. nice work davi.

[davi]

i took a different path, because i really didn't want to rotate the image and loose the sharpness. I changed the angle of the ropes and knees to show that he was swinging, which is what many people do durning a suspension. Does it work or did i do it in vain?

Http://www.creatureone.com/03/bme-01.jpg

also form_n_focus, i'll look at some references to see if the pulling effects the neck/chesk enough visually for me to need to show it... i'm not too sure it does, but it's a just comment.

I think i'm going to add silhouetted arms reaching up at the bottom which will also help show that he is levitating above them... i'm almost considering redoing the head completely... i'm not too sure i like how it is right now, the body seems to be better quality than it right now.

[Adam]

I think it's much more obvious that he is hanging/swinging now - however, the thighs look a little on the long side, and it looks like his chin is tilted slightly toward his left (HIS left) shoulder - like away from the camera - not sure if that's intentional or not. Keep it up!

[bgermain]

Yeah, the angle fixes it.

[Form]

like the changes davi...
if your redoing the face, consider a more determined or focused expression. he looks happy. he can look out of it, i just dunno about the upward turn of his lips at the corners making him seem to smile.

peace

[davi]

well he is suppose to be smiling:p

i just don't think the angle of the head really works, it's giving me some problems..plus it wouldn't hurt to attempt to do hair on him

[Form]

i sorta like the bald look. reminds me of the bad dude from indiana jones and the temple of doom hehee.

your pic. try it and post, lesee wat it looks like

[nil]

i like where this is going. a friend of mine did his first suicide suspension learlier in the year, and he while he was smiling, it was more maniacal than this :p but you got the iconic look down really well i think

as far as crituques go, the first thing i noticed was the that the chest seems to be a little elongated (the pects are too long vertically, although i could be wrong about that) and also that the area between the crotch and the bellybutton was a bit too long. again, i might be wrong, but i did a quick photoshop job to show ya what i mean:

http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/crompton/images/suspension.gif

hope you dont mind.

[Form]

agreed. nice edit nil.

[Avetice]

as far as hanging goes, so far he still looks either standing, or just swinging. Don't forget all your anatomy that you've been studying. He is hanging from the back, so that skin is going to pull the shoulders and arms up. The rib cage isn't the point of tension so it is going to be pulled down by gravity. Because of this the shoulders will be stationary point. Every part of the body moves in limitation of the shoulders. To get what I'm saying, try it yourself, .... i mean look in a mirror and move your torso forward or backward, up or down but don't move your shoulders at all, not forward with the body, not up or down, they must be completely locked at one point in space.
....Anyway the shoulders will shrug up and in towards the front of the torso. You can still have the skull upright and looking forward but the neck is going to curve away from the wires(towards the ribcage).
http://www.bmezine.com/ritual/A31112/high/4en3fjbw.jpg

http://www.bmezine.com/ritual/A31112/high/bdpitfd6.jpg

http://www.bmezine.com/ritual/A31112/high/kn2j6zeh.jpg

Look at all that skin he is hanging by, his ribcage can't possibly be as upright as in your drawing, he can still push his chest forward and head up, his shoulders will just be hunched from all that tension right there.


Remember the skin is basically drapery. Everything else is looking good though.

hope that is of some help and doesnt confuse you :D

[Firebird]

I don't know much about the red circle background...
it reminds me of Japanese Flag.. ^^;

[Forge]

hey Davi,
i'm sure you haven't fix the anatomy yet but his right hand is really disturbing me... hope it help

[John Farson]

i don't know man. this guy doesn't look like he's hanging, know what i mean? he seems too rigid to be strung up by the very skin on his back.

i almost hate criticizing senor davi. oh well. maybe that's just me.

[Form]

haha i know wat u mean john.

i just had an idea davi...the thing that i think makes him look lke he isnt hanging is that the ropes/skin look like they are just 'sitting' behind him, not a part of him.

part of that may be the thickness of the neckline...

even tho it may b realistic, you might need to lose that line and merge the lifted skin, make it look more a part of the figure. maybe. i dunno.

else just suggest it like u said with the hands of a crowd below...

[Pencil Soldier]

Shit thats gotta hurt like hell.

[soul8o8]

.. yeah ouch! :bash:

[navalha]

Yeah, trust me, it does.

[empty]

you know, davi, i gotta give it to you... i see a lot of artists that have more skill and knowledge than you, right now. but they won't for long, because they don't have the desire and drive that you do. i admit that i wasn't too fond of your stuff at the beginning but you have progressed more than anyone else in the short life of conceptart.org. congrats on your MOST IMPROVED AWARD and keep it up.

[pvrhye]

Who's the sorta ghostly image in the red. I would have to be intentional... digital images don't leave little relics like that.