black and white illos

[Jason Manley]

here ya go

j



http://www.conceptart.org/manley/S4BWAY%2520lowres$$.jpg

http://www.conceptart.org/manley/girls%2520in%2520shadows%2520sm.jpg

[Sketch]

Nice to see some more work from the Manley.

The first one has a nice sense of tension. The look of the guy sitting is perfect. I also really like the old man in the background, not sure why. The shotgun barell could be straighter... but that's the only crit I have.

The second one has some nice detail in it. I love the cat, very nice touch. The form in the foreground is really hard to make out. Maybe my screen is too dark.

Also there seems to be a skull theme in both of these? When I look at the first one my attention always goes straight to the skull card.

I wish you posted work more often!

[mtw]

Cool. Very well done. I only have two crits about the first one. The barrell of the gun seems like it's touching the sitting man's shoulder. It's not popping out enough. It looks the guy is holding some cards, and the topmost stands out quite a bit from the others.

[gasmask]

just plain awesome..wow

[R_M]

to seldom are we treated with your art!

[liquidwerx]

Damn nice work. Love the second one. :)


~M~

[al-x]

shit... these are so nice. The best things I've seen here in... can't remember when I saw something that was this good. I always tend to like greyscale more than colored work.

Did you use photorefrence for the faces? Those expressions are just so prefect.

And whats up with all the skulls?
The first one makes me think of the Punisher.

The only crit I have is the gun that's already been mentioned and the indexfinger on the girls lefthand...
by the way, why's she lefthanded?

[captnblack]

a few quick comments before i have to cut short my lunch break.

general comments - the attention paid to the dominant face in both illustrations is so finished in comparision to the rest of the picture. this makes it feel extra unfinished and unfinessed. plus the lighting on these faces feels a little out of wack with the rest of the location. it might be from the photo scrap u used. also the dark shapes in both illustrations are no complementing the light areas. the value grouping is a tad awkward and there are a few points in both illos that most likely are not meant to be paid attention to, but the contrast forces you to look there.

image 1 - man with shotgun is grouped with the value of the floor. creates ambigity with size of shooter and proximity to man with card. value of skull on card is in extreme contrast to all other darks in same plane. feels forced. can possibly add atmosphere to push background back and maybe blow out slighty with light. it is also unclear what the shooter is doing. it appears he is aiming out the window. people in bg look extremely calm.

image 2 - desk light exists in two separate planes and creates a diagonal tangent with its ray. ambigious ambient light on girls head (upper right). table is sloping forward. books would tumble off if it was at this angle. it is also unclear what is happening in the background. its possibly too subtle and shouldnt the source of that light be affecting other objects in the same composition?

cheers mate.

keep painting and i hope this little crit helps you improve your skills. i suggest watching a bunch of black and white movies and checking out some bw photography. converting things that are in colour to bw might not be the best choice since colour affects perception of value and often there are cheats.

[Nimrod]

Very nice!

I agree that the people on the subway do not appear particularly alarmed that a big scary guy with a shotgun is staring them all down. I do like the expression on the card-holder however - incredibly subtle! It says to me that he is scared, but he definitely has an ace up his sleeve (no pun intended) and he's telling the shooter to make his move.

The girl's expression is equally wonderful as is the composition of the scene. Something seems off about her lower body, however; she doesn't feel as though she is solidly sitting down in a chair to me.

Show us more!!

[Jason Manley]

thanks for the help and compliments.

wow capt that was rather an assuming and grating critique.

the lighting in my pieces is all chosen. for example...if i pushed her face down into the shadows...to fit the lighting better, she would not be seen. bounce light can come from many locations and I tend to follow the rule of using light rather than being used by it. look at rembrandts stuff...often times his light does not make sense. but it works for the composition. I am no rembrandt but my lighting is deliberate.

the comments about the card being too strong...it has to be...that card was a key symbol for the client. equally as important as the man holding it. thus the balance of focus between his face and his cards...yet his face is where i intended the eye to rest.

with production illos I tend to hit the focal area very hard so that they eye will rest....from that point I try to get the image to read as a whole while giving a couple secondary focuses in different levels of space which will pull the eye around the canvas or image.. if it does I go no further. I dont have time for every detail when I have to do a pile of these due yesterday.

cheers


j

[tyboogie]

wow...captn black--great critique.

i didnt even notice some of that stuff until you pointed it out--and it all made sense

wish more people gave critiques like this around here--we'd all benefit

[NOOSE]

Wow great Work! ....the card looked to me like it was of special importance and I actualy thought it was clever making it hauntingly stick out, as if it was a clue to something going to happen....the people in the bus dont look that calm..but if the guy closest to the gunman is relaxed with legs spred and nothing but a concerned look in his face, then it would make the other folks be not as paniced and.. it just leaves me to think the initial drawing of the gun has alredy occured and now they have begun to talk or reason with the gunman,..

the second one has a killer effect with the dark shadow in the backgrnd, looks like what ever it is it is scareing the cat,....there is alot of story in each of these, and its kind of neat(not knowing the whole story) to just draw ones own conclutions..

:chug:

[Dan Milligan]

Athough i respect the crits given, I remind myself that images like these are representative of "Real world" conditions. Demanding clients and brutal deadlines! Sometimes I think these elements of what we do aren't considered or discussed enough on these forums. I believe we should always strive to improve and perfect our work, but at the end of the day it's gotta get delivered. Bravo Mr. Manley, fabulous pics from the trenches.

Humbled
Dan

[Jason Manley]

the gunner isnt pointing his gun...simple as that.

j

[Jason Manley]

http://www.conceptart.org/manley/seduction%20large.JPG

[nikia]

I'm never ceased to be amazed at how good your work is Jason. Especially the people and the expressions on their faces. It's like you've snapped a photograph.

I guess nobody noticed that the gun appears to have been fired. At least the man behind the one with the card looks like he's been shot in the eye. The only thing I'm wondering about, is the guy at the rear of the bus with his back turned trying to get behind other people? If so, I think he would be keeping an eye on the guy with the gun as he does so.

I think the table is fine in the second picture. I have my work table tilted at a pretty good angle and the books I put on it don't fall off.

Great work!

[Sketch]

Dan, I agree with what you are saying but the reason why people post work is to get crits... isn't it?

Jason, that last one is my fav. Very cool.

[Jason Manley]

people are welcome to give their thoughts always. I wont be making any changes to these as they have been taken as far as they can go given the budgets and the contract is now final.

j

[Dan Milligan]

Sketch- Absolutley, couldn't agree with you more. Probably my own insecurities coming out.

Peace
Dan

[DragonGX]

Thanks for sharing, I always love to see professional work posted on here. It gives me somethign to strive for.

[Jason Manley]

no dan...you made good points.

thats how it is. I did five paintings over the past couple days. I try to do my best in the time given. That is all I can do when it comes to professional work. I have to keep trying to do better each time. I try to come up with the best solutions I can during the time I have allotted for each piece. This stuff is not fine art...it is commercial illustration.

I do think some of the crits are helpful in this. While I found some of the information useful that was presented by captnblack, much of what he said I am aware of..some I agree with...other parts I disagree with. I also feel like his crit was made not to help me (though it does bring some things to mind that I try to keep aware of)..i feel that it was made to somehow "put me in my place" or to nitpick my commercial work in order to show my stuff in a less positive light. You see, captn is SEB and he has ill feelings toward conceptart.org and me in particular.

SEB...captnblack...or is it Togusa? or is it Nhab? or is it Salien..or is it?? I have been following your posts and different threads for your five different username accounts. Ive heard your bashing of the site and such and because of that I am as of now challenging you to a THUNDERDOME fight of skillz. Yer a big man now that you are workin at dreamworks. surely you can walk the walk as well as you talk the talk. check the announcement that is going up. Im ready. are you?



jason

[JoshuaTheJames]

lol Thunderdome...


awesome Jason.

-Joshua

[Skank]

FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT FI....
sorry, get a little carried away...
this should be good! pros go at it in the thunderdome :)

i love all these pieces jason, they pulled my attention to where it should be immediately, something that you dont always see in alot of paintings/artwork.
its funny you should mention rembrandt, my art history is pretty sketchy, and im just now discovering alot of the masters, and i was looking up rembrandt today..and they way you handle the lighting in these reminded me of how he lit alot of his paintings. everything seems to be crawling out of these immense shadows..i love it =)

thanks for sharing!:chug:

[wassermelone]

All freakin amazing work. All the little details amaze me...

I know you are working on Vampire: The Masquarade Bloodlines... so I completely fell in love with your most recent posted work. The man holding the girl is a vampire is he not? Of course perhaps I am wrong... but he looks so ghostly in the mirror.

I can't wait to see this fight off...

-toasty =)

[foster]

sorry edited

i butted in and jason can speak for himself.

but i like these illustrations very much jason.

jon

[Halis_Aetrous]

I'm lovin it! Nice work!

[benzo]

I am as of now challenging you to a THUNDERDOME fight of skillz

hellzya!

btw- thanks for sharing these Mr. Manley. Its nice to see what ou've been up to. The third one is my fav, even if the jealous guy in the bg looks like you:) (yeah, your arms aren't that big dude)

the attention paid to the dominant face in both illustrations is so finished in comparision to the rest of the picture. this makes it feel extra unfinished and unfinessed.

I disagree, otherwise it wouldn't be dominant.

one crit- nit picky, just to even this post out- on the second illo, my eye is drawn to the shadow at the top because it has a lot of contrast and that interesting, jaggy shape.....

-benzero

[NOOSE]

Oh Man things just got realy cool in this thread!!! :D
nothing greater then an artistic duel!!......and I already know who`s going to win!....


kick a$$ Jason!

[S51]

The general feeling in the most recent one is really amazing. The way she arches her back and her facial expression really scream "I'm not interested". Beautiful.

[Jason Manley]

Originally posted by benzo




one crit- nit picky, just to even this post out- on the second illo, my eye is drawn to the shadow at the top because it has a lot of contrast and that interesting, jaggy shape.....

-benzero

that jaggy shape is the shadow of a certain beast...hehehe of course you need to see it.


toaster...i did some work on vampire...and this is whitewolf stuff...you are right....i am no longer with activision/troika though. nivbed is helping them now.

cheers

thunderdome announcement is up....seb...Im coming for you. lol


j

[Jason Manley]

btw joshuathejames...best check the match list...its you vs wes...the rematch!!!

hahah

this is all your fault anyhow...yer the reason thunderdome happened.

[Dan Milligan]

Manley posts

Foster returns

Thunderdome cage matches


I love this sh*t.

Dan

[DragonGX]

Its all on now!

:bash:


:chug:

[I.was.ink]

This is freakin sick!

Manley posts some new stuff and we get a TD in the same day.

Could this get any better? I think not :D

-Iwasink-

[davi]

wow these are old school
great stuff jason!

[geoffd]

nice pics. always a treat to see stuff from you. good luck in the tdome. oh and hey, that last picture with the vampire about to suck some blood.... that wouldn't be you standing back at the bar now would it? looks like you...

[JoshuaTheJames]

Originally posted by Jason Manley
btw joshuathejames...best check the match list...its you vs wes...the rematch!!!

hahah

this is all your fault anyhow...yer the reason thunderdome happened.


heh,

My foot sure did land in my mouth that time. Good thing I got it out.

-Joshua

[gasmask]

OOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH jasons callin you out, i would be kinda scared. but what a day indeed, a great post of art and some art battles, where is the nearest booky?

[Joachim]

very nice pics jason. And they fit well together. I would love to see the rest of them you did.

[Ant4d]

Great stuff. You should post more often.

[Erik]

Personally i think they are all great pictures, they do not need to be more 'neat' and 'finished' to get the image across and they are at a very high level for the 'work from the trenches'.

What are they for?

I sure wish we saw more of this quality!

And: great way to react at a crit from someone just trying to piss you off Jason, good luck on the TD (as if ou need it ;-) )

(but don;t forget about the all-forgiving Christmas Spirit! lol)

Erik

[MindCandyMan]

The values are controlled so well in these...sheesh 5 in a couple days too man...so awesome. Very inspiring indeed!

[gasmask]

i just told wes9000 about this little quarrel and apparently he had no idea until i mentioned it to him on aim. I dont know if he will enter or not because of school and work but Jason, you might want to give him a email to convince him =)

[Tomasis]

nice works of you, jason..

At first I want to say that i'm not good in drawing or painting so don't ask about my compotence as you usually do =)

But I want talk about composition of your paintings

first pix feels like unbalanced. too much black in right side. It would be nice to make his back body lighter. to get nice balance between values in the whole.

I was thinking about cropping the right side but it will mess up the whole composition.

your second..feels unbalanced too. values of the woman (foreground) are nice and contrasty. but I would to see background to be more contrasty and stable (more flat values) to fit in the image (foreground). Rembrand's paintings feels like not contrasty (sort of spot-lighting). that is difference.

the third is that I like most of your decent works. Only add a little more light at left-bottom corner (to get nice difference between his dark body and background) , maybe crop a little of bottom side. then it would be very good.

good luck

[Loga4]

WoW,Jason
I love them all,great jop!

[tegehel]

This might come late in the discussion, but what I particularly like about those illustrations/paintings of Jason are the fact that some aspect are not finished indeed and I think it helps the eyes focus on those more refined areas, while leaving the "muddy/unfinished" area to the imagination.

I think this truly shows an understanding of the media and of focus and attention to points of interest. I think Jason (and Justin Sweet, Vance Kovacs - the Black Isle artist crew, basically) and other artists, such as Jon Foster, and other here are doing just that, often to great results.

I'm not saying the critics are missing the point, I think it might just be a matter of taste, too.

I personally find my work to often be "too finished" for my own taste and I try to "dirty up" my pieces more now. It's doesn't come that easy to me, I tend to get lost in details and it tends to ruin the piece sometimes, so I certainly admire those who do it, whether it be due to time constraint or just personal style.

Good job.

C.

[NOOSE]

Man some of these guys who are heavy on the crits are as bad as most movie reviewers,...(they have never made a movie, but they shure can point out all kinds of reasons why its flawed!).... these guys could easly rip apart the works of Leonardo da Vinci or Michelangelo!...lol

Anything thats not the way Jason wants it to be in the pic, he probably already knows...with that said theres like 20 noobs who actualy dont know what they are doing and are desparetly seeking advice in this very forum...with huge problems with balance, color ,and lighting and no one has even posted once on a few of them.....let the Professionals advise the professionals, and if you have a free moment help some of the new guys n gals just getting started :)

:chug:

[Avetice]

damn well said noose

[Karim M.]

Hossa, that's awesome!
Don't know why, but espacially the third one is very cool! The expression on the face of the Woman is so "real"
And what is this blurred point on her arm?
Anyway very cool work. I'm looking forward to seeing you in January :chug:

[killing.people]

awesome, dont get to see much of this guys work ..

[Howdy]

I don't know anyone one's history or skillz. I thought the pics looked so realistic that they were color pictures that were painted over with black and white.

I think that was what the capt was saying.

I don't know enough to judge.

[bengal]

awesome, jason!!! :)

[Sketch]

Noose: I agree with what you said about all the noobs that really need help(like me:])... but criting someone like Jason helps. It means they are really studing his work. But there are some crits in here that are just trying to look big.

[dodowa]

awesome works!!
black's fantasy!

long time no see, friend:chug:

[faithrenee]

Hello Jason,

I think your work is great! It is very difficult in art to display human emotions and you do it so wonderfully, so subtlely. The characters in your art display emotions throughout the whole body as well as the face. This is something I think most artists forget or struggle with - including myself.

I appreciate that you have put up this site, and everyone who has helped to contribute to it. It has helped both my husband and I alot with our artistic skills. I'm sorry that there are others who show little appreciation.

There are alot of doofus artists posting hot chicks and bimbos. I have alot more respect for people who can just post NUDITY. Why does it have to include the words bimbos and chicks is beyond me. Thats just my opinion, though.