S.w.a.t 2

[ghettomasterchen]

another illustration done for a client. c&c welcome.

http://www.peachyspuffs.com/temp/dw_09.jpg

http://www.peachyspuffs.com/temp/dw_10.jpg

http://www.peachyspuffs.com/temp/dw_03.jpg

[Forge]

i just see tripod banner...

[jezelf]

looking good but its all a bit too MGS (Takato Yamamoto??) wannabe. perhaps that was a request from the client? its looks like you're trying hard to mimic the MGS style that you're letting some anatomy problems slip past your attention. not much - I mean it all holds together.

with the guy on his own - looks good, but when you have him in the other picture it almost looks like he's about to fall backwards because his center of gravity doesnt look right. this is caused because of your shadow the guy has cast on the wall.

plus the dudes on the floor dont have much space before the wall is there. you need a bit more depth. well, ok I guess the guy in the blue could be decapitated from the waist down, as there is plenty of blood there for it, at first I thought he had been broken in 2 and then saw there was another guy on top of him.

it all causes confusion and difficult to read.

with the female character her left breast looks flat and her eyes dont look centered

the problem with the breast is that the highlight and shadow are not discribing the same form that other breast has.

as actual concepts I think the Guy looks great - though not sure about the netting on the sleeves but I like everyting else - cool shoulder pads...and the woman, again - looks like its trying to be like MGS sniper woman more than a swat with that low cut suit.

try to keep the brief in mind - for example - you have elbow pads but if she a swat I would guess she'll be jusmping about and trying to be stealthy - so why not put knee pads on too? the same design.

carve your own style and designs if you can. orginality will get you further than a pale imitation of someone elses work. theres no harm in being influenced or even trying someone elses style, not no shame in that at all, well for me, I would prefer to see you to rise above a clone and create a style of your own.

think of it this way - who was doing MGS type concept art before MGS? well I never saw anyone - its the same with star wars stuff -everyone copies it because they love it so much. the people that create those styles go off on and do their own thing rather than imitate. if you're doing personal work - cool, but if you're creating a rep for yourself, what would you rather be?

anyway - sorry - Im ranting a bit - hope the crits help. don't have to take on board my stuff - just an opinion. :)

merry christmas and a happy new year!
best wishes
Jez.

[Molly]

...hey, I must agree Jezelf. Your colouring style is cool, but the figures on both male and female are off. I suggest you concentrate more on the composition/figure proportion etc before diving in the deep end with MGS style artwork and the '3D-effect-bullet-casings', (2nd pic) actually don't fit with the rest of the drawing. Check out Masamune Shirow and his book 'Intron Depot 2 Blades' (I think) there are some cool pics in there combining 2D & 3D artwork.
Also, if you are going to use Yoji Shinkawa style artwork, be sure to state that in your post, and why you chose to do so. You have done a good job replicating his style, but it's already been done. You are going in a direction of 'copying' rather than the Shinkawa style 'influencing' you.
It's an extremely recognisable style of artworking too, which may be a problem.

Be influenced; take it on board, and produce your own unique style from it!

Merry Christmas!!

Mollyx

[ghettomasterchen]

yo molly girl,
when u post on a tread make sure u explain where the problems are in the drawing. tell'in me "the figures on both male and female are off. I suggest you concentrate more on the composition/figure proportion etc before diving in the deep end with MGS style " don't mean squat if u don't fully articulate to me as to where the proportion are off. pretend you're in a life drawing studio critique, point out where it is that needs work.

and yo jez'inself,
good call on the girls' eyes, they certainly were off centered. should definitely refine on my anatomy, I rough things out quickly as I draw so I usually pass up on some anatomy issues.

referring to my designs as a pale imitation of someone else's work, THAT it is not. these concepts are from the client's design spec. the girl's not trying to be like sniper wolf. just cause she's got a low cut cat suit doesn't mean it's a copy of sniper wolf. based on the specs she's a bounty hunter that bears the characteristics of lady jane (G.I. Joe), storm (x-men) with short hair & sex appeal like hally berry. and what you're seeing is my combo of those 3 female references. the low cut suit's how I choose to define sex appeal in a character (show some tits and ass) if anything she resembles danger girl/charlie's angles way more then sniper wolf. although the military theme together with the illustration method I got going will probably remind everyone of the MGS look.

as far as me using a similar illustration technique taken from Yoji Shinkawa, fu*k yeah... no doubt man. I ain't gonna front, I started drawing with a brush after seeing the art of MGS. call me a clone or lack of originality in illustration style all u want. the fact is I'm no different from any digital artist out there that's been influenced by someone else's drawing techniques. just like all the artist out there painting with a manga/capcom/katsuya terada technique. or all the concept artist drawing with a similar look as fang zu/doug chang (industrial design technique), peeps painting with the same loose and messy technique as craig mullins.

copying someone else's technique is one thing, copying style is another. style consists of more then just technique, its' also how u illustrate your subjects, faces, anatomy, composition and design. anyone looking at a frazetta painting or a Masamune Shirow drawing will know it's done by that artist. style is heavily ingrained into the each artist's work and is not so easily copied.

and likewise with me I'm copying the MGS technique by using a brush, keeping the strokes loose and messy. I also try to keep the coloring loose by varying color tones like in MGS. a lot of it is definitely derived from looking at Shinkawa's work. but if you were to put my drawing next to his, you'll see a big difference both in brush strokes and coloring. I also don't draw my characters the same way Shinkawa does, whatever resemblance you see is faces and anatomy is a result of my past influence by reading jim lee comics, and chinese/japanese manga.

one of the greatest things about a online artist community is the sharing of knowledge and illustration techniques, and I give props to any artist out there that's willing to share their techniques with online tutorials and WIP steps on their websites; lots of people will benefit from it.

much like someone who's paid a lot of money to attend art school or sit in a studio to learn drawing techniques from guys like fang zu and mullins. they came outta there learning various methods of drawing. unfortunately I never had the opportunity to learn 1 on 1 with an experienced artist. I only had 2yrs of figure drawing in college so whatever painting or drawing techniques I use I get them from looking at art books and deconstructing each artist's techniques then applying them when I draw.

anyway, enough of all that bull shit chit chat. here's a few more of my past and recent pieces....and yeah I guess you can say again that I'm ripp'in off and copy cloning that MGS style all the way BABY, haha happy 2004!

http://www.peachyspuffs.com/temp/dw_11.jpg

http://www.peachyspuffs.com/temp/dw_12.jpg

http://www.peachyspuffs.com/temp/dw_13.jpg

http://www.peachyspuffs.com/temp/bull_1.jpg

[jar]

All Metal Gear style and shit. Good work bro. Keep kranking these out.

[Wynd]

My main crit would be the drop shadows. They feel too "Photoshop" which contrasts and in some cases draws attention from the character. I think this is most evident in the last two images on this thread -- the cat-guy with staff and spider girl. A simple fix would be opacity or changing that layer to multiply or overlay.

I do like your more recent treatment of drop shadow but I'm not so sure about the lighter outline. But it could end up being your signature style of doing shadows, so I'll let others comment if it works or not.

Keep it up!

[Killer Napkins]

yeah i definately like the yoji shinkawa style... did u use a brush and ink? thats pretty kickass stuff

[Zwalharulzuki]

I like everything but the faces. They look pretty ugly compared to everything else. Ugly=poorly drawn, not ugly=the subject is ugly. Other than the faces, I'd say it's pro-quality.:btu:

[CH-PERALTA]

Cool illustrations dude but yeah it has a very strong style ( not the anatomy or character design ) of Yoji Shinkawa I like this characters they got the cool warfare look

[Killer Napkins]

oh yeah just read teh giant post at the top.. i tryed to do somewhat shinkawa style with a brush and ink .. but it never turned out right cuz the ink would eitehr dry out too fast or it brushed too big of lines... what kind of ink and what size brush do u use?

[Belligergerum]

man, this stuff is really good. id like to see some sketch book action, or maybe youve already posted it. i dunno. keep it up

[ghettomasterchen]

thanks for the comments guys,

Zwalhar: your right about the faces, some of my other friends have been tell'in me that also. need to work on drawing my faces better.

killer napkin: the brush I use is actually a pen brush that has a refillable ink cartridge, it's got a very fine tip. depending on how much pressure you apply when u draw you can get various line quality.

http://www.peachyspuffs.com/temp/pen.jpg