Nightcrawler help

[Spidey-man]

Well i just started a while ago doing digital painting. All i got is a mouse and Photoshop 7. I posted this on some other sights and was torn to pieces so hoping that someone here will actually tell me what to do to fix it.:(

http://img21.photobucket.com/albums/v62/spidey-man/nightcrawler.jpg

[shortmikeshort]

here's what I like: the incredible looseness of it. It's very breezy, Nightcrawler is drawn with such a light touch. It gives me th efeeling of a William Blake drawing.

But it's that same looseness that detracts when you look at the background. The cross is very two-dimensional, and the wood grain in it is scribbly, not detailed. The wall is flat and you make no differentiation between the stones and the mortar. I suggest taking a bit more time, getting some references, and boldening (is that a word?) up the color.

One more thing, his coat. Clothing does not fall that flatly on a body, especially a body in motion.

I like your line style (light and airy) and I like your sense of motion and composition. I just say pay more attention to detail.

[shortmikeshort]

P.S., take a look at P. Craig Russel's work, he's a comic book artist. Your style reminds me of his. Keep drawing!

[Spidey-man]

thanks this is much help sometimes you just need to get some outside ideas to get something to look good. thanks

[Spidey-man]

I did some more stuff hopefully its a little better.




http://img21.photobucket.com/albums/v62/spidey-man/nightcrawler2.jpg

[Ni*]

i really dont reply to people's posts enough...

anyway, the main thing i'd change on this would be the background. the eye is always drawn to the strongest light/dark contrast, just now that is where the brown of the cross meets the background. that area also happens to be the centre of the piece so its naturally where the viewer looks.

try to put the beggest light/dark contrast where you want the attention to be, so if the focal point is to be his face, throw some highlights and dark shadows onto his face.

hope this helps

N

[johanson]

A comment on composition… In a 2d image, you usually you want to give a moving object some room to breath. They need someplace to go. In your image, Nightcrawler doesn’t have anywhere to go. He’s jumping right into the corner of the picture.

Also, because we read left to right, we tend to feel more comfortable with objects that are moving left to right. It isn’t a “carved in stone” rule that all figures have to move in that direction, but it’s something to think about. By both moving right to left and jumping into a corner, this composition gives off an awkward feel.

Hope this helps.

Looking forward to more updates,

-andrew

[shortmikeshort]

You've strengthened the coloring. But Ni* is right, the eye is drawn to those areas.

Might I suggest that you do a new drawing? It's a well laid out piece, but there's a point where no amount of coloring can hide any flaws.

I was Nightcrawler for Halloween last year, so a good pic of him is very near to my heart.

[DavidCousens]

I know this isn't going to be a wonderful suggestion because it means a bit or re-drawing that you may not want to do, but the hands bother me.

Nightcrawler is 'porting in at some velocity (which looks pretty cool by the way! :) ) and it looks like he's using his hands to prevent ramming into the floor, which makes sense.

The problem being the position of his hands, they'd never support his weight like that, in fact, they would be about 2 seconds away from breaking under the weight. When you're trying to support your own weight you always use your thumbs to spread the weight as much as possible. The fingers need to be as flat as possible too.

I hope that helps.