character concept; neo-crusader

[Blackarts]

Just a little character sketch I went crazy with and turned into a full painting. I couldn't stop myself.

Crits or comments are always welcome.

http://members.shaw.ca/blackarts/assets/crusader.jpg

[Sularia]

That's awesome! Did you do it in painter? I love the barbed wire at the bottom.

[kimchee]

Kickass. I really like the costume underneath the armor (the stripes).

My one tiny suggestion would be to paint the gun smoke thinner. As of now, it has the same volume as your clouds and it makes it kinda hard to differentiate.

Awesome work.

[Teknoholic]

Wow. There is nothing about this picture that I don't like. And that's saying something - I can always find something to complain about.

I even enjoy the gun smoke that Kimchee didn't like. It's kind of symbolically makes his weapon a righteous thing.

Maybe I would bring some of those green stripes from his sleeves down to his pants/robe-type-loincloth. But that's reeeaaally nitpicking.

Very nice job.

[sparky | emily]

I really like the way it gets less distinct towards the bottem, except for the barbed wire. Creates a cool effect, you really see his top half and the wire.

[JackalAnubis]

I love the colors in this piece, very rich.

[Form]

Some constructive crits:

Took me a while to search for some but i found em :D

*Theres a random blob top right.....it looks like it could have been an accidental brushstroke? Pretty insignificant tho - if you were copying from photoref it may have just been a quirk shadow.

*Unsure of this one, and it would only be spotted with a fairly close look at the piece......but i think the shoulder facing us is a bit low. Or rather the head is too high? if you follow the line his arm would take youll find he has a really long neck....its more that the creases in the clothing under his shoulder armour look too far down his torso.

*The cross on his chest is off centre. Im assuming you meant it to be centered on his breastplate...perspective-wise i think its off.

*Some of the brushstrokes seem to cut parts of the figure off - esp. the 'back' of his gun looks a bit cut off (but it could just be the design?) and more importantly the foot on the right....it just looks a lil less polished than the rest.

The bits i really dig are his hair, the flowing parts of his clothes at the bottom (the tattered streamery bits) and i really like the hands.

Mucho propo mate.

[nardfrog]

I thought you were gunna start makin you pics more "loose"? Hehe IM just kiddin. I think the hand on the right is a bit too cartoony compaired to the rest. Id like to se more detailed/defined areas in the focal point around his head and torso, and while im making requests, id like to see more time spent on rendering those clouds. K im done. Love the color, and if this wasent this site i wouldnt be throwing all this critiques on ya, but i know you aint the type a guy to get all upset from a little suggestion so there they are. Keep em comin and someday maybe ill have webspace and you can return the "favor".

[Blackarts]

good points....

nardfrog;

yeah, I'm trying heh....I'm noticing I'm speeding up when doing more detailed stuff like this so that's good. I'm a sucker for cartoony squarish fingers, maybe they don't fit in this case. ...I tried to be careful with the clouds - it's easy to overdo it and it looks like a sears photo backdrop...need some more practice there I think.

form_n_focus;

There's no photo reference, sometimes I just put little blobs of random dirt or whatever flying around to imply a bit of action. You're probably right about that shoulder.

Sularia

Yep, it's painter 7.

Thanks, very helpful!

[giusep]

If you do it in photoshop, did you think tath you will spend more time than painter?
I work in toshop and i'll possibly go to painter.
What did you think about?
is that worth the sorrow of it?


:p i'll working more my Anglinsh later...sorry :)

[hoopa]

very nice. smoke from the barrels looks very cool.

[Silvertone]

Looks great!

Maybe the smoke from the gun could be a darker color to make it a little different from the clouds? Just a thought.

[savii]

I really enjoy this. I love the idea for the armour, really cool, although the cross on the breastplate does look slightly off like form_n_focus said.

Can't see much more in the way of critism, I like it too much :p Keep it up.

[Sketch]

I love where this one is going, stylistic wise. His facial expression is great. The main complaint I had with some of your older pieces is that they didn't have any life to them. This one(and a lot of your quick concepts) has oodles of it.
I like the bit of cartoony/anime style you put in this. You wouldn't want to push it any further but it's giving you a distinct style.

Painting wise... great as always. I like how you blended the smoke from the barrels into the clouds.

[Blackarts]

thanks Sketch, the fast ones have been helping.

giusep; Painter's great, and there isn't much sorrow involved in learning it. ;) Give it a try.

[azjohnl]

ugh, thats kick ass, i am crawling back into my hole :)

[bwkeough]

very enjoyable to look at, I like this very much, it'll likely be desktop material. Well-blended and balanced colors, solid forms and good values. Instead of adding nitpicks about the hands, decals and gunsmoke (not because their not valid, but because they are small things you would have eventually outgrown without being mentioned), I'm going to suggest you spend more time looking at how he's interacting with the weapons and the armor.

The gun handle seems to be sitting on his hand, not held in it. There should be a shadow on it and there should be some flesh from around the heel of his palm overlapping it.

The shoulder armor seems to be floating on him. By contrast, his leg armor really looks like it's buckled to his leg.

So, who else is in the Crusader's army? Who is the enemy? I want more! :)

[-The Swift-]

whoa! great work, please feel free to go "crazy" anytime you want!:)

[Carlos]

Amazing work. your entire portfolio is awesome.
Great job!
:D

[TARGETE]

Dude your quickies are helping you develop at in incredible rate..wow man! nice to see this happening.

JP

[Loga4]

Very nice piece,Blackarts!
Good jop!