No Vikings here ;)

[oglzogl]

It seems like most of what I've posted here has been images of vikings. Had to get away from them at least this one time :D

I just finished this piece for a proposed DVD cover:

http://www.toddpowelson.com/images/DVD1a.jpg

.. turned out pretty well, I think. Done in Illustrator.

[Carnifex]

wow,pretty impressive.always like the strange subtle shades you manage to hit in...though the guy's arm seems wrong..the down part doesn't really fit.

[oglzogl]

Glad you like..

You noticed the arm. I've been tweaking that for the last little while and finally arrived here. Maybe I just couldn't see the shapes clearly because Ive been fiddling with them and looking too long. You are right though.. it does still feel a bit off. Ahh well, still have a some tweaking to do :)

Edit: .. and here it is with some of that tweaking done - I adjusted the shoulders, repositioned the arm, hand and gund and cropped a little differently:

http://www.toddpowelson.com/images/DVD1.jpg

[Carnifex]

better, but still not good enough. the shoulders seem to indicate that the arm is hanging down by the side. take a look in the mirror when you rise your arm abit,it looks different. maybe it would also help if you moved it in abit. normally you don't put the arm straight to the side of your body,but abit into the foreground.
i recommend stronger highlights on the hand also-it looks painted in a (completely?) different style

[Snowfly]

Illustrator? As in the vector program? Impressive rendering!

First thing that got to me was that girl's face is totally lopsided. Even considering the light source, it shouldn't alter the contour of her face like that. Mostly looking at her chin.

You also notice the highlights in Stallone's hair don't follow the rest of your lighting scheme? And that you have no shadows coming from those loose strands along the hairline?

That's a lot of dead space unless the DVD logo will actually take up 1/3 of the image.

[oglzogl]

The shoulders would still be my primary concern with this piece. I agree that it isnt set in it's ideal position. I didn't want to move the arm in or bring it more into the foreground because I like the space for the woman to peek through. I agree it doesnt look completly natural though. And I don't know that you'd even really carry a gun like that (seems like you might see the back of the hand instead of the palm? but since I wanted that space I thought it was more natural to have the palm out.)

For some reason I kind of wanted the hand to look a little less sharp when compared to the man's face. I cannot really say why. No real logical reason other than when I was doing the face I thought "I'll have this the crispest part of the image and kind of play everything else down a little".

Same goes for the hair. You are, of course, right about the highlights and the lack of shadows. I don't really have a reason why I did it that way except I really liked the flatness of the hair contrasting the dimensional shapes. I know it isn't technically correct but for some reason I really do like the effect. That is why I didn't want to add highlights to the left side of the head. Perhaps it is too far off though and my liking that contrast isn't a valid enough reason. I will have to look at it longer, I think.

The woman's face was completely whacked. I've done a bit of reworking and I think it looks better.. I don't know. Maybe it is still whacky?

Thanks a lot for the feedback. It gets hard to be objective sometimes creating things by your lonesome. Your insights are much appreciated.

.. good points. all of them valid!

Ill just mention that this is not Stallone.. does sort of look like him though ;) Just some poor chap I'd never heard of before.

[Jujub33ns]

Very cool. I just have one little crit. I'm familiar with firearms, since my Dad was a firearm instructor. The guy in your picture has way too much trigger finger. When you pull the trigger you should only use the pad of your finger (actually you shouldn't even have your finger on the trigger until you're ready to fire, but that doesn't matter), not all of your finger. :) Otherwise, I like it, nice work!

Edit: Something I just noticed. I think the angle of the gun is off. It doesn't seem to fit with the angle of his hand.

[oglzogl]

Heh.. thanks. I am sure you are right. I've only held a gun a couple times and that was probably when I was about 10 or 12(boy, 20 years ago). I'm really not that familiar with how to hold a gun or how they work. I am sure you are right though.. they way he is holding it now would be wrong. Didnt even think of that.

Im not sure what you mean when you say the angle doesnt match the head. Would you tend to hold a gun a certain way? In relation to your head? If so, I didnt know that either..

[Jujub33ns]

Oh, no no. I meant his HAND. The gun seems to be pointing back further. But it's not that noticeable. ^_^