Monster within monster

[beatngo]

Hi, all. i'm new here, and will be more than happy to hear your critis & commments...
this is my latest work...
http://img11.exs.cx/img11/4320/monster2.jpg

[chozometroid]

This is completely finished?

It is a creative piece. But all of the quality and detail is in the face and "emerging eye" area. It is unfinished in every other area as far as detail and completion. Where is the left hand and the back legs(so the thing has some balance)?

[beatngo]

by looking at it, man i'm ashamed i posted it... i should have finished the hand and the legs, it just that i was to focused on the face, i forgot all about the other parts.. there is a question i'd like to ask, this i know it isn't the place to.
first of all, i'm using photoshop, and i was having big problem at the stomache part, see if i use small brush (btw im using mouse) at that area i kinda get it mixed up, somehow ... :hmm: maybe i should practice painting some basic shapes like sphere?
thank you for your help, i'll have it finished and then post it.

[emily g]

Here's some ideas on different ways to paint the stomach area:

-start with a big brush. Once you have the form, start using smaller and smaller brushes to noodle the details.

-start with a big/medium brush with low opacity. Slowly build up the colors, layering your brushstrokes. It's kind of like watercolors. Just keep adding thin washes.

-Use the brushes that have feathered edges for a smoother more "airbrushed" look.

-Try the texture brushes. You can paint the whole thing with them, or just use them at the end to add some interesting texture.

If you are worried about control using the mouse, you can make a selection around the stomach with the lasso tool before you paint. That way you won't accidentally paint outside the figure.

Good luck!
emily

[Imp Head]

You shouldn't be ashamed. Every bit of art you do is working towards making you better.

Truth be told, you've got some really good things going on in this image. The character design, though not finished is, at it's core, interesting. You've got a fundemental understanding of how to render form and the fact that you're using a mouse to do what you did is worthy of comment in and of itself.

The next step is to take what you've done here and progress to the next level. Use what you've discovered in this creature to fuel your next drawing.

Give the creature an enviroment. What, based on his physiology would be his most likely climate. Is he a web-spinner? Is he the cruel result of a government genetic experiment gone arwy? What?

Then finish him out. Take the time to develop the character further. think about how he'd walk, how he would attack, how he would interact with prey or predator, then give him the attributes to carry out those tasks.

Furthermore study that which already exists to give him a sounder realism. Nature can't be beat for efficiency and that's what biological creatures are all about. Learn how muscles and bones interact to create incredible machines. Incoorporate those ideas into your own designs and you'll lend your creations another level of believability and increase their psychological impact on your veiwer.

Then as you're putting it all together add the icing on the cake, mood. Think about how you want the viewer to react to this creature. Abject horror? Overt pity? Give the creature life and direction through the use of lighting, camera angle, color, and body language, etc. Understand why people react the way they do and then use that to deliver a more powerful image.

You're definitely on the right track just take the next step... and then the next and the next and so on.

Also, pick up a tablet. Even if you borrow one for the time being. You'll definitely be doing yourself a favor. Pretty much everyone has a much finer control over a pen/pencil than they do a block of soap. You're spending way to much brain power overcoming the task of drawing with soap when you could be using that same brain power to further your art. You've got talent, now you just need to find the right tools to let that talent shine.

[NOOSE]

The eye ball on his chest area is pure wickedness!!
getting a crit from Imp head is a serious honor !

[beatngo]

i'm very sorry i reply so late,
emily g, quote " -Use the brushes that have feathered edges for a smoother more "airbrushed" look."
i had a disagreement with a lot of people for using airbrush, and this happend at another form "asylum" , and we came to this conclusion that we should use airbrush only for rendering, but i'll try it again..
i draw the whole thing in blach & white and then color it, that's my method.

and again emily quote "Try the texture brushes. You can paint the whole thing with them, or just use them at the end to add some interesting texture."

i'd like to know more about this , do you know any tutorials that i can find them?

It's more than a honor to get crits from imp head, thank you very much, by all means you gave me hope, seriously.
About the enviroment, well there is a small story behind this pic...
there is a king which is not human, and it's evil (i'm getting wormed up!!!)
and this king was betraied by it's own guards, because it was EVIL.. and so one day they planed to kill him but, they couldn't, so they made a agreement with a bug , that at night they will let the bug in the kings room, and the bug would eat the king and place him self in the kings body. But the skin wouldn't fit him so he sew the face to the body, and SUPRISINGLY NO ONE WOULD ACTUALLY SEE THAT!!
the king-bug should be sitting on a kings seat, kinda meaning it's ruling the force now..
and about the tablet , i will buy one soon when i move to u.s.
again one more question, should i really study fine arts, or i could practice-learn the whole process?

[emily g]

Hey,

About the airbrush: yes, some people don't like the airbrushed look, but I've seen people make it look good. You don't have to use it, I was just trying to throw out another suggestion for you if you wanted to get a smoother look. For myself, I prefer to use a hard brush set at a lower opacity and then build up my color by layering my brush strokes.

About texture brushes: I don't know what version of Photoshop you have, but some of the later versions have these brushes. Click on your brush drop-down menu and scroll all the way to the bottom. There should be some brushes named "charcoal," "chalk," "spatter," etc. Do some experimenting with these brushes.

Sorry I don't have any good tutorial links (maybe someone else has some they can add) but if you did a search on google, I'm sure you would find many. There are a lot out there.

best of luck,
emily

[beatngo]

about the textures, i use photoshop 7, there are a lot of textures in them, i'll play with them see what i get...
thank you.