Knight, very early stage , comments?

[Nekokaiju]

Below is an image I'm currently working on. Pretty early stages I know, but still curious about comments.

My main concern is his right shoulder (left side of the image). My thought is that the shoulder armour is jutting forward a bit overlapping the chest. Is that apparent? Or does it look just like his chest is sunken in? I find that if I have to explain it, the image doesn't work. Comments?

Another thing is the gripping of the sword...Does that work?

http://www.imagemagician.org/images/nekokaiju/knightgreytest.jpg

Thanks!

[Kambei]

nice rendering of the character thus far.
I really like the drama of the light off the armor, can't wait to see that fully rendered..

To further improve on your piece..


Yea from this point with the shoulder you would probably have to decide which way your pose would flow. Since most of you figure works well with the figure's left shoulder, possibly pushing back the figure's right shoulder would greatly improve the work. Maybe do a an experiment with dark darks.
Perhaps a pseudo Mignola approach?

The sword holding..
I say push the figure's right hand a bit forward..
to align with the hilt at the bottom of the figure's left hand..
Its a hard call.. The sword hold is a bit awkward.. but pushing that hand should align everything that should follow..
Arm, shoulder, chest.. etc..


Hope that helps..
Have lots of fun.. don't fuss too much.

[Nekokaiju]

Thanks Kambei,
LOL, I didn't realize it was so obvious I'd been fussing so much about this image.
I love Mignola's work, but his style is drastically different than mine. But everyone can learn from his use of shadow.

I think I fixed the main problems with the image.
I'll post it tomorrow in colour.

thanks again.