Norse (yet another color update!!)

[mcotie]

Here is a piece I just completed. It's a female Norse warrior based on the armor of the Sutton Hoo. I put the early studies and sketches for it below it.

Mitch

http://www.mcotie.com/newimages/norse.jpg

detail shots


http://www.mcotie.com/newimages/norse-detail1.jpg
http://www.mcotie.com/newimages/norse-detail2.jpg

sketches

http://www.mcotie.com/newimages/norse-sketch1.jpg
http://www.mcotie.com/newimages/norse-sketch2.jpg
http://www.mcotie.com/newimages/norse-sketch3.jpg

[ummo]

my god the expression on her face is amazing!
very powerful pose
and the details are fab!
:chug:

[Coma]

::clap clap clap::

[davi]

amazing work, great job on the first one!

[Clodhopper]

Amazin, that chainmail is very Flawlessly rendered. I luuves it :chug: now I'm goin to google.com to look up "Sutton Hoo"

[killing.people]

mcotie that looks sick man, great job.
how many times do you usually make thumbnails and sketches of works? i never plan a drawing! nor redraw one, looking at your earlier sketches, i see how much it helped fine tune the characters pose.

do you use any cloth or stumps to smear shading, maybe your fingers, or is it all raw shading?

[R_M]

OOooohhHH... what make this one stand out is the design of the items. especially the helmet is very original and has a strong shape. The sketches paid off!
Are you going to color it? I want to see some colors! when can we see it colored?
R_M

[Yaseck]

I like it very much.
I think it's just shame, that You didn't use the position of her from the 5th picture. I think it's more atractive.

[bbwolf]

I like it. I reeeealy like it.

Only thing I´d say is the snow wholes she´s standing in could use a little graphic noise. They´re too symetrically. But the whole thing is cool. You gonna do this in painter or photoshop or else???

[sparth]

i love it. the interesting factor is that you haven't lost anything in the final rendering of the first picture. really great.

[I.was.ink]

I love that face, and that armor looks excellent!

How long did this take, and how big is it?

[Gray]

Great powerfull pose. Nice detail and rendering. You certainly got the "don't mess with me"-attitude right.

one minor thing that bothers me:
I can't figure out whats with the jaw....
(i know.... nitpicking)....

GREAT STUFF

[rimwalker]

::looks on agape::
:eek:

Beautiful. The way you drew the chain mail and the knot design on the helmet are spectacular. Very clever how you feminized the face design on the Sutton Hoo helmet. She is an awesome shield maiden.

I'm trying to find constructive criticism, but can't.

[redehlert]

hey mcotie,

i like the renderings a lot...i mean that. your tone work is slick. very lithographic.
my only crit is on the first image you posted and it is in regards to the arm holding the ax.
I don't see how the medial aspect of the elbow would show so much in this perspective. Maybe trim some of the arc down a bit...I'd say about 1/2 of the distance out. Stand in front of a mirror holding a heavy object in your hand and in the same pose. You'll see what I mean. I won't go into detail about what muscle is where, but as it stands, that a really wide elbow.

hope this helps....

cheers!
d

[mcotie]

Thanks guys I appreciate the response on this one.

The final piece took me about 4 hours. The sketches were done at different times a few days prior. Really just ideas or thoughts that came to me on the piece, i would lay the sketch down to "capture the moment". This piece would fit on a 8.5 x 11 printer paper, but it was done on 11x 14 smooth bristol.

Gray
one minor thing that bothers me: I can't figure out whats with the jaw....
(i know.... nitpicking)....



redehlert

I don't see how the medial aspect of the elbow would show so much in this perspective. Maybe trim some of the arc down a bit...I'd say about 1/2 of the distance out. Stand in front of a mirror holding a heavy object in your hand and in the same pose. You'll see what I mean. I won't go into detail about what muscle is where, but as it stands, that a really wide elbow.


all I can say is, I am tempering naturalism with artisitc license.

thanks guys
mitch

[mcotie]

ok here it is in color.

http://www.mcotie.com/newimages/norse-color.jpg

[Rad]

wow. That is really cool. The color fixed the snow wholes.

[Gray]

Amazing. Great coloring. This piece really stands out.

[R_M]

For some reason I had the impression the sky would end up being blue/greyish, but this works much better.
Great pic
R_M

[Nordstrand, T]

Hmm... okey, first, very nice sketch (if one can call it that, seeing it's so thorough and fantastic-lookin). What I'd like to address though, is the colours.

Seems to me you've done it digitally, painting under the sketch. What works less in this picture (the way I see it) is the areas were you had no shading and texture in the sketch. predominantly the background, but also the shoulder, knee, snow. Since you use little to none painting texture, those areas seem to lose vitality and form.

The motive has flavour, and the light rendering is of course good. Maybe you could vary saturation and hue more as well, but it's otherwise a fine piece.

[egerie]

I love it :) The face and helmet on your second sketch are really nice too ! I was wondering where you get your references for armors and such ?

[MindCandyMan]

Mitch this one rocks...I love the expression and the tassle on her helmet blowing in the wind. I'm loving it man.

[Atmospheria]

wow...really amazing stuff...the sky is really good...and the pose of the norse...
There could be some light reflections on her body, i mean the sky is orange...but the girl has daylight on her...
anyway...still cool...

[KayCustomz]

nice

[mcotie]

Nordstrand, T , R_M, and Atmospheria

I took heed to your words. I decided to do some changes in the areas you mentioned.

Thanks

MCM thanks man.

hope ya'll like the new changes.

mitch



http://www.mcotie.com/newimages/norse-color2.jpg

[R_M]

I don't want to say "told you so", but I do prefer the second update! :cool:
I really like how you solved the lighting problem on sky. By giving a bright right edge to the cloud, you still managed to give the illusion of a sunset like the in the first one.
I can't really come up with anything else, this one is done in my opinion...well no, maybee there is one tiny bit, but it is pure stylish; she is wearing some kind of green skotish cloth right? How about you complement the blu lines with a thiker red line? It would bring warmth to the body and give some continuity with the red helmet tail. Well I do feel like a picky bastard now
Thumbs up! :)

[mcotie]

ha ha.
thanks R_M.

mitch

[redehlert]

Hey mcotie!
SO MUCH NICER!
Like the second color scheme better....very sweet and clean. Sets up the foreground and background very well.
My only concern is the cloud collection in the background...it appears tangible, a substance like marshmallow fluff. How to alleviate this is just by looking at your favorite cloud scape and rendering it up...but all in all - rock solid!

Cheers!
d

[McNallyism]

Hey Mitch, cool pose! And nice color choices. I would suggest more dramatic lighting on the figure to pop her out from the background though. Mainly just some really bright highlights or rim lighting along the right side of the figure. The axe really needs some highlights to bring it out in front of the figure. Also, how about eliminating the underside of that cliff thingy she's standing on? I feel that it kind of distracts from the figure. Instead,m I would suggest making the terrain one giant snow-drift. I, personlally, would like to see some broader brush-strokes in the clouds, just because the little noodly ones, again, appear distracting. This piece has power to it, I think a couple of minor changes would make it into a masterpiece!

-Sean