Homeland

[Gezstar]

This is a bit of a stylistic departure for me.. trying to learn new things.

http://www.gezfry.com/gez_exilerevised.jpg

It's a cover for a Forgotten Realms comic, coming out in June from Devil's Due.

Hope you like it! :^^;:

[JoshuaTheJames]

Ahhh nice paint application!

::sniff sniff::

I wish the lady in the background was more flushed out. One thing I love about really well flushed out backgrounds is the fact that one can just keeping diving into the image.


thanks for sharring!


-Joshua

[Chris J. Anderson!]

Fock! Great illustration. A crit, if you don't mind, I think the strongest point in this is the forground character. I think the background has so much going on in detail that the images back there become a bit cluddered. To fix the problem, the buildings just need a bit more modeling, more form. I think the elephant and the girl are fine, it's mostly the details of the buildings and the smoke behind the elephants head. Maybe just a bit more modeling in the rocks above the buildings and a seperation of space relatioship between the rocky cave, buildings, and bright far background versus the foreground elements. It doesn't need to much, just 30 minutes to an hour more of work back there. I hope that makes sense.

What do you think, I hope I'm not crushing your toe nails, you already know your work is hardcore, just giving some thoughts.

[Odds]

shiteys! :D
good job on this, Gezstar. i'm diggin' those fantasy/fairytale/mystical colors you chose to use... very dramatic expression on the character's face. keep up the good work!

[JoshuaTheJames]

Gez

Check the Front Page "Best of Gallery" You Bad F#$kin Mam ma Jam ma!

-JtJ


btw what's your real name?

[bRyaN]

this is certainly a pleasant departure from your normal stuff dude...

the foreground character just pops nicely...

[klinesmoker]

The emotion on his face, just amazing! Jesus, I can't stop saying amazing! One more time.... amazing!






..........a......mazing...:)

[Mono]

i enjoy the high-opacity style on this.
Painter i presume? what was your brush variant?

[darkos]

man it's always a pleasure to see your stuff. Nice departure from your style ! Reminds me of some Korean artists. Continue comme ca ! :D

[Mort]

i like it
.thats talant
.
no crits.
ok just one, make more-.

[Aly Fell]

It may be a departure, but hell... it still looks great! You're going down a painty road at the moment... cool! :)

[csteingart]

Dope!

c

[nicolas]

Great job! I wouldnt even say its a stylistic departure, coz I reckognized it was yours the minute I saw it (even if your name wasnt on top of the post)...rather I would call it a change of "approach". Either way Its a great piece! I hope, for my personal enjoyment as well, that you keep going down this road.

NIC

[foster]

you are making me envious of those brush strokes my friend. just a wonderful job of painting the main character and your color sense... too cool ( as in way neato)!

jon

[Hanuka]

i agree with nic. it has got your original, remarkable color scheme.
great picture, beautiful layout, emotions and strokes.

[mime]

WOW
this is really great

I am a huge fan of your usual works, but with this one you are going in a new path, wich I really really love :)

[Kappei]

looks cool
but maybe you need to put more depth?
the background looks very near, my opinion !

good work

cya
kappei

[rochelle]

I love the figure in the forground. I think he's totally handsome. The only downfall is I find the image far too dark. Even if the front character were lightened and the background was left as is, the image will pop out more. Again, gorgeous character, but I want to see him! (the character is cute enough to entice me to buy a print).

[squirrelfishing]

I've been following your stuff and looking at your website. Gotta say I'm a huge fan!

I'm assuming most of this stuff is photoshop.... Something about painting in photoshop, etc. has been bothering me. What sizes and resolutions are good to use? Its always easier to draw small so I try to go as big as I can stand. (if that makes any sense)

What sorts of demensions do you use? Are there specific requirements for professional jobs?

Enlighten me please :^^:

[liquidwerx]

:perv: Ahhh, yeeeaaahhhh.... I've gotta tell ya Gez, I love the brush work in this. It's the perfect blend of east-meets-west, which I know, is something you've been striving for in your work for years now.

Well, I think you've finally found the results you have been looking for. I've not only been your net-buddy for the past few years, but I've also been a big fan of your work and just who you are as a person.

This piece rocks, I hope you continue using this style for even more ambitious paintings. I'll be keeping my eyes peeled. ;)

Take it easy,
M

[FIG]

Already saw it, its awesome.

[Lohan]

haha thats sick!! i love the lighting on his hand!

[Marko Djurdjevic]

Bravo Gezstar,


beautiful work. I always enjoy your updates!

Marko

[Gezstar]

joshua - thanks man. i was really trying to get the main character to pop, and rendered him out more than the rest. but when i look at it now, i agree that some of the bg elements could use more refining. hey, and thanks again for the front page! it made my day. gez is short for gerald, by the way.

chris - cheers! you're totally right about the bg. this one's already gone to print, but i'll remember the advice for my next stuff.

mono - i used photoshop and painter for this one. most of the latter stages were done with a tweaked gouache brush in painter.

darkos - thanks man, it's a pleasure to be compared to korean artists, as there are some amazing ones out there.

nicolas - thanks, and i'm glad you recognised it as mine. though i use different techniques occasionally, i feel it's important that my work be recognisably 'me'.. if that makes sense.

foster - thanks jon! looking at your beautiful paintings was one of my motivations in trying a more painterly technique.. i know i have a lot to learn yet, but what better place to learn it :)

kappei - thanks, and you pointed out my biggest problem with the piece, i.e. fg and bg separation. hopefully i'll do a better job next time with what i learnt this time around.

rochelle - ditto, i totally agree with your point. but i'm glad you think he's handsome, as his face takes up quite a lot of space.. haha.

squirrelfishing - cheers. yeah, i do a lot of underdrawing and painting in photoshop. this one was for us comic size, which is 175mm x 265mm, and i went with 400dpi for a nice crisp print. my suggestion to you would be to do your thumbnail and underdrawing/underpainting small, since that's what you're most comfortable with, and go closer when applying detail and finish. it's nice to have a big monitor too, so you can fit a lot of pixels on it.

liquidwerx - cheers malachi! those words mean a lot to me coming from a friend like you. the feeling's mutual man, and i've got nothing but respect. how's everything going with you?

marko - thanks, i enjoy your updates more though! your last post was unbelievable, and i can't wait for the next.

Odds, bRyaN, klinesmoker, Mort, Poshspice, csteingart, Hanuka, mime, FIG, and Lohan, thanks a lot. it's a real pleasure to get feedback from you guys. :vodka1:

[JoshuaTheJames]

Hey Gez,

This is such a noobie question but, it may be good for others to also hear.

When you are doing your work for print are you painting in CYMK or converting from RGB?


thanks,

-Joshua

[Gezstar]

i always paint in rgb and convert at the end, mainly for convenience's sake - computers being an rgb system and everything. i tend not to use out of gammut colours, so there is rarely a noticeable shift when converting - just make sure you flatten the image first, as layer effects and interaction will get messed up otherwise. you can see what colours are out of gammut in the photoshop colour picker, as an exclamation point will appear, but if you try to pick 'natural' looking colours, this shouldn't be a problem.

[Arctis]

Hi,
the foreground character is great - subtile expression of aggressivity - but to me, there too much things in the comp. I'm thinking about StarWars poster, where you can recognize each group of characters easily. I'm also thinking about Sergio Toppi : he's a real master for that type of composition.
Bye

[darkcult]

Great work Gez. You're on fire man!

;)

[Red_Rook]

o dude gez, awesome brush strokes, and ofcourse i have always adored your skin tones :)

[crazybrush]

Love your palette and the way you paint. Lotta juicy meat here!
Although it's pretty straight forward, I would agree with Arctis and say that it feels a little congested. It needs some negative space to emphasize particular details

[liquidwerx]

Gez~ Same old shit bro. I'll email you some stuff I can't show on line yet.

M

[strych9ine]

Love the new approach to your work, but it still registers in my mind as "Gezstar". Big fan of your work man, keep them coming...

[the black frog]

Niiiice!!

[geikou]

forgotten realms? homeland? dark elf with purple eyes?? it's...drizzt! thank you, gezstar, for making such a beautiful rendition of an awesome character! *glomp* (drizzt on the novel covers looked terrible.) and your style, both drawing and coloring, is absolutely gorgeous. *study study*

(i know this is an old thread. i know i'm new here *shy wave* although i've actually been lurking around for a couple weeks now. i just had to post when i saw this one. ^^;)