Comic cover portfolio piece

[t y l e r]

Hey all, here's a promo piece I'm working on for Wizard World Chicago (big ol' comic convention).

At this point I feel that I'm done with it, but I'd love to hear what you guys think of it overall. One of my main concerns is if you can identify the characters and if you can tell what's going on in the "story" of the piece.

So, C&C away!

Thanks

T

http://www.tylerwalpole.com/boards/doom.jpg

[dindon]

it looks awesome. you may want to clean up that shadow in the background, but i think you were going to do that anyway.

you might also want to put in some more red highlights, like in the background, on the skull and on character up front, but that might end up being too much red, so i don't know if you want to do that.

[ShadeOfDawn]

i cant give any advice on the art because its far beyond anything i could ever hope to do

but as to the other point

i think that its Dr. Doom, but i cant tell who the head is, nor the person in the background and i really have no clue whats going on. the head reminds me of dormamu from spiderman, but kinda looks like the Joker, but i might only think that because of your avatar. and i cant think of many characters who would bear the cross on their chest except maybe that guy from Spawn, but i dont know his name.

so in short i cant identify all the characters and i cant tell what the story is. sorry

[Elwell]

There's a slight leftward skewing to almost everything in the image. Flop it and you'll see what I mean.

The glowing face and tendrils look too solid, and don't read as the light source they're intended to be.

The reddish light is effecting his armor much more strongly than anything else (it hardly seems to effect the green and gold of his clothing at all), so it reads as pink armor.

[t y l e r]

dindon- I see what you mean about that shadow. I also thought about throwing in some warm highlights in the BG, but it wasn't really working. Maybe I'll play around with it again.

ShadeOfDawn- Yup, that's Doom alright, from the "Unthinkable" stroyline by Mark Waid. The head is a bit more obscure, but it is Marvel character. I may have to add another element to get the story across a little better.

Elwell - Thanks for the crits. Right on about those light tendrils. Also, his armor in this pic sorta is pink. It's made from human flesh, maybe I need to add soma more browns. But I think you're right that I need some highlights to the green and gold nonetheless.

[Elwell]

Elwell - Thanks for the crits. Right on about those light tendrils. Also, his armor in this pic sorta is pink. It's made from human flesh, maybe I need to add soma more browns. But I think you're right that I need some highlights to the green and gold nonetheless.
More browns and less purple/gray then, definitely. I actually did wonder if that was what you were going for, but it's not clear enough. Also, changing the color of his cloak from green to something else may help avoid anyone mistaking him for Dr. Doom.

[DSillustration]

Also, changing the color of his cloak from green to something else may help avoid anyone mistaking him for Dr. Doom.

i just assumed it was dr. doom.

everyones crits are pretty on.
clean up those bg shadows, and add the glow to the cloak.
also, it bothers me that the horns from the pedestal do not line up with the face they are growing out of.
i know there are supposed to be three, in a triangle, but it doesnt read that way since we cant see the back one.

if the glowing head is indeed the lightsource, try washing out some of his surroundings.
this will clean things up.
you especially need to add more light to the horns.

his right hand also gets a little lost aginst his shoulder.
try darkening the left side of the shoulder behind the hand.

[Avetice]

i have to agree with shadeofdawn here, im also not quite sure of whats goin on in it. I think that the character in the background could be simplified even more. If his cross is whats important on him then i would lose some of the detail you have in the wrinkles in his shirt. You dont really need those accents so much on him. Just simplify him to two or three changes in value like you did on the brick wall. Also I'd get some reference or just pay attention to light affecting cloth a little more because that hood he is wearing seems very flat.

[Danilo]

To me image is too sharp. Maybe black light could be softer. Right heand is realy cool. Left looks like from hogarth's book.

[t y l e r]

Okay folks, I tried to incorperate most of your suggestions, 'cause the seemed pretty on-the-money to me. Thanks for all of your help. If you see anything else after these changes, feel free to point 'em out!

Also, the gist of what I was trying to get across in the scene seemed to be getting a bit lost. Hopefully the more obvious changes I've made will help fill in some gaps in the nartrative.

Thanks!

http://www.tylerwalpole.com/boards/doom2.jpg

[Mad Giraffe]

Maybe it's still a bit bright and sharp overall, try to get more focus on the thing tou want the viewer to focus on, very detailed and sharp imagery are nice and very skillful, but tend to get the viewer get lost in so the point of subject doesn't stand out. Makes the image less 'powerfull' to me. Maybe some darkening further away from the floating glowing head, and the guy in the back is also distractingly detailed, I dunno but it feels that way.
My 2 cents. Hope it helps.

[hulshof]

That pretty much reminds me of Dr. Doom and Dr. Strange Adventure into Mephisto's Lair, a Graphich novel Called Triumph and Torment..

I'll be damned if that guy on the back isn't Strange, and the head in the summoning skull isn't Mephisto.

I really like this new, arcane approach to doom's armor.

[Sundance]

Tyler,

Really nice stuff. I like both this and the Thor piece you've posted. The painting is fantastic, with a great use of color. I think my one critique would be the composition, something I need to work on myself.
The overall image is rather static. From my perusing of Marvel's website, and reading of interviews from editors and artists at Marvel, they really stress the sense of action. The scene has a lot of potential drama, but it doesn't read as overly dramatic. Doom seems to be going through the motions of summoning up a demon rather than calling on the power of the Devil himself, like calling on Mephisto is an everyday annoyance. I think if you would have come from a birds eye view, maybe 12' up looking down on the scene from that great window, it would have been much more dynamic. Or, perhaps you would want to come from about knee high looking up at Doom. Dr. Strange seems like an add on, just so you know that he's in the story. It might be a stronger piece if he were not included... that would let you get tighter in on Doom and Mephisto.