Fantasy Paintings

[kevin mayle]

These are my latest paintings. Please let me know what you think. Thanks!
http://kevinmayle.hopto.org/albums/Scenes-of-Fantasy/Dimetrodon.jpg
http://kevinmayle.hopto.org/albums/Scenes-of-Fantasy/Sabretooth.jpg
http://kevinmayle.hopto.org/albums/Scenes-of-Fantasy/RedDragon.jpg
http://kevinmayle.hopto.org/albums/Scenes-of-Fantasy/GreenDragon.jpg

[Matt Smith]

the links dont work, try posting them as images instead of links.

[kevin mayle]

My server had just gone down but it is back up now. I tried posting them as images but they came out as links. I'll have to figure out where I went wrong, but at least the links should work now.

[Phuzion]

That blue background is horrible!

Also, there's no reason for the image to be 500k. Make it smaller. You should be able to get it down to about 80k-100k. The first image is not bad at all, but you seriously need to think about the presentation. If that blue-amoeba-background is not your decision, then I'd put the images somewhere else. I like the pallette of the painting. Could you let us in on the medium? Just to give the viewer some basis for crits and all that juicy stuff. I didn't see the others because... well they take waaaay too long to load. Take them into Adobe Image Ready and optimize them. Or just "save for web" from Photoshop. But Optimizing works better.

Peace,
-Daniel

[N D Hill]

I have to agree with Phuzion, especially about the file size. I'm on a broadband connection and it still took forever to load the images.

As for the images, I think you demonstrate good stylistic brush control but there are a some detractors. First, the composition with all of them is quite sterile and the figures are distant, generalized and don't really evoke any sense of drama. Really, the characters themselves are one's we've all seen before anyway. Wizards with pointy hats. Barbarians and half-naked jungle chicks. Really the best advice I could offer is that you study and draw the figure from life. I believe that this would greatly benefit your work as you'll be more confident with your figurative work and won't necessarily have to stick to such forced positioning, bulbous anatomy and heavily referenced fantasy content. This type of stuff is a hell of a lot of fun to paint and draw but in the end, the ability to take these genres and make them our own is what's important. I know that's an obstacle we all struggle with here.

-noel

[kevin mayle]

Thanks for the good advice. They are 16x20 acrillic paintings on canvas.

[madster]

I, too, am on broadband, and it took for-EVAH! for those things to load...all the time leaving me to cringe at the blue ameoba background....ACK! MY EYES!!!!
There's no good reason on this planet for those paintings to be of a file size bigger than Rhode Island. Here (http://www.dirfile.com/interactive_jpeg_optimizer.htm) is a Freeware .jpeg Optimizer. I strongly suggest you use it if you do not have PSP, Photoshop, Painter, or some other Image Editing program.

What really bothers me the most about the 5 or 6 pieces I struggled to try and view, is the excessive "dead space." All of the subjects in your works are SO separated from each other, I feel like I'm watching a play from up in the Nosebleed seats at the back. There is hardly any overlapping of subjects (none that I saw, anyway), and there is not enough happening in the backgrounds of most of them to warrant painting all of it to the sacrifice of the main focus. It's like you randomly stuck things onto the canvas to fill all the dead space.

This is just a two-minute alteration to give you some idea of what I'm talking about.
http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/8291/bad11we.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

The Original:
http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/8049/bad1a5qp.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

All of your pictures display this same sort of static positioning. Combine that with the somewhat unimaginative subject matter, throw in poor backgrounds, lack of depth, and poor rendering (faces look cartoonish, and many of your horizontal lines tilt to the left), and you end up with much ado about not a whole lot...

You need to really try to change your perspective and get a LOT closer to your subjects, and fill your canvas with THEM, not empty jungle, or flat color, or expansive landscapes that add nothing to the story you are trying to tell with these.

Think BIG, and Paint BIG!

~M

[kevin mayle]

This is really great advice. I'm glad for the feedback and I plan on putting it to use.

[Alex Jenyon]

I pretty much agree with all the comments above, and I'd also say that you are SERIOUSLY in need of two really important things:

1. A light source

-All your pics are pretty flat colour, there's an all-over-glow ambient generic light source thing going on (I don't know of a better way to say that). It's not even 'front' lighting, which also has a flattening effect - it's just an all over wash.
If you were lighting these guys on a stage, you'd be considered a genius for being able to creste this lighting in real life - it almost doesn't exist! :wink:

2. Some perspective

-The first thing I thought when I loaded one of your links was that I was looking at a piece of 'pixel' art in the style of an old platformer. All of your characters are on the same plane in space - there's no sense of depth, distance or volume. If you were trying to create 'platform game' art, then cool (it might allow you to get away with the flat lighting, too!), but platform games died a rightful, peaceful death in the 90's, and I personally think they should be left there.

This stuff shows you've got potential, but some life studies would go down really well right about now.

Keep drawing

AJ

[DSillustration]

alex nailed it.

to recap:
no blue wallpaper.
add light source and shadows.
think spacially.
smaller file size.

that said,
i felt that your red dragon on the pedestal piece was most successful.
you managed to make the dragon really stand out with the use of the portal behind him.
the piece would be greatly improved if the man were standing a few steps toward us, engaged the dragon more (some emotion), and had a cast shadow falling on the column.

all in all, well done.
i think you are on the right path.

[kevin mayle]

You guys are very helpful. I really appreciate the time and thought in your critiques.

[kevin mayle]

Fixed the links to the pics. I agree with all the crits and my next painting should be better. I'll post it soon.

[madster]

You may have fixed the links, but you still have not reduced the file size. Even on broadband, these things take FOREVER to download!!!

No one will be interested in your work if you don't make it easier for them to view...

It's called .jpeg optimization. You REALLY, REALLY need to reduce those file sizes...At least TRY the freeware link I gave you. You're only hurting yourself by driving off viewers with these monster-sized, slow-loading images.

~M

[kevin mayle]

OK I made them smaller. I hope this helps.

[kevin mayle]

I just optimized them.