Horror-anthology..pushed some more

[dCepT]

This started out as a sketch, then escalated to what you see here.

The brief said that it was to be a cover for a horror-anthology, depicting a bust of a middle-aged man wearing victorian clothing, half his face was to be malformed and/or demonic.

What I'd like for specific crits on are:

- My value ranges
- Can't seem to get the tophat to look right... especially the rim on the left side of the picture (his right).

If there are any other glaring errors, please point 'em out.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/dCepT/Assignements/HorrorAnthologySketchWeb.jpg

thanks

d-C

[Elwell]

My major criticism isn't a technical one, but conceptual. The viewpoint you've chosen, looking slightly down and off to one side of the figure, along with his gaze being directed away from us, removes us emotionally from him. It puts us in a "superior" position, like we're observing him, and makes it seem less scary.

As for you're specific questions, you need to define your light source and separate your values between light and shadow. For instance, the darks on the light side of his face (esp. the side planes on his nose and cheek) are much too dark. The trick to drawing hats is to draw the shape of the skull underneath and then construct the hat geometrically (out of cylinders, ellipses, cones, etc) so that it sits on the head.

[Fellah.]

It would be cool if he had his eyes turned towards the viewer. The distance betweeen the eye and ear seem a tad too long. Maybe make the shape of the hat or the lines go out instead of in giving it a more dynamic feel. Nice work so far dude, look forward to see it finished.

[dCepT]

Elwell, Fellah: thanks dudes! I should've gone for thumbnails before rendering stuff, but I had such a good time with it.. hehe...

I'll change the angle to more of a frog-perspective and have him look at us.
Changing the hat as well :)

Update coming soon

d-C

[perryarts]

i think the hat looks a little shiny...

[Fellah.]

Thats a helpfull crit perryarts, really :wink: hats like that can even be more shiny.

[rick_hershey]

I think what has been said is very close to the critique I would give. . .however, here are a couple things to keep in mind.

Many of these portraits show the subject very distinquished, almost arrogant. your characater looks almost scared.

I'd like to see more disfigurement with the side of his face, by hiding it all in shadows you lose the fact that he has a twisted/deformed side. . .it almost appears as his hair is just messy.

And finally, something I've wanted to see from you for a while now - a very clean and polished final. I've loved your style for all the activities, I'd love to see how it turns out if you kept the gritty feel and really just refined the image.

I look forward to see the sketch final.

[malicious]

it may just be the crappy lab monitor, but it looks as though the greys in the hat have a different temperature than the rest, which would screw up your monochromatic motif and make the hat a bit of an artificial focal point. the values on the hat make it seem boxy, but again, that could be the crappy monitor i'm looking at.

the disfigured side of the face is entirely too dark, and the disfigured eye too bright. bring the values of that side of the face closer to the middle range and you'll have more room to play with detail and maybe a glowing effect on the eye - i'm not sure if that's what you were gunning for with the bright eye or what...

check your perspective, particularly on the collar. someone mentioned the point of view. having the pov above the subject does, as was suggested, put us in a "superior" place and makes the subject less threatening. for great justice, lower the point of view and have a light source situated in front of and lower than the subject's face. we are so accustomed to light sources being above us that lighting a subject from below will create a menacing, alien feeling, even with a "normal" subject.

it looks like you've progressed a bit too far to make such changes without starting over. don't see starting over as time wasted. you already have a good idea of your subject and composition, having already gone through most of the process, so repeating it will go much quicker, and you'll feel that much better with the final, superior piece.

one final note, a "messy" rendering style can work, but i don't think it is in this case, if it was intentional. try to get some more consistancy in your overall rendering.

[dogfood]

While I'm not sure if those shoulders are really broad enough, the first thing that struck me was how dead the pose is. I just checked it out (being my own most reliable model), and with his head back that far, his chest would definately stick out more (with perhaps more flex-back on the shoulders). Otherwise, the head is just too far back. <Begin recording...> It's useful to get a digital camera and get a shot of yourself in the poses you're examining <...end recording>, or, in this case, you can even do it in the mirror (though leaning like that can get uncomfortable).

The Harvey Dent side of the face is too close to the Two-Face side, especially the eye. That thing is drooping like a... well, it's drooping, all sexual references aside.

And while I don't have any ready references, the hat brim seems a little too tight for the type you seem to be representing. More importantly, it doesn't give a regular or distorted feel to the piece.

And here we go into the really nitpicky stuff: the glare line on the hat doesn't jibe with the most highly reflected planes of the face and chest.

I do like the creepy feel of the bad side, though. OOOooooOOOooo!

[dCepT]

Thank you all for your crits! They helped a lot, and I ended up repainting the whole thing. Thought I'd update here as well, for those of you that haven't checked in on the illustration-activity, and possibly get some more crits on it. I'm calling it done, now, but the hat still bothers me, so if any of you guys want to do a paintover, feel free. Any other thoughts are appreciated as well.

thanks for looking

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/dCepT/Assignements/HorrorAnthologyWeb2.jpg

d-C

[dCepT]

Mike: Thanks a bunch! That paintover really helped! I'm going back and adding some changes right away.

Update coming soon to a screen near you.

peace

d-C

[dCepT]

Tried to have in mind what you showed me, Mike. This is what came out of it. I'm calling this done now.

Thanks again for the help...all of you guys who commented. Really helped push myself further on this.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/dCepT/Portfolio/HorrorAnthologyWeb3.jpg

d-C

[Elwell]

The overall concept is greatly improved. The hat is still giving you trouble, and for one simple reason... LACK OF REFERENCE! The shape of a top hat is much more complex than you are making it, and you have to get it to sit on the head properly. Gather as many pictures as you can, and you will see what top hats have in common; what the platonic ideal of "top hat" is. Once you understand that, you'll be able to invent something convincing. I did this little example in two minutes with no reference. With ref, you should be able to do ten times better.

[dCepT]

Thanks for the further advice guys. This just got pulled off finished-status again. I'll put some more effort into it and post an update.

peace

d-C

[Elwell]

it is looking MUCH better though, compared to the first image in this thread. A great improvement in my opinion.
Seconded. I know it can be discouraging to keep working away on a piece and realize you're still not finished, but if it wasn't worth it nobody would be bothering to comment. At a certain point you will have gotten all you can out of this piece and it will be time to move on, 100% "finished" or not. Only you can say exactly when that is, but I don't think you're there yet.

[dCepT]

'nother update... wanted to have worked more on this today, but stuff has been eating my time lately... Anyways... whining aside ;)
I googled for tophats, and tried to apply what I got out of it to his hat... There are some other minor adjustments as well, but mainly his hat for now. I'll be back tomorrow, hopefully, with another update.

Personally, I think the hat sits better on his head now, but then I might have stared too much at this now.

Appreciate any crits, and you guys' continued interest!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/dCepT/Assignements/HorrorAnthologyWeb4.jpg

peace

d-C

[perryarts]

this is really starting to look good, but i think it could use some areas of a darker tone, particularly on the right side of the face (his left, our right). I think that would really draw out the left side of the face and have a more dramatic almost film noir effect.

[cchuckry]

I like the revisions you've made, they are a definite improvement. However, I like the tentacle-like side of his face in the first image more than I like the hanging flesh in your latest version. It seemed to add to the character a little more, giving the dead side a little life.

[dCepT]

I don't know whether this post is redundant, but... I've tweaked it a bit more, cleaned up here and there... So this is where it's at now...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/dCepT/Portfolio/HorrorAnthology.jpg

Elwell, Mike...thanks a bunch you guys, for pushing me on! This one has felt like a step up for me, and you've helped a LOT.

Perryarts: Thanks man! I'll have that in mind when I load this one up again... Gotta let it rest a bit now..hehe.

cchuckry: hmm... yeah... I think I went away from the tentacles because this was made for rick's illo-activity, and there were a couple of others that went with the tentacle-thing, so I went for something else in an attempt to be original..hehe..

peace

d-C