[WIP] The Hero

[Blitzer]

Hello folks.
I was inspired by all the hours I spent with the computer game "Fable" where you try to become a Hero. So I wanted to paint my own version of an all-good and saint-like hero, cuddeling with a squirrel after he´s fought of a bunch of baddies.

Here´s the stages so far, all feedback are much appreciated (and I know his foot looks funny ;))


http://www.neostate.net/blitzer_GF/thehero_web5.jpg

http://www.neostate.net/blitzer_GF/thehero_web6.jpg

http://www.neostate.net/blitzer_GF/thehero_web7.jpg

[Kanji2000]

That's looking quite nice...You would have been better served if you cleaned up your drawing first before going to color...Also, I would have preferred that the main character be placed either a little left or right of center...

Good choice of colors...Work on your anatomy...Good poses though...Look at people while they are sleeping...Observe them...To draw a prone figure at rest is pretty hard...That's what life drawing is for...Keep it up...

[l.e.b]

He's pretty sick in the head to start playing with a squirrel after what he appears to have done
My opinion it needs more colours maybe and mb a hat for the man

[Poohgee]

:) .. IMO thats a funny painting .... absolute bliss & harmony for the hero & dying & dead badies at his feet :D

Cool.

Maybe nxt thing could be to do lots of small sketches to figure out what colours the badies will have to be .. as that is gonna be difficult IMO with such light colours in the background .
Maybe have a shadow at his feet so that the viewer only after a "while" realizes that our innocent hero has just slaughtered the badies to bits .. some blood ?

Just IMO.

[lowaim]

He's pretty sick in the head to start playing with a squirrel after what he appears to have done
My opinion it needs more colours maybe and mb a hat for the man

Maybe he saved the squirrel from beeing food for em goblins thingy's ;)
As for the picture I like it :D

[Blitzer]

Thanks for the comments folks :)
Here´s an update...starting to get rid of the outlines but it´s a lot of work to try to define all shapes by colors only.

All comments and critics are welcome :)

http://www.neostate.net/blitzer_gf/thehero_web8.jpg

[Pixeldragoon]

First thing- He l ooks like he is squinting cause the sun is in his eyes XD.

[stoph]

really fun :D i think this piece calls for a stereotypical heroic grin, one that depicts his self-assuredness, whilst giving a sense of naivety :P big, glorious teeth (use my own for reference, if you wish haha!) with an over pronounced jawline and cleft chin. keep it up!

[Blitzer]

Thanks for your comments guys :)
I finally found time to take another sitting with it tonight. My main concerns at this point is how to tackle the background, and to make sure everything fits together in the image...
Any tips or critique is welcome!

http://www.neostate.net/blitzer_gf/thehero_web9.jpg

[dogfood]

I am really liking the quality of the light but I have three whishes:

1) Even though I know you're leaning toward cartoony, I wish you would reference the hands and do each of them better

2) I wish he didn't look like he was in an orchird (with all the trees the same shape and size and lined up in neat little rows).

3) I wish I had more beer.

Now if you can work on these three things, I think we'll be doing better.

[Silly]

I think the squirrel's tail looks unnaturally long. The guy's upper arms look long in comparison to his lower arms.

The orc on the right would probably have let slip the sword from his hand if he's dead. There is a guy with arrows in him but nobody seems to have a bow.

I would prefer the hero's sword handle slightly longer, maybe a horn-shaped metal pommel sticking out at the top end of the wrap. Is that the LOTR Elf sword?

The hero's modern pants look somehow disconcerting to me. Belt loops, and the concept of holding the pants up by the belt, are developments of the 20th century.

I like the idea, I think I might steal it for one of my own drawings ;)

[Keenox]

I think the arm is good....the man has a steel plank on his right shoulder and u may think it's his arm but it's not.....Blitzer i think you should add more shadows to the plank....

[Elwell]

Is he supposed to be an albino?

[INFERNOmunky]

how did the one goblin orc get arrows in him.....the man dont have a bow.......

....i sorta liked the look of the peice with the lines....made it look more childish....

....good peice tho.......

....cute

[Blitzer]

The orc on the right would probably have let slip the sword from his hand if he's dead. There is a guy with arrows in him but nobody seems to have a bow.

I would prefer the hero's sword handle slightly longer, maybe a horn-shaped metal pommel sticking out at the top end of the wrap. Is that the LOTR Elf sword?

The hero's modern pants look somehow disconcerting to me. Belt loops, and the concept of holding the pants up by the belt, are developments of the 20th century.

I like the idea, I think I might steal it for one of my own drawings ;)

Sigh, I know about the bow. I just cant seem to fit in a bow in the composition in any way, and belive me, I´ve been trying ;) I may end up erasing those arrows instead...
Thw sword is my own design, I just thought it would look cool with the sword beeing just one piece of metal with wraps around the handle.
Hmm, you´ve got a point about the trousers. I´m not trying to fit this into some certain time period, but their design may need an overlook anyway.
And hey, stealing my ideas is only flattering ;)

I am really liking the quality of the light but I have three whishes:

1) Even though I know you're leaning toward cartoony, I wish you would reference the hands and do each of them better

2) I wish he didn't look like he was in an orchird (with all the trees the same shape and size and lined up in neat little rows).

3) I wish I had more beer.

Now if you can work on these three things, I think we'll be doing better.
I´ll look into all those things. Thanks :)

Is he supposed to be an albino?
No, not really. But he´s supposed to have almost white hair. In the game Fable, that inspired this image, your character gets an overall lighter look the more good things you do. If you´re extremely good, you get this glow around you, complete with butterflies and a halo. Im aiming for the same feeling here.

I think the arm is good....the man has a steel plank on his right shoulder and u may think it's his arm but it's not.....Blitzer i think you should add more shadows to the plank....
I´m not sure I understand what you mean...do you mean on the hero?

Thanks for your comments...I´ll post updates when they feel interesting enough :)

[los]

not sure if its been mentioned but you could use darker values I think.
good start though

[IgG]

Is that sprawled, arrow-stuck goblin supposed to be really small? The position of his foot makes the brain draw a size comparison between the two figures, the goblin and the hero. If you want the goblin to appear larger, push the goblin (or at least his forward-facing foot) back a bit so that his forward-facing foot no longer overlaps the same plane the hero's left foot is on. That will create more depth.

The goblin still holding its sword also appears smaller than the goblin being impaled by the hero.

I'm not sure if the different goblin statures were your intent, but it's slightly distracting.

[Phlairdon]

I like the image alot so far, and having been a fan of the game myself, i know what angle your coming from. To better illustrate my opinions, I made a few changes to your image myself.

http://img55.imageshack.us/img55/9971/theheroweb91copy6tw.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

First off, what made Fable so much fun for me was because it was able to define mood so well. So messing wiht a few gradiants, I was able to change the over all feel of the piece by making the surrounding areas around your focal point darker. In turn that gives it the feel of the one ggod hero surrounded by a world of darkness. It takes no more than a couple minutes to do and it makes a world of difference to any piece.

On top of that it also changes your piece from the compostional aspect. My first impression of your piece at first was that there wasn't enough contrast in color or value. By making the lighting changes it puts more focus on the hero itself. Ontop of that I also selected your hero and punched up the contrast while lowering the brightness.

All in all, i think it makes your piece much stronger.

[Blitzer]

IgG: Well, the goblins are supposed to be different in size (or rather, they came out like that but I thinks it´s okay ;)). But moving the arrow-struck goblin backwards is a good idea! Didn´t think of the overlapping foot until you pointed it out, but now it´s obvious :)

Phlairdon: Nice work! That´s definatly the way to go with this. Actually, that was my plan from the beginning, I had an idea that the goblins in the foreground would be almost like silluettes, and blend together with the trees. But somewhere in the process that idea got lost, probably when I started rendering the detalis of the goblins. I dont think I´ll do such extreme lighting as in your example...I still want a feeling of a more diffuse light. But thanks alot for putting me on the track again :D