Felis Christopherus

[spacemanchris]

This is sort of a bizarro self-portrait. It's a combination of several methods. I started with a pencil sketch and I painted the character in photoshop. The background I used this killer freeware app called ArtRage, a great oil paint simulator. Then the whole thing was put together with some random noise and textures in photoshop. Check out the bigger version to see more detail. I'd love to hear what people think of it. Thanks for looking!

http://spacemanchris.com/finished/chris_cat_medium.jpg

Bigger version (http://spacemanchris.com/finished/chris_cat_big.jpg)

[Poohgee]

Cool idea .. really like it .

I have to check out that program :)

With the lettering in the background it looks to me like a poster.

Problem IMO is that the lettering & its background colours clash with the painting .
On the left side of the painting you have the red ehhh .. cloth .
But that red doesnt go well in my opinion my the green which is the background for the letters.

The way it is now Id say that you had a poster idea in your head.
Maybe take the lettering into/onto the painting/image like at the top - carefully blending them - maybe using some filters to make the letter-paint transition nice & smooth .

The cat (well the body) at the moment looks to me as if it was a statue made out of one piece of e.g. black marble.
There seem to be smoth transitions from one limb to the other never suggesting that any limb is ever "on its own" .
Seperate them & give it some texture IMO.

The "backstage" area in my opinion looks strange to me .
According to what I see it is all scraped if that is the right word .
Is this something symbolic with regards to a cats claws ?

Cool hair :)
Is this a bad side/good side of your personality painting with words in the background to further explain yourself ?

That ear on the side of your head looks dodgy IMO .. it lacks strong shadows.

The mix of grey & black lines behind you look to be to possibly be outlines of people.

All this just IMO :)

[spacemanchris]

With the lettering in the background it looks to me like a poster.
it does look a bit like a poster, it wasn't really the intention, but I don't mind it so much.
Problem IMO is that the lettering & its background colours clash with the painting .
On the left side of the painting you have the red ehhh .. cloth .
But that red doesnt go well in my opinion my the green which is the background for the letters.
this is an interesting comment, I checked the picture on a couple of monitors, then I checked it on the small one I have at home and it looked horrible, it looked really dark. I was worried some of the colors would come out differently on different monitors. The letters are supposed to look gold instead of green and the distant background is supposed to look like a light blue.
The way it is now Id say that you had a poster idea in your head.
Maybe take the lettering into/onto the painting/image like at the top - carefully blending them - maybe using some filters to make the letter-paint transition nice & smooth .
I think I'll try a version like this.
The cat (well the body) at the moment looks to me as if it was a statue made out of one piece of e.g. black marble.
There seem to be smoth transitions from one limb to the other never suggesting that any limb is ever "on its own" .
Seperate them & give it some texture IMO.
You're right, the body is the weakest part. I sort of rushed that.
The "backstage" area in my opinion looks strange to me .
According to what I see it is all scraped if that is the right word .
Is this something symbolic with regards to a cats claws ?
Yeah the whole pic was supposed to be very surreal. The symbolism is not meant to be readily obvious or even understandable, just supposed to look cool. The scraping look just looked cool to me, honestly.
Cool hair :)
Is this a bad side/good side of your personality painting with words in the background to further explain yourself ?
It's neither good nor bad. Sort of inexplainable. Just a way that I was feeling when I came up with the idea, kind of odd, lonely, but not sad, just sort of there, which is why the location isn't so specific and sureal.
That ear on the side of your head looks dodgy IMO .. it lacks strong shadows.
Yeah I noticed that too, after I had posted. I have since fixed the ear, it is much better now. I don't have this bright blank patch of skin between my sideburns and my ear. I'll upload an updated version when I do a bit more to it.
The mix of grey & black lines behind you look to be to possibly be outlines of people.
Cool interprutation :)
All this just IMO :)
Thanks for the critique, I was worried no one would critique it. I really appreciate it.

[Poohgee]

THX 4 ur THX :)

If u are not getting any replies just *thread bumped* 'ed because once they are of the first page or even more than a day old ... you have to start hoping IMO that somebody searches for 0 reply posts.

THX for all the comments to my comments .

Just IMO :)

[rasdasa]

I agree, the hair is pretty cool, but it's quite flat because of the way you've outlined it with rim light, I'm not sure if that's what you were aiming for but it is what hits me when I first see it. Also, might be more interesting if that neck tappered in a little more as it went into the head, it looks like a thick post right now, and yes, it does seem like a limb on it's own.
I like the variance on eyes though, that's always cool, and it shows that you didn't just copy one from the other.

ras