Battle scene! just for fun

[englishduke]

I had this in my sketch book, and since i had some free time i figured id try to color it. Ive only had a few hours on it but im kinda proud of the foreground characters. I know the anatomy is off, but no reference was used as it came straight out of my head one day. please forgive the crappy quality of the image, when i resized it and saved as a jpeg it got messed up a little (not sure why!) hope your critiques will help me as i progress.

http://img280.imageshack.us/img280/740/halfway4zt.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

there is still a lot of detail and cleanup work to be done on the whole thing, but i figured it post a progress picture.

[koroshiya001]

Can't see the image...

[englishduke]

I dont know that the problem is cause i can see it on my screen. Its probably my image hoster, their not the most reliable hoster in world.

[-db-]

I cant see it eighter , and I use two webbrowsers to check it, it doesnt
work really..

[englishduke]

sorry guys, i just tried a differant hoster. Hopefully it works now. Thanks for takin the time to look guys.

[dogfood]

I know the anatomy is off, but no reference was used...
I'm not sure if you're saying this with pride, but doesn't this statement say anything to you? Maybe, "use references"?

The action in the center is very difficult to read, with the combination of poor anatomy, odd poses, and mid-ground figures with the exact same value range as the closest ones. It seems that the mage's leg is popping out the side, in fact.

I actually quite like the mage's left hand, but the right doesn't seem to be grasping his pole (or "staff", if you will) and the face isn't tremendous (it looks like you're avoiding drawing them). I'm also having a tough time making out the forms of the tentacles, too.

The midground is showing some frenetic action and this might turn out to be a very fetching composition, but a lot of the energy is lost in the foreground.

[englishduke]

Thanks for the crits dogfood,. wow...you really tore me a new one. But i do appreciate it. Ive allways been able to take a good critique.
To answer your question. No i do not say this with "pride". I only meant the fact that this was a quik sketch I did while i had some time to kill. Since I ended up going pretty far with it I figured id try my hand at coloring. Hence the name of the thread, "just for fun". I do appreciate your critique though and will try to work on the things you mentioned. I was kinda hoping i did a few things right but oh well...Back to the drawing board.

[Pixeldragoon]

"quik sketch"

The name of the forum is Finally finished, but it's obviously still in a WIP, I can see the pencil still in the BG. This belongs in the SWIPS section, where Sketches and Works in Progress are intended to be posted for early critique.

[englishduke]

Sorry bro, I thought I was in the Skethes and Work in progress thread. Maybe thats my mistake.

[dogfood]

I, um... like your user name! Yeah, and I like that you have a dog in your avatar! C'mon, I like most things about you; the funny way hike up your pants, but refuse to buy smaller ones, how you lick door knobs when your not feeling well, but mostly how you can take a really harsh crit. Trust me, I'm a big fan of englishearl.

Duke! English duke.

Yes.

Duke.

[Jonoy]

I, um... like your user name! Yeah, and I like that you have a dog in your avatar! C'mon, I like most things about you; the funny way hike up your pants, but refuse to buy smaller ones, how you lick door knobs when your not feeling well, but mostly how you can take a really harsh crit. Trust me, I'm a big fan of englishearl.
Duke! English duke.
Yes.
Duke.

I like the way some peeps put other people down so as to feel better about their own self disposition, really I do and I'm not being fecicious... honest...

CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM

[dogfood]

Ah, I see your confusion, Jonoy. I wasn't putting down englishduke, I was being playful. You see, I do that. I really value this community and respect those who want to learn art and aren't afraid to hear honest critiques. Englishduke is one of those, so I jest with him, gently rib him.

With a user name like "dogfood" and struggling artistic skills, it would be unwise for me to put anyone down. Thanks for coming to his defense, though. You're a stand-up noy.

[Jonoy]

yay, I can stand up...
yet I lack confusion; denotation and conotation allow me this insight.

[glikster]

yay, I can stand up...
yet I lack confusion; denotation and conotation allow me this insight.
Dude... that's the 2nd time you've posted something that left me with a "huh?!" feeling.

Englishduke, props on posting and props on taking the crit like a man!
I have to say that I like the general compostition (as Dogfood did say) but the pic needs work. Why don't you try this again? Make it a project... use this as a template, but work on the middle characters, make em real and alive!

Then start worrying about coloring.

In the meantime, do some studies of human antomy, maybe get Hogarth's books and study those...

Keep drawing!

[Scubasteve]

Its pretty confusing. The green magic around the wizard looks strange. I would go ahead and tighten up my sketch and figure out how the entire image works together before I start with my colors. I think you'll be better pleased with the results, plus you can work out all your anatomy and everything before you put color to it and see its wrong. You have a lot of relationship and anatomy issues going on and I recommend starting over and skecth it all out first. I do like the background armies, but the foreground looks like a collage of different images.

[Scubasteve]

One other thing I would mention, most artist (in fact I don't know any who dont) build up there colors in stages. They don't chose a specific place in the piece and take that area to a final stage and then move to the next area, so one so fourth. It looks like you've taken that approach. There are tons of reasons not to work that way, (won't go into them now) but the main reason I can think of is consistancy.

[englishduke]

thanks for all the critiques guys i appreciate it. I more then likely take your advice Scubasteve and start over. As i said before it was a quik drawing i did some time ago. So maybe I should just sit down and think about it a while. I will get some anatomy books and work on that, cause ive never tken the time to learn it. Ive just allways drawn what i imagine and I guess thats the wrong approach, I should think about ti more.

Thanks again for all you help guys I appreciate it. And Your right Dogfood...Ive allways been able to take a harsh critique as long as it's accurate. I appreciate the time people take to look at my amatuer drawings. So every critique is welcome.

[Pixeldragoon]

:yayca:

Good job Englishduke, welcome to conceptart.org, thanks for listening to all of us, despite me being rude and other stuff. I was probably just in a bad mood that night. Sorry dude :D