Purifier (kind of violent...)

[Auralius]

What's the worst thing you can think of someone doing? Well, all these chopped-up dead guys did it. All the time. And they liked it. So don't feel sorry for them.

I've tried to incorporate the various crits I've gotten on some of my other posts. What do y'all think?


http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d148/Auralius2004/CruxKnightA.jpg

[dogfood]

While there is a lot of good stuff going on, the lack of value range is not allowing the figures to stand apart from the background. The lines in the very back are the same darkness as the lines on the near wall and the lines on the figures. The big axe almost disappears entirely due to this. I would increase the contrast and lighten the guys outside and lower the contrast and darken everything inside.

Then, I think you'll have something special going.

[That fat kid]

Hey auralias, I've always enjoyed your pencil work, very clean.....but there's so much detail its hard to find any specific focal point without staring for a few minutes....everything just fades into one big pile of grey...the flemish painters had this probelm too, kinda...they did so much detail that they lost attention to the main points....try using dogfood's advice to make the main figures and details pop out...like the frontal figures either darker or lighter to make them seperate from the background.....

also, something about the dying figures is weird too, like they aren't interacting with the ground correctly. It might be due to the fact that their blood reads like shadows. In fact, I didn't realize it was blood until I saw that the shapes really didn't line up at all, lol....but that's just my little opinion, and I really don't know how to change that without putting in the shadows. But that'd be difficult with the blood underneath them, since you're working in pencil......oh well, lol

very strong drawing, a little more time and just like dogfood said, you'll have something truly special. And like always, take my advice with a grain of salt, not a professional..............yet.

tfk

[Art_Addict]

I agree with Dogfood. I did a very quick paint-over ( hope you don't mind ). It's the opposite lighting of what dogfood suggested, maybe not that good a choice since you loose a lot of detail but it get's the point across about the values I hope.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v12/toram/CruxKnightA.jpg

[Elwell]

You have numerous tangents, where the contour of one object flows directly into the contour of another. Along with the overall similarity of value, this makes the space ambiguous and hard to read, and contributes to the lack of focus.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v480/Elwell/CA%20pics/CruxKnightPO.jpg

[Auralius]

Dogfood - thanks for the good advice. What do you think about the update?

Fat kid - oh, they're not "dying." They're dead. Do you think that adding more blood will help it to not read like shadows?

Art Addict - thanks for the repaint.

Elwell - I noticed some of those while I was working on it, but by then it was too far done to change. Something else I need to keep in mind when I'm planning the drawing. Thanks.

I went back with a pencil and darkened up the back room and the walls directly behind him. How does it look?

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d148/Auralius2004/CruxKnightC.jpg

[Joeslucher]

I've enjoyed seeing your posts lately. Look forward to seeing some color work. I think you should take another look at Art Addicts paintover. It's very pleasing because it's about these big shapes and silhouette. It's very difficult to read any big shapes or silhouettes in yours. Squint your eyes and scroll from your image to his. If you squint even a little looking at yours, you have no idea what's going on. While you could almost be blind and still see what's happening in artaddict's. In reality, whenever you sit to draw from life, it's immediately apparent where the light is coming from. I'm no sure in your drawing. The character isn't casting a shadow. The highlight on his axe thing makes me think it's coming from above and to the left but the cross is lit differently. Then there's a light hitting him from our right if you look at the rightmost leg. Also there's the part of the doorway that faces us, that is lit compared to the other plain, and then a wall facing that same direction closer to us is dark, so light must be coming from the next room but the figure isn't backlit like in artaddict's. If you make your lighting less ambiguous, this will be a lot better.

On a another note. "by then it was too far done to change." If you're posting on this site, you probably admire a lot of those artists on the front page. Now you might not have gotten a chance to see them work but I did at the Austin workshop. I don't think they have ever said those words. That was one of the main things I left with from that workshop was, don't be so happy with what you have that you're too afraid to try to fix it. These guys would make something I'd be proud to call mine any day, and then would erase half of it because it just "didn't feel right." Ofcourse my teach would say something like,"if you find something wrong with it and don't fix it. It's like your polishing a turd."Lovely I know.

[look]

The updated one is a bit better, but it still lacks a good contrast overall.

Art Addict's paint over shows the contrast a lot better. One of the factor that your drawing lacks depth is lack of overall contrast. You work hard on the shading in small details, but ignored the overall contrast. For example, the brightest spot on an object in the shadow is defenitely not as bright as the bright spots under the sun. But in your drawing, all highlights have the same degree brightness, regardless if they are in the shadow or not. Same thing goes for your mid-tones and shadows.

Darken certain area may result in loss of details, but it will help the overall drawing better. So don't be afraid to try that.

[Auralius]

Joeslucher - Thanks a lot. Y'know, I'd do more color work if someone would just show me how to paint like Wayne Reynolds. Thanks for the crits, and thanks for the advice about turd-polishing.:)

look - I think that's it - I'm afraid to lose my details, so I tend to keep everything in midtone grey. I'll keep pushing.

It ain't leaps and bounds, but here it is.

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d148/Auralius2004/CruxKnightE.jpg

[Auralius]

Hey, here's another pic that y'all helped me with. I've done a little dodging and burning to make it more candle-tastic, and I'd like to know what y'all think about it. These two pics are friends, by the way, so they don't mind sharing a thread.

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d148/Auralius2004/ClericofMartyrs.jpg

[dogfood]

This one is much easier to make out, but still suffers from the same as the last (with regard to depth), but to a lesser degree (due to the lack of available depth). There seem to be only inches between the figure and the wall.

It's got a pretty good feel, though.

[Art_Addict]

Agreed. Nice drawing man. But you totally neglect the lighting again.
You could have so much atmosphere in this image ! Use the delicate light of the
candle. Darken the pic up and let your figure cast a shadow on the wall behind
him.
Small excercise :) : Light a candle in your room and darken your room
completely. Now look at the eary, delicate lighting and strong shadows it
produces and translate those to your image.
Have you ever tried drawing something with just shadows?
Without the use of any lines? You can totally do that ! try it , and I think
It 'll benefit you a lot.

Good luck

[cass83]

Awesome character! I have an extreme anti-christian character. I'm not going to post in your thread but I just posted it in this forum. Anyways I like your drawings there just too midtoned but so are mine.

[Auralius]

Dogfood - thanks for the comments, once again. I'll just keep working on it until I nail it. I think discovering dodge and burn (which I've recently done!) will help me get a better feel for tone and contrast.

Art_Addict - thanks for the practical advice (which I will take and do). I didn't think I TOTALLY neglected the lighting... man, I need to work on it though.

cass83 - you preempted me. I was going to post on your thread and challenge your guy to a duel. (One of) my extreme Christian character against your anti-Christian hunter, hmm? I'll go over to your thread and deliver the invitation personally.

Any more crits will be greatly appreciated. Paintovers welcome (Art-Addict, care to do the second one, too? I'd love to see your take on it.)