Blazord EX (mecha in progress)

[Lusvell]

Back when I was a little, I was living in another country, and my mom sent me this toy. I loved it. I remember it was called Blazord. Sadly I cant remember much of it other than its head. Basically I everything else is made up but the head. I want to get a metalic, 3-D kind of feeling to this one, but I seem to be doing something wrong, I just dont know what.

Here's the lineart:
http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/7901/blazordexlineart2jd.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

and here's the progress I've done so far to it.
http://img95.imageshack.us/img95/2953/blazordexwip2nr.jpg (http://imageshack.us)


Finished piece:

[RocketEXE]

Something about the legs bugging me, I can't think what though. Other than that I think he looks awsome.

[skid]

looks great..at first i thought maybe you should clean up those lines...but when i saw the coloring progress, i changed my mind...you seem to be doing that just fine as you go...good work on the coloring so far! keep us updated!

[Fenrysk]

the rendering of the head looks great so far, but as to the original lineart, the legs are disproportional and/or the perspective on the legs is not correct.

the pose is static/boring =[

was this the toy you were talking about? http://www.gargunkle.com/old/zap/blazord.html

[greymattre]

can't wait to see it finished! Making the perspective work better might be a matter of rotating the torso a little away from us to match the position of the feet?

[vitaliyvladimirov]

i like it, although i agree.. either put the head in perspective with the leg, or pull the leg back a bit, 'cause now it looks off. And as far as the static pose, i think it'll be fine if there's a good background to go w/ it. Great job on the shading too. :)

[Stupidity'sUglyHead]

I think the main issue is that the shapes are the same on either side of the body even though the perspective is different. The crests on the forearm are the same size and shape, and the bottom of the boot has the same hook on the left side and about the same amount of tread.

[Lusvell]

the rendering of the head looks great so far, but as to the original lineart, the legs are disproportional and/or the perspective on the legs is not correct.

the pose is static/boring =[

was this the toy you were talking about? http://www.gargunkle.com/old/zap/blazord.html


YES! that's the toy I was talking about.

So in a way is basically the legs that need to match the perspective of the head?

[koshime]

or add something in the Robot's R hand....

[Lusvell]

Im working in between my school projects and animation on this one, so the progress is pretty slow, but here's an update:

http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/7734/blazordexwip4nh.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

I might put a massive gun maybe, on the Right hand like Koshime sugested.

[Lusvell]

I uhh...actually finished this old piece of junk <_<

[worxe]

Perspective still needs addressing to all the shapes pretty much. When your after a 3d look, PERSPECTIVE and PROPORTIONS are absolutely crucial among other things.

Rendering needs tightening up, the blur toward the legs are very distracting and doesn't contribute to the 3d look you want.

His (our) left hand/arm is getting lost in the leg's details.

His head seems shifted too far back and/or stressed too much, actually, the whole pose seems really strained, relax the pose more, doing this will also fix perspectives should you follow one and make him look more interesting.

White backgrounds let the figure down, espescially when theres nothing between the highlights of the shapes to the background to seperate them. You also need a more defined lightsource, I dont know where this one is coming from, thinking theres one on the left, but his right is lit, right of the head isnt though, and his right shoulder pad is.. I dunno what dimension that shoulder pad is in. Same with the left... infact all the light is too random, what the hell is going on? (My thoughts as I looked at this.). The lighting and all the black is making the figure itself look rather uninteresting aswell. A defined lightsource - and highlights/shadows that reflect that defined lightsource will contribute to the form and shape of your figure, thus making it pop and help you get closer to that 3d look.


-edit- Also, looking at your WIP, I suggest working on the whole figure at once rather than shape-by-shape, because otherwise you get the lighting problems this piece is having now. Working bit-by-bit from scratch to complete also does not help in keeping the piece 'together', none of the shapes here seem to correspond with each other too well, again.. you guessed it, due to the lighting. Break the shapes down to their basics, and work them all together to the complete form.

I am also not sure why people are saying the colouring is good (particularly since alot of black has been used to darken them) (i am not trying to put you down for your effort, everyone learns from their mistakes). Im worried that people let the mistakes you learn from slip under the radar of what could be improved rather than left alone to constantly repeat in later works. Unless someone can convince me otherwise. I am no expert in color by no means, but I do know that the orange and blue/green's have too much black in them. Too much black in a color often results in a flat look, you need a desaturated chroma of the color your using for starters..

There are tutorials on this website with invaluable information on coloring, this is probably the most comprehensive one: FredFlickstone's Color Theory tutorial (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=17837) - Bearing in mind this isnt a quick fix, its something you'll learn over time as you work with color, but this may help you a bit better when you give this picture a second workover if your planning on that, or learn why your lighting and colors arent working.. Another invaluable tutorial is Prometheus|ANJ's General Art concepts Tutorial (http://itchstudios.com/psg/art_tut.htm), and covers some of the basic concepts behind your values, shapes and perspectives. I highly suggest reading this one when you get the time.


I hope you learn something from this, im not here to bash your effort, I don't have the heart to do it to anyone, anyway.