Rock God

[arteric]

Hi All,

Been forever since I have been around but I thought I might post something new that I drew yesterday and finished today. Was over at a friends house watching him and 40 other friends attack some large underground lava monsters in World of Warcraft... and I was a inspired.

I thought this might make a cool video game boss.... one that if you hit enough, you can finally tip him over and spill out his contents (including his floating face) and defeat him. I liked the mental image so I wanted to get it out.

Pencils and colors done digitally with a Wacom Tablet in Photoshop.

Enjoy, and C&C's greatly appreciated.

Eric

http://www.pepperink.com/Art_Images_Large/Rock_God.gif

[Elwell]

I like the character, but find the background really distracting. The green rimlight is also unecessary and poorly done.

[arteric]

Agreed, the background was an expiriment.... just some playing around... but I actually liked the rim lighting. I am very interested in hearing what others think too.

Thanks,

Eric

[Elwell]

but I actually liked the rim lighting
Fine. Then explain to me exactly where it's coming from so as to light up those planes. And why that color, in particular.

[Simonl]

I think the rim lighting would work if the colour was used in the background. The green light implies an environmental influence that is not at present suggested by the background. Probably tone down the colour and brightness of the rim lighting so it competes less with the face and lava 'guts'.

I think you need to play with your lighting overall. Maybe more of a contrast between the molten lava insides and the hard rocky exterior. Probably darken the background to make the character stand out from it more. Nice piece, though. I like the rocky feel.

[dogfood]

I'm not a fan of the rim lighting becuase it seems to be a gimick. It isn't consistant with a single light source (hitting high and low in some places, but not others) and is operating more as a stylized outline. If it were more believable, it would be more fetching.

On the other side, while I was really expecting someone with a guitar, I like the creature and really dig the concept. The make-up suggests some extremely cool effects; perhaps the lava swishing around (as much as lava can "swish"), pushing the face about, depending upon where he's looking.

Very cool.

[possessed]

On the other side, while I was really expecting someone with a guitar, I like the creature and really dig the concept. The make-up suggests some extremely cool effects; perhaps the lava swishing around (as much as lava can "swish"), pushing the face about, depending upon where he's looking.

Very cool.

haha same here :)
I really like this. It's a great concept and I actually like the rim lighting. I don't think the image really calls for a revealing of the source of the light.
I would like to see some streams of lave pouring from the top since I can image this monster must shake quite a lot while walking about.

[jp.hebbel]

Not exactly what I thought when I saw "Rock God". I was thinking something along the lines of David Bowie or Ozzy Osbourne, ya know?... ooh, that could get really creative if you decided to combine yours and my idea... n/m.

[Karen K.]

Lava Golem may suit it better, but the concept's awesome. Reminds me a bit of my friends' work: Cara Mitten and Anthony Waters. Agreed though, the background, I'd fade the opacity back about 50% and see if that works for it.

[arteric]

Moving on to new things... I could play with this forever. I did make the lava look more like lava and less like Tomato Soup (A critique I wholly agreed with.) I also greatly simplified the background and worked the green color into it so the rim lighting made more sense. Since it is only a character concept and not a full-on illustration I don't think the background is needed.... I also don't have time to do it right now. :)

Hope everyone enjoys.

Eric

http://www.pepperink.com/Art_Images_Large/Rock_God.jpg

[Elwell]

I also greatly simplified the background and worked the green color into it so the rim lighting made more sense.
You think?
:nohope: ;)

Lava looks much better.

[Karen K.]

Niiiiice :)

[arteric]

Thanks to all for the comments so far.... anyone else care to throw their 2, 4 or 6 cents in?

Eric

[uRiDiAN]

i agree with all said about the rim light, so i'll reserve comment on that.

it's the lava that still bugs me. i really liked the yellow and orange of your first lava. it made it feel hot. i like the detail of the redone lava, but the even red makes it look more like blood and certainly not hot. real lava, at it's hottest spots is quite yellow and if you could work that into the newer lava, i think that would be... well... hot :P

here's what i'm talking about (http://www.southwestbirders.com/Hawaii_2002/lava%20flow%20i.jpg)

looking good, though. like others, i also half expected a rock and roll god, but was pleasantly surprised with this character. i LOVE that the face is floating in lava. great idea.

**oh, edit... i also think that with the new hotter lava, you could also play around a little more with casting yellow/orange light on the inside of the... uh... head like a hole (heh).

[nonie]

I don't thinkt he brown rock works too well if he's a volcanic monster. He looks like sandstone, not any sort of volcanic rock I know of, and if he were darker it would really bring out the lava more. I have to agree that the new lava doesn;t look as hot. The rim light doesn't bother me too much now that you ave a green background.

I *love* the floating face idea. Nice concept.

[S.C. Watson]

"Rock God", huh? Shouldn't he have greasy long hair and a guitar instead of a club? :P

The lava looks better but still needs work, and the background, while less distracting, needs something other than a fade, methinks. I do like the overall concept, though. The floating head is an interesting twist.

~Oreg.

[arteric]

Hey Oregano... long time no see.

Yeah, I thought the little play on words might catch some people off guard.

I also am still not happy with the lava and want something much hotter looking. Plus I wanted to add drippings burning little holes in the ground that people would have to avoid while trying to knock it over.

A cave was fully my intention, and whhen time permits I will come back to it... or more likely make new improved versions of this character, modifying as I go (action pose with sloshing lava and a small sword wilding guy running around underneath it in a cave with green glowing pools of poisonous liquids.... etc.)

Good point nonie and well taken. Darker colors in future version are surely a must so that he is more volcanic rock. Plus a different texture is probably in order.

uRiDiAN - That picture of the lava is good... more of what I am going for, thanks. I plan on hunting down some good reference picks for my next version. (See above)

Thanks all for the comments. I will create a new image of this guy and post him soon.

Eric

[SwordOfDivineFire]

Well, the green may unify the rim light with the background but it still bothers me. There is no light source that could light up those particular parts of the rock. Maybe if it were actually "rim" lighting and not random planes on the underside of the forms it would work better. I say study the way light actually falls on objects more and you have a winner here. Proper shadows and lighting often make the difference between something real and believable, and someting amateurish and awkward.

[VizualByte]

There are things I like about this piece and things that bother me. I like the hands and the spikes and the head floating in the lava. The things that bother me about this piece is the colors of the rock and wood is almost identical. His left feet (the soles) does not have enough black line work. I would strenghten these areas up since they should feel like they are carrying the weight of his body. The bg feels like an add on that seemed very rushed, I would rather you have this on plain white background. I might be getting too technical here but his right hand seems a lot larger than his left unless this was done on purpose. The rim light only bothers me since it is on all sides of his anatomy instead of just on one direction. I would stick to just on angle instead of having it look like it is coming from every possible angle. I would take out any spikes that point downward since it looks non menacing and in his butt looks like u know what. I am not a big fan of perfectly round shadow. Sorry to sound so critical. Just my opinion... It still is a solid design that has great potential