Conan.

[John P.]

OK - I feel I'm 'Finally finished' with this piece now, so I thought I'd post it here. I've had this run through the Critique Center section already, so if moderators feel it doesn't belong in Finally Finished, you don't have to move it; just remove it or merge it with the Critique Center thread.

This is my first creative post here in three years(!). :x


Description:

Software: Photoshop CS.
Equipment: Wacom Intuos3 A4.
Background: No references.
Conan: Photos of various bodybuilders, photos of Conan's sword, photos of Arnold as Conan, and some parts from myself in a mirror.

This 'Conan' is not meant to resemble Arnold, just so that's been said. Although, the clothes/jewelry are inspired by how he was dressed in parts of Conan the Barbarian.


OK, enough chatter, here's the image - hope you'll like it.
I am of course still open for crits.

[Beastie]

Nothing like a good sword rubdown by the campfire...

[Elwell]

Hi John,

It's certainly come a long way from when you first posted it, and even though it still has major issues I think you're justified in putting it to bed for now and moving on. What I've done is move this one here and the progress thread to Sketches/WIPs, since that's what it turned into. So, what's next?

[John P.]

Well - to be honest I had hoped it would stay in Finally Finished after all. So - I don't know what's next. I guess I'll have to think about things.

Yep.

Anyway - I forgot to say thanks to the people who gave me crits in the Critique Center, so - thank you.

Over and out.

[Rascar Capac]

You need to be more cohesive and simplify things - there is so much goin on here leading to a very distracting and spotty piece.

some quick points:

-You have the sky, the campfire and then the bright summit of the mountain all competing ...and then you have his shiny oily body on top of that. The eye goes all over the place

-I see a lot of black, and little color.

-You wouldnt see those colors on those trees at this time of day - maybe a hint of the red from the sunset...the forest looks cloned and the black (cast?) shadow is basically a hole.

-the rocks of and around the campfire are too neatly arranged and the effect of its light is very inconsistant on its surroundings. Perspectives off also.

-cast shadow from the sword on his body? Also - the effect of the light seems too much and too uniform over his body and therefore the figure looks cut out.

-composition - his head and the summitt are competing elements and flatten the piece. The tree hes sitting on and the line of the clouds almost mimic each other.

-The birds need to go or reduced in size.

Do several quick value studies before a piece like this (or any piece) to really see how you're gonna draw the viewer's eye using value and shapes. It will save you tons of time and headache.

hope that helps

[GriNGo]

Well, some things to note. As things are more distant to your eye, the objects are harder to see (they merge with the surrounding sky). You should apply this to your mountain, and the rest of the background. I suggest removing the birds, cause they don't really add to the piece. The shadows should be cooler, as the lights from your pic are warm. Cooler means bluer, & not necessarily darker. The forest has too much detail, try making those forms with more masses and blotches of color, not every little tree being different from each other. The same goes with the lighting. The size of the fire doesn't justificate it's brightness... here you have 2 options: make the fire larger, or make the lights dimmer... much dimmer. Remember, if something is farther from the object, then the it has less light. I think you're Conan needs more shadows. He seems all lit up from every angle.

Hope that helped!

later,
GriNGoLoCo