the engine

[foster]

way more complex than i usually try and tackle.

jon

[GhostofMacbeth]

Looks cool .. I am wondering about the third figure on the left ... I am not getting why he is so sideways. Blown back by something? Pulled back by the guy next to him? It jsut doesn't quite read right now. It has a cool feel and I like the chaos of it but the figure jsut kind of makes me go "huh?" LOL

[deschamps]

Its a mass confusion! You work is always exiting to look at. My crit would be... The one figure that bothers me a little is the second closest. Its probably something with the left shoulder plate interfering with the head. What are your favorite brushes to create such great texture and paint strokes? (I am sure its just a lot of practice and not the brushes, but I am curious which ones you use most often)

[tegehel]

Niiiice! Jon, very very nice.

O Muse!

C.

PS: Cire600, the answer about brushes is somewhere in this thread I believe.

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5290

[deschamps]

Great, thanks tegehel, I'll check it out

[I.was.ink]

The name makes me wonder about the illustration. Are they the engine, or part of it, or am I way off? I like all the guys, they remind me of the supposed alien guys in the 5th element. Can you tell us what's the story behind this one?

[LeeSmith]

it's amazing how you guys can paint digitally and still almost be able to feel the texture on a piece. As always, your work is suburb Jon!

If you're ever interested in teaching someone how to paint.... ;)

[Oblio]

oh.. i love the way "saturation" flows around. The desaturated back is so cool... and well.. you are mastering it too well. :)
How about a beer? :chug:

Oblio

[R_M]

That is sooooooo coool Jon.
The soldiers are so many, and it is difficult to focus on one in particular. this makes the image a much stronger graphical composition than the usual "Hero with huge gun" image, where one knows exactly where to look.

Your techique is top as usual, but it is the repetion of the soldiers that makes this stand out. It reminds me a bit of J.Burns painting for Warhammer 40000, where there is a bunch of Spacemarines all squashed together..do you know him?

God I want to be you....:D

[dodowa]

oh~great! :)
very hot!


-useful material-

Gas mask site (http://www.gasmaskimages.com/)

[Ant4d]

You have most original works.
I dont know how you come up with those ideas and concepts.
Most excellent!

Ant

[darkcult]

Great composition, you can feel the panic.


Impressive stuff as usual.


:nod:

[Boom]

excellent painting, Jon (am I repeating myself? Guess so! :))

I love the composition as it is, but I brought the .jpg file into photoshop and mirrored the image horizontally and I think it reads stronger that way. The paranoid, frenzy feeling gets stronger I think since the eyemotion is left>right instead of right>left as it is now.

I believe that if you want to give the viewer a really uncomfortable feeling in a painting it can work if you move the eye (with composition, color, contrast etc.) from left to right. Some say it has something to do with right>left movement = future/unknown dangers, while right>left = the past/known dangers.

If I remember correctly there was a discussion about this before here on conceptart.

Ofcause nobody can generelize about this as it is highly subjective theretical, but in this case it works better mirrored.. for me that is...

anyways. Enough rambling... Exellent painting and instant save to artworkbyJonfoster dir! :)

[MindCandyMan]

This one is awesome jon...really cool man. You are improving so much. I can really see it honestly. Your art is about to start evolving again I can see it.

[Loga4]

Heh,just WOW from me,what else:D
Cheers!

[chukw]

I like it the way it is, Boom- that way the storytelling reads Action (explosion)- Reaction (soldier goes down), although I'm sure it could be argued otherwise. Jon, you must be having a blast with the Wasted Land material!

[facezero]

i like your digi and oilpainting!
your digiwork looks very naturally.:)
i think goodman made good work.
so i think you are goodman^^

[JoshuaTheJames]

yo man,

You know I dig your stuff... lol but in a very odd way the constrast of textures and smooth strokes in some of your work gives me this strange scared feeling... I know ...weird...

-Joshua

[behemot5]

:bow: love it

[thomasaurus]

sweet sense of movement and atmosphere!

[Deth Jester]

I dunno if its just me, but I am having a REALLY hard time focusing, while looking at the painting.. it might be the meds im on though.. it seems like there are too many focal points or places of interest for my mind to take.. maybe too many lost edgess.. I really dont know.. I agree with the shoulder pad looking odd too on the 2nd to closest guy...

Its nice to see you tackling harder things..

Always love your stuff..

keep on rock'n!

peace

[foster]

thanks to everyone who replied! it is wonderful to get such feed back.

i worked on the painting a little more. just tweaked values and edges, cleaned up the mask a little and added a few more details. all in all it helped but the changes are not significant enough to warrant posting it again.

i flipped the composition horizontally. i do like it that way but it may just be that it is new and fresher to me.

it is a busy piece isn't it! i did want to create a certain mayhem and lack of particular focus. possibly it is not a good idea, but that was the challenge, rove and rove with no rest. i think i may be breaking some sacred art composition laws!

joshua, what do you mean? i appreciate your thoughts.

mcm, i'm not sure whether i am improving. i fear that i may just be changing.

dodowa, thanks for the link! that will be a very useful site.

iwasink, the soldiers (police) in the painting are referred to as "the engine". they are supposed to be the last people you want around if a peaceful resolution is to be found. charge in, shoot first ask questions later. this is another painting for the wasted lands book titled "the uninvited" by del stone jr. and dave dorman with interiors by yours truly.

once again thanks to all for their critiques and comments especially those i did not address directly in this letter.

jon

[davi]

very cool
great story behind the name also

[I.was.ink]

I agree with davi. Thanks for clearing that up.

[Rhomb]

Great. I like the congested feeling in this. Your work is always very inspiring.

Ville

[JoshuaTheJames]

Originally posted by foster
joshua, what do you mean? i appreciate your thoughts.

hah... Nothing bad... its just a odd feeling I get I really can't explain it.

-Joshua