two characters

[saz]

heya, im trying to get into the conceptual design industry now that i graduated and here are two characters i finished recently for my portfolio- comments and crits all welcome
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a247/marktompkins/the_green_pearl.jpg http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a247/marktompkins/aim_for_the_middle_circle.jpg

[Elwell]

The glowing outlines serve no purpose and reek of "schtick". Their only advantage is to deflect attention from the drawing problems.

[Alexandr Pascenko]

i see it clearly: if u strech the left leg from this woman , it would be a had longer than the other. hope u know what i mean. colours: she dosen´t seems to pop out much so maybe u could add some yellow? but fix the leg!! ok your design skills are really week if this is for your portofolio, there is nothing special about those charas i would pick u up of that. maybe do some more studies of fashion and weapons, and minithumbs of forms and gestures. ...hope this helps:)wok on it

[evildisco]

Yes how about crediting the original creator of the photo.

http://www.characterdesigns.com/bandaid/content/photosets/1345/1384/Photoset_021_039.jpg

Way to go!

[Alexandr Pascenko]

Yes how about crediting the original creator of the photo.

http://www.characterdesigns.com/bandaid/content/photosets/1345/1384/Photoset_021_039.jpg

Way to go!


haha i´ve trie dto help this guy now u punched him inthaface! and this is the way concept "artists" makin their portofolios?

a shame !!

[saz]

thankyou goblinshark for your help, I'll try and fix the leg. The only way i can move forward and learn is know what im doing wrong. Im finding it hard to know what to draw or paint at the mo, also i had no intention for using the photo for reference for anything but to help me with my skills, i thought the whole point of character designs.com is to help artists.

[worxe]

Im not 100% clued in on this sentence but;

"also i had no intention for using the photo for reference for anything but to help me with my skills"

Yet your using it for your portfolio in interviews? I believe using a reference to further your skills is a good thing, even when credits are given, but using it for your portfolio is dangerously close to plaguerism if not already, particularly when you haven't mentioned of any reference or given any credits for the reference in the first place.

I also agree with goblinshark's first post, I would much rather be more interested in your idea generating abilities rather than these two pieces which are very... bland, and whether or not 'characterdesigns.com' is geared toward supplying references, setting up the figure/scene/whatever your drawing yourself proves your able to do just that rather than relying on references all the time.

If its strictly for furthering your own skills, thats great, if your using it for your folio to win over in folio interviews, thats wrong. Regardless, what goes around comes around, you may find yourself in a job that requires you to pump out numerous designs in a very short amount of time on the spot and you wont be able to do it because you dont have any references, ideas or skills to handle it.

Practice drawing from life, it teaches you more than you think, it teaches you how to create ideas so your not 'out of ideas' all the time.

A personal tip; I occasionally write down random words that come up in my head, and read over them when im having a hard time coming up with something, descriptive words of anything that comes up. Reading from the book that I now have because of it helps me get along quicker. It's called brainstorming.

[saz]

ok, thankyou for everyones comments and i have taken everything into consideration. - the first painting was referenced from a photo from the site 'characters designs.com' by Hong Ly.

[magnut]

saz,

No one cares about you giving "proper" credit to the photo reference you've used. What you seem not to understand is that IN YOUR PROFESSIONAL PORTFOLIO, you should NOT do art pieces that look like amateur photo studies.

Sorry, but your work looks nothing like anything conceptual. It looks like an art school project. Also, "using the photo for reference for anything but to help me with my skills" makes no sense. You use photo reference as a GUIDE to extrapolate from, not something to trace from.

Conceptual Design is supposed to be CONCEPTUAL! Don't worry so much about making your drawings so 'realistic'. You need to be selling your IDEAS! What I'm seeing in your visual pieces are more 'art exercises', and not so much selling an idea. Your soldier is so dark that there are no discernable details. The woman looks like she's an amateur wannabe model who you got to pose with nearly nothing on. You put way more work into the background, which has no purpose whatsoever in you selling your ideas. It seems as if you're trying to distract from the lack of Concept Design by dazzling the potential client with a flashy background. Believe me, the client will never be impressed by that. He only wants to see your concept design work.

These are simply not Concept Designs.

Take a look at the conceptual designers THAT SET THE PROFESSIONAL STANDARD. Do you know who any of the top Concept Artists are in the industry? If not, here are some examples:

- Syd Mead:
http://www.sydmead.com/v/01/splash/
- Doug Chiang:
http://www.dchiang.com/
- David Levy:
http://www.vyle-art.com/
- Sammy (who posts here on ConceptArt.org):
http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=77569
- Jeff Hua:
http://www.cgexplorer.com/2006/02/05/jeff-hua-concept-artist-illustrator-usa/

The most important thing about any of what you're doing is that if you cannot see the problems in your own work for what they glaringly are... then you're lost, and you'll never find your way to a professional level. But, if you know what the Professional Standard is, then you'll be more able to have an instinct for what NOT to do in your work.

I'm being blunt because when it comes to your career, when it comes to you trying to get work, your standards need to be of an actual professional level. It doesn't matter why you can't reach that level, but if you don't, then you simply will not get work.

And after several years of you doing more "art pieces" where you only trace photographs, and spend way more time on the background graphics, rather than selling the actual ideas... you'll find out that you've been fooling yourself into thinking that you could have had a career doing this, when you've only been wasting your time doing more and more "art projects" that go nowhere.

I BELIEVE YOU CAN AVOID THIS. YOU HAVE GREAT SKILLS! BUT YOU MUST START UNDERSTANDING WHAT ACTUAL CONCEPT WORK IS ALL ABOUT. So break free from this corner you've stuck yourself into, and take a look at all these other Concept Artists that I've presented to you, and ABSORB THEIR STANDARDS INTO YOUR BRAIN! Soak in every bit of understanding as to why they do what they do, and then you will have a much better chance of NOT being in the same place with your work 5 years from now!

THIS IS A GOOD THING! Only by really truly understanding how the Concept Art business works, can you have any real shot at making this your career.

But for now, your work does not show that.

Good luck.