Illustrator: Big Blue Bird

[jeroentje]

Just playing around in illustrator and trying different light-angles.

Hope you like it.
jeroentje

http://members.lycos.co.uk/superjeroentje/pino.jpg

[black_fish]

Hmmm I don;t really see the point to that kind of image but that's maybe because I don't like that style. On a purely technical note your 2 drawings look rather flat, and the simplified shadows alone are not enough to create any idea of volume. And why is the beak not casting any shadow in the first pic?


hmmm:confused:

[garg]

hey I like them :)

Nice style

and yea.. the beak should have a shadow*..

nice bird :D

[jeroentje]

You both made a good point about the shadow.

The idea was to make something in it's most simple form, like a logo.

@ black_fish
I do illustration for advertising and I want to prevent myself from getting stuck in 1 style.
I life in a small country with a small market. When I can do more styles, I get more jobs.
I am also trying to make things I haven't seen before. Should we all work in the same style? Is that a law where you life? Odd...
hmmm:confused:
Yeah, I am confused too. You don't have to like it.

[Katchoo]

Well I like them both, a lot, but then I like clean line and vector work just as much as anything else. Also, if I'm being pedantic the birds beak when lit from below wouldn't cast as strong a shadow from that angle if it was pointing downwards which it seems to be to me.

jeroentje, I agree, versaitility is essential if you work in an industry that requires more than one style of work such as advertising. A lot of fantasy illustration is very samey, not that I'm denegrating it in anyway almost all of the work I see on this forum I consider vastly superior to mine. It doesn't mean I necessarily want to emulate it.

Keep it coming jeroentje, variety is the spice of life after all!
:)

[jeroentje]

Thank you Katchoo.

[BC1967]

I like the second one. The shadow on the first one breaks up the flow of the composition...and...
versitality
:chug:

[el_kyrre]

i work with illustrator a lot, and i am also into that comic stuff (i do live in germany by the way which is not too far from the netherlands. but you should know ;-) )

well anyways... i like your stuff, although i think the other pics you postet before had more "style".

the one thing that really bugs me about this pic are the eyes. Everything in this pic (except the shadow and lighting) is outlined in black, why not they eyes? it disturbs me, and i think it kind of breaks that character apart.
but other than that i have nothing to crit.

her are some exaples of stuff that i did

http://people.freenet.de/freak-ee/moo.jpg
http://people.freenet.de/freak-ee/fling-poo.jpg
http://people.freenet.de/freak-ee/blu-freak.jpg

[davi]

cool stuff guys

[Wietse]

Illustrator rocks, vectorart rocks.

All this perfect 3D style is great, but it is not the ultimate in art-skills either....

http://www.xs4all.nl/~whoeksel/beelden/G@ngst@sh!t.gif

Seeya.

[Japanese Virtue]

I don't like this style at all, it does shame to the depth of soul that art can represent.
That is why i am not in favor of simplicity, minimalism and nihilism.

[Heavenly Creatures]

Great work, but not really. I see you're 'experimenting',
lightsource down--> shadows go up, lightsource up--> shadows go down, complex stuff man. This pic is just totally empty, no skill, no real effort. Nope, I don't like it, sir.

[foster]

Wow! I am disappointed to read this from you two, (heavenly creatures and Japanese virtue). It seems you have a very narrow scope of what is art and what can move people. There is a long history to iconic art. It goes back to cave paintings. The iconic can capture the soul of many or the idea of a hunt or the idea of food. Wietse work is very iconic and expresses energy and emotion (fun) through line and shape. African masks are icons. Some are pushed to the extremes of identification because of the iconic interpretation. This happens through generations of use and copying. As the form gets copied over and over it is distilled down to its most essential elements.

You could paint a picture of the chair in your living room and I?m sure you would do a fantastic representational job. But it would be just one chair, your chair. I would have no attachment to it, it would be too particular. but if you drew a chair with just a few lines it could be almost any chair and that allows me to get involved on another level with your drawing.

I am not saying iconic is the only way to paint, far from it. What I?m saying is never think there is one right way. There are many!

Jon foster

[nil]

well said mr foster

personally, i quite like the simplistic cartoony look of these pieces, especially the middle one from el_kyrre. its nice to see something a little different around here :D

[edit: as a side note Japanese Virtue, traditional japanese art was very much in favour of the things you seem to disapprove of. traditional japanese art was not supposed to be particularly realistic or detailed, but rather it was supposed to express the 'soul' of the subject by simplifying what the artist saw. in short, it wasnt concerned with the physical appearence, it was trying to express "depth of soul" thru simplification]

[Heavenly Creatures]

Originally posted by foster
1) It seems you have a very narrow scope of what is art and what can move people.

2)You could paint a picture of the chair in your living room and I?m sure you would do a fantastic representational job. But it would be just one chair, your chair. I would have no attachment to it, it would be too particular. but if you drew a chair with just a few lines it could be almost any chair and that allows me to get involved on another level with your drawing.



Jon foster [/B]

1) No, you have no idea how narrow or broad my 'view' is, I actually have a very broad taste of what 'art' is, as long as it's done with care, heart and effort. I never mentioned that the pic was or wasn't 'art', what I did say wasn't impressed by the pic at all and I thought it was pretty emtpy, imo. And no that pic didn't 'move' me at all. Should I feel ticklish or something?

2) Again, I disagree, if I would one day decide to draw my chair, it would represent my individual and personal view of the world or in this case my plain chair. And that's what art about in many ways, how the artist perceives the world around him through his own personal 'lens', his 'voice' if you want. and how he shows that to his audience. In my opinion that would be far more interesting than if I just drew an impersonal chair with a few simple lines, anyone could do that, it requires little thought or effort, a chair like that wouldn't involve people if would just fit in with the rest of the masses. How would that get you involved? You would'nt even notice it probably. Why not rip the male/female stickers from toilets and call it art?

[Japanese Virtue]

Foster:

Cave paintings, emotion, soul, energy, African masks and chairs....

Forgive me, but i fail to see the connection of those deep words in the picture of this blue bird.

And the example with the chair....spare me the disgrace.

And last of all...very narrow scope of what art is?
I said i didn't like this style, the fact that you bring this down to an insult is futile.

I think this style is the expression of today's modernism, simplism, minimalism and nihilism.
The so called art of "Less is better".
Well i'm sure those artist describe their art as nobel as they can to somehow elevate their level.

But in my opinion the fact alone that this style has to be defended amongst fellow artists themselves shakes the ground under their feet by means of not being able to defend their own incompetence.

Have a nice day...

[Heavenly Creatures]

I'm not saying that stylized art is 'bad' or 'wrong' , and in many cases it fits certain subject or media, for example I was a big fan of the Batman animated cartoons and the Batman Beyond series. Though my own personal taste does tend to favour the more complex drawings. But if you go the minimalistic route you better make damn sure you put down the right lines. I also think some artists are just being lazy.

And maybe I'm just irked because so many so-called artists abused and perverted the minimalistic style and called it 'art'. And then the sheep-like masses approvingly nod their heads; "It can't be bad or crap because it's art!!"

[nil]

Originally posted by jeroentje
The idea was to make something in it's most simple form, like a logo.

@ black_fish
I do illustration for advertising and I want to prevent myself from getting stuck in 1 style.
I life in a small country with a small market. When I can do more styles, I get more jobs.
I am also trying to make things I haven't seen before. Should we all work in the same style? Is that a law where you life? Odd...

Yeah, I am confused too. You don't have to like it.

'nuff said

[Heavenly Creatures]

"Should we all work in the same style? Is that a law where you life? Odd..."

Yes yes, nuff said, I know nil, life should be ---> live. Good point.

[foster]

To the both of you, no insult was intended. I only responded to your words directed to wietsi. By the way, your letter comes way down the line and below other works than the blue bird. Wietsi?s work was what i was referring to in my letter.

"Great work, but not really." Sarcasm is insult. Japanese virtue--you said that his work did shame to what art can represent! These words seem way more inflammatory than my letter to you. It is inherent in your reply that you felt the work had no merit. I simply put forth why it could have merit and gave examples to illustrate my point. The chair analogy comes from classic philosophy and was direct and to the point. How you could find insult in the example I?m not sure.

I believe that I stated that iconic or simplicity is not the only way but it is a viable way. I felt that you cut the legs out from under another?s work without insight or constructive point of view. It?s one thing to say that you don?t like a piece that someone has done; it?s quite another to say that it does shame to the depth of soul. Opinions are nice, we all have them, but constructive observation takes a little more time.


Jon foster

[stalecracker]

Well, I like the birds. I agree with Jon. I think Heavenly Creatures and Japanese Virtue are being, well, dicks. I always wonder about those who run in and vomit crappy comments then get all bent out of shape when taken to task.

Heavenly Creatures
Great work, but not really. I see you're 'experimenting',
lightsource down--> shadows go up, lightsource up--> shadows go down, complex stuff man. This pic is just totally empty, no skill, no real effort. Nope, I don't like it, sir.


Japanese Virtue
I don't like this style at all, it does shame to the depth of soul that art can represent.
That is why i am not in favor of simplicity, minimalism and nihilism.


You both must be cross-eyed as hell from staring down your high and mighty noses. How about posting some of your work and letting us "take a peek" at your "soul deep" work and it's amazing "complexity".

Sorry I am not as eloquent as Jon. His responses to the two of you are right on and very civilised. Me? I think you both are asses.

Thanks-

[stalecracker]

AND then I notice that the expanse of your posting is contained within this thread. PLUS... no way to see what you're capable of...

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO*

You really anger me.

[sparth]

minimalism in music and art is a very mature concept which is quite hard to accept and understand. it is rather childish to consider it as an overall joke.

sorry, but it's a shame to see peeps that are not able to remain constructive and helpful on a forum.
i don't think that CA need both of these comments.

[Burn Things.]

garr i see nothing wrong with jeroentje's birdies. a bit simplistic but as it was stated a good number of times, this was a desired result. and after seeing his site, and some of his more complex art, you can see that he has a nice range of styles and some nifty skills w/ the pencil. :mrt:

[Wietse]

Japanese virtues,
Heavenly Creatures....

Like Jeroentje said, you dont HAVE to like it....
About that skills question.... What I did, trying to capture a story (What to me is the esence of art.) while using as little as posible DOES require skills.... And a lot of those skills are just the same as more detailed work requires....
Wether I succeeded in that or not.... Well, I had a real good feeling when this piece was finished.... You two decide for yourself.

Burn Things, Sparth, Stale Cracker, Nil, Foster....
:thumbsup: :btu: Great to read those replies:) :) ....

Foster: I took a look at your website.... Wow....
Thanks man, much apreciated:cool: ........

Seeya.

[jeroentje]

Originally posted by Heavenly Creatures
Yes yes, nuff said, I know nil, life should be ---> live. Good point. [/B]
When you disagree, that's fine with me.
I have made my points weeks ago and I'm finished with it.
But getting someone who's native language is not English on his spelling...