Mario and his STARoids

[syngeist]

An Illustration I'm working on. Ever wonder how Mario and be so athletic at so many sports....it's because of STARoids!

Other then that...if any of you guys see anything completely or slightly off, chime in.

And if it's a bit big...let me know...and I'll resize it.

[Piranha Clan]

Hmmm...ummm, wow...

[Micaiah Nelson]

Reminds me of the youtube mario vid it was pretty funny you should look at it by the way preety damn good. I'm not so sharp with photoshop but you should tighten up the color on him. Its way to glossy. Don't make thing so 2d lets see his feet.

[syngeist]

Thanks Piranha Clan and Micaiah Neslon.

Right now I want to get as much of the background in as possible by adding a lot of Mario objects. After a certain point, I'll probably go and rework the feet and show a bit more of them as suggested and possibly change up the skin.

The most recent Mario vid on the tube that I saw was the "Impossible Hacked/Modded Mario level" which I love the commentary on...kind of vulgar as the person attempting the level gets very frustrated...fake or not...I think it was entertaining.

:nintendo:

[Reed Davis]

hahaha, great concept, I always though the mushrooms were his secret

[AnimatingN00b]

Hmmm... well, it sort of looks like he's injecting the STARoids into the wall there. Otherwise... lmao.

[Zilant]

So.very.wrong. I love it.
There isn't any part of this I don't find immediately appealing. I even find myself liking the floor, for god's sake.

Your anatomy-fu is wicked fierce, so much so, I'm second-guessing what I'm about to say as I type it.
(you'll notice this doesn't actually deter me. :nohope: )

The pose feels a wee bit extreme.
I'm not saying it's anatomically wrong, because quite frankly I don't know for sure.

But I am saying, it's definately not a comfortable way to be standing.
There's alot of pressure on that back ankle, it's supporting most of the weight and having to bear the brunt of a near 90 degree turn from the hips. It's an entirely justifyable motion under the pretense that he's snapped into it quite suddenly (first person perspective of a poor fool intruding in nintendo's locker room?), and wouldn't linger in it for long. But, there isn't any secondary animation to support that kind of a motion. Especially considering the needles sticking out of his flesh oh-so-precariously would react to even the slightest twitch.

[syngeist]

Update!

Thanks Reed Davis, I guess that shrooms were just a coverup for his real power.

Thanks AnimatingNoob, but I don't know what i could do to make it look like he's not pumping up the wall.

Thanks Zilant, I'm pretty sure his anatomy is not perfect myself and I agree the pose probably is a bit extreme and in reality would be quite uncomfortable. I quickly looked at myself in a mirror before laying down the pose to get the gist of the gesture down and tried using my basic knowledge to fill in the rest. And I hadn't thought about the motion and its effect on the syringes...maybe he's so strong he can hold those needles in place with the molecules in his skin...

:nintendo:

[0kelvin]

Great concept!

Personally, I'd remove the additional syringes sticking out of him. The one in his hand is more than enough to get the point across, and doesn't make him look like he's just been attacked by a syringe wielding maniac. The additional ones don't look like they're stuck in him deep enough to stick straight out like that. It's also pretty obvious from the way they're at the exact same perspective that they've been copy-pasted. At the very least they should be reworked. They're the weakest part of an otherwise very good image.



Eric

[Zilant]

*Squee* Chain Chomp on the keychain.
I'm thoroughly enjoying these little details.

And because I don't feel right making a post without saying something constructive: Maybe take a second look at the thumb on the hand holding the syringe. Feels a little awkward, I think you could have the plunger resting on the pad of his thumb and still have that tense hand-clenching I think your going for.

( I say I "think" not because I doubt the hand-clenching at all, but, I feel arrogant making statements that imply telepathy on my part ;p)

[stylus]

LOL. This is awesome.

I think this is shaping up really well! The only things that look odd to me are the perspectives of the box and the left-most edges of the bench in front of Mario. The exaggerated perspective of the box doesn't make it look like it's sitting on that bench correctly.

I backed away from my computer to look at it from a bit of distance and noticed that my eye is pretty much glued to the left side of the picture. The right side's pretty bare, whereas the left is fairly busy.

Just my $0.02

[syngeist]

Small update...

Thanks everyone, those are exactly the crits I'm looking for and need to hear...they either point something out to me that I missed or it gives me the kick in the pants to rework something that has been bugging me.

0kelvin, I'm glad you pointed out the syringes, I did get lazy and just copy and paste them and they were more of an afterthought that I kind of forgot about. But great suggestion on taking them out because I personally think it looks much nicer or at least more comfortable without them.

Good point, Zilant, that thumb did look a bit weird. I went in and reworked the thumb, although it may not seem like it, it is subtely different than the previous image.

Stylus, I've changed the lines on the bench and the box a bit. The box is still a bit off, I think...so I'll probably keep fiddling with that. It is kind of left heavy, but I'm going to try and put some more stuff on the right side and above the lockers to hopefully even that out. There so much in Mario's world that it is almost as hard to decide what I want to include.

Again thanks to everyone for taking some time and providing comments!
And if anyone is interested...the working size I'm working with on this piece of work is 16 x 19 inches at 300 dpi.

[Jason Rainville]

I think his forearms are lacking some detail, especially when compared to his torso. They just look kinda formless in comparasin.

In concept it's great, but like it's been said, mushrooms made him big, stars made him.... invincible :)

[Micaiah Nelson]

One thing is when someone critiques you, you can always disagree. But there is one thing you definetly need to get, the right hands fingures are missing some joints. Later today I'm gonna put up my work in the sketch book section. Look at it when you get the chance. Tube super mario game over. might inspire your work.

[syngeist]

More or less the final version...for now.

Thanks again everyone.

Rhineville-I agree the forearms do look a bit bare...so I went in and added some veins, but didn't want to over do it. It is true mushrooms makes mario huge...but I wanted to play off of the wordplay of STARoids with steroids.

Micaiah Nelson-I agree that I don't have to agree with every critique that is shot my way, but so far everyone has made some helpful and valid points. Besides I don't want to make it a habit of seeing mistakes or stuff that is not quite perfect in my drawings and just leaving it in and saying I'll be more careful next time. Oh and I went in and tried the make the hand more anatomically correct.

[Bob Todd]

The needle is getting lost against the inside of the locker (maybe it's just my monitor, though). If you added a touch more highlighting to the needle it would be easier to see.

[Zilant]

The fact Wario makes STARoids is 100% win.
Ha, Peach with a bite taken out of it, how Freudian.
Your attention to detail - and Mario cannon - is nothing short of admirable.

This really ended up being a great picture. :^^:

[Jason Rainville]

More or less the final version...for now.
It is true mushrooms makes mario huge...but I wanted to play off of the wordplay of STARoids with steroids.

Ah, gotcha :teeth:

With the forearms, it just appears the muscles of the upper forearm that wrap into the wrist (brachioradialis and extensor carpi radialis longus) just aren't there.

[DonLeoCapomafia]

Man, this draw is simply orrible!i don't like the subject,the character is very strange...simply spend better your time on a new project, i'm sure you can do better!

[Liam. M]

I thought Mario had black hair.