[Cos]

another photoshop b/w sketch, opinions/crits?

[Collosimo]

Composition is your main issue here...

very confusing shapes in the background... shape design needs some thought. I think that there is too much crammed in at every angle.. you need some white space. Somewhere for the eye to rest. For my eye, and my mind.. the background does not do its job.. as a 'background'. Identifiable shapes like the trees seem to help. Other shapes like that imbetween the two heads are only confusing 'intellectually' and 'visually'. Those particular shapes just seem to distract. You want to have a clearer focal point, at the moment because of the compositon and the background, the focal point is not definitive. In particular the shapes between the head distract the viewer from your focal point, the characters. Too much contrast and detail in the background can be irritating.

Hope that wasn't too harsh.

I will say that I like your strong lighting... it gives form and this is probably because of the B&W limitations. Well done with that.

[Cos]

hi COLLOSIMO, I understand it can be more clear but I do not understand totally what you are saying. Please do a paint/draw over to show me what you mean.

[patrick]

I think he is saying your background is too cluttered, it mixes too easily with the lines on your main characters. Thin up the lines of the front objects and maybe even remove some.

[Blakk]

Coolness post another.

[Collosimo]

Hi there. Well this will teach me to make comments and then forget about them... sorry, I had neglected to check back. Probably becuase I'm too busy trying to look at the ridiculous turnover of these forums!

I'll do a paintover.. not garaunteeing anything though, I'm not neccessarily a good artist. However I Like to think I know at least something of use... hehe.. I'll get to it.

[Cos]

collosimo - if you want to do a paint over thats ok, If not don't worry yourself about it. its an old post back from the depths of hell, let it go johnny...

Blakk - thanx, next time bring up my newer posts instead. What am I paying you for here!?? :P

[Collosimo]

Here you go. This was quite difficult for me. I have never ever done any purely B&W photoshop illustration. You'll notice a few big changes and some smaller details.



This is a tricky medium. A 'line dropout' as one of my teachers calls it. Basically everything that is 50% grey or lighter should be white, and everything that is 50% grey or darker should be black. Therefore a two tone image, hence 'dropout' of midtones.

Very powerful in some ways, and also sometimes confusing. I'll congratulate you on your first attempt because after I tried to edit it I realised how hard it was. I hope my little version will at least highlight some various points of interest.

Generally the biggest problem I found within your image was the composition. The placement of things just seemed like you had seen a bit of white canvas and gone 'I gotta put something there'.

So I decided to free up some areas to give the eyes some 'null' resting areas (white space), that should introduce some bigger shapes that for a viewer are easier to identify. That should in theory direct more attention to the other objects and highlight their profiles. See my point now about uncluttering the background? It helps to separate the forms of both heads, from the background. Hopefully clarifying the overall form.

I still have a problem with the white space imbetween and below the characters. You may notice this too. For some reason it just doesn't look right. I suspect that this is because it is trapped white space. The other shapes surround it confine it and make it noticeable as a consequence. This problem may well be down to basic composition. My theory is that we expect to see something more there because it should be ground, dirt or whatever... Notice that in the upper part of my paintover, that you could argue there is a large trapped white space between the heads. However I don't think this is a problem becuase we can imagine that space as the sky. It must be a mental thing.

I found that there were too many details.. overworking of some areas.. Like the hair for example. I tried to describe some bigger shapes with thicker lines... economy of line... rather than too many little pecky strokes. This is why you'll notice the clothing areas are quite a bit different. I haven't got it quite right but I think that by eliminating some of the folds, you can see a simpler shape. You dont need too many folds in a jacket.. otherwise it gets confusing and sometimes unrealistic.

Well I hope you understood that. I'm not very good at explaining things. Just ask me to clarify individual points if you have a problem. Here is an idea that could sum everything up...

Ever noticed that a silhouette is really quite powerful and clear for describing an object? In conrast have you ever looked at a really detailed picture and thought "Wow thats detailed! but where do I look? Is there some detail I haven't seen yet? where where?..." Of course your eyes flit around such a detailed picture and are never satisfied that they know exactly what is going on.

The point is to find a balance between the big shapes (like a silhouette or shadow), that describe form, and detail.. an important source of intrigue and interest.


(God I rambled, and sheesh! I don't think anyone will understand all that!)