[Francis]

Howdy

Here are a few things I have done recently in my spare time. The pale chick is fan art of a character called "Beautiful Killer," a cool comic from Jimmy Palmiotti and Phil Noto.

I got some useful painting feedback from sedone and prometheus, but since I am too lazy I have not yet incorporated their suggestions... sorry fellers.





[ July 27, 2002: Message edited by: Francis ]

[Svanur]

Those are really good, I love your linework.

Only crit I have is on the third picture. She has rather broad shoulders considering the rest of her body.

[Isric]

ahh.. I love the first one. That sunlight is wonderful, it adds a whole other level of depth to it. You almost feel scared that she's gonna fall of the edge because you can believe there's an 'off' to fall to. A couple of technical questions

1) how did you paint the ocean? whatever you did it looks wonderful.

2) did you make up the shadows on the buildings? or did you do a sun perspective thing? they look perfect, but I'm just wondering how 'mechanical' you got on this.

[AdezJ]

I like em all first one is funny hehe, keep up the good work man!

[Frost]

Hey Mr.T, long time no see!

The top one is my favorite in the bunch. The building designs, characters, and that little touch of humor on the broken concrete under the big robot while the mood is serious with the pensive characters. I also like the glows eminating from the bright surfaces, though perhaps not subtle enough. Maybe reducing that layer and duplicating it as overlay or something for a bit more saturated with a little tiny less glowing effect. Just an idea, I dunno. Nice quality comic book look to it. Nice linework in the others as well.

[JoePeterson]

Hey man - nice stuff.
I really like the lighting in the first one, pretty ingenious actually. Plus I love how the structures take up the space around the characters.
THe second one is a nice clean concept, well drawn!
The third is my least favorite. I like her but the lighting is a little flat and the drawing isn't as dynamic as the others.
For the top one, how about some more cool (grey/green?) in the shadows on the building on the right - and more work on the clouds in bground? just some thoughts!
I like 'em all alot though! keep it up.

[Francis]

Sorry to bump this - I wanted to respond to peoples' posts, and lost it on the 2nd page.

adezj - Thanks!

Frostie - Good ideas, yes I think I may have overdone the glows..

Joe Peterson - good comments, esp on the painting. I've gotten enough comments similar to that that I think there must be something definitely missing! Thanks.

svanur - yeah, that's another comment I get a lot, and not just on this one. I wonder if it's that the shoulders are too wide, or the hips are too narrow?

Isric - thanks, I'm glad you like these. The ocean was just painted pretty simply - I will try to remember to upload a detail shot of that (the original is at home, I am at work). I totally wung it on the shadows. You can tell if you look hard enough. The nice thing is that most of the shadow casting elements are conveniently off-screen.

OK thanks for your time.

[Torstein Nordstrand]

Another quality post from Francis. Thanks

I agree with above critiques, and would like to add that your major lightsource seems to be white in all images, more yellowish highlights would look warmer and natural, I think. Just a thought, nice work overall.

Thanks,

[Ed Lee]

WTF?? I can't see the pics. I see "X" in them.

Ed--

www.edleeart.com

[Francis]

Torsten - agreed, another thing I do when I'm not thinking enough.

Ed - ran into traffic limit for the month, shouldl be OK now?

Isric - here is a close up of part of the ocean. Line art is off, as is the "glow" layer.

[General Confusion]

Francis - do you do alot of experimenting with images without line? More painterly imagery... I have seen you do it before, but I was wondering if you use lines for preference or for the ease in making a complete looking drawing. Either, IMO, has many positive aspects to it. I think it hurts you. And trust me for the life of me I am not saying that the work you produce has anything wrong with it.. I am a huge fan of what you do. I just feel that you shy away from the "painting without line" way of doing things. And I only mention this because I see from following your posts that in the past have displayed a kind of leaning to in that more painterly direction.

Again, by no means am I saying that your work suffers. Ijust feel that you are on a protected step that isn't allowing you advance your art further....

Do you feel that way towards your work at all?

I feel like a dick, even critiquing your work like this, but I know with myself. That sometimes the best way to overcome a hurdle is to know that someone else sees it. I'm just picking at straws here, and I'm probably wrong, but if I'm right..... my advice would be to not be careful in your renderings, use your colors in a heavier sense. Give them some ummf... put some hair on the chest of your art I honestly think that lacks in your renderings. You sort of stay in a comfortable zone that coudl be described as pastelly. Kind of in the vain of an architectural rendering, which by all means due to your history as an artist, is completely understandable.. I just think if you deviate form what you know a bit.. your work will be even more awesome than it already is...


alright, enough of my banter..... but, on an end note.. I am honest with you, cause I feel that you have given me some helpful crits and I hope to return the favor...

[Sedone]

Hey! I haven't seen the last two pics before. I dig 'em! Is that a pencil sticking out of that dude's ear? I thought the last pic was a guy at first, but on closer inspection I see that she does, in fact, possess boobies. She reminds me of those characters in games like Double Dragon, who you have to kill over and over on every stage. Then you take their damn gun away from them, but it starts blinking after 30 seconds and disappears.

Btw, I browsed your gallery tonight and was blown away by the Red Riding Hood pic. It's shweeet!

[Francis]

Hey GC that's a great crit and observation. If it looks like I have taken a step back, it's at least partly intentional. I'm with you on the color part, but I'm not ready to completely ditch line art just yet. I've come to the conclusion that I have worked at developing that part long enough that I don't want to give it up and "move on," at least for the moment. Color I'm still working on, and for me at least it's difficult enough without the added complexities of defining/losing edges, etc. Maybe someday when I have nailed color and value, then I can start backing off the line art. At least that's my plan. Thanks very much for the detailed analysis, I appreciate it.

Sedone - yah, or maybe paint brushes. Glad you liked the Red Riding Hood. I'm getting a lotta comments that "BK" looks like a guy. It's another thing that seems to plague my drawings - women's shoulders and hips are out of proportion. I wonder if it's that the shoulders are too broad or the hips are too narrow? I'm (usually) going for an athletic woman look, but obviously not hitting it right...