[samdragon]

Ok folks, here is the final image, for the "upgrades" illustration.
It's time to abandon it and move on to the other illustration. I tried to do as Spooge said, about more contrast, i may have put too much in there with the hardedges and all.
I'll keep working at it.
As I mentioned before I just went with two colors on this image, green and black. I'm also working on loosening up more, let me know how I did on my objectives
thnx


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SAMDRAGON

[kos.mandis]

Great job! The face is excellent and these cables really look 3d!

[Fred Flick Stone]

Take caution in what you mean by loosening up. Scribbling doesn't make a painting looser. Not that you are doing this, but your comment on loosning up, and seeing the details on the back wall of the pod he is in lead me to believe that this is the loosening up you are mentioning. Loosening up means not making everything by the book, I.E. is the color dead on, is the shape dead on, is every detail drawn where I should have left some out. Did I use too many colors where one general tone would have done te same thing etc.
Loosening up usually comes with the acquiring of more information of your craft. Someone who knows nothing about anatomy is going to noodle a portrait to death because he/she doesn't know what they are drawing or why. Someone who has a grasp on the subject will blast in the drawing, if they aren't uptight in their technique, and the image should have a freshness, a hidden understanding of what is going on with the object(in this case someones face), in otherwords more sponteneity. Thus, a looser approach.

Some who have no drawing skills but think loosely will start drawing loosely, but it is not organized. There is no method to their maddness, no technique or understanding of light, shadow, form, etc. The image isn't loose, it is out of control.

Getting back to this image, my biggest comment would be concerning the content more than anything. And those stray lines in the background that look sketched in with no real purpose, I would finish the thought and make them into something, or eliminate them.
But the content of this image is a character uploading a personality upgrade or somethng like that. In my opinion, there is a lot of wasted space on the right side of the figure, that really serves no purpose. It seems like something secondary to the story should fill this space. WHat I would do is crop the image tighter to the figure. If this is going in a story book, or graphic novel of some sort, the words and the images are competing on the same page for space. Ths image just has too much dead space seving no real story purpose, thus possibly cramming the page it will be laid into. And in good story telling, what is necessary to get the point across is placed into the image and nothing else. Look at some Norman Rockwell paintings as an example. Everything backs up the story depicted in the image, anything that doesn't , isn't put in the painting.
Cropping the image in will also help you, in that you won't have to fill in the rest of this space with stuff you haven't thought about, that might detract from the overall imagery. And I mentioned before that the greeblies placed in the background are not working, too randomly sketched in with no real thought put into them. Cropping my solve this issue. Either that or really design the pod he is in, but for a single image story, that might be too much work.

Over all the image is far better than what you originally started with. With more time and experience, you should be able to point these things out on your own as you are evaluating your own work. Good luck with the rest of the project and post up the stuff you finish as it falls off your screen...

[osk]

yeah i am gonna have to agree with Fred here ... the detail of the guy and the cables contradicts the sketch looking wires and the lines inside the tube .. I think you SHOUld get rid of them and crop image to close up ... it would look much better ...

[Jeezus]

it's looking better, i think. for some reason, i c\p'd the picture into photoshop and did a few quick hard-edged strokes to help define what i THINK spooge was trying to explain to you.


if you look at the nose\lip\eyes, it's pretty straight forward what i did. adding those hard edges helps define the shapes. maybe this looks completely bad\wrong.. i dunno :\

[This message has been edited by Jeezus (edited May 17, 2000).]

[samdragon]

You're absolutly right Fred. You are the first person that has ever told me what "loosen up" actually means.
I'll make some adjustments and post another image in this thread. Thanks for the info folks!


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SAMDRAGON

[samdragon]

Ok, here is the cropped version, with some small touchups to the face.
I think this looks much better, as Fred mentioned, it certainly puts more focus on the subject.


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SAMDRAGON

[Muzman]

take that left side of the collar back a bit. (it's yelling at me to be moved).

I like it though, good 'n dramatic. I do have a problem with green though. I mean, it's a great colour but I think these days "The Matrix" owns green forever more. A shame really.