[Muzman]

Hello gentle forum denizens. Feast your vile jellies on this.



Attend to the thread title if you would, please. It's meant to be a sort of in-jokey poster for the fans of Thief (the game that is)
I've kludged in a few things (like the glow on the eye thing) just to show you where it's headed. Still, many things don't sit right with me about the foundations. Maybe it's the composition (I've changed that a few times already). Maybe it's the light, or the proportions. It's all pretty hacky.
So spare me the "Man, you need to practice the basics. Draw from life. Draw....." etc. Rrrrrrreally (ie : I know) Just commenting on the pic will do fine.

cheers

[see]

Oh well i like it but there is something wrong with the lightning. I think the face in the front part should be brighter.
Maybe some more details

But it's cool.

[Probus]

the same for the lightning counts for the clothes, less light from the side, more from the front. and maybe the ear needs a little refinement. also, the eyebrows look a tad weird. tha�t�s all, good work!

[Dryfire]

Good job man, looks cool so far. Hmm i agree, you should make the right side of his face and clothing darker, since the lightsource is so bright. Also make the left side of the cloak brighter. You did a good job with the hand too, maybe make the highlights a bit brighter on his other fingers, just as bright as the highlight on his pinky.

good job man, keep on it!

[Muzman]

thanks to those so far but...
3?! 3 replies?!
Muz wanders off mumbling about this place going straight to hell

[GatoNegro13]

its really not as bad as you think, so people don't have any bad comments to make. No news is good news right? Well heres another repy for ya anyway.

Well I think if that thing is casting light on his face, then it should be shown more. I would re think his hand a little...he looks like hes gonna drop it. MAybe his face looks a little rough...like someone smeared paste on him and its cracking. Ok I really had to dig for those comments! It really is very good!

[Anthony J]

nice ear
and nice hair !

[Muzman]

*sigh*
More praise
This is awful.
Just Awful

[synj]

i'd wish i had enough knowledge in this area to help out. it's almost scary how many lurkers there are here.. i'll post a pic and look at the stats on my server - there'll be like 600 views and 4 replies. amazing how many people aren't contributing...

i'd make harder shadows on the underside of the hand and maybe by the shoulders. its pretty flat right now lighting wise. shrug!

[Morbid Guy]

Had a quick go at a repaint trying to show how I think the two light sources would work. Yours was very subtle which was good cause it gave it realism, but I upped the contrast abit to show clearer how I think the construction of the face would be lit, and other areas. Someone like Spooge would be much better to demonstrate this but I hope it's of some help

[ixs]

yeh i'm no good at comment, but the original is "chalkie" looking. the contrast on the over paint helps out, cause areas of colors are more solid and less textured.

[mza]

quote:

---

Originally posted by ixs:
yeh i'm no good at comment, but the original is "chalkie" looking.

---

I agree with the "chalkie" comment. Even if you're going for the "undead" flesh-tone look there still needs to be some color variation. Sorta gimicky, so I hesitate to give this as advice:

In general, the local color of the forhead area is more towards the yellows, the area around the nose/cheeks/ears are redder, and the jaw/neck area more green ( the 5'oclock shadow thing).

A generic formula to keep in mind while painting. Of course light source,and ethnic type are factors to consider.

my 2 cents

[ December 06, 2001: Message edited by: mza ]

[Muzman]

thanks guys, interesting stuff
I still want the over the shoulder light to be the strongest. But I guess they should be equal.
And there's piles of colour variation. Heaps for me anyway. It's the contrasts that are screwed. I know all about that. I guess I should put that in the comment disclaimer too
Curious how I came looking for comments on the facial construction/perspective problems that scream at me when I look at it and no one else seems to see them so far.
Maybe I am nuts after all

Cheers

[spooge demon]

You might say "don't tell me to go to life class!" but I will anyway. But what would you learn there? In relation to this drawing specifically, this idea:



One problem with drawing from photos or relying on the Brigman too much is conceiving of anatomical form in a caricatured way and missing some of subtle stuff. Most ways of looking at the figure are either rounded or squared volumes. You have to be able to think both ways really. As the model moves around you would pick this up much quicker than years of copying shapes from photos.


Muzman, I see you have a clear conception of the front plane of the face, but maybe too much. The eye sockets actually slant backwards at quite and angle, so maybe they should not be included in the front plane of the face. You can see the difference in the two perspective drawings. One problem in beginning drawings is not seeing the warp and foreshortening of the far side of the face as it curves away from the viewer.

There are some people with heads like this, but it is rare.

There is a similar problem with seeing the general wrap of the planes of the head from top to bottom. The front plane of the forehead faces up more than the chin or the cheeks. Think of it as flat planes glued to a sphere. Also, the idea from 3-d of normals is a neat way of thinking about planes.

I just got a new tip for my wacom, and it won't stay in the pen, dammit. Any ideas?

[ixs]

find some very fine tape, trim the width and wrap carefully around tip. you need something very thin, else the tip may not have any play in it or jam.

[that or you've brutalized your poor stylus. ]

[Jabberwocky]

The guy has the whole unibrow thing going on or something.

I wouldn't use so much lighting on the side of his face from the "other" light source. It just looks kinda odd. The added lighting for the object in his hand does look better.

[Shaded]

This may or may not pertain to what the demon detailed in his post, but I figured a low poly model could serve the purpose?

[Cos]

Yeah I agree, the added lighting from the orby thing in his hand looks miles better.

[Muzman]

Cheers all

Spooge, you can tell me to go to figure class if you want. It's just that I probably won't and I hate to dissapoint. I do actually go to life reference as much as I can. I used myself for this one. But I wanted our man here to have features like, you know, cheek bones and a chin. Along with that Charlton Heston nose bridge. I think I did ok (considering how much I suck, as a rule), but my lack of experience makes riffing on features in this fashion a little tough, as I'm sure I don't need to say.
I can draw what's infront of me fairly well, but when drawing from my head the old errors show up still, a la what you point out.
So cheers.

Monobrow? That requires hair that joins in the middle doesn't it?

The light thing I still don't know about. I did a few radius tests in a largeish 60w bulb lit room with an exposed torch bulb at the right range, with various surfaces and people. The thing barely made any difference at all.
Somewhere inbetween would be good. I'd like a subtle glow and not a blinding glare.
I should be stronger than it is though, I agree.

(low poly models work pretty well for that sort of thing I think, Shadesy. Like one of those Aarusarawhatsit heads)