Arezou's Workbench ~ Updated! page 2 ~

[Viceregal]

Don't want to read all of this? No problem - just scroll down until you see pictures. Please critique my work as you would anyone elses.

Objective

My purpose here is to connect to people through my art again in what I feel is a safe environment. Through your critiques and encouragement I will be able to strengthen my skills and hopefully regain my confidence. Ultimately I would like to open my online galleries again with fresh material.

As it is, I feel my creations are stagnant. Your advice will help me push myself in new directions. I am looking forward to it!

Galleries - Freshly Re-opened
ESG ~ Deviant Art Gallery  

[Viceregal]

Medium

• 4 x 5 Wacom Tablet
  
• Photoshop 5.5
  
• Windsor & Newton watercolors
  
• 0.5mm Pentel P205 mechanical pencil
  
• 6" x 8" medium weight sketchbooks

Style and Genre

I primarily enjoy realism and specialise in fantasy. I have dabbled with anime, western cartoon style and graphic design.

I draw humanoids more than I do plain humans. You can expect to see more female figures than male. My females are drawn with heavily masculine features; broad shoulders, thick hands and substantial musculature - this is deliberate. I like to cross the boundaries and redefine what is feminine.

Influences
Keith Parkinson - is my absolute hero.
Brom
Boris Vellejo  

[Viceregal]

How-To Books Books are very useful when you don't want to be tethered to your computer. Sometimes a change of scenery really helps the artistic juices flow.

• Painting the Secret World of Nature ~ John Agnew
  
• Fantasy Art Masters: The Best Fantasy and Science Fiction Artists Show How They Work ~ d**k Jude
  
• Japanese Comickers: Draw Anime and Manga Like Japan's Hottest Artists ~ Comickers Magazine
  
• Japanese Comickers 2 ~Comickers Magazine
  
• Comic Artists - Asia: Manga Manhwa Manhua ~ Rika Sugiyama
  
• Manga Matrix: Create Unique Characters Using the Japanese Matrix System ~ Hiroyoshi Tsukamoto

Reference Books

Comic Artist's Photo Reference: People and Poses ~ Buddy Scalera

Inspirational Books These books help keep me focused on my career goal and interests. It's handy to see how the professionals are managing it.

• Spectrum: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art (A new one is released every year.) ~ Cathy Fenner, Annie Fenner
  
• The Art of Werewolf: The Apocolypse ~ Ethan Skemp
  
• The Art of The Dragonlance Saga: First Edition 1987
  
• The Art of Dragonlance: Second Edition 1998
  
• The Art of Return of the King (Lord of the Rings Movie) ~ Gary Russell
  
• Knightsbridge: The Art of Keith Parkinson ~ Keith Parkinson

Stock Photography For Reference at DeviantArt It is important to use photographs as a guide and learning tool. They are especially useful when you're having trouble drawing something because you aren't sure what it looks like.

Artistatplay - whimsical fantasy models
lindowyn-stock - fantasy and urban fantasy models
Amarli-stock - buildings and landscape
Cat-In-The-Stock - buildings and landscape
jademacalla - dynamic male action model
SenshiStock - female model in a body suit
Belladonnastock - full figure female model
WolfCatStock - dynamic female action model
FantomeAngel - Phantom of the Opera (seriously!)
maliciarosnoir-stock - Landscapes and Buildings
intergalacticstock -Young woman model
mjranum-stock - Best costumed model stock ever.  

[Viceregal]

Current Project



Intention - The image is supposed to induce the slight sensation of vertigo. I was also attempting a fisheye style view of the backround. There will eventually be more textures and possibly visible building ruins but I don't want to get too ambitious.

Stage - Infancy. This is essentially the base layer. Many aspects can still be changed and rearranged. I may rotate the entire image a few times.

Goals:

• better grasp of highly reflective surfaces like chrome (this is my first attempt at chrome on a lumpy surface)
  
• rendering believable mechanical parts (this is my first serious attempt)
  
• perspective (this is something I am always struggling with and I hate the grid you're supposed to use. )
  
• render clouds realistically (I tend to make them look too solid so I've been trying something different here)
  
• landcsape from above (my first attempt)

Looking For - a little help with all of the above. Pointers, observation, references, and tutorials muchly appretiated.
If you do a draw-over please try to make your lines as solid as possible.

Footnotes - current references : PSG Art Tutorial, Metal and Reflective Surfaces  

[Viceregal]

Update



*stabs aweful perspective*
I started to see a lot of mistakes that I didn't notice in the first stage while coloring this in. I ended up cutting and pasting parts in to positions that made more sense. A few details need to be completely re-drawn.

I colored in the raven head for fun on this screenshot.

I go pass out now. *flops*  

[GB_Lady]

Wow, you definitely have a nice sense of anatomy! (The muscles look so accurate.) I apologize for not being able to provide help on perspective, but I think that perhaps there is a bit more room for contrast on the metallic parts of the raven's body.

For instance, I had an art teacher once tell me how with metal objects, the brightest highlights also have very dark shadows nearby to emphasize the brightness of the highlights. I see how you've already added some contrast, but I think the contrast can be even higher by making the shadows a bit more darker to emphasize the metallic quality even more. (The dodge and burn tool may be quite helpful I think. I haven't tried it on metallic stuff myself though.)

I'm assuming that the nature of the metal is such as in this photo. If you see where the highlights are the strongest, the contrast of the shadow is really high.

(By the way, this photo is courtesy of Image*After x_x I'm not too sure if direct linking is allowable and how it's related to stealing bandwith. Copyright stuff somewhat boggles my mind.)  

[Viceregal]

My friends and I have been staring at the picture and finding more things wrong with it! Honestly this is one of the reasons you want to work on paper first - in photoshop it isn't as easy to stand back and take it all in. Though it has been easy to flip and rotate the image.

I will definately be increasing the contrast for the metalic looking parts of her outfit. I will probably be adjusting her breasts and shoulders and utterly changing the horizon.

The prospect doesn't sound fun at all.
In the meantime I've been having fun with an art meme I found in DeviantArt!

You guys should try it too. I will post it when it's finished. heart

Character Meme Template - by RoseNightshade

You can use male or female characters and anyone you'd like. It's super fun! Here is what I've got finished so far:

 

[Viceregal]

Progress?



I was in hate with everything so I decided to take a short cut. Sometimes you have to do whatever it takes to stay motivated. I am still having trouble with one of the arms.

I will be looking up some raven photographs for reference later, just wanted to put in some place holders so I don't lose my idea.

Is this getting out of hand or what?  

[Ishrie]

Oh God, everything you have so far is absolutely gorgeous. heart

I can't offer much crit-wise, because you're on a much higher level than I am. One thing that strikes at me, though, is her armor. I find it strange that it fits the contours of her breasts so perfectly... I read an obscure article that said that somewhere around 70% of bras don't fit breasts correctly, so it kind of strikes me as odd that pre-molded, hard metal would fit more accurately. My suggestion would be to make the armor tighter around her chest, so that it still keeps the breasts in mind, but doesn't fit perfectly. That way it looks like the breasts are reacting to the pressure of the armor, instead of the other way around.

Other than that eensy nitpick, solid work. Do you have a DA, or a gallery of some kind anywhere? I want to oogle your stuff s'more. <3  

[Viceregal]

You don't even have to be an artist to notice what's visually wrong with something. So more people should definately be coming here and making some suggestions! Thank you to the brave folks who have already done so lol!

I agree, real metal would never be able to conform to a body that way. I can't say it's armor though - it's more like fantasy superhero tights which could never exist in real life. I was just going for the most sensational look I could think of. whee

EDIT: Unless she's part machine and those parts are robotic...
*gets IDEAS*

Woah wait...robotic crotch? Lmao!  

[tirbutt]

Ooh very interesting concept :3 I think people have already gone over most things~ I'd just like to stress that metallic things have very high contrast... and maybe you can look at pictures of the silver surfer from fantastic 4 to get ideas? mrgreen

Sorry I don't have anything more detailed to post right now :3  

[Ishrie]

Haha, that's great. xd I wish I had a robotic crotch...

Oh, that makes more sense. So, it's like... magical spandex?  

[Viceregal]

More meme things - just doodles really. Trying to keep it loose and not get too tangled in detail. I find my work to be too stuffy.
Please point out anything you feel I should work on. Thank you!



This was done with photoshop's pen tool - they aren't vectors or flash ^^
 

[Errol McGillivray]

Oh! I think I can actually be of some use here. I think why you might find the face off stuffy is because you've got your forms going in too many directions. (I've heard it called the flyswatter effect.)

Your action lines on the girl is in a lot of opposition with the falling guy rather than moving with it to create momentum.



If you were to make her wings follow the same flow more, they would be moving in the same direction at the same speed. Also, I'd go as far as to extend the guy's arm the same way. And to not have her closer knee up like that. It's really going against the motion and looks pretty forced.

With most of the lines in the image following that same flow, it gives the raised arm with the dagger more presence because the conflict is really clear.

Hope you found that helpful.

Edit: Oh, I forgot. Her extended arm. I wouldn't extend it straight down. I'd have it on a diagonal. Vertical and horizontal lines stiffen images. That and it's more natural to raise the hand a bit higher in front of the body for leverage as you exert more force.

Awesome "doodle" though. Looks more like an illustration to me.  

[Viceregal]

Yeah you're right about a lot of the composition.
It looks awkward because I had the idea that she's landed on his arm - and when birds spring for a landing they broaden their wings to create drag. Considering it's an arial assault- it just doesn't make sense, but I wasn't thinking about that when I was coming up with the idea!

You know how some things just seem so much cooler in your head?