Monday 9 August 2010

Study, Study, Fuddy, Duddy.

Here's some digital paintings and a few speed paints for Art Jams over at King Zilla.

Perhaps I'm studying too much, I rarely have anything 'finished' to post. The worst part of the studying perhaps is being your own critic and not knowing if something is good or awful. I watch X Factor sometimes and wonder how on earth some people can not notice how bad their singing is. The same can be seen in art too, people just posting and churning out bad designs, galleries with 400 plus pieces of garbage work. Of course they were told 'that's nice' and 'keep going' but rarely 'the noses you draw are way too long' or 'the palettes your using are often too bland'....ahhhh... I'm ranting lol. Basically I don't think I'm gonna post or study as much from now on...well, at least untill I get a mentor or a strong enough peer group to teach me a thing or two about my strengths or shortcomigs.


5 comments:

Red White said...

I know what you mean. Sometimes it's hard to look at your own art and see whats wrong with it exactly. Sometimes it's hard for me to give out any exact crits because I don't know if it's just style choice or missed options after a certain point. I could give completely biased and personal opinions though if you want, lol.

For example, I think there is a line between realism and cartoonish that blends together well but with certain rules. Shading in the cheeks between the nose, to me, shouldn't be done unless realism is the whole goal. The way you stylize lips is cool but you may be skewing too far and giving them duck lips. Then again, that may be what you're going for so who knows? For me, personally, I'd rather avoid that. Like the faces you did in your post Lantern Gear, I love those! To me, that's the sort of style you should go with but not going completely outrageous.
One last thing. Try out more natural poses. Most of your characters seem really stiff. If I may direct you to www.sam-m.deviantart.com , you have a bit of the same style, but this guy lets his characters feel more relaxed and natural.

AIM said...

It's all about rules. Thanks for confirming so many things I was unsure about. I've been trying to create an art style that fits all for so long that it's makes my work look like Frankenstein lol.

What's funny is that sam-m was one of the first artists I saw and on DA and thought I'd love my Illustration work to be like this lol. And if I wanted to do some personal work like comics I'd just do something akin in style to Tsukasa Bullet or Ryan Ottley.

If you've spoken to Rum in the last few months you probably know I'm updating my folio to sneak into the Games Industry via Concept Design. So completely biased and personal opinions are very much welcomed.

Qyzex said...

That siren right there, is pretty nice. Her pose is really stiff, but that face is nicely rendered.

Red White said...

lol, that's the problem. You can't really cover all your bases safely but you can just find something you're personally happy with and go from there.

Sam-M, to me, has a fantastic art style that just bleeds style. What I noticed with him is that he draws limbs thin and hands "blocky". I dig it so much.

As much fun as it is to have different styles, it may be a good idea to stick with only one. Just find the right style that sticks with you and practice that as much as you can. But those are two great artist to draw from as well. Heck, I love me some Invincible!

Cool dude. I know he's doing the same thing so you're both in the same boat as far as updating your portfolios go.

Again, just me personally, but I think you should avoid shading in the cheek from the nostrils unless scowling is involved. Shading in the check from the edges of the lips works though. I think it's just a means to avoid a feeling of "chunkiness" in the character when they're smiling.

AIM said...

Thanks Colin, I really have to look into how I can make the standard Character Design pose more relaxed/causal.

Red, I totally agree with you about sticking to one style. Doing Graphic Design for 5 years really did a number on me lol. Changing styles for each client was a necessity that left quite a bad after taste.

The problem may be as simple as knowing what to veto and what to keep when trying to paint semi-realism. Trial and Error lol.