Frozen Steel

[Gragg]

Just practicing color, light, and shadow. No reference on this one (obviously). I know I need to touch it up and fix the parts that look a little sketchy, just wanting to know how its looking so far....

[L!nK]

Well, there's some anatomy problems that I think that are really distracting. I don't know if you're trying to achieve a more stylized look, but his proportions seems unnatural. And the sword seems to be huge because of the point of view, and that seems strange too. I think this is the main aspects that you should work right now.

[Stoat]

Well, I took it as a deliberate exaggeration of a typical gym body and I found it an amusing picture. If it wasn't intended to be comical, I apologize and it does need anatomy work. If it was, I think I'd telegraph it a little stronger.

[Gragg]

Yes most of my work is exaggerated, I never really aim for photo realism, just not my style. I figured it would be fun to paint some huge, crazy, half naked, giant sword wielding dude on a mountain top, lol! My main task was to practice coloring, and try to make it feel cold. Ive been having trouble with picking the right colors, especially shadow color....and seeing that you guys didnt mention anything about color choice I guess I nailed it! Sweet!

[DAMJAN]

Well if you want to make it look colder, desaturate the color a bit, don't use warm colors but more of the cool colors. Look at the reference and you'll see what colors go into shadows, etc. on a cold day.

[Gragg]

Thanks DAMJAN! I'll do that!

[DAMJAN]

No problem.

[keeptime]

I think you need to define him better. The colouring is really blurry looking, and the mountain peaks have better definition than your character. Also, what's going with his foot? The snow doesn't really indicate that there's a foot buried in there because it's all one smooth mound.

[arenhaus]

Other than the usual recommendation to work on the fundamentals (structure, perspective, anatomy and lighting), I can recommend to stop working with soft-edged brushes and to use hard-edged ones instead. That would force you to think where to put the brushstrokes, instead of relying on mushing color together until it kind of clicks if you squint hard.

[hitnrun]

Well, I took it as a deliberate exaggeration of a typical gym body and I found it an amusing picture. If it wasn't intended to be comical, I apologize and it does need anatomy work. If it was, I think I'd telegraph it a little stronger.

I saw your sig - I'm wondering wtf was said to you during this critique?!

[Gragg]

arenhaus- Yea you caught me, lol, thats actually exactly what ive been doing. Thats one of my biggest issues! I NEED TO STAY AWAY FROM THE DAMN SOFT BRUSH! UGH! Thanks, you always have awesome critiques!

[Stoat]

Hahaha...do you know, nobody's ever asked me that? One day, maybe I'll get around to writing down the whole story. The short answer is, I have *no idea* what that senile old coot was screaming at me about, but his class was mandatory for illustration majors and I had no intention of setting foot in his classroom again. In hindsight, the thing to do would've been lodge a complaint, but what I did instead was switch majors to painting.

[Line]

Here's a little paint over. Try to state your big planes more clearly. Some
areas are muddled up. Go from your main light first and then to reflected
light. Keep the contrast between light and dark, and use color saturation
to lighten up your reflected lights, instead of just throwing a grey was over
the painting (which is what you seem to have done).

[JavierP]

Hi Gragg,
I really like the classic fantasy feel of this piece. Others have mentioned issues with anatomy, and I realize that you are going for a stylized look, so I won't mention those things. I would, however, like to remind you that you must always keep the underlying value pattern of your image in mind. This is important because this value pattern is what makes your picture have impact. It also establishes the range of values you will be able to use in the image. Currently your image has all its values and variations clustered mostly within the main figure. Try to think of the image as a whole, and distribute your values to create a pleasing effect overall. Try not to get bogged down with details too early. I made a rough paint to show you an idea of what I mean. This is only one of many possible ways to approach this. I also included a greyscale version to show how the values affect the impact of the image. Notice that by making the sky a darker value, it is easier to make snow look white in light and shadow. Hope this helps, and good luck.

[Gragg]

Line AND JavierP- WOW!! Thank you guys SO much for taking the time to help so much!! Exactly the kind of critiques I NEED!! THANK YOU!!!

[Lychees]

Looks ok already, even though my untrained eye can already see it's not that good (yet!)

I love that you're giving him paintovers, that's so nice and very cool because you can clearly see the difference, and what points are lacking.

personally I think that with the original image, the worst thing is that the pose is very, very unnatural, stiff and undynamic.
It doesn't really flow, and it looks anatomically awkward.

It kind of looks like he could tip over any second.

The second thing that bothers me the most is how the colour pallete doesn't really create one image, it looks like random colours thrown together without some sceme in mind.

Third part is only something small, your values are a bit boring. It makes the image look flat. you should use more black and create more contrast.

[Lightship69]

I was a little alarmed by that "I didnt use reference" bit up there, as a really sad old reference library builder I am wondering why you didnt use refs.

I mean something like this one by Frank Frazetta would seem to have all the elements that you need for this image you are working on.



Use references all the time or I will sulk and moan at you for evermore, consider this fair warning !!

I hope this helps you out, if not ignore me because I just love Frazetta images.... LOL

all the best with the image

[Amazon Fan]

To be fair, the characters in that Frazetta painting are definitely not cold, which is what the OP is going for.

As for the OP, can't really say anything, that hasn't been said already.

[Lightship69]

True the characters are pretty hot in the frazetta painting! But that is one of the things that makes the image work, the action is set to drag your eye in and onto it.

However look long and hard at the image, the background is cold and indistinct and doesnt fight for the focus or to put it another way it doesnt pull the eye away from the action, it supports it.

The characters are based in fact anatomy wise, though obviously the giants are bigger and yet still proportionaly correct. The main thing to notice though is that the gesture of the characters or the action if you like is a snapshot in time and looks right.

The thing looks right because it was planned and referenced, simple as that really. Thats all I am banging on about rferences are a necessary part of our work, even a vital part! Not a safety net for those with no imagination.

Dont get me wrong I am like JavierP I rather like the feel of it but I would like it to be better, and if I can help in any way to make it better I will.

all the best to you all and a very merry christmas.

[Lightship69]

sorry double post !! not sure what happened I only clicked once!!
I may have found a bug!!

[Gragg]

Thanks lightship69, I've always felt like using reference was taking the easy way out, but I like how you explain it, it's probably just been holding me back this whole time, lol. I need to start using it more...