Tech. Lord King concept (2D Concept)

[nickzucc]

Here is concept that I've been working on for a while. It's the leader of a band of bad guys that I've been thinking up for a story of mine.

He was made with a black ball point pen, scanned into the computer and then colored with PhotoShop.

I made the images wallpaper size for my convenience..

Hope you all enjoy.





Peace,

NickZ.

If you want to see the WIP thread go here

[Monkeylizard]

It looks a little... Quake-y.

But other than that it's a really nice rendering. All I can think of is maybe the impact could be upped just a little bit by trying to put some sort of definition for perspective, just to make it feel a little more... Existant.

[gasmask]

i think it would look less flat and cartoony if you varied ur line weights more, other than that its cool

[MoP]

It looks a little... Quake-y.

But that's a Good Thing(tm)!
In my opinion it is, anyway...

I like this one ... although I disagree with gasmask, I don't think it's the line weights that are making it feel flat, it's the lack of value contrast in the shading, and also the guy's left foot, which is totally flat, no angle change or perspective there at all.

If you picked a more definitive light source (even just a subtle blue/orange light from below) and shaded everything according to that source, it'd make the whole thing stand out more, and give it more depth.

Also, something to think about is that the red outline you have all around him currently is flattening him out a lot - if you just had the clouds, but lost the glowing red halo, he'd probably stand out more too.

I love the style, and I quite like the design (although maybe the silhouette could be a little more interesting), but I think it's the lighting that needs work to really make it pop.

Keep it up!

[Gilead]

I'd like to see what the ball point drawing looked like before you started the color.
I really like the rendering in the middle of the face and shoulders, but the outlines disappoint me. I dont think you need the thick black outline or the red one on his head. You know that sort of tubular shape on his left shoulder armor? That rough red reflection is perfect. That's what his outer edges should look like.

[nickzucc]

Firsts off thanks for the critiques guys!

MonkeyLizard - I’m kinda glad you think it looks a little... Quake-y.

You’re right a different pose would make the character a little more rounded out, a little more real, but for me, just a personal thing for me, if I get too crazy with the pose or the perspective then it’s hard to see some parts of the character. I don’t want to go so far as to make a straight out model sheet. But I do see your point. I’m just thinking of these drawings I’m doing as a starting point for building a 3D model at some point. Form the places that I’ve worked so far this is pushing the concept pretty far along.

Gasmask - Exactly what part of the illustration are you talking about varying the line weights? I have a lot of different lines going on all over the place with varying weights. If you are looking for a lot of lines that go from thick to thin and perhaps back to thin again...... well sorry I don’t draw that way. I kinda just draw and what comes out comes out. I’ve heard many people say that their “drawing style” might not necessarily always be correct but it is what sets them apart from other artist out there. I personally don’t even mind if it looks cartoony Flat isn’t exactly what I was going for and I really can’t argue with you on that point. There could be some work done there for sure. I’ll have to work on that! Thanks for the sug.!

MoP - I totally agree with you, I think the lighting is what is really flattening him out. I was trying to make some lighting that was mainly from the rear of his body ( the red lava that is behind him that isn’t visible....I guess it only exist in my mind.. Not a very good light source eh?) The remainder of the lighting I wanted to come from some of the lights that were part of his suit.

And yes the left foot is rather cheesy! I’ve had this drawing sitting around for ever and I stared coloring it about almost a year now, I recently made some time to finish it (not an easy thing to do these days)

I don’t get much of a chance to do 2D work these days so I try to keep myself busy here and there just so I don’t loose all of my drawing skills all together. All of the critiques are valid point s and I hope I can suck it up and push myself a little harder to become a better illustrator.

(K I’ll get off the soapbox now sheesh!!)

Gilead - Here is the ball point pen drawing after it has been scanned into the computer and had some levels adjustments made to it:



(feels kinda naked eh?)

Sorry you don’t like the outlines but....I do. I’m a pretty big fan of Joe Madureira and ever since I saw his work I’ve been drawing a big thick outline on things, perhaps this phase will pass perhaps not? Time will tell.

About the red outline, it’s another thing I’ve been doing lately is putting this glowing halo around my drawings, I’ve been getting bash for that ever since I started that, the thing is I like it and I do the art for me. If a client or my art director told me to ditch it, it wold be gone in a heartbeat.
For this illustration I actually think is serves a purpose. I kinda separates the character from the background.

Here is a side by side comparison with and without the red glow, I also removed the black outline for the outer edge as well. Original is on the right:



I think that without it the character gets lost in the background, of course in order to get rid of that problem the shading on the over all character would have to be fixed, I’m sure that would b the right decision. Perhaps in the short term I could tone down the red outline a bit to the point that it is just hinted at. Couldn't hurt.

Thanks again for the help guys!

NickZ.

P.S. Here is an alpha image in case anyone wanted to take the grey scale pen drawing and color it. It would be cool to see someone else take on the lighting scenario.

[Pavel Sokov]

hey man its brootal, i love it.
u still having trouble posting at my forum?
tell me if u can get it to work