Leech Man...crits appreciated

[DPFX]

I'm working on my creature and character concept art skills. My target "audience", those who look at my portfolio, works in TV and film. My goal is to create a "leech man" concept that can be realized as a makeup effect, which means that I'm constrained to fitting on an actor. In this case, I'm opting to use the actor's eyes (with contacts) and mouth (with dentures).

I'm pleased with this piece so far, which probably isn't a good sign. I still need to develop the eyes, maybe add some markings. I'm not sure if I'm keeping the shirt. The edges are a bit crisp.

Y'all are usually good for a thorough creative beatdown, so I'm posting this WIP to get some fresh perspectives. Is the 'glistening' effective? I think I could be more adventurous with the coloring...any thoughts? Lighting ideas?

I look forward to having my feelings hurt. Thanks!

[michaelharris]

It looks good, but I would make sure you know how the work flow of those types of jobs works. It was my understanding that the make up artists do most of the "design" especially for tv shows due to the horrendous turn around times. I may be wrong, but I would check. If they are the ones designing the monsters then unless you can sculpt, you may not be needed.

I like the look of thing guy. Honestly, if you are designing for television it really doesn't need to be a terribly pretty picture, just visually legible. Speed is the name of the game. You have a bit more leeway with movies. My only issue is with the mouth/ I can still make out the actors mouth. If somehow you can darken the edge around the actors lips and give the illusion that that whole larger tooth area is his mouth, I would like it better.

[Chris Sanders]

there is a lot of form lacking in the nose mouth and ear, mostly the nose, i don't like how it joins it just kind of fades like a bad air-brushing. cool idea though.

[Tommydervan]

I love this! awesome

[Blankstate]

I think a few quick studies of leeches and lampreys would help. I think the brow is too emphasized and the mouth isn't emphasized enough. Right now it almost reminds me more of a walrus man than a leech because the shape of the forehead looks like the lumpy back of a walrus rather than the smooth surface of a leech or lamprey and the mouth falls down and around the chin like a goatee reminiscent of tusks rather than the very round circular mouth of a leech. The skin tone looks very pink and fleshy when leeches and lampreys tend to have very dark or yellow tones and very light pinkish mouths in contrast.

The glistening could be more effective if the lighting was played up more. Try have a primary and secondary light source. The image as a whole looks very cut and pasted right now due in part to the shirt being too dark and unconnected to face or background by the lack of lighting.

[DPFX]

Thanks for the input!

michaelharris Thanks for taking the time to respond. I'm pretty familiar with this work environment. The schedules are horrendous, but the expectations for quality of work are still really high. Thus the extensive use of photo-manipulation. Being able to see the mouth is intentional, allowing the actor to speak (staying within the confines of a simple prosthetic makeup.) Maybe I should do a version where I don't limit myself with that...hmm...you've given me something to think about.

dog-faced I think you bring up some excellent issues...I'll try to refine the forms in an update. Thanks!

Tommydervan Always nice to get some unconditional appreciation! Thanks.

Blankstate The challenge is to address the legitimate things you bring up and design within the constraints of makeup effects. For instance, I could eliminate the dangling nature of the mouth area by making it smaller or blending it into a much thicker neck. The former involves de-emphasizing the mouth, the latter presents a practical issue with limiting the actors's head movement. That said, I might explore that some more.

I looked at a lot of leech reference (and thumbnails, before y'all jump down my throat!), and for the most part they were what I would call a very, very dark green. I have no idea why I went purple and pink. I was playing with the color and this combo just popped out at me. Now I feel like an idiot. Well done!

Thanks so much for your lighting thoughts. I've been considering at least some rim lighting on his left side...maybe some reflected light as well. Perhaps darkening the background will help as well. The shirt is just what happened to the shirt so far with all my tweaking on the rest of the image, but I agree that it is too dark right now. Thanks again for your insights!


My last foray into the C&C section landed me exactly zero responses. I know everyone's time is valuable, so I just want to say that I really do appreciate everyone's reply. I endeavor to improve and do justice to your time. Firing up photoshop now...

[DPFX]

Playing with color some more.

Original/yellow/dark yellow...

[DPFX]

Update includes...

- Refined some forms and altered the nose area (based on dog-face's observations). Things SEEM more distinct to me, but I'm on cold medication (which is weird because I'm fine.)

- Added some (timid) secondary lighting (per Blankstate's suggestion.) It FEELS like an improvement, and seems to help define the forms.

Still unresolved...

The shirt. Color. Edges. Eyes. My attitude. The specular on the cheek looks off to me, and I'm not sure why. I'm not too thrilled with the detail on the back of the neck. Still might need some markings. Gotta finish before Diablo 3 arrives...

[Tugelbend]

Hey man. I thought a little nosespace, a stronger rimlight and some green in there would do your already pretty cool piece some good. Just my 2 cents

[Pavel Sokov]

Great Paintover!

I would open up the canvas like in the PO. Also, may I ask; Are those other teeth around the mouth? Are they simply under the transparent skin? That is what it reads like to me, but I am not completely sure.

[Blankstate]

Nice paintover Tugelbend. I like the direction that's heading with the lighting.

DPFX I really think you should ditch the passive pink pug look and go more lamprey.

[DPFX]

Wow...you guys are really coming through for me. I'm truly grateful. An update is afoot, but I wanted to reply to your generous input...

Tugelbend My one-may play titled 'I React to Tugelbend's Paintover': "Green? GREEN?! Who does this guy think he is?" (e-shuffles through internet, looking at Tugelbend's work) "Oh...I see..." (shifts uncomfortably in chair) "...ah...yes...the real deal..." (contemplates change of career ambitions) "Okay...green it is." Curtain. Applause.

Love the paintover...thanks so much. I'm putting yours side-by-side with mine to figure out why yours looks so much more awesome. I'm genuinely interested in your thought process here...what made you think green? Because the dude is largely pink, and green is the complement? Or is it more visceral, giving the leechman a sickly environment?

Funny thing about the eye highlights. For no particular reason, I think of eye highlights as a special treat, to be saved until the end. So I hope you enjoyed selfishly taking the last eye highlight out of the fridge!

Pavel Sokov You're totally right about the 'mini teeth', as they are called on their own special layer. I'll address that soon...they should clearly be teeth on the outside of the skin.

Blankstate My 7-year-old daughter now thinks all my stuff should look like pugs in pink costumes, so thanks for that .

Thanks so much for taking the time to do the paintover. I'm definitely exploring the color scheme you propose. I'm not so on board with the change in the mouth area. We may be reaching a disagreement that is purely based on personal taste here.

To me, your guy's mouth looks more stuck-on, almost campy. It also approaches something that I've been trying to avoid: a resemblance to "The X-Files" creature the Flukeman.

For MY tastes, my design better blends a (artistic-licensed-version of a) leech mouth (which doesn't even really have visible tiny teeth like in either of our versions) with a human muzzle. Again, this may simply come down to personal taste.

Attached (for no particular reason, except maybe to show some influence in my design) are a couple of the refs I compiled.

[DPFX]

Alrighty...an update. The last perhaps? Finished? I'm getting that warm, fuzzy "finished" feeling.

-- Extended the space on the image's right side.

-- Punched up the rim lighting.

-- Punched up the "mini-teeth"

-- Detailed the eyes.

-- Hid the shirt behind swamp-gas mist.

-- Tried some simple markings.

-- Applied a "depth of field" effect.

-- Greened-up the background.

I did do a version that approaches Blankstate's color scheme, and I'm still pondering which looks better. Thanks so much for all the great input!