Hawkswift's Sketchbook

[Hawkswift]

Back to the ongoing piece. Played with scale on the fighting figures and messed with some stuff. There's still something awkward looking in the pose of the fighter but I'm not sure how I want to fix it...

[Hawkswift]

Trying to turn the fighter's body so that it makes sense with the legs. I'm amazed it took me this long to notice that problem...

[Hawkswift]

Still messing with that fighter...

[Hawkswift]

A couple quick character sketches and some bears. The bears are referenced.

[Hawkswift]

More bears, some referenced some not, and another quick try at that character.

[Hawkswift]

Worked a little bit on details - The caster's right hand and the foreground mostly. The fighter still seems off. Maybe I'll try to create some reference for that pose this weekend.

[dierat]

Hi there, nice sketchbook so far. I really enjoy the style of your sketches in post #95.

For the ongoing piece, I think you could make some shifts in value to help the piece read a little better. I would suggest darkening or fading out that white cloud off in the distance; your piece is very dark and that bit of lightness really catches the eye. Right now it's almost as light as the white figure in the foreground. It's great that you have a little bit of contrast back there to make the viewer see all the little things you painted back there, but right now I look first at the white figure in the middle, then I follow the cloud up to that castle instead of looking at the figure on the right. I think it would especially help if you darkened the cloud as it nears the white figure to push it back in space. For the foreground, I think there should be a bit more reflected light than you have going on right now. Look at all the light spilling onto the ground in the bottom left. That light should be bouncing up onto the male figure's feet and legs, and that light should very softly bounce back down and lighten up the cast shadow from his right leg. I think that long shadow should definitely lighten up and dissipate as it nears the lower edge of the piece because technically speaking you don't just have one light source. The light that the two figures is producing is not a spotlight, it's a fountain, and the light falling on her dress would also be reflected back at him. I would also consider making the top of the sky a little darker to frame the image a bit. If you blur your eyes and look at your image, you'll see that you have these very striking darks in the lower half of the image going right down to the border; the top of the sky isn't dark enough to balance that value. Okay and one last nitpick (promise!): I would suggest extending the image a little on the bottom and the left so you're not cutting it so close the figures' feet.

Sorry about the giant block of text; I really like the image so far and I'd really like to see you improve and develop it. Good luck and keep up the good work!

[Hawkswift]

Thanks for the block of text! There's a lot of stuff in there that I need to think about. I'll see if I can make time to incorporate that over the weekend...

I couldn't tonight, so it's more bear sketches from reference.

[Hawkswift]

I think I'm a little too fixated on the fighter at this point... anyway, I started working through the lighting in that area.

[Hawkswift]

Played with the background contrast and added a waterfall to help steer the eye. I also expanded the canvas a bit to try it - I'll work on the expansion a bit more before I decide if I want to keep it.

[dierat]

I think that's looking much better, especially the expansion of the canvas. Sometimes it just helps to let your characters breathe a bit. For the waterfall, maybe it would be better placed an inch or two to the right. You have a lot of stuff happening in the lower and central areas of the image; that waterfall could break up that empty cliff space a little, frame the image, and still form a visual bridge from the background to the foreground. Also maybe think about adding in some very far off birds or very light stars in the upper left of the image for the same reason.

[Hawkswift]

Integrated the expansion more - I think you're right about the extra space helping. I didn't have time tonight for much more than that, but I'll look at adding something to the upper left soon. I'll have to think about the waterfall too...

[Hawkswift]

Trying to figure out why that fighter pose keeps bugging me so much...

[dierat]

Maybe it's better to move on into other areas of the piece and see if that figure still bugs you later. Or take a photo of yourself or a friend in the pose to see if you can improve it. That would also give you lots of detail information for the clothing to make it appear more tactile.

[Hawkswift]

I think making reference is the way to go, but I'm not sure when I'll find time. I'll try concentrating on other elements for now...

Specifically the upper left area today:

[Hawkswift]

More bears from reference and trying to figure out the character that I want to fight them.

[Hawkswift]

Brainstorming a sequence for a comic...

[Hawkswift]

More figuring stuff out for that comic.

[Hawkswift]

Figuring out the sequence some more...

[Hawkswift]

Changed the fighter again. I like this version so far, but it's got a long way too go.

[dierat]

It looks like he's twisting a lot, possibly to a painful degree. Use a mirror or a camera and put yourself in that position, see if it's okay. Also, try to put some more attention into the legs and their connection to the butt; that area is really soft and unstructured atm.

[Hawkswift]

I can twist like that but the midsection looks quite different when I do...

I was unsatisfied with the movement shown by that figure so I tried adding a robe and redrawing it... Not quite there (got to recheck my proportions, among other things) but it does show motion more. Do you get the idea that he is being pulled forward by the motion of the arm he's grabbing? That's what I 'm trying to figure out.

[dierat]

If you want it to look like he's being pulled forward, maybe you could have him losing his balance and tipping forward a bit. To me it looks more like he's throwing her atm.

[Hawkswift]

I think I need to draw people losing their balance more often. I'm having a lot of trouble with it since all my instincts keep telling me that it's "wrong"... I tried to tip him forward but with limited effect - thanks for the suggestion.

Some sketches


and another sketch in place

[Hawkswift]

A bunch of sketches trying to figure out another idea for the fighter/caster conflict. At this point I've decided that if I'm having this much trouble with the current poses I should think about scraping them for something else.

[Hawkswift]

More sketches for working out the right pose set

[Hawkswift]

And more of the same...

[Hawkswift]

Still trying to figure out those two figures... The face on the left is referenced.



Seems like it's time to figure out the hands on both figures and the lower body of the fighter.

In related news, I'm thinking about getting a digital camera.

[Hawkswift]

Some hand studies for the poses from yesterday

[Hawkswift]

Finally got some reference for things...