D&D Drawing Need Some Opinions
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Post Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 7:17 am 
 

The above drawing is the best I've seen so far.  I do think the heroic pose is over done in D&D art (but then again it's D&D).  I will be sending you a pm this year in regards to a commisioned piece.

Martin

  

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Post Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 7:17 am 
 

The above drawing is the best I've seen so far.  I do think the heroic pose is over done in D&D art (but then again it's D&D).  I will be sending you a pm this year in regards to a commisioned piece.

Martin

  

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Post Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 7:18 am 
 

Sorry for the double post.

Martin

  

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Post Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 2:43 pm 
 

Well, from what I have seen, the work is nice. The overall compositions of each piece are very nice, and quite pleasing to eye, guiding it around each drawing, not too badly. But on to the critique.

Some of the compositions are muddled (the fight scene in particular), and it can be confusing as to what is going on. Less is more, and I believe simplicity always is the way to go (I know that is what I do on my paintings, drawings, sculptures, film projects, storyboards & animated sequences). It is always easy to add, but can be difficult to take away, in the case of a drawing. Also, I do not know what process is done on these specifically, but I always "chisel" out my shapes first very geometrically (roughed in masses, for weight & volume), and then refine them gradually.

I would say that there is not quite enough differentiation between foreground, mid-ground and background.  Line quality is too consistent and needs more variation, so as to maintain "life" within given drawings. Further attention to where light is coming from and how shadows are designed would also help create more depth. As I said before, I "chisel" out basic geometric shapes, and then refine them as I go.

More attention needs to be focused on defining the mass and volume of shapes, in general in all works. This could be achieved by hatching, cross hatching, or more controlled use of tonal shading (not smudging, it is just messy).

Anatomy: this needs to be addressed, as some of it is wonky. For example, the Morgansfort" illo, many of the arms are too long, or the musculature is just misshapen. Practice is what I suggest. Anatomy books are ok, but knowing what the name of a bone is or a muscle will not really help you draw it any better. I prefer using them now that I am out of art school, but at the time it generally served the purpose of confusing me. Try to do more life drawing.

Anyway, hope I did not come across like a dick; not my intention. Apologies if I have offended. Keep up the good work.


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Post Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 4:41 pm 
 

Yep...your Brother has talent!  There's a reality TV show in there somewhere....


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Post Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 8:14 pm 
 

Rhone - As I said in an earlier post. Constructive criticism is welcomed. The whole reason to post these illustrations on this site exclusively is because I understand that there are people here who have seen tons of fantasy art and who will offer suggestions, comments, and feedback on his work.

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Post Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 10:31 pm 
 

The whole reason to post these illustrations on this site exclusively is because I understand that there are people here who have seen tons of fantasy art and who will offer suggestions, comments, and feedback on his work.


This is true but remember that most of us aren't fans of what sells today (contemporary fantasy art) or even fans or art from the 80's in some cases. Go to the bookstore and look at the covers to see what sells. If your brother aspires to work in that field he should go for it! As far as new covers go I see some Caldwell but none of the early guys (as far as mass publication goes) and other guys like Lockwood are doing well. That's what you want to be doing unless you want to be a "starving artist" imo. My 02c.


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Post Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 11:38 pm 
 

Tharizdun is dead on. While I despise pictures of wasp-waisted, huge-titted female warriors wielding eight-handed swords, that is what seems to sell nowadays.


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Post Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 1:08 am 
 

RaisedFromTheDead wrote:While I despise pictures of wasp-waisted, huge-titted female warriors wielding eight-handed swords,


Bring back the "Beautiful Witch" & "Amazon" drawings from OD&D.

  

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Post Posted: Tue Jan 12, 2010 5:20 pm 
 

BNagata wrote:
Just shoot me a PM Brute if interested. He just did his first commissioned character sketch for Misterspock. Hopefully Misterspock will post his opinion on this page shortly.

[ Image ]


Sorry for the delay, as I had limited internet access over the last several weeks...we were in the middle of a move, and it took us a long time to get my internet connection set back up at the home.

I just wanted to reiterate again that the commission is much appreciated, and I really like and am very happy in how it turned out.

I know you were intending for some more critical comments, so as I was looking back at it several weeks later, these are some more things I came up with:

Overall in terms of the light and dark values on the finished pencil, I believe there are areas on the character that should go darker or heavier to give just a little extra depth or dimensionality. I do see the darker areas on the character, but I think they go even moreso.
For instance, on Clyde Caldwell's gallery site, towards the bottom, are a number of production/finished pencil drawings.
http://www.clydecaldwell.com/pages/gallery.html
as well as on Larry Elmore's site
http://www.larryelmore.com/galleries_drawings01.html
Even on their drawings that are more light or where the characters are wearing not-so dark clothing or are nude, there's still some much more heavily darkened parts of the body and the garb.
I'm not sure if on this particular piece whether that would be under the cape and towards the back of the torso, legs, neck, even perhaps a little more in the hair. I notice that Clyde's blonde women definitely have those darker lines woven in their hair.

As for the background, I think it's better, as your brother did, playing it more diffuse so that the focus is put towards the character. I might be off on this comment, but I was thinking however about something I remembered from a dvd Tom Baxa had made as a painting tutorial. In it, he mentioned the potential of making the background work as a highlighting tool for the action or the concept you're getting across. I like how the trees do have angles down towards the character, but I was considering that perhaps the one on the left might need to be spaced a little more to the left, or even trimmed towards the top. That way, the kind-of "V" angles of both trees point in the background a little more towards the character. Just a thought. I don't necessarily see the bgs working in every single one of Larry Elmore's pieces so I think it's just another option.

One other comment would be the character's eyes. I think his eye is just a bit too close to the nose. Also, I think the index finger around the hilt might be a bit too long.

That's all I can really think of, and I hope that helps.

  
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