Advice and opinions

[Holy Bear]

Okay, I think I posted this a while ago too, but now, I'd like to hear you guys' opinion, crits, and whatever else you can throw at me.

http://home-3.tiscali.nl/~smscholt/veritasB&W.jpg

Especially:
-is this style anything I should stick with, or is it utterly done to death?
-is this so comic-like that it really doesn't do anything for an RPG project except, perhaps, lower the expectation of someone flipping through a book and seeing something like this?
-is it even remotely close to being okay? :p

I'm nowhere near being a pro, but I really enjoy and respect the drawings of you great artists on this forum, so I thought I'd give it a shot.

Asbjørn

[Misguided]

hey, not bad!
I like the style. Seems like anatomy could use a bit of work. The left shoulder looks dislocated. I'm sure Storn and the others will have some input.

[Noel Murphy]

I agree, style is fine if a little too simple but your anatomy is off. One thing that bugs me about it though, his hair seems to be caught in a gale but his smoke...isn't. Or does he just have some super hair products? I'm just picky about things like that.
Try lowering the far shoulder and shrinking the head a touch and you might get away with perspective.:confused:
Keep at it.

[Storn]

You should work in YOUR style. No matter how popular or unpopular. You will only make real improvement when the reward is there. And one reward is working in a style you like.

I think we all have predispositions and tendencies. It is better to just go with the flow. Don't even think about style. Its not really important.

what is important is good design, anatomy, color (when you do color), craft, technique, ideas, etc. etc. etc. Style is a funny thing, ignore it and it will take care of itself.

I think this is a pretty decent pic. I agree with the statement about the hair and smoke...alhtough I don't know if I would have caught it myself.

But let me lay some RPG art wisdom on y'all. Many, many artists can do an illustration of someone standing there. Many artists can do one figure in action. But surprisingly, well, not surprisingly, its hard, not many can do multiple figures, interesting camera angle, perspective and backgrounds and action all in the same illo. Or some combo of the above.

But guess what Art Directors often want? Guess what they often NEED? Single pose, no background are easy.

Kudos for choosing a bird's eye angle, though. You've just seperated yourself from a lot of amateur art.

Keep getting the art out! Post more here when you are done!

[Eric Lofgren]

Hey Asbjorn, this is very good. Listen to the other guys though. That shoulder has got to be fixed. You've chosen a very engaging point of view and things like this can get away from us. If anything, the front shoulder should be bigger, not the back one. I noticed the hair thing, also, but that's not a huge deal. It would help though, if the smoke jibed with the direction of the hair. That would add a certain "rythym" to the picture. For that matter you could have used the smoke graphically and have it flow across his body giving some contrast in shape and "color" so to speak.
Still, it's a good solid piece of work. Don't worry about the "comic book" look. As long as it's done the best that you can do, it will always look good. Like this piece:)

[Jon H]

I think this is a perfectly acceptable piece of artwork for a lot of RPGs. A lot of them use comic book style art work. (Not that working in a comic book style is anything to be ashamed of!) I have seen a lot worse than this in print.
Plus Storn is right (you'll notice that about him!) style just happens. I get told a lot that my work is too stylised, but hey, that's just how it comes out. I try to make it good and stylised.

Some pointers that I have for this piece:

1: Have another look at his left foot.

2: Framing is often more important than we often think. Having his front foot trail out of the illustration weakens the piece (for me, anyway)

3: Whilst a lot of RPGs do publish this kind of isolated figure, if you want to build up a strong portfolio and improve generally, its worth putting in some background details. That way you can give the character a context, and begin to say a bit more about him - If this dude was standing in a ballroom, we might think his piercing eyes hinted at a threat. (cyborg killer undercover) If he was standing on a harbour, that would tell a different story. (Crime boss dragged away from an uptown party to meet his shady contacts)
Even a few strong lines can do this. A potential employer can then look at the piece, recognise that it would be easy for you to do something similar with no background if that's what was required, but also that you can contextualise a figure if you need to. Two birds, one stone. Did that all make sense?

Having said all that, the piece has a better camera angle than anything I ever do - thats one of my weakest points - I think in a kind of flat theatrical way. I am struggling to broaden my work in this area!
All the best, and keep drawing! Thanks for sharing your work.