[OPTX]

This is a character concept I've been working on for sometime now. I plan on inking him once I'm satisfied with this pose and then coloring. To explain the positioning of the character once ready for coloring I intend to place him crouched upon a burned out automobile with debris of a couple buildings around him with smoldering debris. Just wanted some input and critiques on it before I go further. I appreciate any comments good or bad, just if it's bad, please have the courtesy to tell me what is bad and a possible suggestion for correcting it. Thanx much. Laterz.


------------------
My imagination won't leave me alone.

[Isric]

I was just looking at another picture and thought "needs a more dynamic pose". Then I opened your thread and my wish came true.

Personally, If this was mine (And I know its' not, just thinking out loud) I would put a little more thought into his costume. There are clumps of detail and wastelands of no detail. He struck me as an adventurer as son as I saw him, so I would give him an open collared shirt and leather straps.


Can';t wait to see the background, a burning car sounds just right

[OPTX]

Glad you like it Isric and thanx for the comments. I agree with you about refining his costume, that is why I went and posted him here in this forum. I know that there are many talented artists participating and it's great being able to get a critique without having to stray too far from my drawing board. By open collared shirt, what did you exactly mean? I kinda got lost on that one. I thought of maybe adding some leather straps across maybe one of his thighs as his pants are meant to be leather. I just didn't want him to have a mesh shirt...heh. Thanx again for the comments.

------------------
My imagination won't leave me alone.

[ChanXiaoHing]

Looks nice. He looks very ninja-like to me; I imagine him doing a lot of jumping around.

Hmm. The eyes look a little unbalanced. His right eye seems to be looking forward, but his left one seems to be looking upward. His hands and feet seem a bit on the small side, specifically his left hand and right foot.

I agree about the outfit being a little to plain. Maybe add a few details, and make it look a bit more tattered, like they have been lived in, rather than fresh out of the dresser.

Can't wait to see the finished product ^_^

------------------
~Ron Chan~
Check out my site! -->Zephyr Studios

[TheMilkMan]

If that hunted demons he would get his ass beat like a school girl..you need to bulk him up and give him some armour and maybe something better then that toothpic he has...I don't see demon slayer when I look at that I see 12 year old with carnival ninja sword...got to give him a dynamic pose..big weapons and make him large also he fights demons after all!!

[OPTX]

Thank you guys so much for checking out this piece for me. It's helping me to refine it which is really what I'm looking for with this forum's help. It is greatly appreciated.

ChanXiaoHing: I do see what you mean about the focusing of the eyes the left eye seems to be wandering a tad from the stare down. I have gone ahead and adjust that in my penciling. I think the hand touching the ground could use a little refinement as well in sizing. Personally I've been toying with it the past half hour now trying to get it just right. I kind of wanted his frame and such to be on the nimble side as he is a ninja type and ninja spend much time jumping, kicking, and doing all sorts of acrobatics. Thank you for your insight though, it is appreciated as stated before.

TheMilkMan: As stated in the above I kinda want to keep him on the smaller frame build but still athletic as he is a ninja type character. I think in demon hunting he'd handle himself quite well as a skilled swordsman can usually defeat their opponents even when armed with more advance forms of weaponry. This was proven thru-out Chinese and Japanese history as well in the wars fought by Samurai and Shao-Lin Swordsmen. I guess we have different ideas on strengths and weaknesses but that's a good thing. I do appreciate your comments though. Thank you much.

Laterz



------------------
My imagination won't leave me alone.

[anticz]

If I wasn't in COLO on vacation right now I'd be able to give you a more constructive crit. Hope this helps anyway.

Head looks great, but the hands look quite small. Also, the right lower leg looks a little short. A person in a crouched position as low as that would have their knee much closer to their chest. I like the pose though. Left leg looks pretty good as far as proportion goes.

------------------
=======================
Mike B. - Supervising Janitor
anticz.com
=======================

[OPTX]

Thank you, Anticz! I'm going to take a look at it again with your suggestions and see what I can tweek. Thank you for your help.

Until then here's a newer image with the minor adjustments in focusing of the eyes in the stare down, added some straps to the pants and adjusted the foreground hand some for better positioning. Nothing big, just some minor touches thanks to the people of this forum. Let me know what you think. Do you really think the hands are too small as they are? I appreciate all this help.

Laterz


------------------
My imagination won't leave me alone.

[This message has been edited by OPTX (edited December 26, 2000).]

[Bubonic]

goos to see you added some more details.. but he looks really really cross eyed..

[jerm]

I really like the body structure, fitting build for a ninja character. The pose kicks ass too.

As for the eyes, i think the one on the left is fine, but the right one is looking off. If you cover the pic so u see only one eye, u should notice it. The eye on the left looks at u, the one of the right is looking off to the left.

The back hand looks good in proportion, and the front hand as well, unless you want to try making the wrist bigger. The crotch looks like its missing something, as the left leg goes straight to his arm. Only other thing i noticed was the left shin looks a bit short, however, it's hard to actually say since that's a hard perspective to draw anyway...



------------------
jerm : simzonline.com/jerm

[hennifer]

nice characters sketch. i like the structure in the back arm, and the lines are nice and flowing.

i think the character's right foot (our left) looks kind of unstructured compared to the rest of the anatomy. kind of a cartoony bubbly foot instead of a realistic one. also the front hand could be more detailed with more interesting structure in the fingers. (if they're holding any weight, they'll be splayed outwards and bent backwards a little bit near the tips)

------------------
jeffery_

[Joachim]

looks good. I like the pose. personally, I think the first version(top) looks better. His eyes focus on something, on the second they go in two different directions, don't know what that is called in english ?!?....also, the shape and perspective of his feets could be improved, they look a bit too cartoony shaped compared to the rest. And, also, small one, sorry I'm picky, the hand holding the sword is a bit in a different perspective than the sword, so you don't get the feeling he's holding the sword very well. But, the overall pose is very nice (did you use any reference on it ?)

------------------
Joachim's Place

[Zoso]

OPTX-

I like this character! Better than your run of the mill muscle bound demon slayer. Skinny guys can whup ass too ya know!

Just a couple of suggestions, if you don't mind. Overall this guy is good as far as post and proportions go. Just two things that I noticed. His hamstring muscle seems to be a bit off in shape. Maybe you could roll it up under his knee a bit more? Giving more definition to his groin muscles would probably help too. Also, the hand which is drawing the sword seems a bit off. Try turning the hand so that the palm is facing up towards the end of the sword and he is grasping the hilt with just his thumb and forefinger.

Just my $0.02, hope it helped. Keep us posted on your progress, this is going to kick ass when you're done.

[Awetopsy]

i like this character... my only crit is try to keep the level of detail more fluid over the whole picture... and the eyes... try looking at yourself in the mirror with your head in that pose.. and look at your eyes.. or get someone to pose that way....

------------------
I think Im wearing out my CTRL-'z'
http://noelsart.cjb.net

[LeChuck]

OPTX wrote: "This is a character concept I've been working on for sometime now"

That looks like Taki "the demon hunter" from Soul Calibur on Sega Dreamcast. You were just hopeing that nobody would know that!
What do you say now?

I wouldent have said anything. but the name of the pic is "demon hunter". Otherwise I might have been fooled.


[This message has been edited by LeChuck (edited December 26, 2000).]

[OPTX]

Thank you guys for all of your comments and suggestions. This is only helping me to become better and it is appreciated. I just got up though so I will be working on this piece more today and trying to get the penciling done so I can begin inking it this evening.

Bubonic: I see what ya mean about the eyes now. I guess it was kinda late when I was toying with it which usually leads to me making errors like that. heh. Time to fix that wandering eye.

Jerm: Looks like you weren't the only one noticing the wandering eye. LOL. I really do need to fix that. The foreground hand isn't necessarily supporting weight in that position as the left leg is sort of under the character and close to the ground plane and the right leg is toward the front of the character balancing the weight and bringing the center of gravity lower to the ground, as if he just landed from a jump and is just beginning to pull upward as he reaches for his katana and is staring forward at his opponents. I think that what is tending to direct people towards the shin area on what would be the right lower leg is that the foot does seem a little off in placement and form. I intend to correct that before going further. I do thank you for your suggestions and comments.

hennifer: See above and yep I will fix that foot. LOL. Thank you for helping me out.

Joachim: Wow! I was surprised you were in on this. Thank you by the way for emailing me back the other day about the animation sequences for Project IGI. I'm glad you like the pose. I am going to work on those feet as it seems to be a commonly noticed problem area along with that wandering eye. LOL. That's what I get for having sleep deprevation. In answer to your question yes I did use some reference for the positioning. I had toyed with the pose for about 3 hours doing about 60 or so sketches in my rough design sketchbook and still wasn't happy with where things were. A problem area was the distribution of weight in the legs. What I did is something I usually do if I get stuck and something most animators do when stuck as well which you probably do yourself, I grabbed one of my katana off the wall in my bedroom and went into another room in my home where it was well lit and had my younger sister snap a digital photo of me in that position from about 4 - 6 angles so that I could look at them for reference. That usually helps when I'm stuck with figuring out weight distribution for a character human or non human. Thank you for your nice comments and your help.

Zoso: Thanks I'm glad you like it. I do plan on refining the leg areas a little more and maybe trying some definition towards the groin area. I agree with the hand drawing the sword needing some tighter work. Thank you.

Awetopsy: I'm working on it, so do check back. The details will be ironed out and I'm on that wandering eye. Thanks much.

LeChuck: This is an original character and "quite some time" to me refers to 4-6 hrs. which is long when it comes to character development past initial brainstorming stages. I put more thought into character design than drawing it spontaneously. I usually brainstorm on paper the nature of the character, their functions, actions they may perform and skills that they need. Um, guy...Taki in Soul Calibur looks nothing like this guy. First of all she's a woman. Big difference there. As for any similarities...I guess we could say all ninja types are the same in that they wear face masks to conceal identity and carry katana, but that's what defines a ninja. It's like sherrif carries a badge and a gun but they all don't look like Walker Texas Ranger or John Wayne. Your comments are noted though.

I plan on taking this character from this penciling, to inking, then to full digital coloring and illustration with background by this week. Once that is completed I will be modeling this character in 3D Studio Max and positioning him within a 3D environment similar to what the finished illustration will be, so that is something to look forward to if you are following this thread.

Finally thank you guys and gals for all of your input and help in critiquing this for me. It is appreciated.

Laterz


------------------
My imagination won't leave me alone.

[This message has been edited by OPTX (edited December 26, 2000).]

[OPTX]

Ok here's a newer version with some of the tweeks added that were suggested by you guys. I'm kind of stuck on the torso area. I wanted him to be wearing a black tshirt, but people keep stating that area is a little void of detail. Please make some suggestions. I'm open to any. Also are the eyes now focused clearly? Thank you much for all your help.

Laterz


------------------
My imagination won't leave me alone.

[Flinthawk]

Maybe a sash going across his chest and around his waist where perhaps he keeps some of his odd weapons hidden away for easy access. Make it a dark color like a deep blue or purple or something that coincides with the color scheme you're thinking for this guy.

[n8]

i might have big feet or sumthin....but his right foot looks a lil small to me..??]
nice pic..keep up the goodies..
cheers

[OPTX]

Ok! here's the latest revision to this piece. I took a step back and looked at this character's costume in the area where it seemed void of detail (the torso area). The conclusion I came up with is that this area is a weakness for the character as it is unprotected in combat, so then I decided what is the most vulnerable area of your torso, the heart. So I added the chest plate and straps that would be used for mounting similar to that of a gun holster. This plate of armor would shield the heart from impalement. The character on the armor is Kanji for Invisible, which I felt befitting for a ninja type and as a symbolism of his heart being untouchable. Well let me know what you guys think. Oh yeah and I redid the foreground foot once more, I think I got it right this time. Thanks for all the input. Laterz


------------------
My imagination won't leave me alone.

[jerm]

bigger foot, and straighter eyes... good improvement. Can't elaborate more since I don't find a problem with it now =)

------------------
jerm : simzonline.com/jerm

[EviLToYLeT]

Very nice. I'll just add my little comments. The straps on the right foot seem to have no purpose. Are they just there for decoration?! Hell no.... you don't need decoration... those belts alone must add 2 more pounds. If you want to keep them, make it useful so perhaps add knives or something else. If not, just take em out. You stated that you were having some problems with negative space etc around the roso. to remedy that, you can add camo patterns to the shirt or pants. Also, i noticed you gave him belts everywhere except on the waist. That area could be important for adding shurikens, flashbangs, what not. Headband can also help with the japanese ninja look. Anyway, I'm through with that. Very good image, it's fine as it is but you could always try the alternative and detail it up a bit more....