[Breakerboy2]

This is a new piece that's starting to come together. I welcome any thoughts or suggestions.



The guy will be standing in a sea of money with a life preserver in one hand, and a handful of cash in the other. Unfortunately, he just lost most of his cash to passing shark.

This is just a silly editorial on the US economy.

Right now, I've only suggested where I'm going to put some waves (need to look at some reference), but I'm thinking the background will be left pretty raw.

[ August 05, 2001: Message edited by: Breakerboy2 ]

[KOryH]

The ONLY thing I could comment on is this...
the sea of money, is it comprised only of money or is there liquid with money foating on top? Maybe you could add some more solidity to the "sea" Watch for overlapping shapes and edges.
I have really enjoyed looking at your work.
It reminds me of the editorial work that people were doing at Art Center when i was there. Man, thoes guys were good. It always makes me happy when I see such cool stuff and solid drawing skills in editorial work.
Great Job!!!

[Breakerboy2]

Thanks Kory.

I think I'm going to have to experiment a bit with the water to decide exactly how I'll treat it, but right now I'm leaning towards money floating on top of water. I think that's the only way I can justify the shark leaving a wake behind it.

I've been fiddling with the character so much, I really need to start playing with the rest of the image!

Took a look at your site. Beautiful work. I really enjoyed how you treated the Mulan paintings. Very flat shapes but still so much depth and atmosphere. Great color.

Just out of curiosity, which Art Center? There's more than one, right?

[Bilbo]

This is truely beautiful.. your illustrations are incredible, in every aspect.

[Laemtao]

There is only ONE..Art center hehehe.. (Catch the highlender pun? hehe) Pasadena CaliForniA

--------
Mo

[Breakerboy2]

I made the dollar bills in his hand a bit clearer, and detailed some of the money in the water. I'm playing with pushing the haze over the water behind him to make him pop more.

Still have a ways to go. Thanks for the crits.

[ August 06, 2001: Message edited by: Breakerboy2 ]

[jr]

nice piece mike,
i lost that link to that reference you sent me of the steele mills, can you post it again? thanks.
(oh god, i just read that sentence, and it gave me a headache.)
j.

[Breakerboy2]

Thanks, jr! Here's the link:

Modern Ruins Photos

The steel mills are the link on the top right.

Bilbo - Thank you. I missed your post before, somehow, but I'm really glad you like it.

[ August 05, 2001: Message edited by: Breakerboy2 ]

[MoleculeMan]

You should make the dollar bill look like it got bitten in half. If that is already the case make it look more like it was ripped, it needs to stand out more heh.

[Breakerboy2]

So here's the latest...



So I'm toying with the idea of having the sea bottom be covered with coins instead of having the water simply be that broccoli green. Of course, now I have to actually show his feet, and the cast shadows of a lot of the dollar bills as well as the guy's shadow... So, is this getting too busy or is all this working for anyone?

Still have a lot of work to do on the water, and the coins are just blocked in so I could see what they might look like.

[KOryH]

MAN,
That is looking really tight! I am lovin' your stuff Michael. You make me want to give up drawing vampires.
Seriously, good work!

[ichiban]

quite tight. you might want to experiment with trying to make the water deeper where he's standing, otherwise the shark would run aground...? maybe if you just offset his feet a little it would look like the water distortion effect (pencil in fishtank diagrams from highschool) to confuse the depth...
but overall i love your style - saw the night flyer guy and thought "wow...cool" (really)

[eyewoo]

Like it's progess. It's coming along very nicely. I think the secondary lighting on the shadow side of all the objects needs some work. Not much, but it just seems not to quite be there. Not sure whether it needs toning down, toning up or just highlighted a bit...

Great job so far!!!

fleabrain...

[VanhoozerArt]

Hey Michael,

Great work. I am sorry I didn't post sooner. I like this a lot.

Is that a lighthouse in the background?

My only critique is that it is tiny bit difficult to interpret what just happened. It is possible that you want the viewer to really look at the scenario to find out what just happened. Maybe if you made the water motion trail from the shark a little more prominent? Something to trace the motion from the point of attack?

I really like this piece, and I think it is pretty much perfect. Just showing you how my mind works.

Thanks,

Jeremy

[c]

hate to say this with all the work your prolly putting on your version, but i really do prefer your first image. it just seems more 'right' than the second one, i'm not sure why.

the water/money/coins is rather busy, and of higher contrast than the focal point which assume is the head.

really great pic though (either)

[Breakerboy2]

Hey! I got rated! ...One star, all right. Tough crowd.

Kory - Thanks, man! Hell, I should probably draw more vampires - with water wings.

ichiban - Yeah, the water (especially in the shallow end) needs a lot of work still. Hopefully make some progress on that soon. Thanks! Time to fill a big bowl with water and stick stuff in it!

fleabrain - I toned down the shadows from my first post, but things are still a bit harsh. While I like the graphic quality the shapes create, there's definitely some tweakage left to do. Thank you.

Jeremy - .Hi'ya. Yeah, that's a lighthouse - I think it's crooked. Still need to clean it up. You actually jumped ahead of me on the shark trail note. I didn't really like the way I blocked in the trail before, so I went ahead and painted over most of it with the coins. It's going to make a big "S" as it wraps around the guy towards the bottom of the image. Hopefully, I'll get to it soon. It's really starting to bug me! Thanks for the notes.

c - Hi c. Well, that wasn't intended to be a pun... Anyway, I'm with you. I still like the overall feel of Night Flyer better, too. I always enjoy more whimsical images like that in general, and I think it felt more traditional than this piece. I've got a lot more work to do on the money at the bottom, so hopefully the contrast issue will work out alright. That area is my biggest worry/headache right now. Thanks for the crit!

[ August 06, 2001: Message edited by: Breakerboy2 ]

[b1ll]

I love your style, its, just original,..
I cant explain it. but I love this.

[Breakerboy2]

b1ll - Thank you.

Here' s the latest. Three steps forward, two steps back, but I think overall things are starting to work a little better.



I basically wiped out all the work I did on the money and water in the foreground, and rethought everything.

Basically, I needed to make the shark's wake read as quickly as possible, and the money as it used to be wasn't helping. Now, the shark doesn't just leave a wake, but he also creates a money-free trail. Something that wouldn't have read as well when the money was more sparse. Still need to re-do the coins on the ocean floor, but I think the water is already working a little better. Everything's a little more graphic.

The shark's trail might be a bit much at this point, but at least it reads now. I've also cleaned up the water wing guy. I think the shadows on his face are working a little better now. What do you think, fleabrain? (Jeez, that just sounds so rude.)

[renren]

I just visited your web site and I must say I am now a fan. It's great to see how you're
developing this piece.

[Rob McLay]

This is great. I really like getting a chance to see the way you work. This whole tweaking process is something that I have a lot of trouble with, I have a bunch of unfinished paintings as proof.
I think the water looks real nice now. I think you would risk losing that "it's real, but it's not" look of your other pieces if you were to do any more work. That is to say that if you start adding too many of the characteristics of water(reflection, refraction, etc.) it may look to real. Does that make any sense?
Also one little thing, life preservers have a rope that goes around the outside edge:

I don't know if you were planning to add this later or consciously leaving it out. Might actually be too much detail to add to what is becoming a pretty complex image.

[ August 08, 2001: Message edited by: Rob McLay ]

[Basement bound]

I have to agree with c on I like the overall feeling of he first one. I think it is a case of overworking. Editorial images from waht I see get the idea across in simple(though we all know they are not simple) visual imagery, and suttle detail. I would like some of the adaptions you have made in the last update and overlay them onto the first one. Like the detail to the money in the hand. and the surf left behind by the shark.

JA

[Breakerboy2]

Man, I totally misread c's original comment. I'm such an idiot. I'm with you now, though. :P

Overworking is probably my most common mistake. I'm going to have to sit back and think about this now that I actually understand what you both mean.

Thanks, Basement bound.

Sorry, c. You were probably wondering what the hell I was talking about in my reply earlier.

[ August 09, 2001: Message edited by: Breakerboy2 ]

[Breakerboy2]

renren - Well, thank you! Maybe one day my process won't be quite as haphazard. Oh, how I long for that day... I'm hoping to add a second page of illusration thumbnails (about a dozen more pieces) after I finish this and maybe a couple other pieces, so there will be more to look at on the site before too long. Thanks again, I'm really glad you liked my stuff!

Rob - Hi Rob. Good to hear from you! I totally agree with you about the water. That's something that was giving me a headache right from the get-go. The only thing about the earlier versions was how the dollar bills kind of fade beneath the surface now and then. It gave them a little more dimension, so I'm going to play around with that a little bit.

Thanks for the life preserver note! I knew I was missing something, but just hadn't thought that far along. My idea of a life preserver is the crusty styrofoam kind you find glued to the wall at a YMCA pool. I'll see if I can make the rope work, but I'm also a little hesitant to add any more elements. Thanks for the help!

[Breakerboy2]

Here' s the latest...



Worked mostly on simplifying the figure and pushing the color further. Also toned down the money in the water a little.

[Drimmen]

What a treat! It is always a great find to get a thread where you can watch a work progress like this. I would wrap it up, and slap someone a high five at this point. It looks solid. Any further and you will most likely be over working it. Coming from the west coast, it's odd to see a sun setting inland at the beach! Is the golden halo/circle purely illustrative, or is it perhaps being cast by the the lighthouse? Can I read too much into this? haha

Why did you choose to start off with acrylic? It is a great example of blending traditional with digital, but I am still curious.

Thanks for sharing!

[Breakerboy2]

Drimmen - Ha! I never even considered which direction the sun would be setting from, but I've never been to the west coast so the sun has always set inland for me!

Thanks so much. I agree, this thing needs to be done! I think it's really close, though. The halo is nothing more than a compositional element really - I've always been heavily inspired by Greek Orhodox iconic art for some reason.

I started with acrylics because there are some things that are simply silly to try to recreate digitally - the rough border, the layers of paint in the sky (hard to see at this size). Also, I've been trying to marry my old acrylic technique to the new digital one as seamlessly as possible, and with an acrylic underpainting you automatically start off with some really interesting textures to work over. I also don't want people's reaction to my work to be "that's some nice computer art." I want them to just see art, and appreciate it for what the image is, not how it was done. My mantra in a nutshell.

Thanks again.