[green.7]

suuuperior pic.

[Jezebel]

Wow... as always the lighting in this picture is awesome. Great pose. Very cool perspective. Character has a great expression... folds in the clothes are amazing. If this isn't where you want to go then I can't wait to see where it is you ARE trying to get to. I've got to work harder.

Beth

[Bishop_Six]

Wow, craig... wow. IMHO, this picture is one of your best so far.

You did a really excellent job on his sleeve. It's the best rendering of cloth I've seen in a good long while.

His face is incredibly real. I also like his hair. It looks really dirty, like it hasn't been washed in quite a while

And the sails in the back are really nice, too. Not just the folds, but the reflective quality of the material. It makes it look very realistic.

It's a really great picture, craig, regardless of whether it's where you really want to go And I wish I could give you some crits and be of some use, but I can't find anything.

Oh no, you've gone and done it again, craig... you've inspired me I must go paint.

-Bish

[ July 25, 2001: Message edited by: Bishop_Six ]

[simuartist]

Truly excellent painting Sensai Mullins. Many of my co workers have become huge fans since I have introduced them to your website.

[The Brat]

Oooh. Pirate... @_@

I could do that, maybe. If I worked on it for a decade or so. Argh... great face. His expression doesn't carry the whole piece, considering that everythng else is good, too.. but it'd sure be lacking something without it. Me likey.

[Roy Batty]

I'm in awe...
This is one of the most life-like pictures I've ever seen you do. Really like the unnoticeable absence of detail in the background. Also like everyone else said, drapes are fantastic. Is that guy under the top right corner smiling at us?
Love the face; he is the captain who is losing the battle for his ship. Although a little bit too noble of a face for a pirate :]

Anyway questions: incept dates, longevity?
Seriously though, was there any reference to this? What was the original size of the picture? How do you pick your color tones? Do you have a set palette that you use or is it all in your head? How long did this take you(including the first few tries)? When you start over like you mentioned you did on this picture, do you do it with a blank canvas or over paint the existing copy?

[Gambit]

Another incredible piece involving pirates! I really enjoy these theme paintings you take on.

The men scuffling in the background look like they really are fighting for their lives! Great poses!

The detail on the ship is astounding. It almost seems like you lived during these epic battles

Loved the shirtsleeve on this guy and the hair is rendered just wonderfully.

The move to Maui is just around the corner. I hope the PC finds its new destination safely.

Good luck on it all and please make your way back here in the fall. This piece will hold us over till then...

[Farwalker]

Yikers, Spooge you really are improving. Is that an understatement? Well, you are one of the hardest working artist I have ever seen. You deserve where you are as an artist.

Amazing, the lighting on his nose looks like it should when hitting the skin.
Keep up the awesome hard work to improve each day.
No spooge until fall...bummer
Well, have a safe move and get a superior tan in Maui

[Awetopsy]

right click, set as wallpaper.

*nod*

awesome simply awesome.

[Chapel]

Damn.. thats a good one Craig.

There are some things I would usually comment on, but I think I'll just enjoy this one as it is.

[ July 25, 2001: Message edited by: Chapel ]

[AliasMoze]

Craig, the rendering is great. In that regard, the stuff you've posted in recent times seems like a huge change for you. I like the other pirate too.

The only thing that bothers me about these last few (the other pirate, the bloody girl, etc.) is that the theme seems to be a particular character standing there in the foreground. In other words, they seem like great settings but weak scenes.

I only say this because I think you've got the rendering part down pat. IMHO, what would make your art soar would be a solid narrative element. And to do it, I think the audience (or viewer) needs a sense of time: past, present, future. Where did this scene come from, and where is it going? And what's special about it? Why do we, as an audience, care?

One of your influences is obviously Sargent, a portrait painter, so I think I see that approach injected into your work. But I think you have lots more imagination and a gift for creating believable looking characters, so it would be awesome to see you develope that set of your arsenal.

Anyway, I'm not sure where exactly you're trying to go, so I may be completely out of line. But that's just my two cents.

Here's some examples of ones that I like:
http://131.216.8.3/craig/hirez_pgs/forum/forum4/tiger.JPG
In this one, it's all about what we infer. The soldier's buddy has been injured. The main character has made the decision to carry him out, so we know he's brave. And, to add suspense, there's an enemy tank ready to blow the soldier to bits. It makes us immediately ask what's going to happen next.
http://131.216.8.3/craig/hirez_pgs/forum/forum3/columbus.jpg
Again, lots of things can be infered from this. We all know that it's Columbus. We can see that he's one man trying to influence the opinions of many. He has a hugely difficult task that he's boldly carrying out. And, since we already know the outcome, a sense of the future is added. Nice!

P.S.: Please don't take my comments the wrong way; I think you're awesome.

[ July 25, 2001: Message edited by: AliasMoze ]

[EviLToYLeT]

Through all this..... ass kissing, I feel that it's my job to diss craig...

the painting sucks...

hopefully i've given you enough motivation to prove my mudslinging wrong .....and therefore achieving..... even more superior levels of art

great job as always...... i mean... crappy job as always

[c]

i agree with aliasmoze.

i think while you are improving your own rendering and lighting skills, you might want to venture out with more creative stuff content-wise.

instead of say, coloring vortex's pencil work (which come out fantastic) you can try your hand at some of your own characters? i don't know, just a suggestion. perhaps that isn't your thing?

hope you come back soon.

[Viridae]

Wow this is beautiful. The only complaint I have is that the hand seems a bit squished(?). I could be seeing things but other than that its great. Reminds me of Captain Hook .

[Oblagon]

fabulous. how about a poster ?

[ShinShot]

You give good leaf as you give good sword.

Ack. What a hack.... as I present myself...

Any and all, feel free to shoot me down. I'll except all interpretations of my critique.

Excellent work as usual, but we're in the river fishin' for the best and that's why your moving to Maui from Malibu...
wtf did that mean???

Anyway, of course my eye's were immediately drawn to his, and then to the rythym you carried well throughout. Excellent work on his sleeve and sword. I was then drawn back to the area over his left shoulder. Your trouble spot? The level of detail through that part of the mid-region didn't carry well (IMO) through to the background and the sail area off to the right is more detailed than closer areas. Looking at it again, maybe softening the mid-regions around the mast and pumping up the deck highlights around the sword to make the whole character pop more?

Once again, ack, what a hack I yam and once again, I learn through you. Excellent color pallette. Back to my crayolas.

Good luck with the move. Won't be fun...

*edit* This is my new background and this is how I forsee my resignation...

[ July 25, 2001: Message edited by: ShinShot ]

[Foley]

Utterly amazing! Your knowledge and use of values, tones, form, etc. combined with such imagination for the characters and situations in your paintings are just phenominal. Always something to strive to, and for that I say thanks. =D

One question though. When picking the values of what is in shadow and what is lit by a light source. Is there a simple explination or rule that helps when working that out. Take his hat for example. It just looks right. There's radiosity from the deck or his shirt. The trim goes blue and yellow green. I assume the hat is black, yet in light it's a bit green, but the sun's light is yellow, then maybe the hat's got blue in it to get green...you see what I mean.

What I'm looking for is, If you have a midtone, it gets closer to the color of its lightsource when in direct light. When in shadow, it takes upon the ambient, or room/atmospheric color, yet still darkened. When hit by a colored light, it mixes etc...
I haven't a clue if that's close or not, but something along those lines would sure help me and hopefully others out too.

Excellent work, and good luck with the move!

[Shaded]

What they said.

And where the hell have you been, Chapel?!

[Carnivore]

>>probably some lenz flare might help

ah.. no lens flare would be bad in an image like that.. .. flares are cool when used right, but often are over used.... makes me think of the biggest cliche 3d scene. Chrome spheres on a checkerboard with lensflares.. =)

anywho, meat sack.. awsome work

[worthless_meat_sack]

Oh I have to learn to type


Dr Bang, I think that the width of the top edge of the sword is too wide, making it look like a cardboard sword. Smaller radius, yes…

Icannon, thanks! Glad you like the atmosphere. You run a risk of losing this when you start to get tight with it.

Cicinimo- yes, I used some photos that I took of a model at life painting class. I modified things a bit though. The lighting and colors, hmm. The colors are dependent on what local colors are there and what light source is incident on them. You can vary the colors around this basic setup. But as I have said, if the values are correct, you can do what you like with colors. The values are what take the thought, though

Socar, I think that it looks like an oil painting cause of the way it is painted. The shapes are broken down that way and the edges are built up that way too. The sword hilt is roughly spherical, and the hand fits inside. I think the rendering of the hilt is not specific enough to show this form. The tighter you get, the more you are responsible for. I use, Photoshop, I cannot handle painter. It seems to take over, like bryce, leaving it’s imprint on things. Also it seems really slow at decent rez. How can you handle 600,000 interactive variables like that?

I admire the businesslike way you are handling your art. I could really use some of that.

Burnout, No paper here, all digital.

Isric, I worked on this a while, maybe a week and a half, working 2 hours a day, so, 20 hours? Kinda slow. Now I think about it, I could have used those 20 hours to do other things. But I have to discipline myself to do more finished work like this. You learn different things entirely.

You will be doing better than this in a very short time. But don’t tighten up, you don’t need to. But one thing I would suggest- drawing in a highly stylized way as you do so early in your life has its dangers. But the other piece of advice I would give is don’t take advice from anyone, myself included.

Mace face- thanks!

Joachim- glad you like it! No it is not from Hook at all. Hated that thing. The beginning of the end for speilberg. Yes, I am going to Fla. To retire in a trailer park and play a lot of golf. Hehe, not. Yes, I did use photo ref for the sleeve, but the face is largely made up.

S4Sb I will be making posters once I get moved. I am running a poll on my site to see what people like.

Boomstick- thanks!

Molotov, why thanks you!

Briareos, thanks! I agree that he should have some other dudes around him and I did play with this, but it seemed to take the focus away from the main character. I did want to play down the blood in this one. I agree that the reflected light on the bottom of the hat is not reading. Something that black and the strong main light is barely lighting it at all would not lighten up that much with the relatively weak reflected light.

Burnout- yeah, that’s right

Marky hals, hmm. Not quite. But I am working on it. Actually the method and shape design is kinda similar, but that was not conscious.

HoodZ- thanks!

Visigoth- thanks! How is that sword for a penis extension?

Nova- thanks! Yes, I am still around, but I am not sure how much I can really help here. There is so much traffic here, and the crits seem to all be the same. I think that the many people asking for crits could do a lot more before asking for help. I sense some laziness “fix this for me!” but that is not how you learn. And it takes so much time to follow and find the ones who really deserve of the attention. It is a problem. I like posting here cause I do really get feedback that I can use.

Gordillo- quite true

Rinaldo- Read some of alias moze crits- they are very good. This is all stuff I have to internalize. It is like doing 20 things at once. Takes time and practice and concentration. I agree it looks cinematic, but I am not sure why. The hat is off for reasons I stated above.

Oscar- thanks!

TylerHunter- thanks! I would question you placing me in that company, but I will not look a gift horse, you know.

Cybertoker- thanks!

Hi Danny, thanks! Glad you like it… I got your mail on the print things, thanks for the info, I think I will be doing business with them. What are you up to these days?

Vgta- hehe that’s pretty good. Prepare to die. Goto ftp.goodbrush.com, there are some quicktime movies of how I work. It really is like that.

Dicet- thanks- I liked your still life a lot. Have any higher rez files of that image? Keep on painting with real paints. As I said above, the sleeve was from ref, the rest made up. It was for phun, yes. But I hope to do things like this professionally. I did a lot of concept paintings for a game recently and all these forum sketches gave me a great foundation to do them well and quickly.

Vesuvius- I started over with a new account because the reaction spooge got was either a little too positive or negative.

Fleabrain- what a great name! No sketches, it kind of just grew together. Just say no to the tyranny of drawing! I see you found my site, though.

Insane Spaghetti- I agree totally. I shaved it a little too close and got fancy and ambitious with the facial expression. I wanted to make it very ambiguous as to what he was seeing/ reacting to/ etc. I wanted a look of recognition. All this is too fancy. A basic snarl would have been much better.

Raganarok- thanks! I did one of a girl on a windowsill that really blew. I might fix it, though. I think I could do better now.

Green.7 Why thanks you…

Jezebel- thanks! I think that the overall value pattern is weak, it could be a simpler statement with more impact. A stronger, simpler design. How to do this and still be really finished? That’s sorta what I am still after. It’s always something.

Bishop_Six- thanks! Yes, go and paint. The best thing to do when in doubt.

Simuartist- Thanks!

The Brat- Yesss, big hunky pirate with a nasty sword… uh sorry… Ummm Yes, then you do so much on the face, what do you do with the rest of it? Finish it the same? Or leave it “unfinished” Stuff like that I am still working out.

Roy batty Glad you like it! Original is 2500 wide, about. Sometimes I do start over on a new canvas, as it can get overworked. It doesn’t make sense that a digital image could be overworked, but it does seem to happen sometime. But mostly I just work over things. On this one I just took that boarding picture I did and squeezed it and started painting.

Gambit- thanks!

Farwalker- Thanks for acknowledging that I do work at this. I really do.

Awetopsy- Enjoy your wallpaper!

Chapel- glad you like it!

Aliasmoze- very astute, thanks for your insights, I agree with them all! I am looking a lot at Cornwell, but I eventually want to make my own way with narrative. But the level of analysis that you provide is right on. I am thinking along the same lines.

Eviltoylet- hehe thanks!

Carnivore- I used a lot of lensflares when I first got photoshop. Maybe before they were widely abused.

Lukias- yess…

C I am not sure what you might define as more creative. I guess I am not interested in scifi characters at the moment- these historical fantasies are more fun, and in the milieu of the Internet, to me, more original and creative. Just my opinion….

Also, the historical masters of painting, which I study and learn from a lot, painted things like this. I can absorb their lessons better this way. I think I will do other kinds of images in the future.

Viridae- thanks! Yes, as I said earlier the sword hilt is not clear.

Oblagon- hmm. The pirates are not doing well in the poll…L

Shinshot- yes, I agree the finish level is not well considered. I ran out of time.

Foley- thanks! Yes, you have the right idea of how to reason through things, at least how I do it.

[Kallen]

Absolutely fabulous. I am an instant fan. Your drappery work is some of the best I have seen.
Hope to see some more of your work in the future.

________________

• Kay Allen - Artist of RealmsQuest
  
  
  

[n8]

umm..did i miss something??...if spooge was getting feedback that was either too posotive or too negative...what diff does it make if you change names??..when did you change names...i really should find more time to check stuff that goes through here...anywho..i remember seeing a similar pic before..cant remember when...but it seems to have progressed a great deal since then...funny how great artists can keep learning...never stops..

[LeperKhan]

Craig, that is absolutely brilliant. I love the sails. But, I didn't know Patrick Stewart was making a pirate movie!?!

[LordArioch]

Here I am, thinking, "Gee, that sure looks like Craig Mullins' work."

Simple minds are easy to confuse.

[wolf]

i'm in admiration! it's a really impressive art! Do you have a website where we can see more maybe?

[m703-324]

stupid wolf... forget about all other pages..
all you need is craig's webpage www.goodbrush.com
1. you will notfind any better photoshop art anywhere
2. it doesn't matter what do people think about your new picture... i learned that here in this forum they mostly don't think nothing...
so learn from the best and be your own critic

[Danny]

Craig,
nice to hear you found the print info of help. Will you be adding this image to the list of possible Giclee candidates? (YES PLEASE)
As for me, I moved from my native Holland to the UK to go and work inhouse as a digital paint artist for a London based Special FX company called FrameStore. We're currently tying up things on the sequel series to Walking with Dinosaurs (called Walking with Beasts). Then there are the two TV movies we're doing based on James Gurney's DinoTopia books. Be doing some matte shots for that one soon apparently, which should be fun as I've never done matte painting before... Any tips?

[Spectra]

Your work is really a source of inspiration, i'll go draw right after this reply.

Could we plz have a cutted piece of this painting at his original resolution.

[Usagi]

that is awsome!!!!!!!!! love the face. ever see princess bride? he looks like on of the characters and that makes it better. would like to see a samurai done like this. really like your work.

shameless plug: check me out with usagi yojimbo!!

[worthless_meat_sack]

This giant pirate will kill us all.