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Muzman · Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2002 10:43 pm

Argh. I been fiddling with this one for so long (even after a reworked it almost from scratch!) that I'm practically blind to it's flaws and triumphs. So it's 'finished' until you lot rip it to shreds...

...starting now.

Xyster21 · Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2002 12:25 am

I like it

But after looking at it for a while it almost seems his right arm is a little longer than it should be or positioned somewhat oddly... maybe its just me

good work

Xyster21 · Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2002 12:28 am

Yes I know I use way too many smile faces... damn things are as addicting as pouring salt over snails

spooge demon · Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2002 12:51 am

Did you use any kind of ref? This is a really complicated subject to wing it.

I can see a lot of indecision, then noodling.

Chose a direction of planes of the head (ie top or his right) that are not being affected by either light source. make them nice and dark and see where you are. I will try if you don't mind

Muzman · Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2002 1:09 am

Go for it
No ref, just me. So the features and proportions of the face are wing-ed, yes.
Lighting isn't perfect. The spot of light on the nose is kinda off. Should probably be a lot more light there by my reckoning, but I just loved that little spot *sob* *throws self on the mercy of the court*

toenail · Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2002 1:20 am

Nice painting, the one thing that I think looks a bit odd
is the fact that the orb thing he's holding seems to be projecting light onto the far side of his head, or I suppose there
could be another lightsource from there, its still a bit confusing. I do think the lighting on the hand, that works really well.

Muzman · Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2002 8:20 pm

Hey hey! 4?! C'arn, where's the rest?

Ghandaiah · Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2002 7:38 pm

That guy strangley reminds me of Hugo Weaving.

Muzman · Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2002 2:27 am

heh. Probly the wide lookin frownly lips that's doing it

[ January 31, 2002: Message edited by: Muzman ]

spooge demon · Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2002 2:46 am

Sorry muz, I tried 3 times to come up with something that would help, but they all looked terrible.

I now think yours looks great! Don't change a thing.

(well, I did smooth out the skin a little and that did look a little better)

lalPOOO · Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2002 5:28 am

uh, I don't get the thing in his hand, it looks weird. one other thing is the pinkie on that hand looks like its in a funny postion, try moving it around. O yea I just rememberd another thing, the eye, one of them is red and the other is green. Aside from those things I think it's preatty cool.

Ghandaiah · Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2002 3:45 pm

...What, you think the differently colored eyes were unintentional?

I assume that's supposed to be Garrett, which means one eye would be his fake eye. Though, I think that may actually be the wrong eye, if I really were to nitpick.

(I've played the Thief games many-a-time, and if I remember correctly, I think his right eye was the one torn out... Assuming the oddly-colored eye is the fake one, of course, but you never know.)

Muzman · Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2002 10:38 am

Spooge: Praise is it? Oh yeah! Well..I'm still not happy! (seriously, thanks for bothering. Everything you said is true btw; indecision and noodling all the way)

Gahndaiah: Thank Crimony someone is paying attention (I'm obviously not). All that flipping and fiddling and look what happens.

Cheers to everyone else who wrote too. I'm pretty cheery about everything bar the face, it must be said, so I won't be fiddling with things too much though.
Anyway, some more thought, some more tinkering and I end up with this. I think it's an improvement anyway (since I'm the only one who really knows what I want it to look like crits are always going to be hard to give)

better? worse?

spooge demon · Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2002 3:07 pm

Smoother, less scar tissue,

just a thought.

edit, or you could treat the rest of the image in a similar scrubby technique. Texture is relative too.

[ February 03, 2002: Message edited by: spooge demon ]

BooMSticK · Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2002 6:05 am

Looking pretty nice Muz. I know all to well about loosing my way when doing a certain image over a longer period... it really sux!
Some suggestions: I think i would darken the middle tones in the head to get more contrast. An ambient feel can sometimes make images look unintentionally flat and that I think is what has happend here - In fact the tones you got in the hand might be usefull as middletones for the head...
If the item he is holding in his hand is casting it's own light (not sure) use that light as a secondary lightsource to more effect.
Also the light in the upperright corner is surely cold, still you have a warm highlight on his(!) left side. It confuses more than help. I would change it to a warmer color or get rid of it.
hope this help you some...
,Boom

[ February 04, 2002: Message edited by: BooMSticK ]

Muzman · Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2002 5:10 pm

Cheers guys
spooge: I see what you're driving at. Interesting. The bottom half of his face as I have it is supposed to invoke 5 o'clock shadow. How successful it is I dunno. I wasn't planning to get too sharp with it, but maybe I have to. As for the rest..ehh I dunno, some sort of vague cragginess produced by less than flattering lighting, particularly around the eyes. The rest might be a bit superflous. I'll give it some thought.

Boom: Thanks. you're right, I should fix that corner light. And you're probably right about the contrast. When in doubt exaggerate is a good rule of thumb I forget quite a bit.
The lighting on the face is meant to be very secondary and fade from one side of the face to other (as it should, I'm fairly sure). I might try making it stronger, giving it a bit more drama (would suit the subject matter too)
Thanks again lads