[S4Sb]

Hi, here are some paintings I did for a story telling thread on a german forum. I probably won't touch them again, because I gotta do a whole lot more of those =). So I would be very happy about some general critic about colour, value, anatomy, composition etc. I really tried to give my best and put quite some time into them. Would be cool if you could help me reach the next step.

S

[Loki]

wow - those are cool! Very moody - the last one is somewhat my favourite - compositionwise it looks like a photograph that one of the other orcs made.

You should check out what color tree trunks really have and maybe find some variations in the green - just move the 'hue' slider left and right from your initial green and it'll give you lotsa variations.

Lighting is very good. Could use some hot spot accents - but otherwise really cool.

More please.

[illuminat]

sweet!
i like the 2nd one...

[Germ01]

Great work! It has a very storyboard like feel to it. My only crit, the 2nd and 5th pics need highlights on the orc's face.

[ May 01, 2002: Message edited by: Germ01 ]

[pixelsoldier]

Whoa.. you really have a knack for composition! Great stuff.

Some rays of light shining through the trees on the last image would be spectacular. Also, darkening and/or muting the values a bit on the trees and leaves considered to be in the background might help make the foreground values "pop" a little more.

Neat work!

[LoTekK]

i love 'em all, with the exception of the second one... that's not to say the second one is bad, by any means... it just looks kinda uninteresting, composition-wise, compared to the other 4 pieces... like loki, i'm a big fan of the last one, and i thought exactly the same thing about it looking like a polaroid shot...
love the perspective messing you've done with the 3rd and last one...

[Bugscratch]

Hey Stephan, how you doing ? Great, judging by these images these absolutely rock !!!!...so much better than what I can do !
Contrary to other opinions, I love the second one.....a thoughtful intelligent orc is just so unusual .... and it's very well painted too. Great expression.
I also love the swinging orc in the last one.

The fourth one's eye looks as if it's going to blow up

As a general comment, I think you should do a bit more colour variation ? I dunno - some areas - especially in the human face - look a little flat !
But amazing work !

[ May 02, 2002: Message edited by: Bugscratch ]

[Basse_Ex]

Yup, love the second one... ahh, such a remorseful orc... almost crying it seems...

All of them are very, very nice. Excellent and untraditional compositions . Quite filmatic.
The orcs have great and subtle expressions on their faces, and there's some excellent shading.
The last picture is so full of energi... You can sense the movement... I think it's because of the composition... Looks like a camera in-between to shots, a moving camera... Very good.

The only thing I don't like about these pictures is the colors. They're not bad, though. They're just a bit boring. It would look much more alive if the pictures had some tinit of colors you don't expect to find(With only: leaves=green, trunks=brown, etc. etc. it becomes a bit boring)
That goes for all the pictures.

But, excellent work. Have you ever done any comics work?

[S4Sb]

Loki: Thanks! That is exactly the critique I was looking for. The monotonous and clich� colours are my biggest problem. I just can't make it look more realistic. But I'll try that colour variation thing and use some reference for the next one. I appreciate that you give so many good critiques lately. Maybe you can post on of your newer pictures here too? Or do you have only work related NDA art?

illuminati: Thank you!

Germ01: Thanks. I made notes for the next pic =)

pixelsoldier: Thanks. Great advice! I'll definetly add those rays of light. That sounds really cool =)

LoTekk: Thanks. Well, the second picture was supposed to show a quite calm composition, since the orc in that picture is locked up in that cell and he is rethinking his position in life. =)

Bugscratch: Hey, how are you? Long time no see. What have you been doing lately? I haven't seen any work from you during the last months...or year? Did you gave up on art? I'm making my abi these days and will go to the german film school in September. I don't really know what will happen after that. Thanks for the comments!

Basse_Ex: Thanks for the comments! Yes, that is exactly what keeps on bugging me. My colours always look so clich�. But I have a couple ideas how to deal with that.
Nope never did any comic work. But this storytelling thing is really fun, so maybe I'll try sometime. But I think I gotta get a lot better until I can draw a comic.

[wayfinder]

you have a great sense of camera perspective, it seems. very nice!

[Bugscratch]

Hey S4sb, yeah I guess it's been a while. I didn't give up on my art, but I needed to take a break from the whole thing. I'd been letting internet things into my life, and that's not good. (Remember the ratings discussion on sijun ? Or the reference discussion with you ? (sorry about that one ))
What film school will you be attending ? and what will you be studying ? No more plans for an art career ?
Get on ICQ some time, I guess we could talk

[Basse_Ex]

I'm not really experienced with color, but I did learn one thing in my year at art school. Most things, as we see them, have all colors in them. There is no such thing as pure green, or yellow, or blue, or anything. Whenever there is shade(Which means whenever there is light) the full range of colors are represented, although some are often more dominant.
Try to stare at a white piece of paper for a while. Soon you'll start seing alot of tiny, almost invisible, and completly different, hues.
The way wee see shadow is through seing all the different colors overlaying eachother, in a way.
Modernist art(1800++) has a color called "art black"(At least that's the best I can translate it from Norwegian), which is made though mixing all the primary colors together more and more and more. It was used in almost all modern painting as the only black, untill at the more comicial or conceptual styles like dadaism, cubism, and minimalism came forth.
So, if you want more interesting colors, then start using more colors to shade and highlight. At least that's my advice.

Sorry if I'm stating the obvious.

And... I think you could turn out to be a kick-ass comic artist. You've certainly got a flair for camera angles and storytelling, so I don't see why not.

[scylla]

*cry*

i want to paint like you...*sniffle*

[el scoono]

veeery strong sense of composition and well painted. i agree they lack a little color, but it doesn't really detract from the images. good stuff!

[The Badseed Subsides]

kinda looks like shrek