[spooge demon]

From Flexible Elf's pic.

[Visigoth]

jeezus you're good with quick-stroke form and color, Craig... =|
*covers his face in shame*
I'm not worthy to critique! lol

~{V}~

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Your car is a fiberglass penis extension.

[virago]

Where did the blood on the harnas go? i liked the blood on the harnas!!

picture is really neat though, considering it's done in just a few minutes.. i think i'll just cancel my order for that tablet, i'll never be as good as this



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.Martijn
- artist & webdeveloper
- [email protected]

[Ko]

Hi Spooge

well.... nice painting as usual

Have you incorporated some textures into the underpainting? or are all the small details the work of custom brushes?
It looks like this was done on cancas...

How about the red "splatter" in the upper left corner... texture or brushwork?

And what's the orig. resolution of this great piece?

....so many question

Ko

[AliasMoze]

The way you define shapes with such simplicity kills me. Great image!

[HumanClay]

Ermm... my screen is sticky now ;(

[Rinaldo]

Mmmmmmm.....Still loving those colours
I like how there is an implied interest off the left hand side of the page (for me anyway). He looks like he's backing away from something.

Hey, I didn't know they had fibre optic camouflage back then. ..........cool!

[Edit: I don't know my left from right!]


[This message has been edited by Rinaldo (edited August 24, 2000).]

[MrBrian]

Holy crrrrrrrrap!

[Fred Flick Stone]

Spooge-I have a question. I have been trying to do a painting using already existing canvas with brush stroke stuff underneath. I find it way to random, and I am almost forced to paint with the existing brushwork underneath that dictates a new painting. This authur piece is beautiful. I put it in photoshop and scanned the surface. Your underpainting goes hand in hand with this over paint. I want to know, do you do some sort of quick gesso, or mono tone color on board with an idea in mind for your final composition, scan it, and use that for your ground? This just seems to work all too welll with the almost spontaneous feel you are projecting on the surface.

I have been attempting this now repeatedly, but two things I find, if I turn that painting into a monochrome, I still get value influence that sometimes forces me to paint different colors, or opacities that wreck the effect I am attempting. All this is words, I should just show you an example, but they are so dog boned I don�t even want to waste your brain cells seeing them.
The other thing is the under brush work that doesn�t conform to what I am going for.

Sorry if this sounds broken, I have been getting up every five minutes coming back and typing. Please enlighten, I feel like I am close, but everytime I attempt, the damn thing pulls away from me again�thank you�

And thanks for posting all this stuff. These are incredible to study, look at, and get lost in�

[Axl]

Like those earthy tones alot.
Cool pose, looking good.
Nice job dude.

[Farwalker]

Yikes, that is nice Spooge.

Love the hectic feel to it. Like he is fighting for composure and his life...



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www.gamingvault.com

[dr . bang]

Spooge, you're a crazy crazy man!

[Flexible Elf]

Very cool stuff spooge!

I endeavor to reach that level

-Flexible Elf

[psi burn]

craig.....this is absolutely amazing looking, theres such a good feel to this even with such loose messy strokes..

if you ask me, it looks like the knight is getting himself up after a long battle or something, tired and dreary, staring at the enemy...blah.

[Silico]

looks incredible!!(don't you ever get tired of people treating you this way? it's all true, what else is there to say??)

p.s- it always seems like you get all the stuff done in like an hour or so, i just wonder though: will you ever super duper ultimately complete one other than the ones on your page or do you not have the time to waste with us? just wonderin', anyways, thanks for lighting this whole place up again.

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`~*Silico

"He who lives by the sword, will eventually be wiped out by some bastard with a sawn off shotgun."

[black_fish]

Virago: I didn't say that in medieval times the sword were all heavy, I just said that in THIS pic I THINK the sword looks a little light. I guess it's supposed to be Excalibur, so I think it looks a little light and simple for Excalibur. I don't really care if it's historical or not.

Would you have an answer about how to use a picture as a background texture, since you seem to know a lot of things?
That would be interesting. Thanks.

[Nightime]

i think what i find amazing about this, is that after zooming in, rotating, flipping Spooge's painting... I always see something new...the whole thing is just breathing with life

This is my favorite so far

J

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JJ / Nightime
http://members.home.net/jeremy12/web/

[phreaknasty]

very nice. along the lines of the background paintings: i was curious if either the dragon of the guy stabbing down with the knife:

1)were created in the process of creating this image, i.e. "failed" attempts that you just continue to paint over until you got something you liked?

2)were previous paintings chosen specifically for their content?

3)did you paint them specifically to be backgrounds for the final image?

[Wiked Ewok]

While we're on on this theme, here's a pic inspired by elf and spooge Well The Background is at least. Trying out the "sloppy brush" technique on the background. Hope you guys like it



---Ewok---
[IMG] http://www.geocities.com/gbaudio/art/ewok.jpg
[/IMG]

[black_fish]

Very nice pic, Spooge, especially in the choice of your palette. The 'forest' atmosphere is all there, and in my view that's what makes the picture great. I don't like the sword, though. Looks a little simple, and really too light for a heavy medieval sword (the guy handles like if it's really light).
I agree with Fred on the underpainting texture thing. Yours work usually astoundly well. I tried a little for some areas of my pictures, and I have the same problem as Fred with values in some places that I don;t want. I end up tweaking a lot the underlying texture (which is not cool) or covering too much of it with paint (thus loosing the all effect). I don't know if you have an answer to that but I guess it's part of a technique you spent years creating
Is this all Arthurian series going somewhere? I can feel a pattern there...

[AliasMoze]

I don't think Spooge's brushwork is sloppy. To the contrary. It looks loose, but that doesn't mean it was painting in a sloppy manner. Spooge makes it look easy.

[virago]

Ehm.. just a comment on this "heavy medieval sword" thing.. There were a lot of different types of swords in medieval times, not just the huge "zweihander" (two handed sword).. Most knights actually had normal long swords or broadswords which are pretty easy to carry. Apart from that, people back then were STRONG. 99 out of a 100 people in these days wouldn't be able to wear a harnas like they used to wear back then.. Anyways.. apart from the fact that the sword looks like it's glass, it's just perfect. (a 2-handed sword would be just as big as the guy himself, average height was 1.40m to 1.50m in those days )



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.Martijn
- artist & webdeveloper
- [email protected]

[virago]

black_fish : according to the legend, excalibur was a simple long sword, so in my opinion in fits in very nicely..

and i really don't know that much, i just happen to like the medieval times quite a lot But isn't it possible to use a picture, past it on top of the layer(s) you want texturised, and then set the texture layer to overlay or something?
just an idea



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.Martijn
- artist & webdeveloper
- [email protected]

[MaLoRuM]

yes Spooge is on an Art Acid Trip, because his pictures always turn out friggin awesome.

Wiked Ewok, the armor looks really good, i think you got that crome effect down really well. what i would possibly change tho is his right shoulder looks a lil off, as if its facing forward but the rest of his body is turned to the left some, this just could not be possible. As well as i dont know how successful the background is compared to your character. the character is so detailed, and the background and setting he is in, is too loose, you can still put lots of detail in the background when using the loose strokes like in spooges painting.
my last lil quip with your painting isn't really big... but that knight looks AWFULLY happy. looks like he's got a grin from ear to ear... do you want him to be that happy? doesnt seem like a happpy place he's in

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The Correct Procedure in The Art of the B*tch Slap: *Extend arm* *reel back* *twist torso* *stare opponent in eye* *twist back and release* :) *follow up with something cool to say*

[Rinaldo]

Wiked Ewok-
you are drawing a reflective surface? It is reflecting a lot of pure white and purple. I don't see this in the picture. I would suggest forgetting the reflections for now and focusing on the composition and anatomy. If you really want to do those detailed reflection pics then you will have to learn a lot about the technicalities of it. The easiest way to get it looking OK is to draw in a horizon. Have a look at Spooge's site he has some stuff on it. The thing to remember is to go from bottom to top in light to dark and then stop with a hard edge (simulating the horizon line with Mountains and trees etc) and then go from light to dark again. It isn't correct in describing proper reflections but it will get things looking shiny. The first light to dark is a bit incorrect because the distance silhouettes should be lighter than the foreground. So it is more akin to sunset or rise where you get strong shapes against the sky. Just a bit of a change in the first gradient will give a bit of visual interest. Make sure you have the hard edge though as I think it is what gives the "shiny look".
I must stress that it is a dirty trick and doesn't get you anywhere. Put the surrounding colours in there as well.
Try and do as much real reflection as you can.
While armour was polished back then it would have escaped a bit of attention after tracking throughout the woods and such. A lot of dings and scratches would also help. You could also put some rust or dirt/muck on there to make it a bit more believable. These would not reflect which would give you some extra contrast to play with.
Over all you have too many highlights/lighter colours. Things don't looks shiny if they are all shine, they just look burnt out.
The pose is also a bit funky I'm not sure that arm would do that. The armour might also stop it moving even further.
One needs to get into the subject�s shoes a bit more. You can see how Spooge has really got the characterisation going.
I see too many pics with these guys who have their swords driven into the ground. That would screw it up and make it blunt. Blunt = dead
(not that I saying your pic is bad in this respect, I just wanted to point this sort of thing is often overlooked).

Sorry for the long and arduous pic bashing. I think the pic is a good start and has a lot of potential.

Ohh, and I'm pretty sure my reflection explenation made no sense. yell and I'll try again.

[DeathbyDuplicity]

Well it's been a long time.......anyhoots, nice work Spooge! Very nice indeed.....I've got much to learn.

[spooge demon]

The texture pass is an old oil painting, just the corner of it. Yes there are a lot of custom brushes used here and there, but a lot of flat round as well, and even a few 100% opacity rounds. Variety is important. Sometimes I think art is about defining and playing up differences in things.

Here is a full size tiff.

http://www.goodbrush.com/public_ftp/forum/uther.TIF

Hehe, fiber optic camouflage... To me staging is a little like composition; please oh please break every convention you can. The academics how codify this stuff spend there whole life writing rules so that their pursuit can have intellectual respectability. Draw circles and convergent extending tangent occluding lines all over and see? it�s a powerful birdy! I knew a guy who thought he had the �answer� in the magic square, and repeated this proportion in every conceivable aspect. He was surprised when people did not fall under a spell. As was posted in another thread, these rules clearly do not have a physiological effect, and therefore should be pushed and broken, after learning them.

I think a lot of art cannot be explained, except through the art itself. See the painting? That�s my statement. That might sound clever, but I think it is true.

At one time I could have very methodically explained why I did every little thing. I can�t do that anymore. I don�t know why I do something. This scared me at first, but now I think I am on the right track.

Charles, yes, I love Excalibur. I have not seen it in a while, as I might be too influenced by it. Oops, too late. This image was inspired by Flexible elf�s pic. There was a scene similar to this one in the film.

And it is not historically accurate at all. Arthur was from 5-6th centuries I believe and the armor is fantasy based on the armor of the 15-1600�s. But it looks cool.

Fred,

Have you ever painted on a textured paint ground? I know you have. Ya know, paint in a little turps up at the top of the canvas? I would play with opacity a little, and realize that you will have to tweak the texture ground a little (or a lot). If there�s a high contrast edge that is going through objects, well, gotta do something about that. You can knock it back by filling with a color, or clip the ends off with curves or levels. Always be playing with it.

But really it is just like painting on a textured canvas. I think it�s just a new medium, you will get it real quick, just keep trying. Think glazing and scumbling....

The texture is more chosen for shape that anything else, but it varies. I break every rule I can. I don�t do special paintings to be used a backgrounds.

I think I am a little sloppy, but I control every parameter of how and when and how much. I had a girlfriend who inked her day planner that the third Tuesday of each month was set aside to do something spontaneous. The contrast between a bunch of carefully controlled variables and randomness may be one rule that I can�t deny. Iit works too well.

Example- splatter is cool. But how about straight white paint right in the face of your main subject? No... How bout a little splatter of a carefully analogous color and value over here in the corner? That�s the stuff. All randomness is not created equally.

[Sumaleth]

Spooge;

It's interesting what you say about not liking the "rules". This was kinda discussed in another recent thread but it was only later that I wondered if we were thinking of the rules back to front.

What I mean is this;

If you look at a picture, any picture, can you instantly tell whether it's a good picture or not? The answer is yes, you do pretty much instantly know whether you like an image (which is it's true measure of worth).

If Spooge and I were to paint a picture on a given topic, I'm sure that everyone would see in the images a notibable difference in quality. The same story with a B&W image done by Micke vs one done by me.

So the question is why? If the images are really nothing more than a collection of lines, what is it about the placement of those lines that makes one image better than another?

There must be things in art that explain this. It's not "getting as close to reality as possible", it's not the placement of your signature, it's not the dimensions of the image, but there must be some quantifyable things which our brains respond to and say "damn, that rocks".

And I think that the "rules" we talk about come from this point. They come from trying to analyse good art (that is, art that we really like) and attempting to work out why we really like it. Reverse engineering the human subconcious.

Is it worth trying to understand why we like something? I don't really know, I guess it's a personal thing.

In art I don't tend to worry too much about learnt rules, I do what feels right to me, but in television work I rely heavily on knowing the tricks of camera placement/positioning, and understanding their use.

And even though I don't really use the "rules" in art, I do find that sort of thing interesting from an academic point of view.

The Uther picture at the top of this page is interesting because, even though Spooge probably created it based on "feel" rather than rules, I do still recognise some of the art "rules" at work in the image.

We previously concluded that "rules" probably wasn't the right term and I've been wondering whether "explainations" might be closer to the mark.

Sumaleth

[Wiked Ewok]

Malorum : Yea anatomy isn't too great..the original linework was done in a History class while the teacher was busy lecturing:P I did check out Spooges site out, and that's what inspired me. The background was painted After the character..that's why it seems so out of place. This is basically the first picture I drew to this extent. I never knew you can do so much with photoshop until I saw spooge's work. ANd wow, that inspired me to do this one. I'll try making a better version soon, but thanks for the comments, they really help. (I love bashing more than complements:P)

[Anthony]

Mmm, a bit late on this, but I'd say you're definately going in an interesting direction Craig. I think I saw it happening with that Mars colony redraw, and I'm definately seeing it here. Can't wait to see where it takes you. Damn, gotta draw. :]

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-Anthony
Carpe Carpem