[jeromoo]

Haha, I see, I see... Sometimes I really like to play with colours till 'the meat gets burned on all sides'. I also have other works, which I think have more restriction for the colour pallete that I will show you here.

Thank you guys for pointing out my weakness.

More oil paintings...






something new.. my colour pencil work.. not much colour in it though (sorry the pic is distorted, poor digital camera scanning)


Those are my old works, I have yet to do a new artwork according to the theories you all have suggested... Once again I say thanks for the construction critiques.

(Am I being too formal here? heh heh )

[landmaster]

Hey! That's Great!
Are you a Marvel Illustrator?!
Cause thats really good! Superb!
I like the robot colour pencil illustration!!

[SolarC]

Nice pics! I can sure see some Boris Vallejo influences. Do you also paint your figures using photos as referense? (as Vallejo does)

I like the second pic the most. I think the first and the last one lack's rythm. (which could be added by composition and more dynamic poses) I might consider also some space between the woman and the muscleman in the first picture and also placing them a bit more on the sides/corners of a painting. Since warm colors seem to come forward and the cool colors go to the background i might move the red-orange and yellow planes to the foreground and colder and darker colors to the background of the picture.

Don't get me wrong the pictures are great and I have a lot to learn from your rendering. I simply wanted to state how I might have done things differently so you can consider them and maybe learn something new.

If possible it would also be very nice to here about your process of painting/drawing!

-SolarC

[jeromoo]

Well, the way I did my pieces is very similar to the way Boris does, except that all my paintings are more of done in a hurry. Due to time constraint on the part of my college assignments, I almost have no time to plan out my works in the organized manner. What I did, is to simply sit down and think of a topic I want to work on... then quickly do a sketch of it to check out the pose, composition and everything. I never did the colour thumbs because I have no time for that. I usually finish every oil painting in 5 days to meet my deadlines. That's why my paintings have no real meaning to them! As for the colour choices, I simply test them out on the canvas and if it doesn't look right, I'll just overpaint them with another colour... so you can see why its sort of messy.

Okay, to make it brief, I will summarize how I did my paintings... after I draw out my subjects on the canvas freehandedly ( I did use references, but in a different way... I didn't have models to pose for me, so I had to look through magazines and if I can't find the ideal ones, I just have to use my imaginations to complete the figures and clothing, though not much in this part ) I trace them out for safekeeping. Then I underpaint the subjects with dark umber acrylic, after that underpaint the whole canvas paper with acrylic colours as sort of mapping out colour schemes. After that I coloured in the background with oil first, then should the main subject is covered with oil paint on some areas I use the tracings I did earlier to put back the outlines. After the outlines are set again, I begin to colour in the subjects. Finally I touch up on any areas that needs improving. Not much of a technique anyway. you can read all about it in Boris' book called "The Fantasy Art techniques of Boris Vallejo"

I hope to have plenty of time to think thoroughly before painting in the future, unlike during college where you almost virtually don't have time for anything proper.

Sorry if I bore you to tears with my long-winded essay and frustration that you have probably gone through before some time in your life. But I must say what you have told me inspires me enough to think positive and to focus on bringing my best to my artworks.

Thank you SolarC! (and others who have inspired me as well in an unconscious way that I have yet to mention their nicknames )

[ March 15, 2002: Message edited by: jeromoo ]

[ March 17, 2002: Message edited by: jeromoo ]

[Gil Agud�n]

BRAVO!! THOSE ARE EXCELENT!! where can we see more?? i want more!!! btw, aren't you going to try any digital media?? if no, can you tell me why??

[ March 15, 2002: Message edited by: Gil Agud�n ]

[Hyptosis]

Really this isn't my kind of work, nor my taste, however it is very good. Good enough that I feel I should say something. The shine work, while seemingly over done, is great. however I think that is a bit of the effect you wanted. I'm thinking book covers, I see some pretty crpapy work on the shelves. your work should be in their place. Good work, keep it up.

[madmouth]

the style lacks originality but your technique is superb. one thing that bothers me, though, is that the men look exactly like american bodybuilders, and it wrecks the mood of the picture. the reference seems copied too directly.

[jeromoo]

Gil Agudin:
My friend brought me here asking me to post up those non-digital works which I did, not knowing that this forum is all about digital arts! So, to pay respect, I will try to post any digital works in the near future whenever I can (I don't have a tablet or even the painter software, must go and buy first!) Thank you for the compliments!

Hyptosis:
Haha, well.. not all the book covers are crappy.. I like the previous cover for the Lord of the Rings book (Gandalf striding along the grassy path, donning heavy grey attire and oversized pointy hat to match). I have to work on my designing skill because it's one of the most important aspects of a painting, which my paintings obviously lack! Thank you for your compliments!

madmouth:
You are right. I followed the style of Boris Vallejo for the learning stage. I want to familiarize myself with fantasy paintings before embarking on the quest to discover my own unique style. Yep, I am gonna go for that! Wouldn't want to be known as Boris' follower! haha. Yes, the men seemed to be copied out of American bodybuilders! Hmm.. muscles seem to be Boris' speciality, so maybe I will go for different kind of people (thin people, fat people, normal types) and work more on my designing skills! Thank you for your compliments!

[duality]

New style.... hmmm, try Boris pre-80s when his work was great! When he used his family and himself as models... No one comes from the "mist" pumped and posing caring a sword... good style to start with, but build from it... and for the love of god, natural is better! Grunnnn, oops, flexing again.

[jeromoo]

An e-mail from SolarC:-

>From: "Mika Schulman"
>To:
>Subject: Some recompositing.
>Date: Fri, 15 Mar 2002 18:44:29 +0200
>
>Hi Jeromoo!
>
>i saw your new pictures at sijun and wanted
>to give you some more comments on the subject of color composition.
>i wrote the comments there and while writing i thought i'd need to give you
>a picture to clarify what i mean. Since i don't have a possibility
>to put any pictures into web I have to send it to you via mail.
>(hope you don't mind) So here is an alternative composition with using
>the same colors you had in your version! I don't know if it's any better,
>but
>it's very much how I think about using colors defining the composition.
>
>Keep up the good work!
>
>See you back at sijun.
>
>-SolarC
>
>P.S if you are willing to put the picture on board I would appreciated very
>much!
><< for_jeromoo.tga >>




My reply to him:-

Hi Mike Schulman, Jerome Moo here - aka Jeromoo.

Its great to hear from someone helpful! Yes, I got your pic and of course I am not about to let your opinions and work go to waste, I'm posting it in the forum!

I want to ask if there was anything wrong with the pic you sent me because its kind of very very blur, or is it meant to be that way (just as a suggestion of colour compositioning only?). I am now going to post the whole letter into the post for everyone to share with. Hope you don't mind. (if you do, reply me quicky and I'll have the post removed at once!)

About the colour compositioning that you recommended, can you explain why the figures should be quite far apart? I couldn't tell which should I focus on first.

See you again in Sijun.com! Its a great site!

[ March 17, 2002: Message edited by: jeromoo ]

[jeromoo]

duality:
Yeah, I agree with you. Boris work pre-80s is so much better than the style he's doing now! During those days, he had better strokes with gives off life in itself. Much like Frank Frazetta (man, I wanna be like him)

I don't like the work I have done because they are too smooth and have no life in them!
So, I am definetely going for a freestyle and powerful look, with all your(everyone who messaged to me) suggestions in mind! Wish me all the best! ( I know you did that already, so I thank you where its due!)

[SolarC]

Hi.

Yeah the picture is really blurry. I added quite harsh gaussian blur to the picture to get off all the details, so that the planes of colors and the composition would be easier to see, observe and the effects of colors in the composition would be more clear.

Like that the woman's dress and the sky behind her head can be considered at the same plane of color. Same goes for the muscleman plus his surrounding. The blue-green spot makes the background to the picture for just it's color. (it's the coldest color in the picture)

This composition was mainly made using the warm-cold contrast of color.

You asked why I think the figures should be far apart from each other. There are two reasons. First, all different forms have different plastic power. (probably isn't the correct term in english, maybe someone can correct me) Anyway, what I mean is that different forms have different tensions with eachother _and their surrounding space_. More powerful forms require more space to surround them. Humans in your picture are tall and thin forms(specially the lady) so they require quite much space between them to get their full plastic tension to work in the composition. When I place the figures on the sides of the picture the whole tension of their forms goes to the space between the figures and I think that the tension of forms can be felt in the picture and bring the figures some how to life. (the feeling i get is that the figures would really have some kind of emotional tension between them, although the tension comes really from plastic composition.) To get the tension to be feel more natural it might be also a good idea to draw the figures looking at each other or something.

And secondly I feel that the exact center of the picture is the most static part of the picture in composition. So I usually avoid putting there anything i want to look dynamic.

edit:

Ah I accidentically skipped your one question. If you want the viewers eye to catch other one of the figures particularly the best way is to light him/her brightly. (human eye seems to home always for brightest spot in the picture)

[ March 18, 2002: Message edited by: SolarC ]