[BooMSticK]

Hi all,

This is something new I'm working on. Yes! another comichero. It's about 90% done I reckon, and would like any input you might give, before I take this to the final stages. I know I need to fix the left hand (his) and the lower right leg (his again) but besides that you can fire away like crazy... (please and thanks)

boomer

[Rinaldo]

Is good

I like how you have stayed true to the siplistic nature of the character (can't for the life of me remember the guy who draws it), but at the same time made it come alive in a very three dimensionsl fashon.

Too tired to crit (6:30 am in Australia an I don't get up early) but there is a ring or something on the but of the gun that is confusing me, dont really know what it is makes me think that the but is hollow and the gun is way outa perspective. The gun itself could use a bit more contrast in the barrel, but looks okay as is. the chest is a bit messy, which you may or may not be aware of. If you just added a few bits of flat colour to offset the scratchyness it would be nice.

As I said before tho....looks good

[Visigoth]

Yay! It's Hellboy! =D I love that comic! =D
I think his face looks a little...funny...I mean, not in a bad way, but facially he doesn't look exactly like Hellboy...Maybe it's the jawline...? I recollect Hellboy's jaw being a little wider...Anyway... =D I really like your use of color/light & shade...
Good job man!

~{V}~

------------------
Oh god my eyes!

[waylon]

I like it. I especially dig the skull in the background. The one thing that stands out at me is that his tail is too bright. Don't get me wrong, the lighting on it looks correct, but it seems to draw my attention away from the more important parts of the character.

[Christer]

Hey, nice one!

It's Hellboy, my favorite comic book these days!

The artist's name is Mike Mignola, a real creative genius in my mind.. I'd highly recommend this book to everyone, it's great reading, not only does Mignola create masterful artwork but the stories are powerful and well written. Many of the stories revolve around old mythology and folk tales from different countries. No ordinary comic book!

As for this rendering, I think you've managed to capture Hellboy pretty well, although stylewise it's very different from Mignola's. He uses a lot of very sharp, well-defined shadows and tend to play a lot with dark areas and silhouettes. Not that it's at all a bad thing though, you've made it in your own style and that's cool.

If I could give you a few suggestions it would be first to try and move his tail somehow so that it doesn't "collide" with his right arm so much. Maybe even try to draw a new one at the far right bottom of the picture? Just an idea.

As for the gun perspective, it would seem more logical to have the side of the gun aligned with the back of his hand, to make it seem like he has a firm grip on it.

Besides those minor details I dig it, it's a very eyecatching picture, keep up the good work! Oh, and his iron glove should only have four fingers by the way. At least it has in the book...

Christer

[This message has been edited by Christer (edited July 14, 2000).]

[Fred Flick Stone]

THe shoulders look a little too soft to me, all traps no deltoids...

The centerline of just the pectoral muscles is too centered if that makes sense. His upper body seems to be taking on a lean to the left, but the peck muscles are staring straight at us. I would move them a bit to the right and show more muscle mass on the right peck than the left, this will give the pose a bit more dynamic appeal, more off center overlapping, vs. causing an image to appear a bit stiff by centralizin all the shapes.

The green rip in the background is a bit overwhelming in the image. By that I mean the whole thing is one bright value and is cut off by the body. Graphically, it doesn't quite make sense. Visually it kinda takes away from hellboy a bit. Try gradating the values to a deeper value, adding black to match the value below hellboy. It will also visually look like it dissapears behind him to black and make more sense as to why it doesnt continue below. If you take your hand and cover the big green spot on your screen, hellboy jumps right off the page, put the green back and he disapears a bit, it is a conflict of similar values within different hue families. greying one out, or desaturating it will resolve this problem...

Put dark value on the under plane of the palm and the pinky on the gun hand. YOu defined the volume of the other fingers, just not this one...

The underglow just in the eye area doesn't make much sense either without it also affecting the side of his head, shoulder, collar, ear and goggles. The effect is ok, just make it work logically.

And mix some color into the underplane of the gun. It stands out a bit too much and doesnt really take on any of the hues in the rest of the image. Kinda looks a bit added in at last minute, or just not finished yet.

And if you take a good look at the gun hand, the handle is crooked to the shaft of the gun. I see way too much of the bottom of the handle, this will definitely stand out to editors at the con, and I know your gonna show this next week, so get those things tightened up, and it will help out so much...

Is the upper lip in a snarl position? If it isn't, then you have too much dark value on the upper lip to our left, his right side. It looks like it is sticking away from his teeth by about an inch. YOu might want to reevaluate that...

Another thing I just noticed is the pouch on his right hip seems to be melting into his leg. It would have more perspective to it, and the bottom of that pouch would almost be looking right at us.

And most definitely finish the right boot. Editors hate seeing thins left unfinished in a 98% finished image, most jump all over you for it first, then see that it might not look like Superman, or whoever it is you might have drawn...editors are a strange breed, not very keen to the arrtist, and a bit too theatrical. Like they have a lot of pull to get you where you want to be. So play tactfully and don't come off too eager beaver. THey'll catch on to that right away, and if they like your work, they will play your card, feeling like your in, then flip it on you and pinch you in a bind. I have seen a lot of great artists come and go in comics because of this, I hate knowing what goes on behind the scenes. It disillusions me from liking comics all that much anymore, something that inspired me to learn to draw. Kinda like meeting your hero for the first time and him kicking your ass for just being there, well not to that degree, but you know what I mean.

Good luck at the con, and I hope you can score some work. It is getting tougher every year, as companies blow away with the wind, so make these images as rock solid as you can, and learn to accept their rejections. 90% of the time it isn't you, it is them and the position they are in. They have to look at 3000 amatuers, after working with a few really good pros every day all day and night. They are so sick of seeing art they wanna go soak their head in a tub of Sanka brand. SO, dont take it personally. My advice to you is go their and see what they say, but send a folio after the con. YOu'll get more of their undivided attention. I always got the work after the fact, not at the con. But make as many connections as you can, and go to the wizards booth, the makers of all the trading cards. YOu can easily get some freelance if you have a descent painting portfolio, and the peices you have been posting on the forum warrant job, so hit them up...

and again, best of luck to you, and stop by the Presto Booth on Thursday morning if you can, I have a mandatory stand behind the booth for four hours thing from 10-2, the rest of the time I am going to be walking around looking at cybergirl models, and buying Jap anime books for Cheap. Oh, by the way, bud plant, that badass artbook store has the biggest booth their so saveyour money and buy lots of quality art books...

[BooMSticK]

yep. this was what I wanted!

Rinaldo - You want me to add flat colors on a painted pic? That must have been the weirdest comment ever I will fix up the gun and the ring. Thanks for pointing that out!

Visigoth - yeah! the jaw...gotta fix it!

waylon - hmmm... yeah the tail might need some work also....

Christer - Indeed Mignola it is! I hope to snatch up an autograph from him next week and showing him this piece. I've been a fan of his since waaaay back. Take a look at my website and check out those b/w drawings of mine. Those have Mignola written all over them.

Fred - Thanks man! I'll come by the presto booth thursday morning. I might be looking like hell from jetlag and stress and such - but I'll drop by!

Also you just hit all of the areas that I mean to catch up on today! eyeglow, right leg, gun and gunhand etc. Nice comments on the green flash thingy. I will tone that done a bit. I still need all of the effects light and texturing. Hopefully you'll comment on those later today when I post the finished version... Thanks anyway Fred and see you in Sandiego! And please guide me in the direction of those beforementioned cyberbabes... I might wanna take a closer look on those... for reference I dare say... hehe.

[BooMSticK]

Here it is.. The final version! that is until Fred rips it apart and I have to go over it one more time (sigh!)

still comments are more than welcome. Most of the previous notes were taken into account when I did the update this morning... Thanks again guys!

,boomer