Exchange Concept Challenge Crits

(Or, Wall-of-text 2: Electric boogaloo)

Again, the following is all meant as constructive criticism. I'm not flaming anyone or calling anyone a bad artist. Please don't take offense.


Dana Henderson- Both pieces have a really nice badass quality to them, especially the second (Scott Flanders' silhouette.) That said, I think the Flanders' piece is the very successful at conveying the silhouette to the viewer. I don't have a big problem with re-posing the characters, but by turning Jorge's girl to the side, all that indicated detail in his drawing is hidden, and there were interesting shapes indicated in there I'd have liked to have seen rendered out. Even so there are some details from the silhouette I can see didn't make it across, like the way her hair is loose in Jorge's piece, and tied in your render.

Piya Wannachaiwong - There are some really cool elements to your construct here, starting with the negative space face in the mask. What I would love to see is more texture over the whole figure though, and more confidence in your brushwork. The figure as a whole has a certain soft-edged finish that doesn't serve the piece so well. The flesh and metal and cloth should read as distinct from each other texturally, which at the moment isn't quite happening except on the blade of the sword.

Liz Clarke- I'm guessing this is a scan of actual paints? The paper texture here actually hurts the piece by imposing itself over your brushwork and giving evry element a same-ness. I'm seeing some lovely brushwork under it getting drowned out. As far as the figure goes, it's a solid translation from the silhouette, though the second staff on her back seems to be placed oddly. Only the top part of it is visible, which breaks a shape element of the silhouette.

Scott Purdy- (oo ee oo ah ah, ting tang walla walla bing bang) This piece is great, Scott. One of my favorites of the bunch. My only thought would be to have the bird pecking in a hole in the head, since it kinda looks like he's helping himself to some grey matter in the silhouette. Also maybe just a bit more fill lighting on the face. Just a little, so we can see his features a bit better.

Christopher Burdett- This makes me chuckle. There's a great bit of humor in the heavy, Knobbly-bit covered armor on a short figure already, but the smile sells it. Something like "Yeah, it take three hours to go to the can and my face is a scarred mess, but we get GREAT dental."

J. Lonee- Good solid render. Would like to have seen the contrast pushed a little more. I'm also picking up a hint of color in the face and rifle stock that I would either push up a bit more or desaturate out and have a pure mono piece. Maybe a little stronger texture separation between the wood of the rifle and the bayonet?

Claudio Pozas- I almost think this would have looked better without any shading, just as clean linework. The shading you've introduced has the clear "runny liquid metal" look of the Photoshop smudge tool to it, and it pulling attention away from what is otherwise a cool design. This would have also forced you to render out the belt design and engraving areas, which right now are more just indicated than really laid in.

Justin Orlando- I love all the textures you've put into this, unfortunately, it's reading very flat to me. I think it needs the lighting pushed more to help define the underlying volumes and shapes. Otherwise he's a cool design with some nice African inferences on the helm (which I think we don't see enough of in fantasy art.)

Mike Faille- The character design is interesting, and the marker-style rendering is visually interesting. It also contributes to some problems I see though in terms of translating Dana's silhouette.The messy "outside the lines" style you've chosen has made some of the negative spaces in the silhouette read as filled, taking away from the nice crescent shape in the silhouette where it crosses the torso. Also, though I appreciate the effort to redraw the figure, some of the proportional changes, and smoothing of protruding bits, changes the character of the figure from the silhouette to your render. Not in a bad way per se, but still different.

Heather Hudson- Nothing really "wrong" here. (well, except that we can't see his tail. quibble that.) This is just me, but something about digital wash over pencil just rubs me wrong, and I've never been able to figure what it is. Mantal miswire on my part. this is a solidly rendered piece, and a Dragonborn in plate is never a bad thing and I should shut up and move on to the next piece.

MuYoung Kim- Undead Cyber-nazi is a cool villian concept right there.As Mr. Schindehette said, it's a great translation of J. Lonnee's silhouette. That said, maybe just a bit cleaner rendering? Some areas like the belt, boots, and the fur are looking rushed.

Michael Lavoie- I was hoping some brave soul would take on Christopher Burdett's non-humanoids. Beautifully rendered bugger. I do think you oversimplified the creature from the silhouette though. Your beauty is more snake-like, where Christopher's is more undulating mass of tendrils lifting themselves off the ground.

Thom Scott- (yes, only fair I post-mortem my own work too, so from now on I will.) I should have spent some more time on the horns- the texture is close to what I was going for, but still kinda rough. The bits on her back are fading a bit, and they're good and strong in Jorge's silhouette.Not sure how to fix that, but it bugs me. The crystal texture is selling ok on the horns, but not so much on the ends of the staff, and not at all on the widget near her right "hand." Lost the bit of negative space behind her face, really wanted her head to seem partially hollow. Happy with the overall cloth rendering for once. Background isn't an oversaturated mess like it was last week.

Chad King- okay, they aren't part of the silhouette at all, but I love those demon/dragon heads.On the figure you stayed good and close to the silhouette, watched for the negative spaces, nice. One thought though- would a light-toned crescent have read better? Otherwise very well done.

Richard Aguirre- I think you also might have been better served leaving this one as linework, The greens you've used read very flat. Part of this is the really strong white glow you've put all over is killing the shading you did put in. That said there's a good solid design here, that deviates from the silhouette, but in good ways- breaking the tangent of the tailtip and spear, adding some interest to the legs and the butt-end of the spear, and adding some visual interest to the smooth lines of the arm and the spearhead.

Kristina Carroll- Nothing "wrong" here. nice solid drawing. Visually interesting.

Joyce Maureira- There are some proportional changes in your re-draw that stick out a bit, especially her right arm seems short, and the firgure as a whole reads a bit shorter. The biggest thing that sticks out to me is the inkwork is overworked on her leathers, and has that lifelessness that doing an entire piece with pen only can get. Some brush inking, and saving your hatching for where it's really demanded would help I think.

Jan Pospisil- You have some gorgeous stuff going on in the detail of his plate pieces, the head of the Lucerne hammer, and the rim of the shield. The cloth is less convincing in places (his left forearm especially.) I'm having some issues with the background as well- there are areas where the tone of the background is very close to the adjacent figure (near the face, near the feet) and the figure recedes a bit at those points.

Tariq Hassan- Nice monochrome render here. Very nice work on the rifle. Maybe some brighter highlights? It reads well against the dark background, but I wonder if it would muddy out aganst a midtone or light backing.

Mike Parr- This is actually quite good when I look at the enlarged image. I think the backgraound you chose does it a disservice in the thumbnail view. I would also up the opacity on the layer the figure sits on, as the background is showing through, and I really don't think the figure needs the extra texture from it.

Dave Studer- I'm nothing resembling a sculptor, but you get points for entering him. I think he looks badass.

Peter Mohrbacher- This is my favorite treatment of Dana's rifleman. Rendered elegantly, with that nice bit of red striping as a key color. A little more detailing would have been nice on the belt holding the pouch up, but the rest looks great, and fits the silhouette like a glove.

Michael Vondracek- I love the detailing on the cloth, especially the upper skirt. I also think you got a more successful effect on the head of the staff than I did. Good solid piece.

Cyril Van Der Haegen- hehe, I knew it looked like the bird was having a snack. Wonderfully creepy. And very well executed, nothing to remark on really.


Until next time (probably two weeks, I suck at environment pieces.)

-Fuu