Hiyas,
Here's another board for the "Kindle" story. This one I've done as a two-step sequence, so I present it in a comic page layout.
I'd gauge this 'un as being 70% done. I still want to bevel / detail out the triangluar doors so that more light can get reflected or caught. The upper version of this winged Imp needs more detail. The left wing in the lower panel needs work too.
What else would you suggest?
I think I've seen that bottom image before...
ReplyDeleteThis is looking pretty cool... the marble and wood textures are integrating well with your drawings, which is a hard thing to do. I've seen lots of un-successful attempts with that sort of technique but you may it look easy.
I'd say that I'm not completely convinced of the depth that I think you want to portray with the protruding "perch"... if the backdrop faded out a bit or if there were more to the perch itself (supports or decoration) it might help.
I would also like to say that your color direction is pretty nifty... the way you have been using color in all of these drawings is becoming something that I'm strongly identifying as the Dok Style.
Let’s see some more! Thanks for sharing!
Definitely thanks for sharing. Lazy characters like me embedding links to videos instead of contributing artwork.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Rick liking the color. Cool with radiating hot is always a pleasing choice. I like the read on the lower one but I like the top one best in spite of the read being more difficult.
By that I mean the silohuette is harder to read on the top.
Maybe nothing more than bottom tip of the wing where it draws even with the supporting gibbet having less dark around it so it doesn't join with the plank form. Play with separating it on a level. I can see where you might have wanted those forms together because the eye is lead around nicely in a figure eight in its current state. I think the figure eight would still be there even if the wing stands out better.
Wow - this is great stuff, thanks a heap! Convincing depth is defintely something I need to keep more in mind and I will probably use all those ideas you guys came up with. Thanks for comments on color - and the textures w/ the drawings.
ReplyDeleteI've been worried over value levels in this one, and I wonder how it read on different people's monitors. Even though the final destination is print. But not too dark overall? Or maybe not dark enough for a night / dawn / dusk scene?
I echo all the comments about great color and texture, and as always, your imagery is highly intriguing. But I have to confess, it took me a while to fully understand what was happening in the picture. It's because you employ several sophisticated and exotic visual devices all at the same time.
ReplyDelete1) The anatomy of the creature is unfamiliar, so my mind had to study it carefully to absorb its form. "Let's see, it's a woman carrying a sword, but what kind of a head is that? Is that a pteradactyl head? No, I think it's just an unusually-shaped helmet... she has bat wings and a mechanical lower body. Okay, I see now."
2) The pose is unusual and unnatural. "But what's happening with her knees there? Are they bending backwards? Oh,I see. They aren't just mechanical legs; they are beast-like mechanical legs, and the character is twisting all the way around to look behind her. That looks mighty uncomfortable. Shouldn't she just turn her whole body on the perch?"
3) The lighting is unusual and dramatic. The figure's stage-right side is obscured in blackness, increasing my difficulty in interpreting the image.
4) It's not immediately obvious to me that the top panel is the first "frame" and the bottom panel is the second "frame" of an animation. My first instinct was to see the two panels as a single picture of a multi-storied dungeon. The top one seemed to be the floor above the bottom one, and the two figures seem like separate entities, each lit in a different way. Then I read the title, "Egg Revealed" and realized that it was describing the single action that was taking place. All told, it took me about two full minutes for the entire image to become clear to me. Rick and Ellis don't seem to have had the same trouble, so I may be in the minority.
It may be unfair to judge this drawing out of context with the rest of the story. For instance, if we have met this character before and are already familiar with its anatomy, then it will read much more easily by the time we reach this page. If the eventual text reinforces the visuals it will be read more easily still: "The mechanical harpy slowly turns and pulls the luminescent egg out from under its wings."
It is also is not necessarily bad that I had to study the picture for a while. Because it is beautifully drawn, it is pleasurable to linger on the picture while my mind works to solve the puzzle of what's going on.
One of my college instructors used to say that he never wanted to force the "advertising ethic" on his students by insisting that drawings scream at you from across the room. It's alright to insist that the viewer be forced to walk up close to the work and study it, losing himself in the artist's private world.
So I guess it all depends on what kind of visual experience you intended for the viewer to have.
Yes! More! Show us more please! It's all very exciting.
Dok it is a big deal what people get from Monitor to Monitor. I've seen a lot of difference on the home monitor compared to the work monitor. I won't be able to give you a work monitor feedback note till 2008. And this Monitor is the darker one. So some of my "too dark" notes might be off.
ReplyDeleteI think I had a bit of the same trouble that Tom had with figuring out that the bottom image was the "next Panel" in a sequence. Once I gleaned that I didn't have trouble figuring what was going on.
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing that these are 2 double-page spreads and that you would see the top image first, turn the page, and then see the bottom image.... in that sort of situation I don't think it's a problem. It's seeing them together that I think is a little confusing.
Wow is this great stuff! Thank you one and all. I especially appreciated the time that Tom took to walk me through the viewing process! That's just invaluable to me, thank you thank you!
ReplyDeleteI see my next steps to clarify and refine the Egg now. I think (and hope) that Rick is right about the way presented here versus the way it will be in print. But I still want to make the reader's job... not a job! Some challenges are good, and I agree there with Tom's teacher. But some just get in the way of immersion and not what I want at all.
I'm a lucky guy to know folks like you who'll share your veteran insights on this stuff!