Laura Diehl's WIP Thread

#301

Hi!
Did you not start your thread thus?:

Note: This is an ongoing work-in-progress thread. My latest image updates will always appear last.

Along the way I welcome critiques, comments and dialogue. Please, please, if something looks “off” to you, or if you have a good idea as to a direction an image could take, let me know.

Seemed like a pretty clear indication of somebody seeking a little creative/artistic advice…
did I miss something (sorry if I did, as Huh? seems a weird reply to help on offer!)

C.

#302

Atwooki: Yes but if I don’t understand the “advice” it isn’t helpful to me. And if I ask for clarification it is so I can understand/learn from the advice… When you give vague “advice” that doesn’t even seen to be in line with what I am currently working on (ie talk of a color palette when there isn’t one) “huh?” is a rather valid response.

#303

Sorry if seeming to appear ‘vague’, Laura -

By visual description I refer to you image here (colour):

http://www.ldiehl.com/egansburrow_10-7-05.html

Whilst not wanting you to feel that in any way I’m launching into some inane and fascile ‘attack’ on your work, my immediate impression of the pieces presented (acc. of the start thread) was that elements that were ‘weaker’ in those images were those pertaining to those that I had outlined earlier…
I don’t see my critism as vague, chiefly because from a painting or illustration viewpoint,
and hesitating to find the need to go into any lengthy diatribes, those points would, I feel, be looked upon by most as reasonable grounding points for development :slight_smile:

Chris

#304

Must rest eyes.

#305

Hey Laura,

Alot of new characters in this cover! It will be interesting to see how you pull this one off…if what you learned in the previous project is applied to the new cover project. :wink: Looking forward to watching you work!

Regarding your current sketch, if I may suggest that you turn the winged horse’s head down toward Jake and Sarah? Even if it’s with the head down and turning to its left so that the right eye is strongly focused on the two captors. Horses have beautiful heads for one thing, for another, as was suggested over on ConceptArt, it will help direct the viewer back to the right…and so they turn the cover page…remember? Particularly since you again have your main characters facing left. Also, will the title text placement interfere with the 2nd main spider character that is closest to Jake and Sarah? Might consider positioning that one a bit lower as well?

Just some thoughts. :slight_smile:

t

#306

A few of crits, easily fixed (if you decide to) since you’re in the sketch phase :smiley: The human characters’ heads are too big. I think the rope around the legs of the pegasus should be tighter, or rather, stretched more tightly. Right now it looks like it’ll fall off, setting it free. The last crit I have is the position of the left wing, it seems to be growing out of the side and not the back/upper side.

#307

tatiana: Good points. And yes, thanks for the direction reminder -you sure keep up on me ;). I’ll see what I can do to fix the horse’s head, and the 2nd spider character may indeed need to be shifted down.

eishiya: Roger on the heads, rope, and wings. Thanks for pointing them out!

#308

Sketch is great, although I would decrease the size of the central characters heads (bot. right). Looking forward to the color progress.

#309

I think the horse’s front legs look like humanoid arms as if they were shoulders. I’m not a horse expert but to me it looks wrong, and I think the front legs should be growing from a bit lower down.
I’m liking the spider guys.

Looking forward to seeing this in colour.:thumbsup:

#310

Looking forward for colored version :thumbsup:

Serena.

#311

slickgreekgeo: I did. Is this better?

pap87: I’m no horse expert either. I hope this version is an improvement. Can anyone in the know crit my horse anatomy?

CyborgJA: I do to -er wait a sec…

So I started playing with color. I’m kinda liking the color scheme it has ended up at. What do you all think?

Also, I need a way to have the sun beam hitting the main characters and not throwing the horse’s shadow on them. Anyone know how I would figure out where sun and horse should be in relation to the two characters, so that they are not cast in shadow, but so that the back and top of the horse are well lit? Any help with this would be most appreciated.

#312

hey Laura,

The horse’s anatomy isn’t too far off, but the shoulders and torso need some work. I’d suggest taking a look on google for horses that are rearing or bucking if you don’t have access to any horse references at home. Also, do a search for Sam Savitt art - he has done alot of western and other horse illustrations and maybe his work can give you some pointers on how to improve your horse anatomy. If you can check out his book, Draw Horses with Sam Savitt, even better! :slight_smile:

To give you some suggestions as far as improving your flying horse’s line of action, I did a couple of quick sketches to give you an example (see below). One referencing a rearing horse (top sketch), the other (bottom sketch) referencing a bucking horse. The wee image on the left with the red line shows the line of action that I was using to help me make the horse image interesting. I did one with the small wings like you have a la Babylonian style, and one with more length - see if you can find a reference of a bird with outstretched wings…Your horse’s wings need some fixing, too. (Mine aren’t the best either since I didn’t use reference, but they give you an idea of what I’m talking about :wink: )

One thing to consider as well, if your characters were in silhouette, would they still read well? Would the flying horse as a silhouette still give your viewer enough information that they would recognize it as a flying horse that is desperately leaping off the ground, straining those wings to get airborne and away from its captors?

Regarding the light, maybe if you increase the angle of the light so that it appears to be closer to 11 am, say as opposed to 10 am as it is now (just guessing…could be late afternoon as well, heh) so that it is not directly above them, but almost, then the light would rim the horse and also not overshadow the two people. Just a thought. :slight_smile:

t

winghorse_sample.jpg510x1143

#313

It’s looking great! My only comment would be that the horse doesn’t have that distinctive “panicked” look that they get when something unfamiliar or threatening is happening to them. You notice that wild look in their eyes. They seem to roll their eyes so the whites show. Just a small thing, but the horse’s panic adds another element of drama to the scene. Obviously you’re still in the early stages of the painting, but it’s something to keep in mind, if it hadn’t occured to you.

#314

tatiana: Wow, thanks. I went ahead and ordered that Draw Horses with Sam Savitt book as I couldn’t find it anywhere local :frowning: So that probably won’t arrive until too late for this project. But I’m sure I’ll be doing many more horses.

Too bad it is so hard to find good large photo references for rearing horses on google (I’ve spent hours so-far with only a few not-so-good finds). It’d be worth it to have a nice big coffee table photography-type book of horses in action. Hmmm… I’ll look some more.

So the torso and shoulders need work?

Thanks for the sample sketches. You’re saying that my horse needs more of a rhythmic curve to his pose right? Also, I’ll see about finding some good wing references.

Good call on the angle of the light. I re-read the scene again and it is indeed close to mid-day when this “battle” occures.

Damselfly: I do plan to :slight_smile:

#315

Don’t have the next version of the above ready yet, but I did want to share another little (8"x10") painting that I finished today:

#316

I don’t think the spider-men are receding enough yet. The bg is still a mess of course. Is the horse better? Some of the references I’ve scrounged are below.

#317

I think it’s getting there. Two areas really need another look, though. Check out how you’ve got the shoulder attached to the torso. If you check your references, you’re missing the horse’s elbow and have added some musculature along the upper leg that needs second look. The other thing to check: how you’ve twisted the horse’s body (maybe the spine is too straight) and how that separates the hind legs more. In some respects it’s a matter of foreshortening and perspective…you have the shoulders much larger than what they would be compared to the hips. But, that’s just my opinion. Could be the angle that you have the flying horse positioned.

Here are a couple of links of images that also might help you. I also added some “Airs Above the Ground” Lippizaner horse images from the Spanish Riding school for additional reference:

http://www.lipizzanernetz.de/buecher/lipizzaner&srs.jpg

http://www.galesequinefacility.com/Lipizzaner%20in%20the%20Air.JPG

http://www.hamiltoncsi.com/images/HORSE%20Jumping027.jpg

http://www.skeltonandalusians.com/Jpeg%20Pics/Decoroso_Rearing%20in%20pasture_6-2004_jpeg.jpg

Hmm…as far as your spiders go… Don’t forget that the further away the environment and its objects are, the lighter they should be. Your darkest and more prominant elements with all the details (main characters in this current layout), particularly since this is a day scene, should be at the front.

I’m off for a couple of days…so I’ll leave you in peace for awhile. :smiley:
You’re doing great!

t

#318

tatiana: Many thanks for the crits. I hope I’ve fixed more of it now. Enjoy your days off :slight_smile:

Well, still a ways to go. I darkened the center of the background and I really think this is helping the foreground pop. I also changed the color of the spider men to get them to blend better. I really like the addition of the patterning on the horse, as I think it makes him look less monochrome.

Another ref photo I found:

#319

Changing the spider-men to a different colour was a good move. Now your eye is definitely drawn to the main action.

#320

Very good progress in this last step! I think this will turn out really really well! :slight_smile: