Hello,
Yesterday I started this picture, and I am kind of stuck in the process. I don’t think its done, but I don’t know what to fix on it. I also posted 3 picture of my process so far.
I am curious if you guy’s can give me tips to improve this. If not, I will move on to a next painting :D.
Current:
Progress:
Why did you change it from the original version where there is a figure on top?
I think you need to look at real life animals to get the anatomy more believable, and don’t move on from the sketch stage until you have the sketch right. You’ve changed the final version a lot from the original sketch and I’m not sure if it’s because you changed your mind about what you wanted to draw or if it’s because you were just trying to cover up mistakes, but some of the changes you have made, like moving his legs around and changing his orientation have made your image worse. His right (stage) shoulder on the final version is way way too high, and even though your anatomy is cartoony in the sketch it is believable, whereas in the final version I look at him and it looks like his body hangs like a suspension bridge from his shoulders. If you look at hippos or rhinos or elephants, other heavy animals, they actually have quite narrowly set legs with inward pointing knees, and their body sits on top. Tortoises have more splayed legs, if you were going for that feel, but the body still sits on top of the legs, not hangs.
I think you need something better than a flag pole to give him a sense of scale and be careful with your background strokes. They’re all going the same direction and they’re echoed by some of the lines and strokes of his figure. When you flip the image in photoshop, it becomes a lot more obvious.
Minor minor minor issue: if that’s blood on his feet and mouth, why is there no blood on his horns and tail, which are clearly designed for battle?
Thanks for you comment. The reason I tilted the head was to make a better composition. The same for the flag, (just composition) and to give it more a feeling that there are people in this world.
I agree about the anatomy, I don’t think a rhino or a elephant is the right way to go, I would rather look a bears I think. Your last point (about the background stroke) is a valid point as well. Lets see if I can fix these things.
I was just playing around, and I thought this style really suited him, =D lol, what do you guys think.
I prefer it without the superfluous anthropomorphization. The human elements doesn’t fit and is illogical anyway, because the creature itself is not anthropomorphic in any way. Who made those human objects at giant sizes for this creature to use? What’s the narrative purpose of giving this creature human objects to dress up in, when the creature itself conveys no human qualities (such as anthropomorphic personality)? If the creature was leaning on the cane, holding the cigarette or tipping the hat, and grinning like a smug ganster, then it would work much better, but that’s a very different image.
I always urge artists to spend more time thinking about the ideas for their images before they even draw a single line. Don’t just arbitrarily draw/paint something without knowing what you want to express creatively, and then later add more arbitrary stuff to it. That’s like shooting a film without having an idea for the story and no screenplay to follow, and then just make things up as you go, which will likely result in a jumbled mess that makes no sense. Think of yourself as a visual communicator–someone who can convey all kinds of ideas visually, be it a profound message with emotional and intellectual resonance, an entertaining visual narrative that tells compelling stories, or specific moods that makes us feel things that’s hard to convey with words. Even when doing concept art, there are design ideas to be conveyed that needs to serve very specific purposes–to create a strong sense of place, to explain form and function, to convey character personalities/appearances, etc.
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