Preserved Topic: School Project WIP

I'm doing a fairly big school project for the book we just read. On of the options, I chose 3 out of about 20, was a book-jacket cover. My teacher said that it has to be our "top-quality work" and I though. Oh shit. I actually have to paint. I can't do that, which is true. Anyways, before I start turning out crippled painting and asking for help . Anyways, right now I need advice on the layout. Anyways, crits on the sketch please. I need specific crits on the anatomy especially and the layout.

click

Yup...thanks...Still looking for crits.

update...started painting

Overall I'm impressed.

Your level of sophistication in relation to your age has really been increasing dramatically. And even disregarding your age, your talent is growing appreciably.

I think the overall pose and perspective is good. Perhaps slightly cliche, but good nonetheless. Shows definate emotion that relates to the story.

The anatomy has no major flaws, though it will need refining as you go - don't forget the importance of references as you get down ot details! Not that you need to copy from a photo or a model...but look at photos or get someone to pose in the same relative position to get the basic concpets of form and lighting you will need.

Now, if I may make a suggestion in regard to technique -

There's a very basic principle in painting - background first. Now, in case of a digital painting where you can alter the *actual* background without effecting the foreground, it's not as literal.

But, what it talks about that is relevant to you is the manner in which you're blocking things in - *don't* stop painting the face in the spot where the lock of hair falls across it or where the lips start. Keep going as if they weren't there. Paint the sahdows of the lips in the same base color as the rest of the face...you can color them later. Paint the white's of the eyes (they're 'background' in relation to the lids...) and paint the sahdows from the lids on the eyeball....you can do the iris and all later.

Paint the hair *over* the face. That's the way it falls, that's the way you should paint it.

You'll find it starts to come together a little smoother that way, and a little more realistically as well.

very nice - very nice indeed.

beautiful faces that capture the characters well, IMHO.

my only point - which you will probably hate - is that it's ROMEO and juliet, not the other way around.

however, she's also a very important character, so it's not that big an issue. To have a picture like this for hamlet would really not be right, as our dear ophelia does not take a very dominant role at all.

i don't know if this is too tacky - but have you considered any sort of background?

personally, the night sky would appeal to me - a nice subtle reference to 'star crossed lovers'...

i feel it needs a bg simply because there's more to R&J than just juliet and romeo.

there is the entire montague/capulet conflict, the friends of the lovers, fate, religion - heck, i don't have to tell you, i'm sure you know!

Of course, these are just ideas, and not very good ones at that - use abuse or discard them at your will.

Thank you DL and Reitsma.

On it being cliche. Yes, it is. It was actually supposed to be, and I almost regret that.

I'm working on the whole "face" also right now.

Reitsma: I actually felt that Juliet was a stronger character than Romeo, and the "key" to the whole story.

My original idea was more of a symoblic type thing, which incorporated the feuding as well. But...

Again, thanks. I'm still working =)

cfb: valid points. it's been a while, i think it was mixing with my hamlet memories.

besides, juliet looks better.

Yes, the title may emphasize romeo, but the true star of the show is most definately juliet =)

No need to incorporate the rest of the story line...simplicity is key here!

Keep it up.

Juliet was definitely stronger. Romeo was a pussy.

Good work, cfb. I'm no artist, but I know what I like.

Ok. Here we go. I still need to block in the hair. But I worked on creating a more realistic shading, using a referance. (I figured I'd extend the skin-tones, and then use a hair tut to do the hair. I can't draw hair, and this would be my first actualy attempt.

Question(s): Should I use more orange on the skin tones? They look slightly muddy to me.

Update 3

BTW: The actualy image is at 2000*something ~1000 at 200 dpi.

What are some strategies for developing darks and highlights. Specifically in color. I tryed to use diffrent colors: A greener tone for the highlights and a slightly maroon color for the shadows. But...

[This message has been edited by counterfeitbacon (edited 05-09-2003).]

Another update

Ok...I looked at the forms on the other one (the facial structure), and decided that it needed some work, so I started going over it with a harder opacity brush. I roughed out a lot of areas, and have the basic face down now except for the eyes. (Actually, if anyone has any good eye referances at this angle (I looked and couldn't find any) I would appreciate it)

So, is it a step backwards, is what I want to know, and does the general anatomy look off. Again, crits on anatomy and technique (<--That one especially right now) would be appreciated. I realized that when I started blocking it off that it looked better than an airbrushed look. Should I go for an airbrushed look or a more painterly feel?

Oh yes, I have hair and background colors blocked out, there just not here because they look like placeholders.

[This message has been edited by counterfeitbacon (edited 05-11-2003).]

Anybody know some good tutorials for hair that end up looking more "simple" but not claylike?

Ok, I decided to go in a whole new direction with this. I used the '68 versions box as referance, and made it more like a "book" cover.

Sketch
lighting test

Basically, there faces are fairly fucked (don't have the right expression), and I copied them right off the box. I'm going to change them, but I wanted to get it all down, same as the hair etc. Please tell me what you think.

Ok, here we go. I re did it after getting some advice that the old one really wasn't fit for a book cover, and aside from that, I accidently saved it as 72 dpi and 700px wide (as opposed to 200 and 1050 pixels wide) when I lowered its size for the web, so it was inevitable that I had to start over. Aside from that, I wasn't as happy with the overall picture as I should of been.

So, I redid it (see sketch above), and I blocked it out today, also taking (someones) advice to work on the whole picture beforehand.

Update 2 <- CLICK. And give crits.

Argh...Fuck.

*Rips out hair*

You know what...I'm still not happy with the old image. So, I spent the last two damn days redoing it yet again. I don't think that either of them are very good "book covers" either. But, then again, this new one isn't too great of a book cover either. Also, I've completely destroyed both images with my painting experiments, since I'm actually "learning" how to paint (actually it's more like picking up and practicing techniques), which is despressing, to a degree.

In any case, I took a whole new approach to this, and redid the sketch, spending more time to get composition right and anatomy. so, here they are.

No color
With begginings of color

Ok, I need guidance on this also:

1. Is her chin too boxy?
2. Is her left eye (our right) eye too far right (her left)?
3. How could I fix his face? It looks competely off, and I am having trouble fixing it. (<-- Biggest help need)
4. The lighting on his and her face. Is it ok? I looked at refs, but still...
5. How dark/light should the shadows/highlights be?

CFB.. to me romeo looks a bit... effeminate to me.... i think it just has to do with the face structure.. i enjoyed your first attempt more, even as a book cover. also.. his face is much smaller... maybe its just perspective of mine that needs to be fixed....

didn't even see your points...
His face could lose the cheekbone structure, and make his face more round, in general i think guys have rounder faces. Her cheek should be the one with the indention and the fine cheekbone structure. His face should be larger too if you ask me.

i'm confused as to where the light source is, but i like it anyway... on the right side of Romeo's face should probably be lighter than the other side.. as its his face thats shadowing hers.. but, it seems you have the light source on the left side of juliet's face.. so make sure you catch the tiny shadow that his arm is gonna cast on her face......

i donno if that helps any, but thats all i can think of




[This message has been edited by Sanzen (edited 05-19-2003).]

[This message has been edited by Sanzen (edited 05-19-2003).]

Nice work so far CFB. It's good to see you trying several different ideas.

Although, if you?re not happy with the composition then maybe you should play with it some more before you start painting. Yet what you have now is really nice and I think it suits the love tragedy theme of the book.

Maybe your last sketch could be made even more powerful by cropping out everything but what is needed to tell that message. Say if you cropped the image from the outer cheekbones of each face. Then you could have a cover filled with nice warm pale skin tones played off against a sombre background. Or maybe you could try your hand at backlighting the whole scene and gets that romantic silouette thing happening.

eh, anyways, your doing great so far. I'm looking forward to the finished product.

Ok, I cropped it, fixed his face (although I think that his lips are a bit off, and he looks a bit Oriental, but it looks good enough so far. I'm 90% sure that I'm going to keep this one as my "final" idea/jacket cover, because (as I said before), it's (a) The most "bookeyish," and (b) it's turning out the best. The first one, Sanzen, although I liked it too, wasn't well layed out, and didn't convey the themes in the book very well. To me, and in the sketch, Romeo was kinda scowling at Juliet.

The second one, well, with some work I think I could of pulled it off, but I didn't like the layout, and I feel bad because I used the '68 box cover as a referance.

Update

* I fixed his face, repainted it, and finished her face. I added a pinkish-rosy color to hers, with orange highlights, and a orangy color to his with pinkish highlights. I'm not done with their faces, but I'm going to work on the hair and his arm/shirt before I do more to the faces.

Again, crits welcome, and appreciated. I'd appreciate brutal honesty, really. Tear it apart. Make me feel bad, because it's the only way that I'm going to get usefull input.

[This message has been edited by counterfeitbacon (edited 05-20-2003).]

ok, its better... but, his face is still weird.. as you said, he appears to be more "oriental" ... and i can't tell how far you want his head to be turned down.. you see a lot of some parts of the other side of hisface in some parts and some not in others..... you're seeing what would seem to be like 80% of his mouth about 66% of his nose and his eye is too far up/crooked... his face is a bit "pointy".... and maybe try adding some facial hair??? i donno, but just keep working on it, i wanna see it post-hair

This is the most frustrating thing that I've ever done, because for the first time, I have to make something presentable and (pretty) quality, as opposed to random sketches and doodles.

In any case, I was fucking around with various styles and painting methods and I finally came up with something I like. Because it didn't start off very serious, the anatomy is completely off, and I still need to fix some stuff, but I think that I'm happier with this than an of my previous incarnationsh of the project.

Well, what do you think?

(Sanzen: It's got hair)

The colors look a little dodget-burney, but I didn't use the dodge/burn tools.

So, crits please, harsh crits, please.

Click

All I have to say is, if your teacher gives you anything less than a 90. Tell us, and we'll have her/him taken care of...

The colors you added did amazing stuff to this piece CFB. Im not too sure what I would like to see you do with his hair, I trust your judgement though. Nice work.