Just found out about this site, figured I'd dump some art here to see what happens. :)

Magnus Robot Fighter (redesign)


Tarzan pencils


Tarzan in technicolor


Redesigned 80's cartoon - Sectaurs


Dr. Strange


Inspired by Tool's Wings for Marie


Rebel fighter


Spiderman


Icarus


Absorbing Man


Medusa

So I really like you magnus robot fighter redesign, the power and swiftness of the guy is shown perfectly, I can pretty much hear his foot smashing that robot. Your tarzan piece looks great, but theres something about the head thats buggin me and kinda throwin me off, either his head or neck are too small, maybe, I'm not really sure. Your spiderman piece is pretty cool too, I think what i really like about that is how dark you made spidey with those shadows. Also, the one inspired by the tool song is wonderful, nice contrast. Those are the ones that really pop out at me all the others are really well done but kind of suffer from mediocre design and/or composition. Many of them look like illustrations you'd find on the front of a dungeons and dragons type novel. I dunno, sorta hackneyed and not alot of character in many of the other ones is my point I guess.

Definately seen your work somewhere before, Penciljack perhaps?

Really digging the Magnus pic, been ages since I've seen that dude haha Love the energy and motion you've got happening good sir, nice set of values you have here as well. Very nice pic overall though the muscles, particularly in the arm, are a bit too over-rendered in places, bit to heavy to be a little more precise. Something to watch for in future pieces perhaps, especially seeing as it seems to be one of your areas of expertise. Your pretty tight when it comes to the rendering, though its an easy thing to over do. Kudos to you for handling it so well, but there are times when you need to pull back.

The Tarzan pic is fantastic, nice seperation between the Background and foreground, in both the black and white version and coloured version. Really feeling the coloured version alot more, it would be a pleasure to see some more colour work from you, this along with the Icarus piece impressed me quite lot.

Going over all the images, I have to agree with Karlmort. You could definately push things more as you have in the Magnus pic. Bring in some more dynamic posing or just any sort of dynamics really, everything is pretty meh and static, its just there if you what I mean. Give the characters some character. Perhaps play with perspective a bit more in regards to posing, like you have with the Icarus pic. Your way ahead of most already simply because you seem to have a pretty good understanding of anatomy, you just need to begin expanding your horizons if your not already.

To put it bluntly, get the fuck out of your comfort zone. :]

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satellitesoda.com | dylanmccrae.com

Thanks for the comments guys. I definitely agree that I need to get out of my comfort zone, and that I do get obsessed with rendering to the point where I over do it . Creature of habit. :)

Dylan, you are correct. I post over at Penciljack quite a bit and that's actually where I learned about this place.

Here's a few more recent pieces. That are a little more dynamic, and more in line with traditional comicbook style art...

Wolverine


Rai


Hulk vs. Thor


Venom


Dragon Rider


More watercolor

Something fun for the Kids yesterday...

i like how often you have things exploding due to people kicking them

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production diary

Im seeing huge inconsistancies in your work, especially on your human form man. Some images seem reference heavy, while others just dont seem to know what's going on. I mean, look at the AbsorbingMan and Venom pieces... night and day differences.

Something you definitly gota look out for is becoming reference dependant allowing it to cripple your work, because using too much and then going off of it can be like quitting anything cold turkey. When you're using reference you gota study it man. See what's going on with form, posing, and anatomy. The biggest mistake I see in peoples anatomy is they dont know how muscles really work, they just know that they are there, and sometimes where they actually go, but rarely how they work. Take Hulk vs Thor for instance. Hulk is extending his right arm and smashing the shit out of the ground, I know this because I see him doing it, but I dont feel it. Act like you're going to hit the shit out of something with your arm going from 90 degrees to straight on. Which muscle are you using the most? Your triceps, not the bicep. In that arms pose it's crucial for you to put more emphasis on the tricep, the extenstion of the arm, how the flexed triceps can push the back delt forward crunching it into the other delts, etc. You have to think this way about every major muscle group on the body when you're doing anything, ESPECIALLY action. "Flex every muscle" syndrom hurts work and really takes away a ton of the realism and animation to me, leaving work stiff and hollow.

As for the refernce debate, use it man, just when you are using it always make yourself aware of what you're doing and why, and always remember to apply it apply it apply it man. And always reference life fist man. I hate seeing people reference other comic artists work first before life. It only helps you advance your study further by spotting their mistakes and learning how they can work things into their style.

Going back again to the inconcistancies... really, make sure that your reference is to boost your work, not deprive it of your touch. You gota bring your unreferenced work up to the level of your reference work now, that's where I would go if I were you.

I hope this helps, its a bit late and a bit of a ramble, but you have really good work, you just gota make sure that you bring everything together and start to get a consistant identity for yourself.

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EH ESS DEE EFF
DDF 2013 Thread
DDF 2012 Thread
DDF 2011 Thread

Off the bat, solid work (obviously), but it's like there are 2 different sides to your pieces. You've got the realistic thing going on, but there is the line version (examples: Rai, Rebel Fighter, Hulk vs Thor) and then the pieces leaning a little more towards, photo-real,-ish, (examples: Icarus, 'More Watercolor', Tarzan, Wings for Marie). Anyways, I think both versions are great, but knocking the lines completely out of the 'more' realistic stuff is gonna take them up another level. Use the values and contrast to create the forms in the pieces. Or just loose them when you color it or whatever. It's just going to add to the realistic qualities of the work. Really nice stuff.

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Igo, Murdock thanks for the indepth critiques!

I experiment alot with different media and sometimes that dictates how I approach a drawing style wise. My paintings tend to be on the more realistic side, so when I do the prelim pencil drawings I do them in a tonal style. My "comic book" style is done more with the thought that it will be inked. Ideally I'd like to find a happy medium between the two and get into a comfort zone.

I've tinkered with the idea of doing a fully rendered pencil style with Adi Granov style coloring over it. Because I enjoy the tonal style alot more.

Something along these lines:


I agree alot with what you say regarding what muscle groups do when in action. Something I'll work on.

Thanks again for looking and taking the time to put down your thoughts!

Here's what you need


Something I (and many) swear by.

Glad I could help man, keep up the good work.

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EH ESS DEE EFF
DDF 2013 Thread
DDF 2012 Thread
DDF 2011 Thread

yeah, id love to see you go for a fully rendered B&W page, cause i dont see a lot of peps going down that route, so youll have a foot in the door in hat respect.

besides the muscle problems, which everyone else is helping you out on.
but i think you need a greater value range. you go from a a 0% to a 20% to a 50% to an 80% very fast. if you look at adi's work, there are unbelievable subtleties. if you need to look at someone for great inspiration of subtleties, look at peter paul rubens. its like sex.
for now, my tip is to use a much harder pencil. like a 2b or 4b. it allows you to get really light, then change it up when you press hard. use a 2b, a 4h, a stomp, and a rag of some sort. and hell, throw in a pencil eraser. should provide wonders.

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steak and sourdough

Can't see the images :(

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http://www.comicspace.com/yorko/
http://yorko.deviantart.com
http://yorko.blogspot.com

same

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www.themonkmob.deviantart.com
www.superrugged.blogspot.com

I apologize, I seem to be having an issue with my website service provider. Hope to have it resolved soon.

Crappy temporary fix:
http://dfbovey.deviantart.com/

Still waiting for my site to come back on line... did this today and uploaded it to Photobucket.

I greatly admired your work from Penciljack.

The last piece has some great weight and movement in the Rhino. The lady on top though doesn't seems correct. It looks like she was just placed on top and there is no interaction between her and the rhino. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. The forms are outstanding in their rendition, but in this piece the bodies need to be working together. She might be pushing down against the rhino or holding on. Also the blackness of the wings and shoulder flattens that part of the rendering and lack believability compared to the finely rendered rest. I love the ideas and rendering of this piece, just needs some fine tuning.

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http://chris.gottadraw.com/
MY DIXIE WRECKED

Thanks for the comments mrcynic, I agree about the flatness of the wings flattening it a bit. She's supposed to be raven like which is why they are so dark. The balance between the Rhino and the woman also bothered me, probably the thing that bothered me the most about that piece.

Been a while since I've posted here. Been working on a webcomic for Penciljack.com called Everforce. Here's the first 4 pages of the 8 that I'll be doing.

Been a while, and I bring new stuff :)

Tarzan watercolor painting


Color pencils and watercolor


Moonknight pencils

All of your work is pretty solid barring some inconsistency in anatomy. However, I REALLY like the more natural looking style that you use on the Tarzan and Conan type pieces. Your water color work is also really nice, especially the sea serpent guy. I feel like you have two voices. Your more illustrative style is very strong and developed. However, the comic booky voice seem somewhat generic.

You've got a lot a skill. I would encourage you to follow your strengths.

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Blog | Deviantart | Twitter

Thanks! I've always enjoyed working in watercolor more and have gotten it to where I can actually work in color as fast if not faster than I do in pencil. I have plans to work on a fully painted book in the near future.

First page to my painted comic. Establishing a primative fishing village hit hard by drought.

yay venom!!!
the water color under him is super pro! is that wolvarine? in any case you should totally go in that direction!

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TheFlork DD2012

"To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift."
Steve Prefontaine
(ಠ㉦ಠ)

I really don't have much to add in terms of critique as I feel the most important bits have been mentioned already. Personally I am much more partial to your colored work, and not simply because it has colors but because it comes across as much more energetic, but also looser. Quad mentioned that most of the sequential or comic book related work seems somewhat generic and someone else said it's overrendered and I have to agree. The illustrative work is a lot more fun to look at in my opinion as it just feels much more natural. And not because it's leaning towards a more realistic depiction of the subject matter, but simply due to your approach. You mentioned that differs depending on the mediums you use and that definitely shows.
That being said I definitely enjoy seeing you merging those two styles a bit more with the colored sequentials towards the end of this thread. I feel as though they still seem somewhat stiff and as if you were either trying too hard are being too afraid to mess up the entire page (which I for one would totally understand), but I like the direction you took those in and think it's absolutely worth exploring. Maybe add some more of the looseness you got going on in some of your stand alone illustrations, and only refining the focal points of each panel (while keeping in mind how to lead the eye across the entire page and enhancing the flow / legibility of the page). You already did some of that in the most recent page for sure, I like how you used the more loose brush strokes for objects in the distance to create some depth.
But overall I think it can be pushed a little more. That piece of the lady standing on the rhino for example, I actually love that one (despite what I said earlier about me preferring your colored work). Despite some possible flaws on the woman, the energy in that piece is awesome and I love how you don't have the entire piece being restricted, for lack of a better term, by line art. But instead you're mixing it up more, using the lines only towards the more important (in this case centered) parts of the image and letting the rest fade out somewhat with the strokes. I think it works great and I'd love to see more of that raw energy in the sequential pages.

Overall I really enjoyed looking at this thread. I for one appreciate the variety in styles but I do feel that some work far better than others, namely the looser, more energetic ones. I'd love to see more!

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DDF 2013
TUMBLR

Nicelly done. The main thing that gets me on most of these images would probablly be the poses.Some look stiff when you could have pushed them a little. I would like to see the forms loose and more dynamic. You've got some good handle on your beasts and dig alot of you illos.