[Grimjust Bearegular]

Redline away!

[Dolmen 2.0]

Okey dokey. two things about her ladyship the warrior.

First:From this image I think and imagine a broken leg situation of some sort? If so, she is placing heavy burden on the ok leg. This is a problem as one leg is rarely enough to hold balance, especially after hard work. the cane you have is not supporting anything at that angle as I have tried to show you need the cane out in the opposite direction of the injured leg.

(EDIT)If this is not the case then it may still be awkward to stand in this manner. balance is tricky in heavy mail armour of any sort.

Second: the face is upturned to the sky, a great source of light, the chin however has realy dark outlines. this makes the shape of the chin appear round when really its actually a gentle bump on a flat facial plane.

I have tried to show what I think better in the marked op painting. I hope its clear and that what I'm saying makes sense to you.

 Untitled-1.jpg (238.85K)
Number of downloads: 2

This post has been edited by Dolmen+: 30 September 2013 - 04:02 PM

[Kaamos]

Hmm. I would also give her some more muscle mass (the arms look a bit scrawny for a warrior). Revise her midriff: she's facing straight on, but the lines of her torso are directed towards (her) left. If you have a full-length mirror, strike the same pose and compare.
Also if you can mirror your drawings within your painting program, that's a good means to review anatomy, etc.

(I wonder if I could post some [non-Malazan] stuff here for redlining also. Been really difficult to find critiquers during the past couple of years...)

 Dolmen+, on 29 September 2013 - 07:29 PM, said:

You haven't finished TtH??? drop everything and do exactly this in this ORDER!

1.Possibly locate a coat (Winter is coming.)

2.Run for the mountains.

3.Finish the master piece that is Toll of the Hounds.

4.Possibly blow up from overload of awesome.


At such a point maybe were-dolphins might be EXACTLY what you need to calm down. TtH is all about the end Kaamos.

I am semi-prepared! It's a about -5C so the coat has been dragged out weeks ago, but I must run around 600km northwards, find a cave not yet filled with bears and snow, and learn how to build a campfire à lá Neanderthals.

(Hahaha, I know...but took a voluntary break to rewind my brain and snack on some more light-hearted novels. :-D Malazan can become a bit ponderous after every 2500 pages or so. Also haven't bonded as well with the Tiste Andii as for instance with Trull or a certain cocky barbarian. But I shall continue, I shall!)

This post has been edited by Kaamos: 02 October 2013 - 12:48 PM

[Dolmen 2.0]

 Kaamos, on 02 October 2013 - 10:03 AM, said:

(Hahaha, I know...but took a voluntary break to rewind my brain and snack on some more light-hearted novels. :-D Malazan can become a bit ponderous after every 2500 pages or so. Also haven't bonded as well with the Tiste Andii as for instance with Trull or a certain cocky barbarian. But I shall continue, I shall!)

Yeah I found the Andii a bit tough to engage in as well. But just wait oh man.

Feel free to post up anything you have in the pipe line! Will be awesome to see more variety of work.

[Corporal Nobbs]

Since we're sharing

WIP's
This where I'm at with the Coltaine pic I was doing, pretty much stuck.
 The Fall of Coltaine wip1.jpg (258.76K)
Number of downloads: 1

And a portrait of Fiddler I take a stab at every couple of weeks
 fiddler wip.jpg (361.92K)
Number of downloads: 1

[Corporal Nobbs]

Thought I might add this one as well... it's not Malazan, but...
A commissioned painting, (from family, but it still counts - got paid), the whole staggered thing was their idea, as well as the colour scheme.
Made the canvases as well for this which was fun and something I haven't done since school (which was more years ago than I care to admit)
Each one is around 300x800mm
Acrylic on canvas
 Commission 1 Janelle small.jpg (319.34K)
Number of downloads: 1

[Dolmen 2.0]

I have to say CN that canvas looks glorious. I'd definitely pay to get that on my wall.

The Coltaine pick is looking good...what's got you stuck? I can C&C a few things but don't wanna throw you off so wanna hear from you first.

Fiddler I like, would expect him to be thin though, every member of the bonehunters went through one hell of a crash diet. but the important thing for me is that you got the eyes and grit spot on.

On a side note, how awesome is this guys setup?

EDIT: slightly NSFW in a vague arty type of way.
http://www.conceptar...=233518&page=11

This post has been edited by Dolmen+: 03 October 2013 - 06:45 PM

[Kaamos]

Yay! :-D

Nobby: loving the colors on that tree painting. One matter that stands out in the Coltaine pic is the size of the foreground characters. With that perspective, they ought to be rather larger than the tragic figure himself. Some seem to have even smaller heads than he who hangs considerably further off.


And mine. Cut for size.

Spoiler

This is from Stephen R. Donaldson's fantasyverse; one of the more annoying wips I've had as of late. Depicts a specific scene: has some humans, burly female giants, and genderless creepycritters with huge slimy nostrils. Exhumed it a couple of weeks ago after a year's disinterest; redrew some of the characters and rearranged the layout, but still far from happy with it. Perhaps an external eye could spot the problems better.
Starting from scratch is problematic for me due to my slowness (>>crappy eyesight).

 tctc_uvkaannos_wip4.jpg (787.22K)
Number of downloads: 0

[Dolmen 2.0]

I have a soft spot for giant ladies it seems, hmmmm. I had a look at he image, I have not read much Stephen Donaldson but it looks really interesting scene wise. a few things jumped out at me.

1) the humans were at eyelevel with the giantess. the eye was drawn to a snout along where the imagined horizon might be and the Gaintess is not looking as big as her friends in the background. Considering how far they are from the giantess, they look huge. I shifted masses a little to try balance things up.

 KAAMOS1.jpg (324.15K)
Number of downloads: 1

[Kaamos]

Ooh, that could be just the thing! :-D The layout looks a LOT more balanced in your suggestion, as does the scale. Back to rearranging characters... Thanks!!

Did you have anything else in mind? There's a list that appears to end at #1. :-D

[Dolmen 2.0]

 Kaamos, on 04 October 2013 - 09:34 AM, said:

Ooh, that could be just the thing! :-D The layout looks a LOT more balanced in your suggestion, as does the scale. Back to rearranging characters... Thanks!!

Did you have anything else in mind? There's a list that appears to end at #1. :-D

My pleasure

I had a comment #2 that I forgot to add, sorry. In regards to the Giantesses themselves, I like the big burly muscles but I fear for the belts the ladies are wearing that seem way too small for these substantial body types. Perhaps you can look at that? This and that the under arm muscles should be in tension when raised over the head are the only things that felt a bit odd about your characters. The rest of them, expressions especially I really enjoy. What is the story with them and the strange slimy ones?

[Dolmen 2.0]

 SINN SMALLB.jpg (288.77K)
Number of downloads: 1

[Kaamos]

Uu, Sinn looks totally insane and ready to destroy a couple of cities. :-D I like it!

I may have a resurfacing anatomy error with the raised arms. I'll have to dig out some of my reference books and fix. Hmm, I guess you're right about the belts; nothing delicate about an 800-kg woman. :-D I did have some "logical" reasoning for that; the warriors are resting after a bloody battle and thus have flung off most of their armor, and these belts were mainly to keep the kirtles together. They wear much sturdier weapon belts such as here (well, she's from the slimmer end but still over 10ft tall). (Not much of an armor specialist either but it's more protective than a chain mail bikini, which they don't wear, thank the gods below. )

 osm_haarniska.jpg (196.56K)
Number of downloads: 0

So the argument was that larger paraphernalia would perhaps chafe or take up space beneath the armor, buuut...well, those meager strips do appear as if they might snap them with a single twist of the torso.


Anyhow, thanks!!


Story? Well, don't know how much I can reveal sans shoveling out significant spoilers, but the giantesses are basically Karsa's less barbaric bigger sisters from a universe Erikson used as one of his influences. :-D And vice versa, as he and Donaldson are apparently real-life friends. They even wield stone swords.

I don't remember any more why I selected this particular scene; perhaps it was to attempt depicting some different species together. Basically the woman looking awkward is translating the cumbersome speech of the slimy ones to the "heroes" in the foreground; again don't recall it all too well.

But I restarted TtH and the story's picking up speed. No more weredolphins (at least for a wee while)!

[Dolmen 2.0]

Giants with stone swords can wear whatever the hell they please I suspect but I'm glad the crit was helpful. I like the new sketch. Your explanation of the scene reminds me of guilivers travels for some reason . Theres a joke in here somewhere, something about big women and not being able to lie. If only abyss were here to figure it out.

The blue undersketch Really works. do you always do under-studies of your work like this? is it from reference, self-imagined or are you sketching fresh from memory of the last giant woman you saw? I'm sure there's a few out there...

[Kaamos]

Abyss, where art thou?
(Uuf, been ages since I read Gulliver's Travels. Increase the TRPFH by one...)

It's based on the giantess that stomped through the backyard last week and flattened a couple of currant bushes on the way. The populations of Jötnar and trolls and Fenn have increased considerably here in Fennoscandia since Þórr was forced to comply with modern laws about speciesism. My area has become popular among Icelandic trolls that attempt to find mates in order to outbreed the pesterous turning-to-stone-when-the-sun-rises gene not present in the Fennic Kalevanpojat and vägimehed.

Yeah, I do use references--mostly stuff I've photographed myself--to get foreshortenings and wireframes right; but I don't think much of it considering that professional artists do the same (and I'm not one). A mirror's an excellent aid for expressions. At some point noticed that this kind of understudy sketch helps speed up the process and lessen anatomy oddities, so I use the technique for everything these days.

[HiddenOne]

[Dolmen 2.0]

 Kaamos, on 08 October 2013 - 09:31 AM, said:

...It's based on the giantess that stomped through the backyard last week and flattened a couple of currant bushes on the way. The populations of Jötnar and trolls and Fenn have increased considerably here in Fennoscandia since Þórr was forced to comply with modern laws about speciesism. My area has become popular among Icelandic trolls that attempt to find mates in order to outbreed the pesterous turning-to-stone-when-the-sun-rises gene not present in the Fennic Kalevanpojat and vägimehed...

You live in a scary place Kaamos. I don't think the gaurdian sharks gonna cut it...perhaps?:



Photo referencing is a major thing. I used to try and avoid it but now I notice that reference is the best place to learn from. the more photos you use the better the result. I tend to block out and skip sketching entirely. I like to find the character in the blobs, this tends to make the later sketch over a way for me to rationalize anatomy. always great to learn how others do their thing.

This post has been edited by Dolmen+: 08 October 2013 - 02:56 PM

[Kaamos]

 HiddenOne, on 08 October 2013 - 01:55 PM, said:

Ja, jag har ju sett den här dokumentären, men dessa dummare trollar som inte kan tala på något människospråk (Finska, Svenska, Norska…) bor nästan alla i Norge; vi har ju olika typer av dom. :-D Och den tyvärr innehåller mycket felaktig information om jötnar.

Quote

You live in a scary place Kaamos. I don't think the gaurdian sharks gonna cut it...

Yup, and I'm afraid sharks would fare better if they hid themselves in the presence of Icelandic anything. There's a strong chance of them pining for some hákarl.

A good portion of the trolls have integrated well into the society, however. These formed a successful metal band. These are totally tame and cuddly. As for the giants, well, Kalev loves chocolate so much that he was featured in a commercial.



And this happy kalevid couple did not turn to stone (for one, they don't possess the gene) while dragging ashore a grand catch of fish; instead, the Saaremaa folk built some statues to celebrate the occasion. :-D

 Dolmen+, on 08 October 2013 - 02:56 PM, said:

I tend to block out and skip sketching entirely. I like to find the character in the blobs, this tends to make the later sketch over a way for me to rationalize anatomy. always great to learn how others do their thing.

Do you have any "blob sketches" / progress left somewhere? Would be interesting to see this very different technique from mine. :-D
Right, I was wary of photos also some years back, but they indeed have proven helpful. Mainly it's for the basic muscle/wireframe; buildings and landscapes are much easier to drag out of nowhere once I have a perspective grid assembled.

[Dolmen 2.0]

 Kaamos, on 09 October 2013 - 05:09 PM, said:

 Dolmen+, on 08 October 2013 - 02:56 PM, said:

I tend to block out and skip sketching entirely. I like to find the character in the blobs, this tends to make the later sketch over a way for me to rationalize anatomy. always great to learn how others do their thing.

Do you have any "blob sketches" / progress left somewhere? Would be interesting to see this very different technique from mine. :-D
Right, I was wary of photos also some years back, but they indeed have proven helpful. Mainly it's for the basic muscle/wireframe; buildings and landscapes are much easier to drag out of nowhere once I have a perspective grid assembled.

Really crappy video I tried ages ago...as per your request .



I generally work in this manner but have learn't a ton since then, I'm a bit cleaner about the process which remarkable as I lack patience and work at a glaciers pace when unmotivated. These days I refine and detail before I color. I blob out the scene and detail it in grayscale, gradually blocking and fading things in. It feels like sculpting that way and you tend to "find" your character which I really enjoy.

This post has been edited by Dolmen+: 09 October 2013 - 06:47 PM

[HiddenOne]

@ Kaamos - Google Translate broke that statement up poorly, would you mind explaining in English?