[GenKael]

Coltaine's Fall. One of the saddest moments from a series full of them. Any critiques or comments are welcome.

Attached File(s)

•  coltaine new 1.png (1.13MB)
  Number of downloads: 7

[Tattersail_]

I'll post more comments later but first thought is he looks too young..

[Tattersail_]

Okay hello, me again. I have just finished this book and it is fresh in my minds eye. The whole thing seems wrong, he should be black and blue. He'd been fighting non stop for over 24 hours, once they finally got to him they beat the Holy Hell out of him, he was tortured and would have had a lot more cuts and scars than that guy. He looks like a disney character. I love your drawings so I only be honest with what I say. It is a harsh criticism I know but that picture is not gory enough and doesn't picture the amount of turmoil he had went through. He was a veteran in the Malazan Empire, part of the old guard from way back when, i'd think him more wrinkly, with a lot more scars.

How negative do I sound. If you go back to some of your earlier work I did compliment your drawings and even sent rep your way.

[GenKael]

Not negative. I appreciate all input. I was thinking of someone like Robert Downey Jr, or Brad Pitt, who are in their 40s but still in great shape. I agree, he should be more bloody. I just didn't want to go "Passion" on him. But it does make sense.

[Tattersail_]

 GenKael, on 26 March 2013 - 04:38 PM, said:

Not negative. I appreciate all input. I was thinking of someone like Robert Downey Jr, or Brad Pitt, who are in their 40s but still in great shape. I agree, he should be more bloody. I just didn't want to go "Passion" on him. But it does make sense.

I guess some of it goes on how old you think these guys are. How old was Dujek Onearm? Late 80's or something, he was a fist. I believe Coltaine to be in the same age range. Maybe like this guy. Looks tough, little older, but has a lot of wisdom or that is what I see.

This post has been edited by Xae: 08 September 2016 - 11:14 AM
Reason for edit: Image removed because of DMCA claim.

[amphibian]

Ganoes is right. This is too pretty. Coltaine was beaten, battered and cut up from the 24+ hour battle and his taking by the mob.

Coltaine is described in the Malazan wiki as such:

Quote

He was described as having a lean, expressionless lined face with deep brackets around a thin, wide mouth, and squint tracks at the corners of his dark, deep-set eyes. He wore his hair in oiled braids which hung down past his shoulders, knotted with crow-feather fetishes. He was tall, wearing a battered vest of chain over a hide shirt, a crow-feather cloak hanging from his broad shoulders down to the backs of his knees. He wore a rider's leggings, laced with gut up the outer sides to his hips. a single horn-handled long-knife jutted out from under his left arm.

[Tattersail_]

I'd like to see you do the changes, from what i've seen in the past I know you can.

Jokingly...

This post has been edited by Xae: 08 September 2016 - 11:13 AM
Reason for edit: Image removed because of DMCA claim.

[Malaclypse]

Hold on you assholes...

Far be it from me to sugar-coat anything but you guys are being a bit harsh here.

On its own merits, this is a decent, somewhat compelling image - the crows are too clipart but the guy on the cross is good, for a videogame cutscene. I like it

Also, Ganoes, I think you are wildly overestimating Coltaine's (apparent) age. I reckon late 30s early 40s and Hetan beside me agrees, cuz I know you lot value her opinion more than mine ;p

Good effort. Needs work but it is not terrible

[Khestrassa]

Altough the guys above are right in the little details, I just wish 10 % of your talent for myself. I cant draw at all, so it is a worthy try, keep up

[worry]

Maybe roughen up the wood a bit, is actually my main suggestion. Could be wrong, but I thought the cross was improvised. Also don't model him after famous white dudes (although maybe you just meant in terms of his frame). But mostly I agree with Mal. Coltaine isn't Old Guard, and Quon Tali took decades to conquer. He's definitely a bit battle-weathered though.

[Dolmen 2.0]

Coltaine was shot at an iconic time of day, think you'd score points with a "red" sky. The cross used in Wu is I believe the roman cross with an X or V element to it (personally not bothered by your version of the cross, I'm just sayin'). Coltaine was near ascendant, those guys age slower than most I believe and he was definately of staunch build. I think a bit of grey in the hair and a lot of battle bruises would help. Also try Tatter up his pants, he effectively went through a human meat grinder, he should be tattered personified.

[GenKael]

That picture made me laugh, Ganoes. Awesome!

The encyclopediamalazica says he's 40+, and malazan.wikia.com says he was 40 when he died. I was looking at lots of old Native American pictures when I was was drawing him. (I was using RDJ and BP as figure models)

There's a lot of good suggestions here, I'll get started after work.

[Toraneko]

Aside from what everyone's already said, I think the background really needs work. As someone else mentioned the crows are very clipart and copy-paste, and the vortex-like background is a bit strange considering the context. The figure itself is alright but is compositionally very boring.

I do agree with Malaclypse though that he is about 40+ years old, instead of 80 or so as the others are saying.

It looks like a 3d model, but you mentioned "drawing". I always thought paintings rendered like 3d models are always a bit weird and artificial looking. Maybe for your next piece consider using more texture.

This post has been edited by Toraneko: 27 March 2013 - 01:54 AM

[GenKael]

Worked on roughing him (and everything) up, tried to make it a stronger composition, and altered the background. I still have to work on the crows. They were clip art, but I am gonna draw over (most) of them.

Attached File(s)

•  coltaine new 2.png (1.07MB)
  Number of downloads: 0

[Abyss]

i may be misremembering, but wasn't the cross actually a big X, not a ''christian' cross, for lack of a better way of describing it?

[Malaclypse]

 Abyss, on 27 March 2013 - 05:28 PM, said:

i may be misremembering, but wasn't the cross actually a big X, not a ''christian' cross, for lack of a better way of describing it?

You remember correctly, somebody mentioned it upthread as well - would be a significant improvement in this depiction.

This post has been edited by Malaclypse: 27 March 2013 - 07:49 PM

[Macros]

The second one looks a lot better on the 'beat up' front,
I don't have my book to hand, but I *think* he was nailed to an X cross, the crucifix we commonly think of now was hardly ever used, afaik even the upright 'crosses' were actually T shaped

[GenKael]

When I first read it two years ago, I thought I remembered his head hitting the back of the post, then slumping down. That would have implied a traditional "t" shaped cross. Then I went back and reread it (after everyone's posts), and yeah, it's an X and the arrow passes through his head.

"Duiker could have sworn that Coltaine looked up then, lifted his gaze to greet the gift, as the iron head impacted his forehead, shattered the bone, sank deep into his brain and killed him instantly. His head snapped back between the spars of wood, then the arrow was through."

I think my memory was jumbled, because Pormqual's troops were all crucified on posts and trees, which is more "T" like.

Which pretty much means I'd have to do the whole damn picture over again. Artistic license? I think I'll just finish this one up as is, then take another run at it in the future sometime. I have a lot of other scenes and characters I want to have a go at.

[tiam]

 GenKael, on 28 March 2013 - 07:23 AM, said:

When I first read it two years ago, I thought I remembered his head hitting the back of the post, then slumping down. That would have implied a traditional "t" shaped cross. Then I went back and reread it (after everyone's posts), and yeah, it's an X and the arrow passes through his head.

"Duiker could have sworn that Coltaine looked up then, lifted his gaze to greet the gift, as the iron head impacted his forehead, shattered the bone, sank deep into his brain and killed him instantly. His head snapped back between the spars of wood, then the arrow was through."

I think my memory was jumbled, because Pormqual's troops were all crucified on posts and trees, which is more "T" like.

Which pretty much means I'd have to do the whole damn picture over again. Artistic license? I think I'll just finish this one up as is, then take another run at it in the future sometime. I have a lot of other scenes and characters I want to have a go at.

Its very good and I people are being harsh with it, but only in a constructive criticism kind of way. Coltaine needs to be more tanned, less immaculately pale, battered and lined on an x cross. He is around 40 not the eighty years (Dujek is mentioned as being 79 in GOTM but lets not get into a timeline discussion) and Bult his older uncle is around late fifties I would imagine. Just needs to be leaner, darker and grittier on an x cross.

Still very good and us book nerds with no artistic talent are giving you a rough ride here

[Macros]

Its a great picture, I don't think any of us are denying that, just as a representation of Coltaine it oesnt match up with what we picture him to be.