I decided to go with D, and I just launched into it. I'm hoping folks can tell me if things are pulling focus and interest. I"m worried there's too much texture in the tree, perhaps, and I need to do something a bit more substantial to the path he's standing on...
@aprilshin I decided to change the boy's facial expression a bit, and have him looking upward with a "sorta" grin... I think that was stronger than the "I'm lonely" vibe I think I was going for... Does that make things a bit clearer? Or at least less complicated?
I love it overall. The anatomy of the wings attaching to the body (both where they attach and how they attach) feels very strange to me. Terryl Whitlatch would be a great person to look up, and you could study birds and bat anatomy.
@Katherine you're welcome! As far as the girl's expression conveying transcendence at being able to view the moon, perhaps you could strengthen that by adjusting the expression of her eyebrows and having her look at the moon? Just a thought. ️
i feel you should find a "mommy & daddy" thread in some forum and ask the same question...
I love the thin lines of the second one, with the placement of the first one!!
@Tom-Burchell Maybe you could do this with value, but it seems like I saw things in this order: Bears, Girl, Mouse. I think it should read Girl, Mouse, Bear to follow the story better. Brighter colors on her and more contrast on both her and the mouse would do it. The strong bIack dots of the noses and eyes of the bears draw my attention first because they have the strongest contrast. If the bears recede a bit with darker tones/values it would read better in my opinion, especially if you rendered her and the mouse with brighter more saturated colors. I agree with @carlianne about the expression. Maybe it could be more of a "huh?" look on her face, as in, what are you pointing at? Both eyebrows raised would do it, I think.
Feel free to completely disregard!
Fun story and character design. I look forward to seeing the end product.
@Braden-Hallett NICE cover design! Really simple and effective.
You’re gonna hate me cuz I’m late to the party, but honestly, a green title would work better, in my humble book design opinion.
Instead of that lighter “mint green” that you weren’t digging, have you tried the mid-green of the computer chip? That color, with a gradient, would really make the title pop as well has bring some color harmony to the bottom of the cover. It’s also nice to have the title and byline a little more separated in color.
It’s worth a try.
Just, and embarrassingly, realized that I never wrapped up my Inktober 52 (2020 edition) project on the forum. Turns out, after I'd hit 36, I felt that the series was done, and I was very happy with that production and the growth I'd made in character design and brush pen work. I've named the series "The Mechanical Menagerie" and the next step is to start coloring these guys. I'd love make an art book or products, like T-shirts and stickers, out of them.
Here are the final prompts I tackled:
Week 27: Eyes
Week 28: Wires
Week 29: Garden
Week 30: Sandy
Week 31: UFO
Week 32: Tail
Week 33: Brain
Week 34: Gauntlet
Week 35: Balance
Week 36: Drill
Heyo!
I'm sending out emails to art directors this week, tryin to get some work. I'm planning on sending out this image and just wanted to quick run it by some people! Thoughts on mocking up the b+w images onto the actual pages? Yea, nay?
With no postcards going out I thought I'd try and do a single digital image that could quickly be saved and shared and had all my info on it, a bit like a postcard. I'd appreciate any feedback! Thanks!
@baileyvidler @KayPotter @Jacy13 @SheerArt @carlianne thank you so much for your kind words! I apprechimade your words, feedback and support a lot!
@CLCanadyArts Thank you so much! Yeah I imagined something like that, I also had this idea that they are living somewhere in a house half underwater, half above the sea level, in a kind of shared apartment situation, that I hope to explore in a future illustration : )
Adding to the feedback above, I'm personally a bit unsure about the scale in this image! It's cool to have this massive cat and fish, but in comparison to all this, the tree looks really small compared to the girl as well.
I'm not sure if the intention was to have it look like the tree is in the distance (hence small compared to the girl) , but if so, It's not reading very clearly to me. Part of that is that it looks like we're looking down on the cat slightly, as if the tree was below our eye level, when the girl is roughly AT our eye level, if that makes sense.
Love the textures and the rendering on the branches and bark!
@aska Thank you again for the feedback! That helps so much. And it makes a lot of sense. As Jake and Will talked about in the last Critique Arena, I’ll definitely need to make sure it’s focused on the task/job at hand because you’re right – this general list is a little all over the place. Thank you!
Sorry about the delay but I just wanted to say thank you for the help and support with this. It’s my first time posting a WIP and figure/face design is something I really need to work on which I why I took on the brief as a personal challenge. I actually decided to give up on this at one point because I was struggling a lot. The feedback helped me to decide to go for it at the last minute (and finished at 3.30am UK time to hit the MST time zone deadline). Thank you, I really appreciate it.
I saw the number 3, before a B, just at first fast glance.
The bee looked like a pendant to me, with the antennae being the chain, but I deal with jewelry a lot, so my brain is wired to see that I guess.
The eyes are the same size as the wings, at first when I looked at it closer I saw a really cartoony fly. I dunno, just thoughts.
I would draw a few bees, see if any of them feel right. Can always stick with the original.
