Halloween illustration WIP

[Jonathon B]

Love it, I agree with Kevin on the chair legs. He seems to be floating a bit. I want to see what you do with the monster at the very back of the line. Nice character design. The big guy is my favorite.

[NoWayMe]

Hello again!

Thank you all so much for the comments! I really appreciate the help!

I modified a lot of the things that were suggested; the only thing I'm not sure how to modify is the monster walking away with his pumpkin! If he walks away from the table, we would see his back and then we wouldn't see the carved pumpkin... I guess maybe the vampire delivers the pumpkin to the chair!

I will probably change some more things as I go, but I really think this version is better than the first! Any other suggestions ?

[Thrace]

It looks so much better since you cropped it and changed Dracula's head. If you wanted another option with the one walking away he could turn towards Dracula and lift the pumpkin beside his head to show that 2 heads are better than one, haha! Dracula kind of already looks like he stopped working for a minute to glance his way. Very nice work!!

[Kevin Longueil]

@NoWayMe - it looks better but i am still reacting to it as having something wrong with the perspective - - i took out most of the competing visual cues except for the tilt of the chair arms which could be part of the chair design - when i erased the horizon line it helped a lot - here is what i am seeing - the group of monsters waiting exist on a differing plane than the chair and the table - the candle tops - the candelabra feet - the axis of the chair - the horizon all compete and are slightly out of whack with each other - the table top has a long axis that is parallel to the bottom of the page which would make the horizon parallel also i think - but the rest has a forced perspective as though the vanishing points are not too far away and we are looking down at the scene - i imagine the bottom of the ghost that is sitting on the floor is basically roundish and similar to the table top in shape - if that is true we would see much more of the top of the table than we do...pretty sure i am rambling at this point - anyways i erased visual cues - lowered the group - raised the boy - ...what do you think?...i love forced perspective though - maybe you could paste your image onto a larger document and add vanishing points and check all of the locations and axis - ...blah blah balh....i do love your drawing! especially your line weight variation - looks very good - and awesome characters too!

[NoWayMe]

@Kevin-Longueil Thank you so much for taking the time to do this! I see what you mean, the perspective does look better with the changes you made! I will rework that this evening!

Thanks again!

[Ace Connell]

Dayum! I just checked your blog - your art is incredible!

Ace

[Thrace]

I checked out your website as well. You are so gifted! I think your studies are haunting! I have never used that word but it just came to me when I was looking at them. Your hands and feet are amazing! If I could draw like that I would do nothing else.

[Will Terry]

Very fun illustration! I love the expression on that kid.

[Will Terry]

@NoWayMe I have a few ideas that might help your composition but if you've already started i won't slow you down...let me know and I'll do a draw over

[Dulcie]

This is lots of fun and I love the monster designs - agree that the latest composition works better - will be great to see the finished version

[NoWayMe]

@Ace-Connell Thank you so much! I checked your Twitter and web site too! Love your sharks for InkTober! Inking is something I really struggle with, I should really do inktober to practice it! I love your caricatures too!!!

[NoWayMe]

@Thrace-Shirley-Mears Wow! I think this is the nicest comment I've ever had on my drawings! Thank you!!!

[NoWayMe]

@Will-Terry Oh my! Please go ahead and draw over!!! I was so happy when I saw your post a little earlier today! I have to say, I have been a big fan of your work for a couple of years now! Your video series on "How to illustrate children's book" and "How to design a drawing" on Folio Academy are by far the two best 30 $ I have spent in my life!! I know I still have a lot to learn on composition however and I would love to have your input on my illustration!

[Kevin Longueil]

I second that! - if folks have not heard of Folio Academy before you should check it out - Will Terry has some great lessons there - really excellent stuff.

[mattramsey]

@Kevin-Longueil said:

I second that! - if folks have not heard of Folio Academy before you should check it out - Will Terry has some great lessons there - really excellent stuff.

I had not--thank you for mentioning it (and @NoWayMe as well).

[Will Terry]

Thank you Kevin - I'm not working with Folio Academy anymore but now I'm pouring all my efforts here into svslearn.com ...

[Will Terry]

@Kevin-Longueil I didn't spend a lot of time but in general you need to crop in towards your focal point. Also try to overlap and fit shapes together which will simplify your illustration and make it easier for your view to identify the important stuff from the non important things. Also on pumpkins in foreground - vary shapes from large to small for interest - to get away from pattern...pattern is good when you want a pattern for flavor but not by accident. Darken foreground objects will allow for contrast to lighted focal points.

[Kevin Longueil]

@Will-Terry Hey Will - great draw over! - just wanted to make sure you knew this awesome drawing belongs to @NoWayMe - the last composition in the thread was just me trying to show a few ideas i had -

[NoWayMe]

@Will-Terry
Hi Will!
Wow! Thank you so much! I really like it a lot more this way! I'll rework the sketch in this direction and repost it later. You're making me realize that I have a tendency to really spread out my compositions and not overlap things enough. I will have to work on that!

The only thing I am not sure of is the little guy with the pumpkin... I just can't figure out how to make him fit properly in the painting! Does anyone have another idea ?

Thanks again for doing this!

[Kevin Longueil]

I think the problem with the little guy with the pumpkin is that he is a great little character and very nicely drawn - I think he is most likely most people favorite - but I think he does not fit the composition in the pose that he is in - I think you want to show clearly that Dracula is carving a pumpkin in the likeness of the sitter in the chair - the little character does that so well but his position does not make sense - he is walking and not looking at the pumpkin....I think this means he already admired it and is on his way - chronologically he should be walking off camera with his back slightly to Dracula - you could redraw him this way - we could see a 3/4 view with him(or her) looking down in amazement at his pumpkin headed to the left - this might become too focal though unless you put him more in shadow..worth a quick sketch maybe ...... another way to show what Dracula is doing without the little guy could be to have him squinting and holding a thumb up to judge proportions( possibly the universal sign of "I am doing a portrait") - the other way to show that he is carving a portrait would be to have the boy's likeness be more complete and obvious....but you want to keep the little guy with the pumpkin right?... maybe if the little guy were not walking but just looking down at his pumpkins face with delight but closer to the table as though he had just taken possession of it and was admiring it... so he may have to be a darker value - closer to Dracula's so he does not steal the show - not sure of any of this - just trying to brainstorm with you - cheers