The_PMD

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I would like suggestions from artists and artist groupies on this board that can recommend good artists for the job (feel free to wh*re yourself out, artistes. ). I want to commission someone with a very comic book-esque art style. For example, three of the ones I'm looking at now are Douglas Shuler (Darkjedi), Brandon McKinney (Cyberlynx), and Gill Bates. That's the kind of style I'm hoping to get for the hubby-to-be's b-day.

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If you want traditional comic book style, those three are the men to talk to.

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Actually, I think your list is a good place to start. However, I would move the "starting with basic shapes" to the top of the list. If you start with that...you might end up with a rushed picture at the end, but the basic proportions will still be there.

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QFT

I don't think "start in the upper left, finish in the lower right" is a good way to draw. It's much easier to lightly work on basic forms for a while, and then gradually increase the detail level as you go, adjusting the basic forms as needed. And go slower with that than you think you need to. A lot of artists (myself included at times) have a tendency to rush to the details, because it's "more interesting." We must fight that urge at all times!

The other thing to keep in mind when you're doing your basic shapes is to envision and draw them three dimensionally. A lot of people think that shading is what gives the drawing dimension, but that's only a small part of it. The 3 dimensional quality starts with the initial shape drawing. Like, in your drawing, the torso flattens out. Not because you don't have enough intricate shading on it, but because the belt has been drawn flat, with straight lines, instead of curving around the character's waist. I would actually recommend that you hold off on shading for a while and just work on getting some good line drawings down. Use the line weights to show that the forms exist in space (the thicker parts of lines will read as closer) and worry about the shading and details a little later, after you can do a convincing set of basic shapes in a good pose.

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i was a bit surprised at how big Poison made them

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Wait, you commissioned him without having seen a single piece of his art before? Pretty bold!

Another awesome piece from Poison!

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My god I've created a monster with that line...

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I love it. As an Ice/Cold Corruptor, I HATE facing Regen Scrappers in PvP. I think they need to be nerfed to Kingdom Come.

I actually took one down in Recluse's Victory the other day. I celebrated for a looong time.

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*sighs and shakes his head* No, I'm afraid you don't you silly girl. You got a couple wrong... tisk tisk.

First of all, the pink bondage fish is The_PMD (it's soooo obvious, I don't know where you got PlasmaStream from... The_PMD = The Pink Masochistic Dominatrixfish... derr )

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Now that you say it, it's all so clear...

You really are the craziest person on this board. And I say that in the most complimentary of tones.

There aren't enough pieces of artwork out there of Death Spiral for me to expect him to start showing up in people's drawings. This is intentional on my part. I'm the anti-TA. I basically want to be the only person who ever draws Death Spiral. (Yes, I'm selfish. So sue me.)

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The biggest problem with the recording, was that I could not use the demorecord files. It could have just been a user error , but I could not get the demo's into the right format for windows movie maker. So I used fraps, which records exactly what I see.

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Uhm...I think what you wanna do is record the demo file, then play the demo and record THAT with FRAPS...

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Main thing I'm noticing The_PMD, is the feet >.> they seem too small for the rest of the armor. Technically that could just be the way its meant to be <,< it just feels 'off' to me somehow.

Otherwise I love the perspective though <@_@> very dynamic!

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I think you are correct, especially with the right foot. Thanks! I'll get that fixed in the painting stage.

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Wow... Looks cool, PMD.

I got a question - are those Nikes he's wearing?

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LOL...Sure. They're Air TAs.



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Edit: BTW, is he going to be in an environment, or just a plain background?

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Plain-ish background. I'm gonna do a sky. Pretty clouds. Or dramatic clouds. Something like that.

Here's the pencils of the piece I'm working on for TA. It's going to be a full-on digital painting, that's why there's no shading in the pencils.

I think some of the perspective or proportions might be slightly off. Go ahead and rip it apart. (Oh, yeah, I know the Nemesis Staff is off. That's frankly easier to fix digitally. I might just be a big huge cheaterface and mock it up in 3d with Maya, do a quick rendering for the perspective, and paint over that!)

http://www.deviantart.com/view/35938719/

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Hi guys & gals, I need your help on this. I've been using my SG leader's toon for sketch practice and after a week's work it is at least acceptable to me. (My other sketches are ugly.) However, there is something wrong about this pic but I can't tell what it is. Could someone point it out to me and tell me how to correct it?


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The eyes are too low on the face, even for the anime-ish style.

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Ya, I'm very new to finishing work with photoshop, and I tend to hurry thru it cause I've got alot going on. But everyone I do I get alittle better and find a few new tricks. I'm in the middle of moving, but once that is done I plan on sitting down and spending as long as it takes to make a truly finished peice. Anyway ty you for the compliments and constructive critizism.

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I think the coloring looks pretty good, especially if it's meant as an "old school" comic kind of look, before things got all fancy. Now, if you want to take it further by doing stuff like adding more highlights to the hair and such, I think it could look really awesome. But what you have down now is a good start as far as the colors go. The pencil sketch is excellent. (Well, except for the ear being too high, but I'm a nitpicker by nature.)

I found it on her Deviant Art page:

http://www.deviantart.com/view/35024007/

Yeah, it's definitely her best piece ever.

The CoV maps are all in the free downloadable strategy guide. Look at the opening screen the next time you start the Updater!

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Ryntha did another outstanding piece for work!! This time of the Grae Knight!

Grae Knight!

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Awww..why so small?

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Why hasn't anyone mentioned Graver???

WHY?


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Cause you read the original post too quickly?


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That awesome mix of people like Craig Russell and Jill Thompson... Mmmm..

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Yeah, I think Graver's amazing too. The P. Craig Russell is comparison is dead-on.

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;_; Don't hate me because I'm a goober.

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Actually, I'm endeared to you because you're a goober.

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...And some of us are complete noobs when it comes to the finer points of evaluating the artistic merit of the very talented people here.

Me for example.

Part of my RLJ involves proofreading, editing, and rewrite advice for government policy plans, projects and reports in the field of Justice.

But I have no idea as to the criteria on how to evaluate and assess comic art - merits and faults. I just look at some of the stuff posted here and think wow.

Perhaps someone could post "A Beginners Guide to..." or point me (and others) in the right direction.



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This one seems like it covers all the bases for art in general:

http://www.brigantine.atlnet.org/Gig...iquingMain.htm


Also, I'd highly recommend the book Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud.

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Why hasn't anyone mentioned Graver???

WHY?


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Cause you read the original post too quickly?


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That awesome mix of people like Craig Russell and Jill Thompson... Mmmm..

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Yeah, I think Graver's amazing too. The P. Craig Russell is comparison is dead-on.

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You will want to have this program *open and running* while you're in COH.

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This is unnecessary. The Clipboard will virtually save your screenshot whether or not you have the program open. You can do Print Screen, close CoH, open your paint program, and do a new image and Paste and it should work fine. Mind you, only one screenshot can be saved to the Clipboard at a time, so you would want to have the program open and running if you want to do multiple screen shots. But, if your computer can't run Photoshop and CoH at the same time (mine CAN, but I sure don't like to) you can do one screenshot without having the paint program open.

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It look like i'll be doing a comic and a few covers in the coming months.

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Sweet! Grats!
Let us know what it is when it's published so we can all go buy copies!

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For a change, I'd like to hear(read) your opinion. Your feedback is appreciated.

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Too small to read.

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The PMD - you know, I really wish I could see more of his stuff. The shot from his avatar was cool enough but IMO it does not go far enough into this man's talent. He has an amzing teaching ability in this area and I'd love to sit in his class one day.


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Yeah, everyone wishes they could see more of my stuff, including me! I really appreciate the kind words, especially given that I've barely posted anything.

I'm working on a commission for You Know Who right now, and I'll have pencils from that to show really soon. Other than that, I'm digitally inking a comic book for a friend that I can't show until (unless) it's published. And I'm trying to find time to get my website back up with 3-d game art and tutorials on such, but that's going more slowly than I like. In the meantime, I'll continue to swing by here and critique art when it strikes my fancy.

You left out one of my personal favorite artists here, Sayterra. Her work has that great animation style, filled with character. She has some of the best poses on the board IMO. They're so fluid and natural.

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Bayani and Sayterra

If he ever said anything smart-alecky she'd prolly end up decking him, but she looks amused enough...for now.

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I'm a huge fan of this one.

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Propotionally, she would look like this: 5 minute sketch

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Damn, you're good.

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Wanna know how much it bugs me that i didn't capture the look i wanted? I sketched this in my lil' sketchbook while at work

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I noticed that, after posting the first one, you mentioned that she looked too old for the age of the character. However, in this revision, you made her head smaller in comparison to her body. To make her look younger, you should probably give her a bigger head.

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After 10 posts of "thats awesome!", I feel like an jerk pointing out what I percieve as a flaw.

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I have a hard time with that too. Sometimes I feel like a wet blanket for being the first person to say something critical about a piece by, say, Darkjedi after literally pages and pages of compliments. But, I know that Doug wants to hear critique and that it can help him, so I just do it.

Regarding your drawing, I'm going to explain myself a little better in a post to follow. Just woke up. Brain not work so good.