Progress... I think

So my study into using Photoshop to produce the images for my Fan-comic continues. For those who aren't aware of it, I originally made a post here showing my first solid effort at producing an image for my comic using a combination of line art and cell shaded coloring. While I was satisfied with the result in that particular case, I knew I could do better both in the general process I'm using and in my own understanding of the image. So I made a post with a break down of the process I used. That post is here.

Now, I received a lot of very useful information and help in that thread and I really have to take a moment to give a shout out to Juggertha, Suichiro, LadyJudgement, FrozenDeath, and Zappalina. They have been immensely helpful to me in the process, and not to mention incredibly patient. I know I'm somewhat difficult to work with and they've all shown un-godly levels of patience with me.

Now, using what I've learned both from the previously listed artists and several books, I've produced this image:



Mainly I'm looking for feed back. Is the image clear? Can you tell who it is? Can you tell what he's doing? Do you have some indication of what he's thinking? How can I improve the image? (Keeping in mind this is for a fan-comic and thus time vs. quality per image comes into play)

Who it is: Gaussian of Vanguard
What he is doing: pointing at a holographic image (probably of a Rikti Ship/base layout) being projected from below
Digital tips: Heck if I know I'm still a n00b at creating art in photoshop.

P.S. What did I win?

One --> Artz Giveaway <-- To Rule Them ALL!

I will settle this. ORANGE FTW! - Ex Libris

I greyed this out and did a quick paintover to indicate how I think the shading would go based on the shading you have on his face.

really you think it should be that dark around the abdomen and around the exterior?

It can be as dark as you like. But looking at your image above--note the change in value between the lights and darks on his face. That sharp a contrast indicates a strong lightsource hitting the object from an angle. Like if you were in a dark room and held a flashlight under your face. The shading I used was based on the shading of his skin in that initial image.

If the room were really as bright as the image you posted, you're not gonna get that sharp gradiation on the skin.

hmm well I want to avoid making it look like Gaussian is in a dark room plotting, so I'm shooting for something that's moderatly light, as if the lights in the room had been dimmed, but not turned off, to make the hologram clearer to read.

I think the first version looks like a cartoon cell, while BW's looks like a black and white cartoon from the 50s... it's a nice retro feel, would be great for a retro theme toon.

Tip I've picked up from peeps around and about and at Uni;
Contrast.

Contrast is your friend. Contrast is slowly but surely getting me away from just lineart and into more digital and fully digital work.
It looks good so far...but I'd reccomend determining light sources. Frozen's example is very good. It's extreme, yes, but thats what you need sometimes to get something to standout.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zwillinger GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Captain_Photon NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.

I think the overall problem you're currently having is one of understanding light, which is really the primary thing that you need for drawing.

One particular issue with this image:

Have a look at the shadow behind him. Now find a lightbulb in your house and put your hand between it and a wall.

Imagine the light as a bunch of arrows coming from the holo-projector. (Observe my l33t MSPaint example):


If you put imaginary lines from your lightsource and trace them to the object, you can figure out how the shadows should fall. (This is literally where the term ray-tracing comes from in 3D graphics.) As well, you have to remember that the further you are from a lightsource, the more fuzzy and dispersed a shadow will be.

So, the shadow behind him should be larger than he is, and the part on what I think is a far wall should be more diffused than the part behind his butt on the closer half-wall, and so on, with his arm, ouches, shoulderpads, etc.

You're really doing quite well so far, but I think maybe some of this is more on an unconscious level right now and you need to think it through a bit.

And, of course, things are always more tricky in a fully 3D space like your image, as opposed to mine, which is 2.5D at best.

Well, with the second one, you kind of diluted the shadows too much, which causes you to lose the dimensionality of the piece.

I commented on the first one because I thought it was actually better at defining the shape of him, aside from the minor things like the size of the figure shadow and such.

Also, I personally like the hard-edged shadows better than fuzzier ones, but that's maybe a stylistic thing.