My web gallery

[Blasted Child]

I'm fairly new to art shit so I just thought I could show you my own art shite before I dish out the c&c
http://petterljungqvist.jalbum.net/The%20Petter%20Portfolio/

It's fairly simplistic but brand new and I intend to put it on my own domain in due time.
Yeah it's all about pretty geeky escapism illustrations, but I've never been good at producing proper "art" of the kind you hang on your walls...
Enjoy!

[Grislygus]

Normally I don't give a fuck, but I like the slight cartoon-vibe you have going on in some of them. And QUEENJPG3 is nicely done, use it as an ending piece for your actual portfolio.



But the composition on the first two pictures are awful, man. Which is a shame because the second one is interesting... And I would recommend reworking the Guardians of The Lake, the Motivational-Poster syle kind of takes away from it. If you're looking to emulate a pulp cover, I'd recommend looking up Frank Frazetta's early stuff. (I know, everyone knows about Frazetta but no one studies his magazine covers, like the stuff he did for Playboy and things like DRACULA VERSUS THE WOLFMAN)

[Grislygus]

http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n157/grislygus/QMan_FF_Legacy_Extra_12_Comic_Book_.jpg
http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n157/grislygus/creepy16.gif
http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n157/grislygus/v7.jpg

[Blasted Child]

Grislygus, trust me I'm - no surprise - a frazetta fan and I've got most of his paintings, comic book covers included, not only on my harddrive but also in my bookshelf :)

I agree that my compositions are often badly planned, and especially the guardians of the lake would benefit from a more dramatic viewpoint, probably one that is lower and more in the pov of the men in the boat.

Feel free to sketch up how you suggest I remake the first one.
Thanks for the c&c btw!

[Grislygus]

No no no, you misunderstand. You're absolutely FINE on The Lake Guardians' composition. Look:

http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n157/grislygus/lake.jpg


The boat in the foreground is eventual the center of attention, the vertical sword, parallel to the edge of the picture, leads the eye up, and every element successfully leads the eye around the picture without being stupidly pointed. True, it's flat and somewhat stiff, but it's well composed. Now compare that with the cave one:



THe eye starts at the cave entrance (the darkest point), the linear elements lead the eye to the right (over the bell and sarcophagus), and points the eye up to the light (the brightest point). This is fine, but the eye gets stuck going from POINT A to POINT B, there needs to be more elements to lead the eye BACK in a circular continuation, or the composition just "doesn't work".

http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n157/grislygus/Cave.jpg

[Aaarg]

fuck, man, art is art.

do what you want, how you want.

[Grislygus]

Oh, the first picture. Okay, it's really nicely drawn but you have two problems.

http://petterljungqvist.jalbum.net/The%20Petter%20Portfolio/unicornsmall.png


The transition effect between the book scene and the unicorn scene just isn't enough, and the two are fighting each other rather than working as a single composition. I don't have a scanner anymore, so if you're going to have to put up with some MS Paint bullshit rather than an original sketch.


The unicorn scene is pretty much the focus, while everything in what I assume is the "real" or present scene is background action. But, like I said, the two fight each other. IF, if, you would want to do another draft of the picture, I would recommend squashing the bottom scene, giving it high light/dark contrast with a limited color pallet and muted highlights so that the unicorn scene could stand out better. I would angle the old man's head to the right and have him face slightly left, have the characters closer together to emphasize crowding and hunch them over. Then I would recommend give the transition effects more prominence. Shitty MS Paint splash sketch:

http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n157/grislygus/untitled-23.png

[Grislygus]

Still can't get over the Queen picture. That's some good damn work. If that was made with actual paint I'd be bugging the hell out of you about buying a print :x

[King Hadas]

I'll admit everything I know about the subject of composition I learned just now from this thread but, talking about the cave painting, is a circular composition really necessary? Is there no value in a one-way composition? When I see the cave painting I can't help but think of a video game background, is that a bad thing?

Also, at some point wouldn't content override composition? My eyes leading me towards the more interesting objects; the skeleton, the bell, the doorway, the staircase and then maybe that crevice in the bottom-left corner.

Blasted Child: I don't have enough know-how to give you any useful advise or criticism to chew on like Grislygus. I can only say I really like your "Sunset" painting.

[bigtimecow]

fuck, man, art is art.

do what you want, how you want.
shut the fuck up

[Grislygus]

There's nothing wrong with it if it's a deliberate attempt to cause tension through a tweaked composition, but... Problem is that the eye is lazy, and that it likes to be led, so proper composition never lets the eye rest for too long OR, most importantly, runs the eye straight off of the picture's borders or gets close to it. In a professional or student portfolio, it's kind of a big thing but no one is under any obligation to pay attention to my jabbering. I just fucking love talking about this shit.

[Aaarg]

shut the fuck up

eat it.

[Zhukov]

I like them, Sunset the most.

Aarg, I don't think Gus was trying to get him to conform to how art SHOULD be done, it looks to me that he was just offering ways to enhance what was already done.