Self-Promotion Through Tits and Murders
This was finished, but I cant say I am happy with the final result. Threw some textures in there to try and roughen up the colors a little, and even did some photoshop brush work (which I never have done, and chances are I wont do it again). This was intended to be for a self-promotional postcard I will be sending out around the holidays to marketing agencies...But to tell you the truth, I don't think its going to happen at least not with this image.The texture thing has been something I have been trying to pull off for a while now, rather unsuccessfully. I am also growing more and more displeased with coloring through "cell shading", it just doesn't work for everything. I am trying to take a more painterly approach to colors (you can see it a little in the hyena's fur above) but that just doesn't work for non-textures surfaces (like the faces). Here are some artist's that are pulling off textures and painterly colors beautifully: James Jean, Sam Weber, and sometimes Tomer Hanuka.
It might just be my approach in general. I know James does a lot of work in acrylic and graphite before coloring digitally...But who knows. I sent him an email with a plea for some tips, I guess what will see what comes out of it.
I just ran into Sam Weber's website and was immediately enthralled. Rachel has her complaints, but I am really impressed. He is able to mix ink and digital beautifully, and I am quite envious. He also has a certain whimsy to his pieces which is somewhat along the lines of what I am trying to push with my work (as complained about in previous post/s). I have found myself saying many times "man, I wish Dave McKean drew better", Sam Weber is your answer.
So here is a list of things to work on:
- Brighten up the colors a bit. Bleak is fine, but I am tired of DARK and bleak.
- Work on fazing cell shading out...This is just going to take practice. I am so used to working at a desk and not an easel, that working on a stationary wacom makes things tricky when it comes to line direction.
- Figure out this whole paper texture thing. Scanning paper with powdered-graphite worked alright...But jesus its a bitch to clean up.
- Have a little more fun in themes for christ's sake.
And for those that may find this useful overnightprints.com is the best online printing place I have ever found. They are super cheap, and super fast. Unfortunately there file uploading is a little goofy, and they only do RGB files, but the finished product makes up for it.
posted by matthew at 3:07 PM
3 Comments:
I would say your colors are too heavy, but you're aware of this. I don't think the "cel shading" is bad, but when you have the tones as dark as you do, the change in tonality becomes too heavy and the lines/shapes that are created become distracting.
Make your linework more of the focus, it's gorgeous. You get enough tones out of it already, you don't need to be so heavy handed when it comes to working in the computer. Or maybe try laying a piece of mylar over your drawings and inking your halftones or colors on those. It might help soften those colors.
I would like to second that recommendation of overnight prints. I've used them twice for postcards, and I've been very pleased. Order them without the clear-coat layer for a nice matte effect.
I would not recommend Overnight Prints.
Worst vendor I've dealt with in 18 yrs of print Buying!
here's my story:
(03/07) Ordered 1000 oversized postcards. received 500 on time, about 100 were damaged by them. They folded them to fit into a very small box - worse packaging I've seen in 18 yrs. Waited another week to get the balance of my order but only received 200 and those were supposed to be for replacing the damaged cards. Still waiting to receive the rest of my order, 500 cards.
Oh, they filed a claim with UPS so they could be compensated for damaged and lost product. UPS delivered the package exactly as they sent it!
If you are a graphic artist sending client work to these clowns, it’s only a matter of time before the screw up. That’s about the only thing you can count on from them.
Stay away fro this vendor!
Look them up at the Better Business Bureau website. they have a ton of complaints.
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