Balrog

[Sami Perkele]

Okay, here we go!

The demon its awesome! great shading, excellent linework, perhaps it would benefit from darker values? I dont know, its looks pretty darn good right now. My only complain, and were you have to forgive my anally enhanced attention to detail, are the wings, they seem a bit too short.

The elf needs a little work on the anatomy of the hand and the shape of the sword, I like the expression on his face alot!

The third has some anatomy / shading problems, but seeing that the balrog its your most new work I assume that you overcame these, greatly

 

[LrdApoc]

Sami,

Thanks for the input. A little explanation to clarify.

Torak: This image was done in the middle of a gmae, while I was having a player down moment. He wasn;t really planned, just kind of evolved from the face and general form. I usually use this sort of process, especially back when I did the pic. I've grown a bit I believe, this is the oldest and quickest job in the images (15-20 minutes).

Elf: I know, the sword still bothers me.. I had planned to redo it in photoshop or digitally correct it with a straight edge. I think the hand and foot are my trouble areas. Since I've spent countless hours and numerous pages just trying to get the anatomy right. I've found if I study the muscle and bone structure I can usually pose things well in my head. I like to use photgraphic references, but many times I just get lazy I think. I'm still working on feet, my worst area, and obviously one of the worst for most the fantasy artists I've seen, they always seem to cut off character pictures at the ankle.. do a survey of the Monster Manual for instance.. almost no hands and feet

Balrog: Being the newest work, I think it does show I've grown.. I also think it turned out really well for only an hours work. It's originally on 11x17 sketch pad paper, and I purposely decided to minimize the wings to keep from drawing attention away fromt he detail of the head and action of the pose. Dynamic posing is another thing I've tried to develope.. it can often make the difference between a professional work and an good attempt.

I'll take all those suggestions in consideration. I'm thinking of doing a little makeover on the elf, and probably re-drawing Torak to give him the attention he deserves. Once I do so I'll post the new versions here for input.

 

[Sami Perkele]

Oh, I see, looking foward to see the revised versions then!

Man, just out of curiosity, are working on the illustration field? cause you should, you know the high demand for B&W fantasy art these days!

 

[LrdApoc]

Actually no, I work in the newspaper industry as a system engineer and technology writer.

I gave up on art when I ran into too many close minded traditionalists.. I've toyed with the idea of doing freelance stuff, but time is an issue. I also have a strong photography background so I did portraiture for awhile.

Thanks for the compliment though, my wife tells me I don;t think highly enough of my abilities.

 

[LrdApoc]

another torak pic- not real happy with this one either.

 

[Malessa]

another torak pic- not real happy with this one either.

Are you crazy??? Your pics are great! You definately have a natural ability. Keep it up, hope to see more.