Evaluation

Over the course of the past ten weeks we have looked thoroughly at ways to improve our skills in both drawing and, to a certain degree, digital media. To begin this we spent a few weeks looking closely at proportions though life drawings, an as it had been some time since I had last drawn anything I felt this was a useful way to refresh my abilities while at the same time being able to improve myself and heighten my skill level. As such I have regained confidence in my own abilities and have been able to proceed with the module with a more optimistic attitude to the task set before me.

Before we moved on to working on our own projects I took the time to research artists that I have an appreciation for. During this time I looked closely at several comic book artists in particular that I have for a long time been a fan of, as well as the concept artist for the popular game series Metal Gear Solid. In doing so not only was I able to learn more about the artists themselves, but looking at a variety of different art styles I was able to narrow down the style of my own piece, and become more fully aware at what I wanted to accomplish in this task. This was particularly useful because I had a basic idea of what I wanted to create, but by looking at different styles I was able to comfortably settle on a style that complimented my own skill level.

In doing small credit card concepts of various different images I was able to create a number of different images and analyse them to gain an understanding of which one I wanted to move forward with, and which I didn't find interesting enough to expand on, or those that I didn't think could go any further for any reasons. I enjoyed this because, although there were some that I did like a lot, due to stylistic reasons I didn't think could be adapted into an interesting enough final concept. Likewise with the more refined images, I feel very happy with the progress I made with them, but ultimately felt that the final decision I made was the right one, and that my final product went very well.
With my final product, I was able to look properly at the idea of shading the image to give the illusion of the image almost popping off the page, giving a more 3D effect to the piece. I was able to look at the way light reflects off of leather material to give a more realistic effect, and also how light reflects off of muscle definition in a lifelike manner. The way the light casts shadow across the face also gives the viewer the idea of a dichotomy in the character of good and evil, as though he's trapped in the middle of the two, this is also helped by the sinister appearance of the character in the image.

While I feel that the image is very successful and I'm proud of my accomplishment, I feel that I didn't look far enough into working with alternate media. I would have liked to have worked more with colour, and practice more with paints, or ink. I didn't do this, however, because I feel most comfortable working with pencil as it's my favourite medium, and I feel my skill with it is higher than that of others. I did a little work with ink in some of my images, and I feel that it was mostly successful, and that the harsh contrast between the ink and paper looked very good, and in the future I intend to work more with it, yet at this time I don't think it would have worked well on my final piece. Likewise I would have enjoyed working more with digital media but I feel that my final piece wouldn't have benefited from it in any real way, so the original pencil version is the more successful in my mind.

Next time I see myself picking a piece to create that will be able to implement both ink and digital media to help it become more dynamic and interesting to the viewer, however as stated I am very comfortable for my work on this module.

Final Product With Filters

Final Product

Refined Drawings 2

Refined Drawings 1

References

http://www.benshukrallah.com/metal-gear-solid-concept-art/

As I'm a huge fan of the work of Yoji Shinkawa I intend to adapt one of my thumbnails, the image of the young woman in the tank top, to emulate his style. To do this I will focus on the use of minimalist detail to get across the idea of this style, making an accurate but stylised image.

http://www.comicartfans.com/galleryfavoritesroom.asp?gfav=2745

I have tried to emulate the work of Tony Moore, predominantly known for the Walking Dead comic series, due to his use of thick black ink to starkly contrast against the white of the page, making visually interesting work. Because of this I will take one of my images and enhance it, using pen to try and emulate this style better.

http://bloody-disgusting.com/news/3241128/the-crow-creator-consulting-on-reboot-will-speak-at-comic-con/

I have been a fan of the Crow comic book series and films for a long time now, and as such I intend to take my credit card concept of a face that I had previously done, and try to expand upon it and improve it as an homage to this title, reflecting the conflicting emotions of the character in a respectful way.

http://comicbook.com/blog/2012/03/29/ultimate-spider-man-featurette-released/

As with The Crow, I have for a long time been a fan of Spider-Man, hugely enjoying the films and comic books, even watching the cartoons in my youth. I attempted to do a concept image of the icon dangling upside down post, but need to look closer at the muscle definition of the character, and also the webbing over the suit to better create an accurate image of the character.

Credit Card Concepts 3

Credit Card Concepts 2

Pixel Art Concepts

Credit Card Concepts 1

Artist Research

Dave Gibbons

Born April 14^th 1949, Gibbons is an English comic book artist most well known for his work with writer Alan Moore, specifically by the graphic novel Watchmen, and the Superman series “For The Man Who Has Everything”. He has also worked on many popular comic book series' such as Judge Dredd, Green Lantern and Batman. He has won the Jack Kirby awards for best new series and best writer/artist for his work on the Watchmen comics.

John Romita Jr

Born August 17^th 1956, John Romita Jr is an American comic book artist best known for his extensive work for Marvel comics from the 1970's to the 2000's. Most prominently he has done work for the Amazing Spider-Man, Daredevil, Iron Man and Uncanny X-Men series', and has a preference for working on gritty, street-level stories as opposed to more outlandish, science-fictionesque works.

Brian Bolland

Born March 26^th 1951 in England, Bolland is a prominent British comic book artist best known as one of the definitive Judge Dredd artists for the British comics anthology 2000 AD. He's also done considerable work for the Batman series, doing interior art for the wildly popular Killing Joke one-shot with writer Alan Moore. He also worked on the self-penned Batman: Black and White story.

He spearheaded the “British Invasion” of the American comics industry in the 1980's, helping British writers rising to prominence in the industry, which involved the inclusion of more mature storylines and a focus away from the superhero genre.

Alex Ross

Nelson Alexander 'Alex' Ross is an American comic book artist and writer known primarily for his painted interiors, covers and design work. He first became known with the 1994 miniseries Marvels, on which he collaborated with writer Kurt Busiek for Marvel Comics. He's most well known for his work at DC Comics, prominently for his work on the Batman, Justice League and Superman comics.

Yoji Shinkawa

Yoji Shinkawa was born December 25^th 1971 in Hiroshima, Japan. He is most well known for his concept art work for the Metal Gear Solid series, as well as his work on the Zone of the Enders series. Most recently, he did a poster design for the Japanese release of Pacific Rim. He is currently lead artist for many of Kojima Productions' titles.
His style implements ink pens with a brush-like felt tip, and Adobe Photoshop and Corel Painter. His style of illustration is rather simplistic and minimalistic, using shading to create technically accurate works.