Sorry that this was late. I've been feeling a little under the weather.
As for how this goes, you post a work of yours, finished or WIP (aka work in process, for those who are new to abbreviations), and then others give you critiques on your work. I do not mind if you post the occasional non-HM picture or piece of writing, but keep in mind that, though there are some, not all of us here are writers or do art outside of HeroMachine. All I ask is that you only post pictures that are your own design and not any that copyrighted or based off of copyrighted characters. As for pieces of writing, I’m not sure about whether fan fiction is allowed, but for right now, just in case, don’t post fan fiction either.
Also, again, if you post a work, it is highly recommended that you also give someone else a critique.
Hey, don’t worry about it being late. I’ve been so busy today I haven’t had a chance to do COTW.
Anyway, this is one of the picture for my current series. I like the look of it, but I don’t know. I wanted to do something with the lower half of his body, but nothing really turned out right. His power is to manipulate shadows btw.
http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2015/016/f/0/zeke_by_jr19759-d8e5ekk.png
and here’s the version without the black, so you can see the costume properly.
http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2015/016/f/6/zeke_no_bg_by_jr19759-d8e5eno.png
Here’s an anatomical outline for an attempt to re-make an old picture from scratch. You’ll notice that the pose, while basically the same in concept, is more balanced and less “crouch-y” in the revised anatomical outline; in addition, IIRC, this is my first attempt at drawing a face from that angle, animalistic or otherwise. I had a lot of trouble with the muzzle, but even more trouble re-creating the hair; while I could actually look at one of my dogs for a reference of the former, I had no reference for the latter. I am also aware that I forgot to draw the ears and tail, though I’m not sure if the ears would be visible at that angle anyway. And yes, the feet are supposed to be that big.
Any tips? Suggestions? Comments or questions?
Revised Version (anatomical outline): http://www.heromachine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Sharal-Revised-Anatomical.jpg
Original Version (finished): http://www.heromachine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Sharal-Liveyan.png
@ JR19759: I don’t think that I myself could come up with anything good for the lower half of the body, even outside of HM. That said, for the image itself, I think you could probably make the edges a bit darker, perhaps even fading to black in some areas. The obvious exception would be the hand holding the cigarette, which could be further improved by adding lighting to the hand itself to show the light of the cigarette reflecting off the hand. Of course, I know I wouldn’t have the ability or the patience to do such things myself, so I won’t judge.
@JR, the one thing that comes to mind is the Marvel character Clock, from the duo Cloak and Dagger. Do a Google search for it and it might give you some ideas….
@Jadebrain- So, you reckon I just need to close in some of the shadows. Ok I’ll have a look at that. As for your piece, with the hair, it looks like the back is blowing to the left whilst the front is staying exactly in the same place. You might want to have the right part of the hair blown slightly over the face. Also, just to add a definite point as to where the chin is, maybe put in a small tuft of fur or something like that, because at the moment I’m struggling to tell exactly where the chin is meant to be and it makes the face look weird.
@Worf- I’m kinda disappointed you think I don’t know who Cloak is. The thing is with Cloak is that everything under his cloak is darkness and that’s sort of what I’ve got currently.
@JR – Actually, the thing with Cloak is that ther borders/limits are very well defined. Most of what is under the cloak is utter black, but the limits are there. You have the contrary where there are no limits outside the cloak and blurry shadows. Even when they only show his face, it is very well defined and lit.