SciFi and Fantasy Art: Awaiting the Challenge (color)

Arr! I R Conan! I R muscular! *cough* Sorry.
It's a great picture. Love how you've made him look out from beneath his hair, how he fixes his eyes on you daring you to challenge him and be beaten into so much pulp.

Barbara J. Wickham replies: "Excellent! You've hit the nail on the head. It was that menacing glare that directed the rest of the pic. I wanted to do a figure study and ended up doing a cliché! Yikes! Regardless, I love big, burly barbarians and had too much fun with this one. Thank you for such an, ah... *cough* appropriate comment. I R grateful!"

Good work Barbara but the face still needs a lot of work. The only real problem I found with this piece is he doesn't seem to go with the surroundings.

Barbara J. Wickham replies: "Thank you very much! I'm not very impressed myself with this coloring job. It was definitely an experiment and I've since improved, thank goodness. That background was a total cheat and not meant to be any kind of permanent thing. Now it's just a matter of getting around to doing a proper make-over. *sigh* Thanks, again."

It's a really graet pic but my favourite bit is definately the boots, all the folds highlights and shadow. really well done!!

Barbara J. Wickham replies: "Thank you very much! I have learned alot since doing this piece and it's great to see how my pics have progessed since. I really appreciate that you took the time to point out what you specifically liked!

Sorry for the late response-I've been on a sort of hiatus from the computer."

Wow, big attitude! Luv the backround.

Barbara J. Wickham replies: "Attitude is everything! Heck, this burly guy is attitude incarnate...even when he's ordering a latte! *Grrrr* Thanks for the comment. *grin*"

Nice *sword* Hahaha!! Okay-I'm sorry-- too much caffine! Anyhow, wow! How come my guys look so girly--they don't look like this at all. Wonderfully done!

Barbara J. Wickham replies: "*LOL* Yep, he's mighty proud of that "weapon". No need to apologize. In fact, I must thank you for the laugh.

I learned how to draw guys by studying villains in classic comic books. It helped alot since everything is so exaggerated in comics.

Thanks for stopping by and leaving such a great comment!"

Love the color job overall. Really I do. But I do have some nit-picky points to make just to drive you nuts. heehehhe - I really don't want to drive you crazy, but I do try to leave a suggestion on every piece.

His hair is too soft. What I mean is, he looks like he has been under a brush and dryer of a stylist like this. I don't think he needs to have nasty hair, but would it be so soft and billowy if he was a barbarian? My hair isn't even that smooth and soft and I work for hours with a hairdryer and products galore to try to get it there.

The next thing is that the skin tone (imho) needs some other colors. If you examine your own skin you don't just have one flat color of skin, it has blues, pinks to reds, yellows, etc. That is part of what I like about Boris Vallejo's art (see my comment on your sketch). You have a great base, I think you just need to "highlight" with some other colors to put some vibrance in it.

Overall, still a great pic. And I really like the background too. Kind of Vallhalla like. Really neat!

Barbara J. Wickham replies: "Yes, this poor guy definitely lost some of his charm when I colored him, but the experience helped me immensely in learning how to handle to tools on Photoshop. It took me quite awhile to improve but I owe all my current success to this fellow. *smooch!*

I agree with you 110% about his hair. I so loved the scruffiness of it in the sketch and none of that survived my wild attentions with the paint tool. Gah! I also agree that his skin is very flat and lifeless. He's supposed to be a hot-blooded, man-beast with molten rage flowing thru his veins. What I ended up with was a big puffball with waxy, bloodless skin. *sigh*

This pic is definitely filed under the "desperately in need of repair" WIP. I like how you compare it to an under painting. I feel so much better thinking of it that way. *grin*

I wish I could take credit for the background. It's a stock photo of a mideastern style temple, ruthlessly filtered in Photoshop. *lol* Regardless, thank you so much for your outstanding comment and very helpful advice! "

I think it look better without the whait spots at the eyes, anyvay very cool pic.

Barbara J. Wickham replies: "*lol* I have to agree with you. In fact, there are alot of improvements needed but I have grown somewhat fond of this pic because it was one of my earliest attempts at using Photoshop. I may update it someday so I thank you for sharing what you think doesn't work."

Well done in color!

Barbara J. Wickham replies: "Thank you! I'm a bit nostalgic about this one since it represents my early attempts at photoshop, but he deserves a better coloring job and a more appropriate background. Hmmm. Perhaps a few slumped bodies at his feet and a barbarianette in a chainmail bikini clinging to his leg? *lol* Yes, that would work..."

Well... there could be some improvments with the coloring... as others have said. I think the spots in the eyes could go and the blending is a little too soft... makes the pic look blurry.

Still... it’s much more realistic than anything I do... and I know the linework underneath is wonderful... and you get better with each pic you color.

So... keep up the good work... and I wish more men would walk around in fuzzy britches... do you think we could start a trend? lol...

Barbara J. Wickham replies: "My apologies for taking so long to respond to your comment. I missed it somehow. Maybe because this pic is so traumatic for me in it’s painfully "rough" coloring, that I subconsciously avoided it. *lol*

Fuzzy britches are seeeexy. Unfortunately, the fashion industry has something against furry butts... even after I explained it was faux fur, they said that nevertheless, hairy man are "un-natural". Huh. Go figure.

"

That gaze definitely makes me want to run and hide behind something! I like how the background is blurry but you can still tell what it is so that it doesn’t detract from your barbarian.

Barbara J. Wickham replies: "Thank you for your kind comment. I still feel iffy about this one, but then I was still learning to use Photoshop and the experience was invaluable in helping me get better."