Friday, May 11, 2012

Examples of Simplified style

So someone emailed me and said, 'well how about showing what you mean by a simplified style?'
Good question.
A simplified style will vary somewhat according to mood and needs of the story. But here are some examples of what I'm talking about.






4 comments:

  1. I think continuing to post high quality works will be better for your site in the long run.

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    Replies
    1. With all due respect, I'm going to have to leap to my own defense while acknowledging the larger point you're making. First, you are absolutely right about the site benefiting in the long run from high quality work. Second, if by high quality you mean art that's heavily rendered and has lines that are as calligraphic as I can make it, I would have to point out that you are getting caught on the 'surface' of the artwork and missing the structure and story telling aspects that lie underneath the rendering. If structure and composition aren't solid, and if the story telling fails to pull the reader into the story, then no amount of rendering will matter, and even a casual viewer will pick up on it every time. In fact, I think rendering and to a lesser extent, the detail and line work shouldn't be anywhere near the first consideration when you evaluate perceived quality of an artwork. The artwork below are to my eye of high quality relative to a fair amount of my other work. I would fault them in being too spare in background, but the figures are fine, the women are attractive, and in fact, this simpler work may be better for various reasons, than my more complexly rendered work on, say, The Grady's and Vampire MILF. Don't sell my 'stripped down' version short. It may be that I loose a lot of business because I'm doing this, but I suspect that I won't. Lot's of very well known artists work this way. Now, it's demanding to do; simple is harder to pull off in many respects. It is possible to distract from a bad drawing by scattering chickenshit detail and hash marks all over the page. With simplicity there's no room for error. I may not pull it off that well, but personally I'm starting to think it's a better choice than what I've been doing with all the calligraphy and feathering in the drawing, and the shading in the rendering.
      For further examples of minimal detail in excellent artwork, see Adam Hughes' convention sketches, any Alex Toth work, and any good animation artist like Thomas Perkins, or Stephen E. Gordon. I think you'll see what I mean.

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  2. I didn't mean to offend your work by saying rendering and line work are the only judging factors. Because I do agree they are not.

    I also admit that I am 'not' the best person to judge artwork. I have no talent in it myself, and likely do not see or understand the subtleties in style or design of yours or others' work. I can only offer opinions on how I see it. So you're welcome, in fact I encourage it, to take what I say with a grain of salt.

    I just see that the characters seem flat when compared to previous artwork. They don't stand out to me. Maybe it's the rendering, maybe it's the line work, or maybe it's the background. I honestly don't know.

    I apologize for how vague my first comment was. I didn't mean to offend you or your work. I think you're a very talented and passionate artist. I'm sure what ever you do will work out well.

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  3. Thank you so much for your wonderful compliments. I really appreciate it.It really puts 'gas' in my tank to read your positive and supportive comments. Know that I was not offended in the least, I don't find your comments obnoxious or insulting to my artwork at all.

    As a point of clarification, by 'flat' I suspect you mean that the figures loose some sense of depth and dimension when the line is dead like it is. Hm. That can be handled and it's something that I've been overlooking. I'll start paying attention to that particular issue. Depth is achieved by my other work by the modulated line work and that quality is diminished in the 'dead' line work. Thanks for the trenchant observation!
    Slid

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