Friday, July 23, 2010

Not sure about this one.


I found this in my files. One of my many unfinished works. I kind of like it and I kind of hate it. I don't know where I went wrong with this so any suggestions are welcome.
Thanks,
Steve

5 comments:

pete said...

I see lots to like here, from the actual application of color, lighting, and the drawing itself.

Maybe its just missing more information. The posture of the characters is very stagnant (which may be just what you wanted - to emphasize waiting/time passing slowly/etc). Maybe more details in the foreground could give it more pop...like a tumbleweed or something.

It feels well done but not dynamic. There might not be enough in the illustration to explain what's happening or to make the observer fill in the gaps.

I found a great article dealing with this very topic. Here it is if you're interested...

http://theartcenter.blogspot.com/2010/07/mark-mcdonnell-taking-it-to-next-level.html

Hope that ramble made sense...

Patti said...

I have to say that I really like this. The colors are really great. The only thing I can think of that you might change is to give the horse a little more personality. Love the cowboy!

Unknown said...

It's a very solidly composed illustration. The structure and feel of the characters is very tangible. So to that end, it was done quite well...

But what is the story here? Both characters are looking off in the same direction, but at what? And while the guy is sitting on the horses back, they're not really connected. if they were moving in that direction, maybe that would add something - or if they were interacting in some way - like the horse was eyeballing the guy.

Maybe another way to attack it is the overall background of the piece - while the drawing itself is vertical, everything drawn is horizontal. Maybe if just the clouds were coming through more dramatically or if there were some vertical lines or diagonal something or rathers going on.

Or it could just be as simple as having one or two of the characters looking at each other or at the viewer.

Unknown said...

Thanks everyone. I think it comes down to the pose of the character just isn't interesting. The horse isn't walking and is basically expressionless and the cowboy is all hunched over as if the horse is galloping. Also there is little difference in color between the cowboy's face and the horse.

kris fulk said...

Hey Steve!

So galloping in last over here (hehe pun intended), but I was thinking if maybe the scene is more of a panorama, with the bored cowboy and sleepy horse on the left side and a long stretch of desert towards the right side, it will help put us in perspective about the characters.