[Riot Art Contest] - Darius, The Hand of Noxus
Hello there! I'll be doing a fan art of regular ol Darius. I don't usually top but man do I love this champ's look. Trying to finish this as quick as possible in between class assignments @____@. Did major modifications with each progression saves. A very big jump in between 3-4 because I forgot to keep track of saving progression lol.
Replies
Good luck!
My main crit would be that his pose looks a little uncomfortable. The right arm is cut off to soon, I can't tell how his arm/hand is being pose, it's getting lost in the blacks. I would extend the canvas or change it.
For his left arm I would suggest bringing it further down and creating more of a appealing shape around his shoulder/arm/weapon area. Maybe you could angle the weapon in a away that the viewer's eye gets directed straight up to Darius' face.
I know Darius Axe isnt simetrical but the perspective is a little odd there
check this pic
I think maybe a bit more foreshortening works. Make the hands bigger since it's closer to the viewer. Actually, I would even go as far as exaggerating the hand to be bigger as to "stylize" the dynamics of the pose.
Overall, great work!
The way you painted your materials is doing very well, metal, cloth, and skin.
But, I've begun to notice some issues. One thing is that your trying to duplicate the same art style as those from the riot art team and those are some tough shoes to fill so I give you props.
I love your work so far, don't get me wrong. As artists we always have room for improvement as you already know.
1: The Torso to the waist feel's claustrophobic or at least so tight that not even a female model could fit in the armor. (Maybe turn the waist a little or give him a waist guard/tasset). Because it looks so skinny coming to the bottom of the page he looks like he's about to fall (gravity).
2: I'm not sure if these are fire embers or the background but, because their so similar it makes the legs feel extremely skinny.
3: The right arm should probably be extended enough that we can at least see his elbow. Makes it more visually appealing (you can see this in most if not all of riots artwork). Ex: http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/inspiration/silhouette-photography/, http://characterdesignnotes.blogspot.com/2011/03/use-of-silhouettes-in-concept-design.html.
4: Is your light sources. I can visually see 3 light sources and sadly their all around the same color spectrum. You can see this in the color wheel representation shown in the middle. Right now the colors you have make it feel a little flat and not very balanced. Most of the time you'll see artwork that has a balance of cold and warm colors to create more emphasis, contrast, and feeling. Since you want us to connect with your artwork.
5: Is some of your armor pieces. They don't look like their overlapping and so it seems you have unwanted tangents. Tangents make it hard for the viewer to understand whats going on and can't concentrate on what you want them to pay attention to since you had spent hours on a piece like this. (More info: http://art.nmu.edu/groups/cognates/wiki/05463/Tangent.html)
The next thing I'd like to add is the understanding of both the "rules of thirds" and the "golden mean". The golden mean (http://artislimited.wordpress.com/2012/10/03/the-canons-of-beauty-in-the-history-of-art-the-golden-mean/) is what draws the eye to move through out the painting. This is where you want them to be directed when it comes to important details. Too much or too little detail will confuse the viewer on where they should be looking at. (video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swHOxX1kJ7s)
The splash art you see bordering your image are examples of what riot has already done. Study them a little to understand how the light hits the character, the way they made the character flow with the rest of the piece.
I wish I could go more into this to provide you a better insight of what I'm talking about but, time is limited. Hopefully I was able to help in some way, if not I do apologize. Keep it up my friend.