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Elias Lemus
Elias Lemus
Omaha, NE
Steve Lenze
Hey Elias, The one thing I noticed is that the two boys are not intergraded into the scene because you are having the light abruptly stop, and they are not being effected by it. The same goes for the trees and bushes in the foreground. By adding some rim light, it would help make everything look like it's in the same scene and will separate the boys from the background a little better. I did a very crude sketch to show you what I mean, I hope this helps :)
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Elias Lemus
Steve! I was honestly waiting for you! Lol you always come through with a great critique! Thank you so much! Yea, you're definitely right about the light.. I'll fix that and improve on my next piece! Thanks!
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Elias Lemus
Just recently finished. I'd appreciate some feedback 🙂 I'm trying to be more narrative with my work. I'd like to be an illustrator for books and board games! Thanks in advance
Elias Lemus
You nailed it. Period. Whatever you did, do it again. Post it and see if you nail it again.
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Elias Lemus
I'm struggling with my current piece.. specifically all the arms and hands! But if anything else seems off, please tell me too! I just need some opinions on the current progress! Thank you!
Elias Lemus
I really need some help focusing where I'd like to work. I want to be a freelance illustrator but I don't know where my art fits! I'd like to someday do a lot of things, but I need to pick a lane at least to start. I'm just not sure where my art fits? If anywhere! Or if it'd even good enough.. I started with a lot of portraiture but I've been wanting to do more narrative/illustrative work. Attached are various pieces that you could say are my "rough portfolio"? Any feedback will help! Thanks! FYI, the one with the bear is unfinished!
Elias Lemus
You HAVE to get rid of it. I'll put it in a few ways to get the idea across. And I don't mean any disrespect or malice. I really want to help and understand the issue. 1. It will never be perfect. Period. Any piece you do, will NEVER feel good enough. Even if it's great. Hurts to hear, but you have to get used to it. 2. You won't grow or learn if you don't make mistakes. You learn from what you messed up on, and you try to work that it next time! 3. You can spend hours and hours "perfecting" a bad piece, and all you'll be doing will be polishing a turd. You have to know when to stop. If it's not working, it's not working. 4. The more work you do, the more you have to look at and you will start to see patterns of what you do wrong AND what you do right. This will help you know what yo improve on, and what to be proud of. Adopt the saying "Finished, not perfect" I got that from Jake Parker. Repeat it when you feel like your piece is failing. I do. Good luck
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Elias Lemus
The drawing basics. I'm going through it right now. I think it'll be a good foundation. Since it's ongoing and you have to wait for new stuff if you catch up, I'd suggest supplementing with material from Marco Bucci too. You're already pretty good. You also need to consider what type of work you wanna do. I mean, your stuff is more "cartoony" so idk if you would care to learn from say Richard Schmid. I'd recommend it since he's so good, but if his stuff doesn't really apply to you now or ever, then maybe no. At least not at the moment. So, what type of stuff you trying to do? That's the question!
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Elias Lemus
I really need some help focusing where I'd like to work. I want to be a freelance illustrator but I don't know where my art fits! I'd like to someday do a lot of things, but I need to pick a lane at least to start. I'm just not sure where my art fits? If anywhere! Or if it'd even good enough.. I started with a lot of portraiture but I've been wanting to do more narrative/illustrative work. Attached are various pieces that you could say are my "rough portfolio"? Any feedback will help! Thanks! FYI, the one with the bear is unfinished!
Steve Lenze
Okay Elias, I'm going to start with what's good: The background is awesome, it really provides some nice mood. It also really retreats back away from the subject. The soft edge of the mountains is a nice touch. The pose feels really natural and confident. The wolf looks cool and is sitting in space very convincingly. Okay, now I'm going to hammer you :) The skin is getting lost in the sky. All of your lines are converging on her crotch, causing me to look there instead of her face. The wolfs nose is tangent with her leg. The colors around her face (focal point) should be more saturated to draw attention there. Over all, nice work. Just make sure you are paying attention to composition and where to lead the eye. Keep it up :)
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Elias Lemus
Wow! Your feedback is so generous and so appreciated! Thank you so so much! I needed this. Thank you!
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Elias Lemus
Hi, this is a recent piece I finished and was looking for some feedback. Anything that comes to mind. This piece is for my portfolio. I'd like to get work with book covers and board games, so please take that into consideration too. Thank you all!
Elias Lemus
This looks great! What I would advise is that you make your idea more clear. "Moody" can mean a lot of things! Dark? Dramatic? Suspenful? This painting gives me "scary/suspenful" vibes. Going off this, I made some suggestion on a paintover. Whati did was modify some values, edges, and darkened the eyes to add more suspense. These are only suggestions! You do what you want! Great work
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Elias Lemus
Good start! Overall it's good. Watch out for the reflected light in the shadows though. It's not as bright as you think. Squint your eyes and you'll see that the shadows are closer in value than it appears. Hope that helps!
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Elias Lemus
Good work here. I agree that the proportions are off. When doing portraits you have to measure. The proportions will always be slightly off, it's impossible to be 100%. BUT they should be close enough. The shadows are definitely too light. I would suggest turning the picture black and white so you can compare values better. When youre good at that, you can work from colored pictures and then turn them black and white to analyze how you did. As far as general charcoal advice.. experiment and learn about the different kinds of charcoal to see what you like and what they do. Vine charcoal, compressed, powder, charcoal pencils. They're all tools and they all creat different marks. You can combine them or use them alone. Explore and best of luck to you!
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Elias Lemus
Looking great! Solid study. I would suggest working on simplifying a bit. Maybe creating a more clear separation from light and shadow. I think the core shadow is super dark in comparison to the the rest. This makes it a little hard to read. The anatomy itself looks great though! You're on the right track!
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Elias Lemus
Awesome awesome work! The mallet really gives it that extra "umph" for me! I'm loving it! The shape design is great too 👍
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Danet
Hi, I think you’re doing fine. maybe the tail on the first lizard could be clarified a bit more, but on the rest looks pretty solid. Good work
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Elias Lemus
Cool! Thank you
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Elias Lemus
I think of TV cartoons. I think of pictures that rely heavily on simplicity and or linework. I think of mostly flat colors, if any. The more I think about it though, the more I think of TV shows that are more visually complex, yet my mind still says "cartoon=simple". My mind tells me SpongeBob is a cartoon. Teen Titans is a cartoon. The Mona Lisa is not a cartoon. Starry night is not a cartoon. And weirdly, I don't think of Zelda (which can be simple, visually) as a cartoon.. as I type my mind just thinks and I believe my definition for cartoon doesn't just come from the way the art looks, but also how it's consumed. I tend to think, it's more for entertainment. Possibly indirect education, but still entertainment. But not just entertainment. Entertainment where you can sit back and enjoy the ride. Zelda fits most of the criteria, but it's a game. It's entertainment, but it's immersive. You're in it. I believe the word cartoon comes from the final line drawing artists used when creating a painting. After the preliminary work they'd have a complete line drawing. No color or anything, but it was the final drawing of the painting to be made.
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Steve Lenze
Hey Elias, These are actually pretty good, you did a good job thinking about shape and perspective. I think moving forward, you should start thinking about not just shapes but planes. It will help show where the shapes are facing. I did a quick sketch to show you what I mean, hope it helps :)
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Elias Lemus
Yes it helps for sure! Thank you!
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Elias Lemus
Great great drawing! Nothing major jumps out. I will say the value on his left cheek is a bit dark. It's almost as dark as the cast shadows. On the model, it's not quite that dark. Then there's a couple tiny dark shadows on the sideburns by the ear that you didn't get. So, double check your values and then not sure what "style" you go for normally, but you can start doing a lot with edges at the level you're at. Amazing work.
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Elias Lemus
https://youtu.be/nnhj5efzN_w Watch this video. I think it'll give you some ideas! He talks about different edges and how to use them.
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Elias Lemus
Hi! Currently I'm working on improving my structural drawing skills so that I can improve my understanding of "form". I'd like to get some critiques on these exercises if I could, please. I was trying to break down the animals into more simple forms. I hope it's not too blurry. Thanks
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