Elias Lemus
Elias Lemus
Omaha, NE
Peter Anton
I like the concept, and your bears really feel like bears. I will give you my opinions: 1) the connection of the big bear's arms to the body feels weird. I'd make sure you're drawing through the form and thinking about where the ribcage is, making sure the shoulder joints are in the right place. I'd also do some ear studies on how the ears connect to the skull. The shapes of them look great, but they look like flat pieces of paper, as if the back of the ear is missing. In reality, ears are gonna have more of a bowl shape to catch the sound, like a cupped hand. 2) just a personal take on the acting. If I had my arm transformed into a crab arm, I wouldn't be looking at the crab with a bear arm, I'd be looking at my own arm and freaking out. Try getting into the pose and film yourself, and use freeze frames from the video. Really pretend you're that bear and FREAK OUT!!! 3) The little bear's hat is very symmetrical. I think you could push the pinch in the back and stretch in the front, and perhaps attach it to the shape of the head by giving it more of a brim (maybe just grab some reference. His staff also seems a little under designed. Is it an old wooden staff or a sleek metal staff? It feels more like a line than a 3d form. His legs are also very parallel. I'd taper them or curve the front side to make it a more dynamic shape. Finally, his feet are 100% horizontal and parallel to the picture plane, which tends to flatten out the pose 4) You could really push the idea with constrast. What if the limbs retained their original size? A little crab with a giant paw that is way too big for it. Maybe he LOVES this giant paw and holds it up proudly, admiringly, thinking of how it will make him popular with the lady crabs. But the bear looks in horror at the stumpy little crab claw sticking out of his shoulder.
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Elias Lemus
Thank you so much! You're critique is phenomenal! I have a lot to think about! I'll be going over this feedback multiple times to really make my work better. Thank you!
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Cade Burdett
This is really cool did the bear catch some sort of disease from the crab lol?
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Elias Lemus
Lol not exactly! The idea is that the little wizard bear accidentally switched their arms. I think I could make that more clear though!
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J B
I love it, that's really creative!
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Elias Lemus
Thanks!
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Elias Lemus
Hi everyone! I was hoping to get some feedback on the concept and I guess anything else on this little sketch. It wasn't intended to be a polished, finished piece so i know the shading and some linework is rough. I was focusing more on the idea and legibility of it on this. Thanks!
Elias Lemus
Ah, yes! These are great! It's so crazy how much movement comes across!!
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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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