Maria J Venegas-Spadafora
Maria J Venegas-Spadafora
Vancouver BC, Canada
2D Artist / Illustrator at Liquid Development. Freelance
Liandro
Great construction of the facial bones and features, @Maria J Venegas-Spadafora! Pretty good lighting too!
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Maria J Venegas-Spadafora
thanks Liandro!
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Maria J Venegas-Spadafora
continuing the study and design of faces
Ricky Salazar
Really like the way you organized shape and color with planes! Who are your design influences?
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Maria J Venegas-Spadafora
thank you! Cedric Peyravernay is a big one for me
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Maria J Venegas-Spadafora
For this exercise I started experimenting with design as opposed to just practice portrait painting. I think I am finding a style that feels natural to me. Comments are welcomed
Josh Sunga
Hey @Maria J Venegas-Spadafora! Sorry this feedback is so late- I started this paintover earlier but last month got busy for me! Anyway, great work! Love the stylization and simplicity. The main thing I wanted to adjust was some of the value structure. I darkened the bg to silhouette the house better- adding the light on the ground behind the building also reinforces this effect. If you notice, the stone foundation blends in with the ground if you squint so I made sure to create enough contrast between the ground and the stones. I also thought you could darken the walls of the house just a bit to make those lights glow more! The last thing was to harmonize the colors- especially at the base of the house where the warmth of the grass would reflect onto the structure. Adding some yellow into the stones while also making the shadow side blue and cooler helped to capture that feeling. Even adding some of the orange from the pumpkins would be a nice detail on whatever is nearby. Other than that great shapes and strong design! Thanks for sharing!
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Maria J Venegas-Spadafora
wow thank you for the lengthy review! the paintover is awesome! this helps a lot :D
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Josh Sunga
Awesome work again @Maria J Venegas-Spadafora! I already did a paintover on your other piece and this is looking great already- so I'll just leave you with a lighting suggestion. You have a nice dynamic of light on the table which is a nice focal point, but the rest of the building is also equally lit which competes with the first statement. Designing the light shapes on the upper building in such a way to lead the eye down to table could reinforce both visuals and make for a more cohesive image. (And sorry for such a delayed response!) But either way, great work!
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Maria J Venegas-Spadafora
thank you so much Josh! this is very helpful!
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Liandro
@Maria J Venegas-Spadafora, this is pretty good design work!! I love how cartoony the house feels. Nice use of the asymmetry on the bigger roof, and way to go compensating it with the brick chimney and other minor forms on the right. The background and overall composition might be a little bit too flat indeed, as Josefin K mentioned, but the architecture definitely tells a compelling story - It certainly has a mix of “funny and creepy” that’s pretty interesting to see. And I also love the way you’ve been working out the textures and colors. One little thing I see is that the smaller metal chimney (is that how we call it?) on the right side of the bigger roof (our left side) seems a bit too faded, almost lost, since its values are so close to the dark background. And it’s such a nice shape, so maybe play some light tricks in order to make it pop just a little bit more? Also, I’m curious about your process! I was guessing you started with a rough 3D model, then painted over it, was it? I’d say that how you develop this piece should depend on your goals with it and as an artist in general: . If you want to make it an “illustration-focused piece” (in case you want to boost an illustration-focused portfolio), you could give attention to the points Josefin K highlighted. Maybe try to bring up a stronger sense of atmosphere and storytelling not only with the house, which is already good, but also with its entire environment and surroundings. Make sure the lighting, values, colors, textures and visual FX are fully coherent throughout the scene’s mood. . On the other hand, if you want it to be more of a “concept-design-oriented piece”, I’d say you wouldn’t need to polish it as a single image. Maybe make some composition adjustments to make the house design stand out even more (such as making the “little chimney” more visible, as I mentioned above), but don’t spend too long in it and focus on taking the design process further: add some silhouette and shape variation studies, sketch in other views of the house, blueprints, front and side cuts, display details, maybe some perspectives of the interior, even expand it and add some props? These are possibilities, so you could decide on adding what you think would value this more as a design project. Of course, deciding on any of this will depend on where you want to direct your goals as a professional, your artistic identity, what kinds of jobs you want to work on, etc. Hope this helps! Let me know if I can help you with anything else. Keep it up!
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Maria J Venegas-Spadafora
thanks Liandro! I will take your advice into account!
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Maria J Venegas-Spadafora
A piece I have been working on lately Any feedback is welcomed!
Atharva Lotake
Hello everyone I just completed the Nose Study Exercise and I would love to get feedback on my work. Thanks to anyone who takes the time to do it!
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Maria J Venegas-Spadafora
awesome!
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Atharva Lotake
Hello everyone I just completed the Eye Study Exercise and I would love to get feedback on my work. Thanks to anyone who takes the time to do it!
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Maria J Venegas-Spadafora
wow these are great!
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Liandro
@Maria J Venegas-Spadafora Hey Maria, sorry it's taken me this long to reply - it's been busy weeks for me lately. Before anything, I should let you know that I've never studied Goldfinger's resources and that animal anatomy is something I don't have a strong grip on right now. With that said, I believe I can try to help based on what I know about human anatomy - we're all animals, so how different can it be really? 😆 Anyway, please consider my comments in this context and forgive me if I say anything dumb! I'd say yes, overall, I think you did a pretty coherent job identifying these muscles - at least when I think of the human head's muscular structure, I can relate and understand the position and function of what you traced. Just a quick note though is that you named the muscle around the eye as "Orbicularis Oris", while it should be "Orbicularis Oculi" ("oculi" refers to the eyes, and "oris" refers to the lips). I did a quick search and found this stunning 3D work by (your namesake) Maria Panfilova, maybe you'll find it helpful: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/vGG46 I also found this academic paper that shows this diagram I attached here in the post. This is the link to the paper in case you might like to see: https://watermark.silverchair.com/j.1096-3642.2000.tb02195.x.pdf?token=AQECAHi208BE49Ooan9kkhW_Ercy7Dm3ZL_9Cf3qfKAc485ysgAAAu4wggLqBgkqhkiG9w0BBwagggLbMIIC1wIBADCCAtAGCSqGSIb3DQEHATAeBglghkgBZQMEAS4wEQQMVoBBMHlwNxVbMRA1AgEQgIICoe2nP2j494n4-sV2zIW6bzTMFY_61XnvEMofTX0RgQDbQqiehGE89GZn7zoNI89BD68kiAU-leRRYX7PusYqadODXr4dhID2MnGkSUfY2PvOzy1YXKjA6kWUdJGKrYv3lhvcK6xAYY0Cw6umEVlx2liSTnKRRH8fuHrR1zBI3bl2BgpR0YtZuZN1OkWB7r6GexhAM873aaDueoS7iT6b5CSQK6rSxSJyD-SOeeKzqdwLPqnfvAKm7DexjY6JL-gl1iCf4vxXuJhstwCSQ-9w8-7hELv3x1AaakEj7D69I2GI-6FRUi_uxzBbzmc7PODr8t73EFyR-VIDj2OMcWYhPQ61t0DlrXasITrgYKT2XqeWS4bOP78NehA8Kx4UefivxqAlIf28vwkL-jBV5-bNUrBNhdgiyHtzdGo4hyJVOJm___SgGMy6frqGX5LqagFADvYh7tYJsJ2nrHybv0Tm0y3_rK5w4Rui8O7tl2mtGDtfE9Bg4_dG-9fARSq_Jc39_RSVFbIKvjU95ojHhfclb9hPedGMive20P51VCNs3RJZ-5ckIjAzTVVGf7pPs0z_YGKpweczo3LHwL1UctGkTGYY29IjES_LCEEpn1FrJJ3A9dfEi5ZXzzDOJF6_iD1iZXEdg0PJ2kFMhnLZwkj94l9DjKSY9TB_VJr8FzEH7dqRO4WT04RQYTs1urxk38O_7Ew9TA3Vs-weQHAcuJoE-yy7wNaH8MUI2s3H2WdJDnp7QB1AZYvA4fBr6EwsrAldBc_-aYQKSPVhM-Gta2dLOg9mFbBLY3EnNGPm-xlEV_8YDkuK-vkPYwt4fgOp5XaPeDiJZiuiRuBkM6HbHlrJ4C8DXCkPXMtnmQ9OuOXmczENfT_ffM4t0ICvhRg-gErgcUQ (In case the link above doesn't work, try accessing it through Google Images: https://images.app.goo.gl/UhK4YyqbzaFKwB6K8) Concerning the overall process of studying anatomy, I know this is just one drawing and you've probably done more stuff beyond this tracing, but one thing I'd suggest would be to focus not only on learning the names and shapes of the muscles, but also (and probably most importantly) their origins and insertions, relating all that to the muscle's functions on the body. For example, the Masseter, which is a super important head muscle (especially for predators, since it's responsible for moving the jaw): in your tracing, it seems to be in the right place, but your study doesn't clarify exactly where this muscle originates and where it inserts; getting clarity on the muscle's attachments should help you get a more effective and stronger grip on the anatomy. In general, you'll definitely get the most out of your anatomy studies if you focus on understanding not only how the anatomy is seen on the surface, but mainly how its pieces are assembled in a single structure and how this bigger structure works in order to make the body function the way it does. Finally, my "top of mind" reference for animal anatomy in art is certainly @Terryl Whitlatch - have you seen any of her courses yet? There's an episode on the Draftsmen podcast with her: Designing Creatures for Star Wars and Disney with Terryl Whitlatch - Draftsmen S3E06, and there's also her courses on Schoolism - by the way, I just found out she released a specific course on Felines: https://www.schoolism.com/online-drawing-classes/felines-terryl-whitlatch Hopefully she'll eventually make some courses here at Proko too... I think that's all I can give for now. Other than that, keep up your good work! Hope this helps. If there's anything else, just let me know. Best regards!
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Maria J Venegas-Spadafora
thank you so much Liandro for the very thorough critique! very helpful! I will continue my studies with your advice!
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Maria J Venegas-Spadafora
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Maria J Venegas-Spadafora
Hi, I am trying to wrap my head around what I am seeing on Goldfinger's Animal anatomy for artists. I would really appreciate if someone could take a look at my lion head tracing. Am I identifying the main anatomy correctly? Thank you in advance! @Liandro
Enrique Nuñez Mendoza
Hello everyone! This is my first post. I don´t know if it is right to use this space for showing finished work but I would like to show my recent artworks based on what I learned from this course. Please feel free to critique my work. Have a great day! Greetings from México.
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Maria J Venegas-Spadafora
nice work!
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Maria J Venegas-Spadafora
hi, I think you are on the right track. the proportions seem a bit off, especially the male ones. Their torso and upper arms are huge and the heads look tiny in comparison. Getting proportions right I think is something that comes with practice.
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Maria J Venegas-Spadafora
Hi, I was wondering if there are any upcoming courses on animal drawing/animal anatomy? Would love to see that here
Maria J Venegas-Spadafora
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Maria J Venegas-Spadafora
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Jon Neimeister
These look awesome, Maria! I especially love the shape design on the second character's hair.
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Maria J Venegas-Spadafora
thank you Jon!
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