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ChrisCold In reply to meganforet13 [2017-01-22 06:32:58 +0000 UTC]

If you want to use my work for any commercial project i would expect some sort of compensation. If it´s some kind  a free project, i´d like to know more information about it

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ChrisCold In reply to FrostBlast [2014-05-07 23:03:01 +0000 UTC]

Well, it's just a simple portrait-kinda thing with some weird background, there isn't much to explore there.
I mean I don't mind doing some portraits, but if it's just that, it seems kinda boring, and apparently people aren't too excited about it, too

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FrostBlast In reply to ChrisCold [2014-05-08 01:37:06 +0000 UTC]

Not much to explore? The proximity to the character shown is something that can be solidly explored and also something, which, I find, is lacking in most of your work. Just a simple shape, dreamlike and isolated in front of a huge epic background is impressive, agreed, but is not much to relate to. Here, for one, we see a clear human figure, and a nicely drawn one.

Anyway, *I*, for one, feel there'd be something to explore - but hey, it's your work.

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ChrisCold In reply to FrostBlast [2014-05-08 12:55:20 +0000 UTC]

Well essentially that's all it is - a human figure (not even that, it's just a bust).
Like I said, I wouldn't mind doing more portraits or something, but to me (and I think to most people) they are boring, unless it's some anime crap with differently-colored eyes or whatever is trendy today, we can always see other people's faces everywhere (on photos, when we meet friends, strangers on the street), it's nothing special. The only thing to explore in something like that are technical aspects, like when a person writes a comment "wow, i thought this was a photo", or "nice brush strokes", but they are not necessarily impressed by the subject itself, so yeah.

I'd say it's quite the opposite with the connection between the character and the viewer, you can't relate to this one because this one is actually more isolated, despite showing a human face. There is just no context, it can be any face and it wouldn't matter. This also doesn't tell anything about the character, we don't know what she is like, the background is abstract, the title says "Thoughts" but we can't possibly know what she is thinking. In the end it's simply something I was doodling while recording, so I figured since I have the video, why not post it

But, on the other hand, putting a simple character in a scene instantly creates a connection, even if it's not a human character you can see yourself in his place or by his place.
For example, you can put a soldier in armor on a battlefield full of corpses, and the viewer immediately thinks "lone survivor" or something. You see his scratched armor and blood and you realize that he must be strong and skilled to have survived the battle while everyone else died. You also understand that he was there and fought, he was part of it, probably killed some people and saw many more die by the hands of the enemy, his friends and comrades.
Or you twist the whole thing, put a demon covered in blood with a smile on his face and human bodies everywhere. It would probably make the viewer think that he slaughtered all those people, you will wonder about his motivation and why this happened, and what he is going to do next in the world if he so powerful that can kill entire armies.
These things I don't have to paint, without much effort people know they happened even if they are not shown in the illustration itself, it's a part of storytelling.

ANYWAY, that's quite a long reply....
I do agree that I don't paint a lot of human faces and stuff, I'll try to get in on that more often in the future.
Thanks for your interest

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FrostBlast In reply to ChrisCold [2014-05-09 00:22:50 +0000 UTC]

You misunderstood, me I believe. I didn't mean that one could connect with the lady-figure you posted - as she is, in effect rather randomly placed, as you mentioned it yourself.. I rather meant that putting more details - such as those that you show in said lady-figure - to your usual style might reinforce the connection you're trying to create. Instead of having the simple shape of a soldier in the midst of a battlefield filled with corpses, bring the soldier up close some more and give him/her/it a more detailed appearance, the eyes are especially important.

Maybe trying to emotionalize a demonic figure through it's eyes could be something to work on?

That's where I saw the exploration, combining the human details of portraits with your usual style.

And my pleasure, I always enjoy chatting with other artists. Please answer back if you feel like it!

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ChrisCold In reply to FrostBlast [2014-05-09 02:42:06 +0000 UTC]

Ah, well yeah I get what you're saying.
It's just that, you should go with either a landscape or a portrait or whatever it's supposed to be. If the image is about a battle it should show more of that and focus on that, not on the face of a character, that just speaks indecision. There can be some balance, of course, but not to a degree where eyes and such details become important when there is a battlefield behind it all, because that's the main selling point of the image (the battle), the rest is secondary, it can be polished up but making this stuff stand out and take the viewer away from the main point of the image would be a mistake. 
The Mona Lisa, for example, has a background, however nobody would ever compliment it, it's just there to fill up space, nobody cares about it. Similar, in modern digital art, all those cool trading card illustrations with half-naked girls in armor, they do have backgrounds but I don't remember any of them. Actually, I don't remember any of the characters either, because they are just designs, they don't have a personality.
But if an artist manages to make characters do something and bring them to life, it won't matter what they look like or how focal their face is. Just like anyone would visually remember their favorite characters from old games with crappy graphics, even though they had 1 pixel as a face.

It's a really common problem with a lot of clients, actually.
Like, when a writer wants a book cover with a huge castle and a raven-like god in the sky shooting lightning or whatever, while also clearly showing the face of the main character. When I read a description like that, I think of all the crappy movie posters that have 5 cut-out faces of the lead actors and the villain above them. It shows all those things, but it sucks on pretty much all other levels.

The bottom line is, if there is a need to show what a character looks like (like a close up portrait or whatever), it can definitely be a separate piece. But such information has no place in a scene where the character is supposed to save someone, or to fight a battle. Kind of like a comic book page is split up: you have a general shot of what's going on and during the dialog the faces are on separate panels to see the expressions, they don't put it all in one image.

I definitely need explore portraits more as portraits, but I don't think I can or should try to carry over the stuff I learn from it into action scenes or environments.

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FrostBlast In reply to ChrisCold [2014-05-09 04:42:39 +0000 UTC]

Yeah I get what you mean. Star Wars movie posters and all. But I still can't help but think there must be a way for you to have your characters convey more emotions, while still being a rather vague shape in the whole scene.

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ChrisCold In reply to SubWolfSphere [2014-05-07 17:30:20 +0000 UTC]

thanks

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