BLOOD AND ROSES COVER CONTEST JUDGES COMMENTS & WINNER! Options

Hi All. Mark Topolski here. John and Tony have been usually keeping ya all updated but this time I get the honor. The judges comments are in and I have copied them as is here in the post. After reading, the winner will be posted at the bottom. Great job by all and congrats to all of you who took your time and participated in the contest. It's greatly appreciated


From Brant Fowler

Josh (bluepencil)


Composition: It's okay, but leaves a lot of dead space. Plenty of room for logo and trade dress though. Nice thought in the poses, but the standing one doesn't really work in relation to the sitting one, at least not in the inks. The early pencils (second try) looked very promising...




Figure Drawing: The layout was much stronger than the finished product. As the pencils were more defined, the figure drawing began to show flaws and weaknesses, especially in the standing figure. This got even worse in the inking stage, specifically with the hands. Anatomy is also off below the waste on both characters.



Overall: Shows promise in beginning stages, but needs work in delivery and fine-tuning.




Vector
Composition: Before the backgrounds come into play, the composition was nice. The sword would over lap or go under the logo, but it's a classic Charlie's Angels style pose mixing action/adventure with fantasy in a nice way. Once the dinosaur was added, the composition was still nice, but not for a cover. There's now no room for the logo or trade dress.


Figure Drawing: Overall this is solid. I appreciate the stylistic approach to the faces, even though the anatomy is slightly askew especially on the right side character. Her hands and arms are also awkwardly bent, which makes the pose look unnatural. Nice work on the hair and the detail on the left side character's pants. The dinosaur is also very nicely illustrated, so kudos on that.


Backgrounds: As the coloring process began I was disappointed to see you choose to shift from a ring of fire around to a full on solid color. I think more could have been done with that area. Plus the color chosen was a little garish for the piece. In the finished product, I know you didn't have time to complete it, but the dinosaur is nicely done for how much you were able to do. The left side girl's pants and the right side girls bracelets are nicely rendered. The rest is very spotty and undone unfortunately.


Overall: Some skills exhibited, but is lacking in certain areas needed to make this piece the winner.



dgtrekkor


Composition: Two things kept me from really getting on board with this piece, and one of them is the composition. While this would make a nice splash page or pinup, for a cover it does not work. You left absolutely no room at the top for any dress whatsoever. That unfortunately puts it out of the running right there. Nice composition otherwise. Love the different elements you were able to incorporate showing the contrast and unity between the characters.


Figure Drawing: Stylistic in that the ladies are a bit thicker than you'd normally see, but drawn well. The poses almost work, but you drew them a bit out of perspective so that the left side character appears larger than the other were she standing, and the way they overlap does not quite achieve the depth you were going for. Spend some time working on your hands as well, specifically the fingers. This is one of the hardest things to get down, and you're close. But these are a tad off. Overall, though, solid work on the figure drawing.


Backgrounds: I appreciate the extra mile, and what you were going for here. Overall it was a nice effort and there are some things I really like. In the inking stage (nice inks, by the way-I like the way the foreground characters stand out in the inks, even though that's lost some in the colors) you could see the depth and perspective you were going for, but it still looked and felt flat. The colors brought some of that out, but the colors themselves, while really worked on the buildings, took away from the foreground characters.  Also, that arrow is just off, as is some of the general perspective. 


Overall: Again, a lot of promise here, and you were almost there, but some minor flaws and under developed colors took it down a notch for me.



spikey


Composition: The initial composition/posing was just okay for me. The art was looking good, but the pose was basic and kind of dull. As you built on it through the various stages of development, though, it took on new life, especially with the addition of the background details. I definitely commend the choice for eventually turning the right side character's face up towards the reader. Much more interesting that way.


Figure Drawing: At the onset, the character on the right was dead on. Arms might have been a tad skinny, but you filled them in by the final stage. Though in the final product they appear to be too short slightly, especially compared to the left side character. But overall that character is nicely illustrated. The character on the left you could see you were struggling with a bit from stage to stage. You also second guessed yourself with the turn of her head. In the first stage you showed it was a little off, but in the second it was well done and her facial features looked better. Unfortunately you kept tweaking them in the final two stages, and while the rendering is good, it lost a little something in the tweaking. Her body, however, was tweaked just fine as it started out rough and finally took nice shape by the final product. Speaking of rendering, incredible job on the colors here, it truly looks like something popping out of a computer game. Nicely done.


Backgrounds: The addition of the background really makes this piece pop. With the dark colors and the simple poses you risked having a well-painted, but boring cover here. But the simplistic addition of a clock carving, I'm calling it, on a brick wall all Tomb Raider like makes all the difference in the world. Could more have been done with it? Yes. Did it need it? Not necessarily.



Overall: Solid digital painting that pops as a cover, despite some very minor and nitpicky flaws.



Winner: spikey, hands down.



From: Ross Hughes

Bluepencil:

There is a nice structure for a pin-up/cover piece, but it's obviously unfinished.  There are some anatomy issues with this piece that will get ironed out with time and practice.  Finish this piece up!


Spikey:

This is an excellent piece.  I love looking at the progression here.  A couple little nit-picky things that I feel would help the piece out though.  First, the guns.  They're too dark, even for the environment they're in.  A couple highlights to help bring them out of the deep shadow should do the trick.  Second, the woman's left breast appears smaller than her right one.  This could just be because there is no light being cast on it (and there should be a little at least), but it definitely looks a bit lopsided the way it is.  And last, the gun holsters are getting lost since they're being rendered with the same color as the clock.  I almost didn't notice they were there at all.  A slight color adjustment would help.


Vector:

This is a case of a pretty darn good drawing being done in by a bad color job.  The neon colors are conflicting with the muddy skin tones, and the color is obscuring the pencil work in a lot of places.  If I had to guess I'd say you were trying to color it without separating the lineart from the background.  If you're working the colors in Photoshop, check out some tutorials about how to separate your lineart.  You'll notice a world of difference.

DGTrekker:

This is another example of a drawing being done in by the color.  Black is a bad thing in your colors.  I see it in so many new colorists work, and I was just as guilty of it when I was starting out.  Using black, or at least too much black, in your colors makes things look dirty, not shaded.  And it commits a cardinal sin in comics and that's obscuring the lineart.  The lineart itself has some issues.  The blonde looks a little on the plump side, and I'm not sure she's supposed to look that way.  Also, her left knee is place awkwardly and really throws things off.  I like the concept of the two different worlds and how they overlap though.  This would make an excellent piece once it gets tightened up.


My vote for the winner:  Spikey



From Mike Luoma

Bluepencil: Anatomy is a little off, and the poses are stiff and boring.



Spikey: Nice "painting" but poses are again on the unexciting side... was there a requirement that the characters be so posed?



Vector: Pencils were good but the ink lines are a little shaky. Blonde looks good but the brunette looks bored (inappropriate), and her head looks misshapen in the inks, less so in the pencils.



dgtrekker: Anatomy is way off here (foreshortening lessons needed), although the women look a bit more fleshed out than in other examples. In lines are very sketchy and unsure.



Of all of them, i like spikey the best, although I thought his work in progress 4 was BETTER than his final.


Thank you to John Wilson for assembling the three judges; Mike Luoma, Ross Hughes and Brant Fowler. Thanks to you three judges for taken some time out of your busy schedule to judge the contest. And again, thanks to the contestants for taken time to participate in the contest and congrats to all of you for giving it your best shot.

Big hats of to Spikey for winning

Congratulations, Spikey!! I hope that for everyone that participated, you took away most of all, growth and experience. A big thank you for participating and thanks to all of the guest judges! We're going to get to work on the next one immediately!

thanks to the judges for taking the time to comment on the entries.

Thanks a lot everyone, it's been a lot of fun participating in this competition. And thank you to the judges for the great crits and comments.

From Brant Fowler

Josh (bluepencil)


Composition: It's okay, but leaves a lot of dead space. Plenty of room for logo and trade dress though. Nice thought in the poses, but the standing one doesn't really work in relation to the sitting one, at least not in the inks. The early pencils (second try) looked very promising...


From: Ross Hughes

Bluepencil:

There is a nice structure for a pin-up/cover piece, but it's obviously unfinished.  There are some anatomy issues with this piece that will get ironed out with time and practice.  Finish this piece up!


From Mike Luoma

Bluepencil: Anatomy is a little off, and the poses are stiff and boring.



Big thank you to Brant, Ross and Mike for your time to critiques on my entry. Your critiques are meanful to me alot and gives me direction where I needs to work. It is only beginning and working really hard work up to where I needs to be. Got starts small step up gets to professional level.

Congratulations to Spikey!!

Yes, a big thank you for the judges time and consideration, and a thank you to those who held the contest, for the opportunity to participate.

Well done to all the peole who entered the competition, and congrats to Spikey.

I was looking at the critiques by the judges, and even tho I did not enter, I found it highly interesting that the judges preferred the looser works compared to the tighter sketches. Very surprising, I would have thought it would be the other way around.