[Samurai]

Something I've been working on and have fallen into a rut with. I'm not much good with fire yet, and I'm not sure where to take this thing next. Comments and criticism would be greatly appreciated folks, I need all the help I can get.



I intended to do the head, and if I found satisfaction with it, I'd move on and do the rest of him. That's probably not a very sound idea though... hehe

[edit] Oops! Jeez, sorry about the size there guys... this was the resolution I was working at. My bad. If it bothers anyone I'll resize it [/edit]

[ February 04, 2002: Message edited by: Samurai ]

[HawkOne]

Something here reminds me of Jane Goodall, heheh ... the brow/eye/nose and upper lip looks like it could be a relative of a gorilla ...

This piece is a bit to sketchy to say much about, the forms seem alright, seems like a good start.

The filesize (not imagesize!!)is larger than it needs to be too, but not critical like some other posts totalling 5-700K.

[Samurai]

Thanks HawkOne, but I was kind of interested in thoughts of how I should continue. I'm really quite new to this and am somewhat bewildered by it. I don't know what to do next really. I could clean up the lower horns and do some more detailing like I've done around the eyes, but... I'm still stuck with a gorilla lookin' balrog with no real sense of environment to him.

Perhaps I shouldn't have tackled such a subject yet... hehe. I'm learning, I need help.

Boo sucks to harry hun!

[HawkOne]

Ok then, I will try to get you up and running again. (if you haven't done so yourself already)

I'll give you some suggestions of what things I would be looking into if I were to continue this piece.

First off, is this just a "monster-portrait" or could it be part of a bigger image. if it is not a portrait, try some thumbnails with some sort of cavelike background (like the one you were likely inspired from in "THE" movie, or maybe in a dark forest ??

Think of a "situation" that will "set the scene" (again, like the one in the movie unless you want to do your own twist on a story) Wizard trying to defeat the bad guy, or maybe a burning mediaeval village in his background, evidence of his wrath unleashed on a society who somehow came in his way.

These are off course just some suggestions of how you might rethink your image. Also think about composition, how you place focuspoints and how you lead the viewers eye through your piece, whether by using the "intersection of thirds", triangles, diagonals and so on and so forth ....

Now; on to the details on the Balrog himself, if you make this a portrait type image, it would be good if you decided to show details, or if you want a similar smoky blurred effect we saw in TLOTR. I would go for detail, it is harder, but possibly more rewarding in the end.

Then it is time to do some research, look at the images I have collected for you below. I believe you are having trouble deciding what the horns would look like, as in texture and color, and possibly also shape.

Maybe you also wonder what the area of the horn joining the skull might look like (??) Again, reference is your friend, you may study the sheephead below, or you may look for a detailed image of a bull for example, that's of course up to you. For facial features you might choose some details from a gorilla face, take the details of the "parts" you need and maybe invent some of your own, or possibly borrow some features of another beast.

You may also want to decide on the overall physique of this beast, if it is humanoid or maybe bull-like or some mix of the two.

The creatures skin, or hide if you will, needs to be looked into too. I have an idea in my head about a shorthaired, supermuscular neck and shoulder area, similar in massiveness to that of a horse or a bull, but with a humanoid form. Notice the shine in the horsehide below, and the muscles defined through the skin. Also notice little details like the large and small veins, wrinkles and imperfections.


I think that should do it. Hope you found some helpful advice in there ...

Good luck ...







[ February 06, 2002: Message edited by: HawkOne ]

[Samurai]

Wow. Thanks for all the advice HawkOne, I'll give some of that a try and post this dude later when he's getting closer to being finished.

Thanks again. It's a rare thing to help someone out like this.