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Gilran In reply to giadrosich [2012-12-28 18:28:36 +0000 UTC]

Thank you
Of course, please feel free to critique!

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giadrosich In reply to Gilran [2013-01-10 14:48:43 +0000 UTC]

I've been spending some time with this image, Gilran (as well as going through your gallery), and what follows are just a few observations:

As I mentioned above, I really like what you have done here. Remember, ink works largely because of contrast. In a monochromatic composition, there has to be a difference in approach in different areas to guide the eye through the image. The only thing we have to work with is white on black, black on white, simple on complex, and complex on simple.

Let's start with focal point. As this piece stands, there are two competing areas, being the main characters face and the face of the assailant. Why? Because both areas are the same value. The lit candle should be the brightest point in the picture, because that is the light source. Next should be her face, and then everything else should be descending degrees of shadow. Being behind her, the assailant should be in half tone and shadow. Now, if you want to use a white trap line to set figures apart from the background, try only trapping the silhouette of the figure, and not each individual limb (such as the forward arm holding the mace). By trapping the silhouette, you "group" the figure as a unit so that the eye can easily discern that mass as belonging together. Don't be hesitant about merging part of the figure into the background, as this can add to the surprise element, as in, "girl alone in passageway (first seen), then, HOLY COW!!, guy with giant mace (second)!!

For focal point, here's some reference to illustrate:
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Try to vary your line length (and width), also. For the architectural stone, experiment using some short lines to build the stone texture. Right now, all the lines are approached the same way, which has a tendency to flatten the image a bit and to confuse the eye as to what type of surface it is looking at. The hall-way would have been a good place to drop in some cross-hatching to deepen the shadows, finally going to a near solid black in the farthest distance. The solid black on the cloaks work well in framing the figures, but again, they compete in dimension with the areas behind them.

Look at how these folks handle different textures:
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Watch your perspective. Right now, it appears as if the hall-way is sloping down towards the characters. If that is what you want, it's okay, but a level hall-way would actually be hidden behind the characters, as our horizon line appears to be right around her face, but hey, I know, perspective is a pain sometimes.

All of that to say, keep up the fine work. After going through your gallery, I can see a lot of progress, both in your approach and the complexity of the pieces you are doing now. This current image is a testament to how far you have traveled!

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Gilran In reply to giadrosich [2013-01-10 17:44:41 +0000 UTC]

Thanks a lot for a detailed response! I struggle quite a bit with contrasting light and shadow in ink work, particularly when I have to place my characters, usually simply designed (e.g. pure black cloak) into a background. It become hard to plan the composition (which I rarely do, to my shame) when you have constants, such as certain pieces of character costume being solid black color. I heard people draw thumbnails when planning how shadows and half-tones would look like in the picture. Maybe I should try and do that.

Initially, my plan was to have the assailant emerge from the shadows in the background, but somehow I feared that he is going to get too lost in the shadow, so I did what I did: I wonder if I should revisit the work and render him in half-tones and shadow, as you suggest.

Do you mean to vary length and width on just crosshatch or the contour lines as well?

Regarding perspective, I was trying to draw a vaulted corridor, but since it's all about curves, I got hopelessly lost I did not achieve exactly what I wanted, however, and really got lazy halfway through

Again, I appreciate the effort you put into this, and the illustrations you provided are really good and inspiring. What's more, it's all really helpful for my future work! I will upload three more pages of this comic soon, and any feedback from you, however brief, I would greatly appreciate

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Gilran In reply to dieseldog09 [2012-12-27 19:19:30 +0000 UTC]

Thank you kindly, sir It took a lot of effort and patience oh god it took patience.

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