ATOMHAWK – 2D - Hawk - Mr. Reedux [Archive]

Mr. Reedux

27-03-2011, 02:16 PM

I've got tons of thumbs in my sketchbook, gonna see if I can get a picture of the page.

Here's a quick sketch, I really liked the face and gaze so I'm experimenting with this quite a bit.

Hawk always strikes me as a name for a Scientist.
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Mr. Reedux

27-03-2011, 11:21 PM

Atomhawk is obviously a super hero :D
Don't like the mean dudes face but that's easy to fix.
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Mr. Reedux

28-03-2011, 07:18 AM

I really like the comp on the previous one with our hero to the right and some baddy on the left...
But this one is just so simple and stylish. Hmm :|

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BradMan

28-03-2011, 06:33 PM

Mr. Reedux

29-03-2011, 02:42 PM

Love your natural sketching ability.

My advice...Try dropping your main character lower in the layout while bringin the evil eyes up to fill top space, so you could play on the focal atom superhero which then leads up to the eyes...

Haha, "natural". Thanks :)

I took your advice and lowered the main character, but only a little bit.
I tried many variations of shrinking from the example above to a full body shot with the eyes still above him. It made it seem more and more like the eyes was the focus point of the image rather than our hero. It also made him seem small and weak. Not the image I want for our hero!

I'm still sketching on some other ideas but unless I can find something I like better, this will be the one I take to finish.

Infact, I have an idea of switching places of them. Hero being the big eyes and evil person dude being the smaller character :)

elgama

29-03-2011, 02:53 PM

keep up, my only advice would be a little more of negative space on the sides and top, just a little more room to breath, but ei..im a negative space fan so... :)

gl

Mr. Reedux

30-03-2011, 02:38 AM

elgama, I totally agree with you. Posters, if anything, are based on negative spaces and simple compositions.

I really like the brighter one here. Guess it's time to start thinking about the title design. :D
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Mr. Reedux

30-03-2011, 02:03 PM

I was already pretty sure about the design from the earlier sketches but took a few minutes to try some ideas. I came up with a second candidate which, if this was a game could be an unlock or upgraded suit. In a movie, perhaps to save the day he needs the added functions of the suit.
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vnmribaya

30-03-2011, 02:19 PM

nice concepts man, looking forward for more updates

throne

31-03-2011, 12:58 AM

So much potential in there, keep going.

BradMan

01-04-2011, 09:00 PM

It's looking really good. I love the last option you posted.

on colour. If you get that right it would be awesome. I suggest colder/cooler colour for the background with warmer colours on the main character. If you could foreshorten your right hand and together with your atom enlarge it, it would add more dynanism...just a thought

Mr. Reedux

01-04-2011, 09:17 PM

Thanks a lot for your advice, I promise you I will try as many variations as possible :)

I'm also going to try and record some of the process, depends a bit on how stable it is though :x

Currently redrawing it in the right dimensions.

migroe

02-04-2011, 07:43 PM

very nice style, can't wait to see it coloured! i prefer the right caracter - he looks like a superhero and that fits perfect :haha:

Mr. Reedux

02-04-2011, 09:27 PM

Hey hey hi whazzup!

Cheers migroe, It's the design I'm going with :)
I've started to paint over the sketch, basically I resized the sketch to 4000ish pixels height and traced over it.

I am -really- unsure about the colours cause I -really- like it sort of monochromatic.
Here's where I'm at now. Also, I don't know if I'm overdoing it or not but I'm trying to mirror hawk like shapes in the guys face, check the overlay to see what I mean.

Ideas about the wings are also greatly appreciated as I find them quite stale at the moment, but giving them a more detailed silhouette has proven to be worse :/
I also flipped the text cause the hero is facing left so I thought it would be better compositionally since we read to the right.
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xxxcubanxxx

02-04-2011, 09:31 PM

looking good, loving the character.

meowmeow

03-04-2011, 08:29 AM

looks real pretty. i like the flesh tones on the characters face :)

Mr. Reedux

05-04-2011, 02:14 PM

Thanks meowmeow!

Fun little warm-up today! (Yes I woke up late ._.)
The hawk in the Atomhawk logo is so doing Cpt.Falcons Falcon-kick!
I know his pose doesn't really say "I'm gonna kick you in the face at ludicrous speed!", which was kind of the point :>
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c-c-c-combo breaker!

prosn

05-04-2011, 04:01 PM

I love your concept, you are doing great ....I was not able to understand what was your last upload about.........whatever it is looking good :D

Kungfoowiz

05-04-2011, 04:48 PM

Lull.. awesome stuff going on in here =) Keep up the guud work =)

Mr. Reedux

05-04-2011, 08:37 PM

prosn, It was just a joke man :)

Kungfoowiz, Cheers!

Here's an update from today, I'm really just nitpicking at this stage. Trying to find the best design for the atom and the title.
It's kinda bright eh? hehe.
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elgama

05-04-2011, 08:47 PM

hi, dunno if its just me or the space between the eyes of the top char is a notch too big?

Also i would give the atom a more dynamic feeling, maybe rotate it a few degrees, just so it wont be 45,90,45, etc etc.

anyway, keep up!

migroe

08-04-2011, 03:35 PM

elgama is right, rotating the atom could look better. but I still can't say if the background is too bright, I like it that way.
anyway the painting is looking very good - I love the character and especially his hands :) looking forward for updates

Mr. Reedux

08-04-2011, 04:01 PM

Guys, you know what? This idea isn't working. It lacks power and expression and simply isn't up to the task compared to some other entries.

Working on new ideas, here's one based on the first but with better lighting, form and expression. Needs more stuff though, and a hawk somewhere!

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Mr. Reedux

08-04-2011, 05:24 PM

The background is a photo place holder, I didn't want to spend 2hours drawing a city just to "try it out".
But, I think it works so I'm going to remove the photo and actually draw a city there instead (in proper perspective).
Gotta look up some ref for the hawk as well.

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anasrist

08-04-2011, 06:03 PM

wowww This is really looking great, nice compositions, the last one's specially.

wasco

08-04-2011, 08:26 PM

last one is definitely most impressive
keep going

Mr. Reedux

09-04-2011, 01:09 AM

Update on the blokes face :) Gonna render most of it to this quality and then add colour, this one wont be a monochrome/adjustment layer like the old one, it looks too cheap!

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10867635/Sketches/april11/Atomhawk_poster_wip3.jpg

Kungfoowiz

09-04-2011, 01:39 PM

Latest comp is looking better bro. Keep up the guud work here, definitely inspiring to see =)

Mr. Reedux

10-04-2011, 01:00 PM

Thanks Kungfoowiz! Yeah I'm really liking the new idea.

Did some more rendering on his body, about to start drawing in the city... :|
Tell me if its too dark? I have a really bright IPS monitor so I've heard some of my paintings look really dark but I can't really see it.

Also, I just hid the eyes. I'm not ditching that idea.
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elgama

10-04-2011, 01:15 PM

hi Reedux, yes the img is a little bit 2 dark ion my monitor, like 60. cent is almost pure black.

keep up

dalton_muniz

10-04-2011, 04:48 PM

The last option is way better than the previous one, I cant say about the blacks because right now I am on a cheap screen laptop..haha. Keep it up!

Mr. Reedux

10-04-2011, 07:37 PM

Thanks peeps :)
Gawd, I hate drawing cities. There's something about straight lines and artificial design that puts me off so bad :|

You don't want to know how many times I had to redraw this, still very rough, cityscape :'(

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10867635/Sketches/april11/Atomhawk_poster_wip6.jpg

migroe

10-04-2011, 08:28 PM

like your new direction (though I liked the first one also ;))!
on my "good" screen it's maybe just a little too dark, on my notebook a little too bright... hope that helps?
keep it up, would like to see this one finished!

Mr. Reedux

12-04-2011, 12:34 AM

Allright, thanks migroe. I've been stressing over the composition all day, the hawk in particular but I think I got it right finally. I've also been messing about with the light so that it can be viewed on most monitors. It was really frustrating cause on mine I had it just right, then looked at it on a 7year old monitor and it was almost pitch black so.. yeah :D

Latest wip:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10867635/Sketches/april11/Atomhawk_poster_wip8.jpg

Mr. Reedux

12-04-2011, 06:00 PM

Right guys, now that I've decided on the composition I thought I'd share with you some of the voodoo crap that's going on in it.

What's happening is that the city is pointing and bringing your eyes upwards, the building right behind the hawk is pretty much an obvious arrow pointing at our hero.

Humans focus on eyes, faces and hands by default and to further bring that into my painting in terms of composition I've done a bit of selective detailing on those areas.
The face and hand has a little bit of more rendering than the city or his legs to attract attention.

Same goes for the hawk, had I left the head sketchy and went crazy on its wings you'd have looked at the wings rather than the head. Some basic composition theory for you.

The negative space wing is probably the most obvious part so far, it's practically a bunch of arrows that yell at you "LOOK THAT WAY!"

Composition can never be 100% correct. The area of focus is always in the eyes of the beholder, as a painter I can only try to manipulate your eyes to go where I want them.

Here's an image to visually explain what I'm on about.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10867635/Sketches/april11/Atomhawk_poster_wip8-compo.jpg

Ok, back to rendering!

KumoriKiku

14-04-2011, 06:47 PM

Mr. Reedux

14-04-2011, 08:54 PM

I'm really glad you didn't get rid of the eyes because they're damn gorgeous. The only thing I can think of to recommend is possibly moving the hawk from it's current location, possibly a small silhuette in front of the moon? I see that you have the hawk there to help move the eye around the image but the eye would move much easier without it at that location and keep the composition from feeling too lopsided or crowded. But that might just be me being biased because I wanna see more of your pretty city :D

Hah, you don't know how many hours I spent just going between different places to have the hawk. In the end It looked better to leave the sky clear and cover up some of the city cause I'm not that good at cityscapes yet :)

grafi

14-04-2011, 11:58 PM

Hey Mr. Redux,

Can't lie, kinda fell in love with the first design a lot more than this one, but I like them both a lot. Also loving the new text work & the painter quality on this new one; I can't wait to see it with the atom molecule in there like before. :)

I like what the eye movement is doing (especially the hawk looking at the title), but I think the bottom part of the 'wing mask' is actually throwing the viewer's eyes out of the frame instead of into it. Maybe those sharp points could be curved down slightly? Or maybe the city could be tilted so that it's sitting perpendicular to the frame? I do however like when the city is tilted, it makes everything a lot more interesting and adds more action to the shot. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what your next revision looks like, you have my attention. :D

[Edit]: Saw the Final Image, and it looks great! I like how the Atom Molecule is part of the glove (although I can't get enough glowing things). You actually smoothed out those curves on the mask too, looks a lot better. Nice Work! :)

KumoriKiku

16-04-2011, 08:55 AM

Hah, you don't know how many hours I spent just going between different places to have the hawk. In the end It looked better to leave the sky clear and cover up some of the city cause I'm not that good at cityscapes yet :)

Heh, I bet! I could already tell by your attention to detail and stroke. I saw your final version in the main thread and man, I'm glad you went with what you worked so hard for. All of the color touches made it go "ba-BAM!" XD And what you sayin' you bad at cityscapes??? Looks amazing to me! :)

vnmribaya

29-04-2011, 02:44 PM

congratz reedux, nice image, one of my favs

Mr. Reedux

29-04-2011, 04:03 PM

Thanks man! :) I wish I could show more of the thumbnails I have but I just can't get a proper photo of them.

Been thinking based on the crits I got how I can brighten it up and add rimlights as suggested but it just looks cliché to me, maybe some aura type deal.