Art Archive TroubledAnakin (New art: 21/08/05) UPDATED Dooku/Qui-Gon

Sabe is so beautiful. The pattern in her dress is so lovely to look at. I completely missed the headress upon first glance, it just sort of popped out at me as a happy surprise. (sometimes I can be so blind)

You have some good skills with drawing the mechanical components on R2D2. That's another trait I admire in any artist. (as I majorly suck in that department)

...and Young Qui-Gon's hair is a definate eye catcher (the spikey-ness reminds me of fire) as well as those joyous eyes to match that quiet smile. I like how you made some of his facial features really stand out - like the cheekbones and the lines around the mouth to accentuate the smile. Amazing work on the collar too, it's so finely detailed and the lined pattern is pefectly matched along the creases.

- Suz ^_~

 

Awesome portrait of young Qui-Gon, TroubledAnakin!! There are so many things to like about this...where do I start?

The eyes are wonderful--"luminous" is the word that came to mind, and is so keeping with Qui-Gon's personality. Beautiful catch-lights, very nice "depth," just lovely! And the general shading of the entire face is very nicely handled: good definition of cheekbones, forehead and eyes--all very cohesive and natural looking--a good shadow beneath his chin as well. His face has a lot of "volume," and it looks great! That smile just makes me want to smile, too--it's a lovely expression (he looks very happy)! And Your_Worship is so right when she compliments your handling of the clothing--geez, it looks real enough to touch, and feel the textures! I can see you're not running out of clothes ideas, lol!

Overall, this is a wonderful piece--it really does look like a young Liam--that nose is the giveaway! Well done!

FF

 

Hahah, yes, I know, FalconFan, I'm obviously not running out of ideas. Well, actually I am, because I'm useless at putting clothing together. The collar's dine, because I just pieced it together, not caring how it'd look underneath. It looks a bit like an overlarge T-Shirt. I was inspired by something else I saw that looked very similar, so I brought it to life with a mechanical pencil, and a blunt HB to shade with. I don't have different selections of pencils, so this is all done with hard writing pencils.

I'm glad you like his eyes, the both of you, because they took a lot of time to get right. In the end I refused to look at Qui-Gon at all, because every picture I have of him had a cooky edge to his look that made the eyes not match - so I just closed my eyes and did it, eventually. The same happened with the hairline, because the more I looked at Qui-Gon and tried to put it onto my picture, the worse the picture ended up looking. I gave up in the end and just shoved it on.

It's good that he looks happy - pictures of Qui-Gon always look so morose, and I wanted to make it seem that at least he could smile -sometimes-. It was another thing that was difficult, considering that I have loads of pictures of serious, or penseive Qui-Gon, and no smiling ones. Added to the fact that I'm not good at lips anyway. Well, it was a disaster, which is why I'm so insanely proud of this. It makes me think I could do portraits if I tried, that it really -isn't- as hard as I used to think it was.

Will be drawing some more soon, but I've got loads of work to do x.x My computer died yesterday, and I'm busy installing all my things, including my tablet (which I've lost the software for) onto my new computer. Going to die. Anyway, thank you all for your kind comments! It makes me very happy!

 

[image=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v285/Liikuma/Dooku2.jpg]

This is just the first sketch of my Master Dooku and Padawan Qui-Gon picture. Dooku will need tweaking to make him a little taller - I already know his stature is off in comparisson *blames it on Qui-Gon's forehead.

Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out how to tweak the scanner software, because it wasn't my scanner...so I gave up and just posted this rather untidy looking scan instead, just because it's four am, and I really ought to be asleep by now.

Anyway - here it is. I'll be working on the colour version as soon as I get it scanned properly. Thoughts? Opinions?

 

Ah HA! I never get to be the first person to comment on an image. I will savor this small victory (unless someone beats me to posting while I'm typing this).

First, thanks for the write-up of your interpretation on Qui-Gon and Dooku. It was very insightful and gave me a bit to think about.

Onto your image...

I like the positions both characters are in here. It suggests a lot of different situations; to me, I think Qui-Gon is accepting a lecture on some error he made and Dooku seems a little frustrated because this is a common problem between them.

I'm not sure why I'm commenting on this, but I really like how you sketch hairlines. It looks very natural, especially on Dooku.

Good work on the robes and indicating some folding and wrinkling. And I really like Qui-Gon's padawan braid.

My only crit would be on Dooku; at first glance, I actually thought he was female. I think it was the slight convex at his chest that caused the confusion.

I'm looking forward to seeing this coloured!

 

*snorts with laughter* You're welcome to it, Wicktone, if it makes you this happy!

I'm glad it at least did that. My thought processes don't go well onto paper though, I'm afraid, so it must have read as something quite sporadic. If it inspires you though, then that makes me smile.

That's what I was going for with it. I still think one of them should be looking away, and I'm considering changing it, to make it that way. Or maybe I just think they've been having that staring match too long, and it's actually starting to hurt my eyes... The pose started off as a battle crouch, but I vouldn't get it, and it eventually evolved all on it's own.

*chuckles* My hand does that occassionally. When I'm trying to think of something to draw, I tend to just sketch hairlines, just like that. I have thousands of pieces of paper with multiple parallel lines, and the edge of a nose, or an eye, or something on them. Thousands of them. x.x

Woo! Criticism! I am so happy you pointed that out, Wicktone, because the corrected version does look better. It needed less accentuation on the fold across the chest, and a smoother line running up the inside of his arm.

Now...what to do about those faces. I think I'll change Qui-Gon, because I can't face drawing Dooku's hair again. x.x But I'll scan it first, just in case I ruin it.

And bed. Must. Yes. Go. Now. Sense. Make. Morning.

Thank you for dropping by!

I'm looking forward to seeing this coloured!

 

What a great "scene" of Qui-Gon and Dooku, TroubledAnakin! And don't worry about the scan--it looks better than most of mine, lol! It shows things well, and that's what counts.

I love the way they're interacting--it's obvious they're engaged in a serious conversation about something, the way Qui-Gon is turned attentively toward his master, and sort of leaning a bit in that direction, and Dooku is fully facing his padawan (really liking Dooku's very long locks here, too!). I think wick was right about Dooku perhaps being frustrated because "it's a common problem between them," as it looks that way to me, too. The costuming on them both is wonderful (are you running out of ideas...? )--I like the originality of Qui-Gon's tunic, belt and "gauntlets," and it sure looks like Dooku has on the same suit he wears under that heavy bejewelled cloak in AOTC! Very nice touches on both! And for some reason, I'm really diggin' the way their legs and feet are positoned--completely natural and easy on both of them, excellent figure definition there! A great drawing, TA--don't change it too much! Nice job!

FF

 

I've got the scene down now. I've turned Qui-Gon's head away, so they no longer have eye contact, and it looks like Dooku's told him off seriously - and now he's looking smug because the way Qui-Gon's come out, it appears that he's almost in tears. I can just hear him saying "Jedi don't cry, Padawan" in my head.

Well, it's not really as original as you might think. The solid tunic and the boots are really the only things particularly new. Qui-Gon's boots are practically Obi-Wan's - but with less indentations running down, and a buckle at the top. Dooku's are based on my riding chaps - but not chaps, obviously - actual boots. And Qui-Gon's "gauntlets" are actually Obi-Wan's. It's meant to be fabric tied tight around the wrists, in order to weight them down slightly, developing muscle.

Don't worry, I'm not changing it much at all. I've added more detail to the background - and I've turned Qui-Gon's head around, but that's really all I've done.

I'll upload it in a sec.

[image=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v285/Liikuma/dookon3.jpg]

I chose a cityscape, as you can see. I think I was going for the whole 'Temple Garden' thing. It was that or trees, but I thought this'd look better. Added grasslines, too - and finished off the stones.

 

Oh, excellent! I love this! I really like the "setting" you have them in--very fitting, as it would be on Coruscant with the cityscape behind them. The garden is beautifully done, with the detailing in the stonework and on the grass--wonderful (I can't do good backgrounds to save my soul, lol!). I think you're right, with turning Qui-Gon's face away from Dooku's--sort of increases the tension in the picture, which adds a lot to it! This is wonderful!

FF

 

I'm really glad you like it! I was really nervous about actually going either way with it - I always am with my drawn pieces. I don't know how many times I've drawn a nose and then realised that really, I did prefer it the first way but - blast - can't undo! Bring back my old nose!

As for the backgrounds...well, I think we can -all- do them - it's just a case of having the time or patience to actually do them (which I don't, all the time) I -hate- backgrounds... I draw landscapes now and again - usually when I'm bored, or I've found a beautiful photograph of a beautiful place...

I forgot to mention, by the way - I'm glad you like Dooku's hair. Stroke of genius *smirk*

It definitely looks better now, I think. All my work is two dimensional, and this angle gives something to the picture that definitely wasn't there before.

 

Ah, the update looks terrific! I like the detail work you put into the brick wall he's sitting on. Having that repeating texture turn around in space is a challenge.

The poses look very appropriate as well.

 

I think your drawing is good. A lot of people don't realise how difficult it is to draw two characters interacting in a situation - getting them the right size in relation to each other is much more difficult than it looks, but you've managed it fine. Nice detail in the characters too.

 

Wow, what a great piece you've been working on. The setting looks great and you're handling the perspective very well. I like the way you did the bricks too.

The thing that stands out to me the most is Qui-Gon's profile. It looks great!