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DeviStarKiller β The Showdown
#brutal #cowboy #line #notanime #oldwest #showdown #sugarskull #western #woodcut #art
Published: 2016-01-17 22:37:34 +0000 UTC; Views: 794; Favourites: 50; Downloads: 0
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Description
Still a work in progress, though to be honest I quite like it like this, not sure if I want to add color and stuff to it.Related content
Comments: 33
I am both impressed andΒ creeped out by this picture. The black and white style and patterns make it all the more stark and haunting. Very strong detail in the line work. I don't that it needs color to spring at you. Dug the expressions of the characters' faces. The lines on the faces give them a brooding look. Love the pose and costume of the woman, and the smoke from the guy's gun. The guy with Day of the Dead sugar skull behind the guy shot five times really grabbed me. Great attention was paid to every detail of his skull. Super cool and very scary as heck.
Also impressive was the background. Great contrasts of shadow. Liked how you drew the bricks of the buildings and shaded them in, giving the picture a dark mood. The lack of a city or town, desert, skylineΒ makes the picture all the more sinister, This looks and feels like Edgar Allan Poe meets a Spaghetti Western. This reminds of the graphic styles of Arthur Rackham and Harry Clarke, two artists who illustrated Edgar Allan Poe's stories. Very haunting. Stays with you.
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Thank you for the amazing feedback. I remember spending days (weeks?) finalizing this piece, and this sort of comments are what make such work worthwhile. Long days and pleasant nights to you.
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I LOVE this. It's so clean! This must have taken you so long to complete. I don't think you should add colour. It really stands out black and white, and I think colour would take away from the details you've created. I mean, look at all the fine lines you've drawn. I'm assuming that you used pattern fill in some area, but most lines are hand drawn. I have little patience, so this really impresses me. Even though there are so many lines, you are still able to use different type and weight of lines to create a rich scene. I've often commented on pieces that they need to use more diverse lines. This makes me so happy because you created this masterpiece with just that.
I think the only thing I can imagine being improvement would be some solid black? Because everything is in the similar tone of grey except for that one area of brick that is darker, its general shade is the same. If you used some solid black in some select areas, it would create much stronger contrast. Say maybe on the skull (the details in his face is so good!). But this needs to be done with a lot of care because it will have a very strong impact, you want to think hard where you want the viewer's eyes to move and end.Β
In any case, this one really jumped out at me among all the art that pop up in my notifications. Nice work!
Cheers
Blue
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Thank you very much for your amazing feedback, it's stuff like this that makes me fire up the old CS5 from time to time, to tell you the truth. The parts with pattern fill - I used a pixel art pack I got a while back - are the sky, and some parts of the shading on the foreground character's coat. I think those are the ones, I could be wrong though, 
To be honest, I was so afraid to add any solids to Showdown. When I left it, considering it more or less done, I was already OCD-ing about adding more shading lines to the female character, adding more stuff in the background, et cetera, et cetera. In the end I was just like - leave it alone David, there is only so much time you can spend on a piece
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If you feel like it's done, it's done! I think it's great
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Thank you very much!
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You are more than welcome
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This is awesome. It really draws the eye in from a distance (thumbnail) and when you get in close you are not disappointed. Tons of beautiful line work detail in there!
Like you said, I'm not sure if I would want to add color to this, I think it is busy enough with the linework, and usually it is hard to mix heavy line work with color because it will get muddy or oversaturated. But I can see from your other works that if you do use color, you know what to do
I love how you captured a certain type of universal mood with the expressions on their faces, and the line work seems to work perfectly with that mood. The skull character is the star of the show, he is super cool looking. The lady's dress is awesome, and I am noticing some details like the key around her neck. Very interesting. I think everything has a spaghetti western feel to it, and I see you named it "The Showdown" so I guess you hit the nail on the head there too.
Regarding constructive feedback I couldn't help noticing at first glance that there is an overall "tilt towards the left" which is a bit unsettling. Since this is digital, I would recommend setting up some layers with horizontal and vertical guidelines to get somethings to stand up perfectly straight where needed. For the characters maybe it is no big deal, but I think the buildings are slanted a bit and so it feels weird.Β
Super cool to look at either way. I could stare at this all day. I love how you let yourself free with the lines in the bricks and also expressed contour of the lady's face.
ProjectComment Β
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Thank you very much for the amazing critique, sorry I could not reply to it earlier - work-work-work
I am very happy you liked Showdown, it was a bit of a pain to make, and was a bit of a passion project from the start - a few years before making Showdown, westerns was all I would pretty much draw, and then I sort of quit working on that genre. So I thought I'd have a go at it again, with whatever I've learn over the years.
Now that you say it, I can't help but notice the skew too, to tell you the truth
Again, thank you very much for your feedback, I greatly appreciate it!
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What's most impressive is how you communicate shape and texture through the lines, and how the subjects don't get drowned in the sea of lines, actually appearing quite stand-out. However, your sun pales in the quality of your other subjects, the sky seems flat and lacks depth (maybe add a town, city, mountains, hills, etc for a skyline?), and you could perhaps do with darkening your shadows to add more contrast to the image.Β
I do absolutely love the style and representations of the characters. All around I love it, actually.
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Thank you very much! I remember working on this one - Showdown must be the piece I've worked on for the longest time, starting from the old man's face in the foreground and just letting it grow over time. When I decided it was done, I tried experimenting with shading, and the background, a bit more, but I honestly could not bring myself to spend more time on the piece - perhaps I'm kind of afraid of ruining it, or making it something else entirely, I don't know.. In any case, you are absolutely right - I will be sure to incorporate your advice in my future works.
Again, thank you!
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If you leave it as is color wise, you can let the person's imagination run whether the coloring is dark and sinister, like a horror, or colorful and festive, like it's Dia De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead). I see these being colored like mannequins, or a serious all out brawl / blood feud. It has much promise as it is.
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Oh, I'm a big fan of Dia De Los Muertos, to tell you the truth - the culture surrounding it keeps influencing my work no matter what you do. I think I like the ambiguousness of an uncolored work, especially in the way you described - really, just leaving it to the viewer to decide what they want to see.
Thank you very much!Β
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Glad I could help D. Starkiller
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Thanks, I am very flattered!
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Creepy yet very cool at the same time.
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Thank you very much!
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Yeah, I think it works better like this, also, coloring all that would be a pain, to tell you the truth - I don't particularly enjoy simple coloring, and my laptop would simply croak if I went for my usual coloring technique on this ginormous thing
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What I like most about this drawing is the skull. You paid a lot attention to the details and it turned out great!
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Thank you very much, I did put a lot of passion into the creation of this piece for some reason
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Thank you very much!
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Thank you very much, though it did take considerably more time than my average drawing..
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It was definitely worth it.
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Thank you very much!
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The detail is amazing *.*
Personally, I would leave it uncolored, it kind of fits the atmosphere of the drawing, but it's your work so do as you think best
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Thank you very much! Agreed, I've pretty much decided to leave it this way, to be honest.
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You're welcome
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