The Self-Absorbing Man: Frog Thor Critiques

Frog Thor Critiques

Friday, January 20, 2017

Labels: Technique / Theory

Rupam Grimoeuvre. THOR: RIBBIT.
2016. Oil on paper, 14 × 21″.

I recently had a couple burgeoning illustrators ask for advice on similar subject matter: Throg. (For those of you scratching your heads, here's a primer.)

The first, a faux movie poster, was sent to me by Rupam Grimoeuvre, who asked for some advice. I gave him some first impressions and general pointers, listed below. You can see his process for the poster at his blog.

Overall, the composition works, just needs some minor tweaks.

- In general, the title (especially for a movie) shouldn't be covered, so get that plant out of there.

- The plant is hitting the frog's elbow at an awkward spot. Be wary of tangents, try to make this overlap as clearly as possible.

- Lightning should probably be pure white, maybe cross over Thor's hair a bit (right now, it's just dividing the comp in 2)

- Lightning through cape should probably be more diffuse, maybe pure red or orange?

- Frog legs (especially red feet) are interfering with the title. Should move title down or him up.

- Decent likeness on Hemsworth, but I'm not feeling the hair. Don't worry about rendering each strand (in front of face is fine), just block in the general shape and it will read right.

Nick Lasovich. THROG (wip). 2016. Digital, 12 × 18″.

The second Throg piece was done by Nick Lasovich. We went back and forth through a few iterations, but my main recommendations are listed below, followed by the finished piece.

I wouldn't worry about the black — that won't really add anything to the composition. What could help, however, is some selective lighting to better frame Throg. Right now, when I squint at it, I lose most of the figure.

There are a couple ways you could do that.

1. Have the lightning hit closer to him (on or off panel) giving him a near-white highlight or rim light. If rim, you'd have a nice opportunity to play with light bouncing off and shining through the red cape.

2. Illuminate the air. Get a little more atmospheric perspective in there to create a distinct silhouette.

Also, the setting seems a bit vague. You don't have to go into crazy detail, I just need some key points so I know where he is. I might have suggestions, but I need to know what you're going for. Hope that helps!