Mattchew's fanart thread 4.0... Nerd Alert!

[ComicChick]

looks great so far!

 

[Mattchew]

looks great so far!

Thanks!

 

[Mattchew]

EDIT:.... THIS IS NOT THE FINAL (anymore). The final is posted below.

So I'm part of this bracketed contest going on in another thread, here on SHH boards.

One of the round has 'DC' as a theme.

I've been wanting to do something with Robin for a while, but since the DC theme was so open ended, I wanted to put some kind of twist on it.

I thought it might be fun to do an Emo version of the character...

​

I had fun with it. Hope you like it.

Comments, as always, are appreciated.

 

[imaperson2]

that is great...love the texture on the shirt...wonder how your work would turn out to look if ALL the textures were paid as much attention.

 

[spideyboy_1111]

i feel like you could have pushed his hair more... but otherwise good

i too wish u spent as much time on everything else that you did on the torso.. the torso is highly detailed, and the rest not so much.

 

[Mattchew]

that is great...love the texture on the shirt...wonder how your work would turn out to look if ALL the textures were paid as much attention.

i feel like you could have pushed his hair more... but otherwise good

i too wish u spent as much time on everything else that you did on the torso.. the torso is highly detailed, and the rest not so much.

Yep. Too right. I made some updates. They may not satisfy all of the concerns above, but I made an attempt to address them.

 

[Mattchew]

This is the new (and final) version of my emo-robin pic.

There were some concerns raised that I really agreed with that could be fixed without scrapping anything, but rather adding, so I thought what the heck.

Here's the new final...

Again, I may have missed the mark in addressing all of the concerns, but I feel confident that this version is an improvement, on some level.

I'd love to hear thoughts.
​

 

[KAD]

This is the new (and final) version of my emo-robin pic.

There were some concerns raised that I really agreed with that could be fixed without scrapping anything, but rather adding, so I thought what the heck.

Here's the new final...

Again, I may have missed the mark in addressing all of the concerns, but I feel confident that this version is an improvement, on some level.​

I'd love to hear thoughts.​

Dude I am loving this one.

The background is awesome.

Your skill with depth has grown to amazing proportions.

great stuff!!!

 

[spideyboy_1111]

much better

 

[Mattchew]

Dude I am loving this one.
The background is awesome.
Your skill with depth has grown to amazing proportions.
great stuff!!!

Thanks. That was the goal, so its nice to hear.

much better

Thanks for the kind words, and good critiques.

Hey Matt

great work... nice concept, gorgeous execution. You know, they say the smog is the reason we get such beautiful sunsets... I'm loving the absence of any visible outlines... how did you achieve it? And the texture on the bricks is also a winner. Any "how to" tips?

if you look at progress shots in my thread you can see that my approach is to start with flat color, but it's in layers.

so for robin, I had a bunch: green, peach, gray, red, yellow, etc. Each layer is created by using the angular lasso tool in PhotoShop, with a 0 feather and anti-aliased (this is painstaking, but it makes shading much easier, imo.)

then I paint the shading on a layer directly above each color layer (so the shading associated with the green area is directly above the green layer, and so on), mindless of the boundaries, and then I use the magic wand tool to select the area AROUND the flat color layer (magic wand tool settings: anti-aliased and not continuous) and then return emphasis to the shading layer and cut the shading that lies outside the flat color region.

That gives a sharp edge with no outline (unless you painted one on purpose in the shading layer.

I am not sure if that's clear, but none the less it's my approach to shading figures.

As for the background, I just made flat buildings using the angular lasso tool in PhotoShop, with a 0 feather and anti-aliased. Then, I used the angular lasso tool with different feather settings to cut away at the bottom. I also used the "blur" and "blur more" filters in Photoshop to make the building more blurry in the distance, less blurry close up.

The background was just a LOT of tweaking and trial and error.

As for textures (As in the close up wall), In Photoshop you can lay a texture over something and alter that texture-layer's type in the layer's window to be something other than 'Normal'.

I can't really explain more than that, but playing with this is ENDLESSLY fun to me, as you can paint a piece, throw a flat blue layer over it, mess with these settings and get a cool night atmosphere with little-to-no work.

You really need to just mess with this on your own, but I must say if you have Photoshop and you're not playing with layer-types, you're missing out on a lot.

 

[Mattchew]

I've wanted to do a "Where the Wild Things Are" piece for a long time, as it was the gold standard of children books in my house growing up. It's a fun book, but for me the illustrations are nothing short of brilliant.

Anyway, I thought it might be fun to do my 'take' on it... Here's two sketches that will be part of the final:

This one is of Max, the main character. I've made his fox costume a bit more form fitting, in the style of pajamas I wore as a kid (plus the hood and tail, of course).

This one is of what I think is the most recognizable 'Wild Things' from the book, so I hope you can tell which one he is.

​

The general concept for the piece as a whole is that the Wild Things are having a ball, while Max is all depressed...

When all laid out, it's gonna be a play on the scene in the book where Max is proudly leading the parade of Wild Things. I think the final will probably include a total of 4 'Wild Things'.

Hope you guys like it so far. More to come, in time.

 

[Jumpin' Jack]

Sounds Good! Really love Robin there !

 

[Mattchew]

Thanks, Jack!

Update: Another wild thing...

More to come.
​

 

[Jumpin' Jack]

They look Incredible! Only one thing robin's V-neck I think is a bit too big on the neck,yes I know sorry its for the R, right ?

 

[Mattchew]

They look Incredible! Only one thing robin's V-neck I think is a bit too big on the neck,yes I know sorry its for the R, right ?

well... I was specifically going for a more extreme version of this kinda look. Whether that makes any practical sense as a shirt, or whether I pulled it off is I guess not for me to say.

 

[Jumpin' Jack]

Its fine I thought you were just going for a normal small collared v-neck and made it bigger to see the R. Well now I even love it more! I absolutely adore you're art!

 

[Mattchew]

Here's two more Wild Thing sketches...

​

... and the layout for my 'Where the Wild Things Are' piece:

​

More to come, in time.

 

[RogueDK]

Looks very promising. Can't wait.

 

[Mattchew]

Thanks!

Here's some flat color... and a shaded version.

More later.
​

 

[Jumpin' Jack]

desperate too see all of them with color!

 

[Phig]

if you look at progress shots in my thread you can see that my approach is to start with flat color, but it's in layers.

so for robin, I had a bunch: green, peach, gray, red, yellow, etc. Each layer is created by using the angular lasso tool in PhotoShop, with a 0 feather and anti-aliased (this is painstaking, but it makes shading much easier, imo.)

then I paint the shading on a layer directly above each color layer (so the shading associated with the green area is directly above the green layer, and so on), mindless of the boundaries, and then I use the magic wand tool to select the area AROUND the flat color layer (magic wand tool settings: anti-aliased and not continuous) and then return emphasis to the shading layer and cut the shading that lies outside the flat color region.

That gives a sharp edge with no outline (unless you painted one on purpose in the shading layer.

I am not sure if that's clear, but none the less it's my approach to shading figures.

As for the background, I just made flat buildings using the angular lasso tool in PhotoShop, with a 0 feather and anti-aliased. Then, I used the angular lasso tool with different feather settings to cut away at the bottom. I also used the "blur" and "blur more" filters in Photoshop to make the building more blurry in the distance, less blurry close up.

The background was just a LOT of tweaking and trial and error.

As for textures (As in the close up wall), In Photoshop you can lay a texture over something and alter that texture-layer's type in the layer's window to be something other than 'Normal'.

I can't really explain more than that, but playing with this is ENDLESSLY fun to me, as you can paint a piece, throw a flat blue layer over it, mess with these settings and get a cool night atmosphere with little-to-no work.

You really need to just mess with this on your own, but I must say if you have Photoshop and you're not playing with layer-types, you're missing out on a lot.

Thx fr this matt, very interesting. I was wondering if there was a quick and easy way of creating the map of flat colours from a line drawing?

your wild things stuff is all amazing. and a great chance to show off all you can do with textures (the hairs and scales and horns etc). i loved that book so much as a kid. and i think the film looks pretty cool too!

 

[Mattchew]

Thanks, Phig.

Also, here's another painted 'Wild Thing'...

More to come.
​

 

[[A]]

^ very nice

 

[ravana]

... and the layout for my 'Where the Wild Things Are' piece:

​

Such a perfect theme for your style! Love the layout!

Thanks!

Here's some flat color... and a shaded version.

More later.
​

Love the progression in the colouring.

 

[Ace of Knaves]

Very cool work