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JohnKeane In reply to Daemonysh-Art [2014-06-10 22:41:39 +0000 UTC]

Thanks! That means a great deal to me coming from a character artist of your calibre. I'll take loose lines. I'm trying to work on getting them a little tighter while maintaining the life. I'm glad you and others find the work inspiring, that's a huge compliment for me.  

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JohnKeane In reply to Oly-RRR [2014-06-10 22:38:24 +0000 UTC]

Hey, thanks for your comment and kinds words. 

They're all random sketches. Bar one which is observational. Second row from the bottom on the left. It's a coincidence if I hit on something that reminds you of a show. But I'm glad it's resonating with you. 

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Oly-RRR In reply to JohnKeane [2014-06-10 23:34:00 +0000 UTC]

You're welcome! I usually try not to leave comments of the "this reminds me of-" sort because it can be pretty annoying for people especially when it comes to original characters and such but you do storyboards, I can imagine you watching something and doodling random frames to pass the time.

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JohnKeane In reply to Oly-RRR [2014-06-11 02:37:13 +0000 UTC]

I know what you mean. But if it reminds you of something it's a good way to explain how you're experiencing it. It should never be taken as a slight, as far as I'm concerned. 

You're right, I do sketch when I'm watching stuff, usually to remind myself of a nice set up or series of shots that I can try add to my memory for boarding, but I don't usually post stuff like that. But I will say I don't often doodle to pass time I've noticed that most everything I do has some purpose, whether it's trying to catch a particular mood or emotion in facial expression or just plain problem solving. I tend, in my sketches, not to focus on technique but on capturing something that I find valuable to storytelling, the more subtle the better. Drawing technique is secondary to me (which explains a lot of wonky ears and eyes (-, but I focus on it from time to time to try drag my skills up a bit. So I hope to have some tighter drawings in future sketches and sketch dumps. The hard part is drawing tight drawings that still have life. 

Anyway, I'm prattling  

Thanks again. I'm very glad you enjoy the work I do and I appreciate your taking the time to commenting on it. 

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Oly-RRR In reply to JohnKeane [2014-06-11 03:11:30 +0000 UTC]

True, everything reminds of something.... The Internet is a funny place, we don't get intonations so half the comments get unintended double meanings (like I come from a family that favours sarcasm, it's hard to remember a lot of people don't hide jabs and puns in every sentence).

And what you've said makes a lot of sense! I should try that approach because I guess I always solve some problem with my art but I don't always do it consciously from the start, sometimes I'm just all "oh, let's draw this" and in process I find something I want to figure out in that particular picture. I should try setting exact aims more often.

Also the way you set a scene, foreground, background, whole composition, it's so meaningful. I try to do that too in my work (well, more in my personal art, my work is sadly straightforward most of the time) but I still have a lot to learn... I had a great prof teaching composition and illustration at the uni but I couldn't fully appreciate that back then - I mean it was great for growth but sometimes I think certain things are better to take in when you already have more experience. Hard to say.

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JohnKeane In reply to Oly-RRR [2014-06-11 04:37:57 +0000 UTC]

Oh I'm Irish, I fully embrace and have great affection for sarcasm.

I don't always have an aim as such, but I gravitate towards things that are on my mind when I'm working. When your job is creativity on demand you get fully immersed in it and so you, by the nature of that relationship with the work, tend to problem solve in areas that are on your mind like composition and storytelling in particular.

 I'm not sure what you mean by it's meaningful, as in the way I approach it or the royal we and is the way one does those things. If you mean "you" as in "me", thank you very much I deeply appreciate the compliment. If you meant "you" as in "one" then disregard the last two horrid sentences  

As for things being better when you have more experience, I think it's that experience just makes you realize how little you actually know and makes you pursue it more intently. 

But if you're serious about exploring that more in your art, I can offer you some of my time to help you develop that. So if you'd like to do that, send me a note.

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Oly-RRR In reply to JohnKeane [2014-06-11 05:09:33 +0000 UTC]

Nah, I mean you as in you, not the royal we "one" kind of you! Seriously, I'm not really good at putting this into words (especially when sleep-deprivation kicks in) but sort of how this guy fav.me/d71pllf is literally merged with the woods without it looking flat and here fav.me/d70qrns you have two silhouettes in the front that aren't detailed but they give a lot of information about what kind of space it is. That kind of thing, I try to do it but it's hard to constantly keep it in mind.

And thank you, I really appreciate the offer. I really should sleep now but I'll send a note tomorrow when I'm able to talk more constructively and concisely (as I searched for examples of compositions I came up with a few suspicions on what I'm not doing right but I need to be more awake to phrase it properly).

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JohnKeane In reply to Oly-RRR [2014-06-11 15:41:44 +0000 UTC]

Haha, man, that first sentence is hilarious

okay so two basic ideas of composition going on here. (sorry for some reason my i and o won't capitalize)

The first one with the guy in the forest is a combination of the low angle placing the dudes head and shoulders into negative space in the trees and a pinch of rim lighting to indicate some form. in fairness by virtue of placing the character in negative space in the real compositional feature.

in the other - the silhouettes are essentially a framing device and also imply a crowd. she is also holding the pole which is a further tool to separate her from the rest of the characters, and all the diagonals point to her. The creases in the shirt on the guy on screen left and the book of the guy to her screen right and even the horizontal of the carriage roof points to her.

This is all stuff i do automatically now, so thanks for giving me pause to take a look at these with a more objective eye.  

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Oly-RRR In reply to JohnKeane [2014-06-11 17:13:44 +0000 UTC]

Sentences like that are the perks of staying up online too late.

Yeah, that's exactly what I mean - I recognise and do some of that stuff too but you do it spot-on and automatically.

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JohnKeane In reply to Oly-RRR [2014-06-11 17:48:49 +0000 UTC]

heh, indeed, 

You're too kind. i do have to work at it, but yes, a lot of the time it just kind of sorts itself out.

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