14 replies to this topic

[CrimsonLine]

I haven't seen anyone put up a thread like this, but I may have missed it. This thread will be for the display of new work as I finish it. Some will be Fine Art, some will be more pop culture-ish. It is posted here for critique, comment, discussion, and even a little praise.

Here's the piece I just finished, for a contest over at the Superman fan forum, The Planet. The contest is for a one-page origin of a character, either original or established. I chose my own character, Lady Liberty...


Click HERE for a Medium-sized version (588 KB)
Click HERE for a LARGE-sized version (1 MB)

Edited by CrimsonLine, 16 August 2006 - 07:53 AM.

[Chashab]

I suggested a thread like this for this section, preferably a sticky thread (IMHO), in the "About this website" section a while back. There was some interest, but it wasn't done.

Hopefully, I'll have more to post along these lines in the coming months too. On vacation, I finally splurged and bought myself a tool for roughing out wood sculpture, which I've been eying for months.

I'll have to give my brother the link to this thread; he'd appreciate the idea of creating your own superhero.

Edited by Chashab, 16 August 2006 - 01:19 PM.

[CrimsonLine]

Terrific illustrations!

Hopefully constructive criticism:

• I find the middle frame on the left (with the shooting) a bit confusing. Is that her daughter getting shot? I'm confused. It's an elementary school, and it looks like her daughter, but she's wearing a badge, and the hostage looks like the heroine.
• She wears (huge, dangl-y) earrings?
• Those are SOME shoulder pads!
• I appreciate the relative modesty of the figure drawing in the last panel. That's a bit of a challenge, eh?

Thanks, Alan!

1. Our heroine is being shot. It only looks like the daughter because of the hair, but look at the face. The idea is that our heroine is a hostage negotiator for the Chicago PD, and was shot in a standoff at an elementary school. Her hair is different now that she's Lady Liberty. Her daughter wears her hair like her mom did when she last saw her.
2. Yup. Dangly!
3. Yup. HUGE!
4. Yup. Challenge. How do you make a comicbook heroine who's modest. I'm building the modesty into the character herself. You'll notice that in the shooting scene, she's modestly dressed, too. I want her to be beautiful, black, and modest.

I suggested a thread like this for this section, preferably a sticky thread (IMHO), in the "About this website" section a while back. There was some interest, but it wasn't done.

Hopefully, I'll have more to post along these lines in the coming months too. On vacation, I finally splurged and bought myself a tool for roughing out wood sculpture, which I've been eying for months.

I'll have to give my brother the link to this thread; he'd appreciate the idea of creating your own superhero.

Thanks, Chashab. I look forward to seeing your sculpture thread!

[Chashab]

So she looks more White now that she's a superhero? And more middle class?

C'est vrai. To me, I still see a black woman. But I might like to, personally, see her look more "black." Dunno why, though.

I suggested a thread like this for this section, preferably a sticky thread (IMHO), in the "About this website" section a while back. There was some interest, but it wasn't done.

Is this do-able, Alan? To create a sort of permanent, "sticky" visual art critique thread in this section?

Edited by Chashab, 16 August 2006 - 02:39 PM.

[CrimsonLine]

Our heroine is being shot. It only looks like the daughter because of the hair, but look at the face. The idea is that our heroine is a hostage negotiator for the Chicago PD, and was shot in a standoff at an elementary school. Her hair is different now that she's Lady Liberty. Her daughter wears her hair like her mom did when she last saw her.

So she looks more White now that she's a superhero? And more middle class?

She's just as middle-class as she was before she was shot. As to whether she looks more "white" or not, that's certainly an issue that would be discussed in the comic. As would the fact that she was transformed by a corporation seeking to bolster the self-confidence of Americans, build up their patriotism.

Here's a color pic of her, that I did YEARS ago...


Remember, though, that for the contest, I am distilling what is essentially a 22-page origin story into one page. There was only so much I could say in one page and still tell the story with feeling. And the origin would be the jumping-off point for all the stories I want to tell.

She's a single mom, a cop in Chicago. She's black, Christian, and over-confident. She's a woman trying to put a family together, asked to lead a team of superheroes (the ComPatriots) who are at best a dysfunctional family. She's a great character, I think. Too bad I don't actually have the time to do a lot of stories with her.

[Thom]

She's a single mom, a cop in Chicago. She's black, Christian, and over-confident. She's a woman trying to put a family together, asked to lead a team of superheroes (the ComPatriots) who are at best a dysfunctional family. She's a great character, I think. Too bad I don't actually have the time to do a lot of stories with her.

I gathered all of that from the one page story. Just the idea of her being a single, working mother makes her a superhero in my eyes.

Edited by Thom(asher), 17 August 2006 - 09:36 AM.

[Chashab]

She looks more upwardly-mobile than she did before was my point (especially the hair), not her actual status...

I suggested a thread like this for this section, preferably a sticky thread (IMHO), in the "About this website" section a while back. There was some interest, but it wasn't done.

Is this do-able, Alan? To create a sort of permanent, "sticky" visual art critique thread in this section?

It's certainly do-able, but I'll wait until I see more threads along these lines. Once I do, I'll be happy (truly thrilled) to set up a special area.

Understood. Thanks!

Here's a color pic of her, that I did YEARS ago...

Hmmm, the first thing I noticed in this picture was her left breast . . . buxom gal! Is she swimming or flying in this one? Looks like she's flying above water with some boats underneath, but I can't figure out what the yellow spotted thing below her is: vegetation? Way up in the sky?

Oh, and I think the big dangly earrings are a nice touch.

[Chashab]

She's over NY Harbor. That's the Statue of Liberty beneath her. And isn't it her right breast more noticeable?

Yes, that would be right on her, left in the picture.

[CrimsonLine]

That is indeed the Statue of Liberty in the color pic, and given the angle of the light in the picture, it is indeed her left breast that catches the highlights and the right breast that is in shadow. However, she is normally-bosomed (even moderately-bosomed) for a comicbook heroine. In comics, the bosom-to-head size ratio is startling. LL's bosoms are about 1/3 the size of her head, which is moderate in comicbook terms. She is not carrying her torch in the color picture.

She is wearing blue gloves with white stars on them. The gloves are a spandex-ish material, and the stars are leather, which is why the stars do not wrinkle, while the gloves do.

The dangly earrings have a VERY complicated explanation, full of techno-babble and difficult terminology. Basically, she just likes dangly earrings. Even in the panel where she appears as a cop, she is wearing earrings that are substantially larger than normal police attire would indicate. She's modest, but has a definite sense of her own style.

On the question of hairstyles - one of the questions Lady Liberty needs to wrestle with as her story progresses is just to ehat extent has she "sold out," to become palatable to a white audience. The hairstyle is a part of that question. What does it mean to be black in America? What are the requirements, as far as dress, lifestyle, language? Religion?

I'm a round, middle-class white guy, and not especially knowledgeable about these areas. Maybe it's presumptious of me to create a character designed to ask these kinds of questions. But I am not coming to it thinking that I have some kind of definitive answer. I'm coming to it with a character who has to find her own answers.

[CrimsonLine]

On another note, here's my entry for this month's fan art "Pit Fight." In a Pit Fight, two artists square off against each other, each one having twenty days to do their own piece based on a common theme word. This month's word is "Serenity."


Click on image for a larger version.

[CrimsonLine]

Here's my latest piece, done for a Secret Santa exchange.


Click on the image for a larger version.

It's entitled, "You Must Let Me Undress You."

[Chashab]

Pen and ink?

I miss this medium some of the time. Used it a lot for rendering during my brief time as an architecture student. I also like ink with brush . . .

[CrimsonLine]

Pen and ink?

I miss this medium some of the time. Used it a lot for rendering during my brief time as an architecture student. I also like ink with brush . . .

Yep. I normally ink parts of my pieces with a brush, but did not in this instance.

[CrimsonLine]

This is a piece I did on commission for the son of some friends of mine. It is a present celebrating his baptism. It is technically a "NameSake" (see my website for details on what a NameSake is) though it is not illustrating his name, but rather important passions in his life, all wrapped up in a meditation on baptism. Anyway, I like it.


You can click on this image for a larger version.

[CrimsonLine]

I have opened up a shop on Etsy.com, to sell my fine art and custom illustrations. Two sales so far!

Crimson Line Studios at Etsy.com

At the shop, you can order a NameSake, which is a custom illustration designed to symbolize the meanings of your child's name (or grandchild, or friend). A name is the first major gift we give to our children, and we don't pick their names without reason. Names can be aspirational, or aesthetic, or symbolic. A NameSake helps you visualize your child's name's meaning.

NameSakes at Crimson Line Studios

The first piece I put up at the Shop was a small, gift-sized piece called "Trinitatis." It's my attempt to add to the rich visual symbolism that already surrounds the Trinity. I'll include a picture of that one, here...

 Photo Jul 10, 8 31 51 PM.jpg   233.53K   8 downloads

I will also be offering commissions based on comicbook characters, made to order. I put up one that I just finished, as an example. It's Henry Cavill as the new Man of Steel, in a classic pose...

 Cavill Shirt Rip Sm.jpg   293.96K   7 downloads

Finally, I have a piece up that is a reflection on the Hebrew word, "Shalom." Not peace, as in an absence of trouble, but peace in the midst of trouble, an anchor for our souls.

That's all that's there for now, but I have other pieces on the drawing board. Everything's completely acid-free and on high-quality Bristol board, done with pen and india ink, and a little brushwork.

I'm excited about this little shop, and the chance to do artwork on a more regular basis. Encouragement and critiques are welcome, as are purchases!

Edited by CrimsonLine, 04 August 2012 - 12:55 PM.