Hello from Arkansas

Rafael Morales III · 1 Dec 2022, 05:33

Hello,
I'm Ralf. I'm new to SVS and I have been enjoying the classes! Looking forward to working hard and growing as an artist and illustrator with you guys!

It has been 11 years since I left art school (2007-2011) never finished and it was the last time I worked on narrative illustrations. It has always been a dream of mine to work in comics and children illustration.

At the moment, I do a lot of random creative gigs: I do illustrative and graphic based works for merch (t-shirts, stickers, etc.) for both personal stores and clients. I just started to work on Upwork as a freelance graphic designer and illustrator, two clients so far, woot!

Here is a personal pieces I've been working on. It's still a w.i.p =working in progress. However, I need your constructive criticism.

Jeremy Ross · 1 Dec 2022, 16:54

Welcome @Rafael-Morales-III!

Your piece looks finished to me! ️

MarcRobinson · 1 Dec 2022, 17:47

@Rafael-Morales-III hi mate, nice to have you here. Really like the graphic style you've got going on with this piece. Not much to say in the way of Critique really. But if I was gonna be picky, make sure the white outline stays consistent. It goes really thin on the left of the hat, which doesn't look intentional. I'd also keep the texture on the hat simple, and maybe lose the sticky out bit on the right of the hat. For me, it keeps drawing my attention away from the face.

Rafael Morales III · 2 Dec 2022, 01:01

@Jeremy-Ross Thank Jeremy. It originally had a dead-sunflower that had grown out of the hat, but I couldn't get to work with the rest of the vector piece.

Rafael Morales III · 2 Dec 2022, 01:10

@MarcRobinson BRO! Thank you for your attention to the thin white outline detail. To be honest, I did notice it awhile back and I remember thinking, "I'm so done looking at this piece." Thank you. The busted open part of the hat with the all spikey bits...total distraction. Especially since it has no rhyme or reason to be there. The spikey bit is there cause I originally had a withered sunflower that had grown out of the hat. I couldn't get it to work. So, I just left it out. However, the spikey part needed to go away since there was no flower. You are spot on, thank you!

Rafael Morales III · 2 Dec 2022, 02:02

Hey guys here is a corrected version. I got rid of the thin white lines on left side and the arbitrary spikey bits from the right side of the hat. What do you think?

MarcRobinson · 2 Dec 2022, 08:51

@Rafael-Morales-III No problem mate, I really like the rework you did. I totally get the fatigue with staring at the same piece for ages.

Rafael Morales III · 2 Dec 2022, 13:30

@MarcRobinson said in Hello from Arkansas:

@Rafael-Morales-III No problem mate, I really like the rework you did. I totally get the fatigue with staring at the same piece for ages.

Thank you!

Rafael Morales III · 2 Dec 2022, 13:48

@MarcRobinson I noticed that I forgot to cast a shadow under the brim of the hat. I chose a quick fix: dark purple gradient with the gradient tool. What do you think?

MarcRobinson · 2 Dec 2022, 15:29

@Rafael-Morales-III oh yeah, I didn't spot that. I think it works!