Old and New WIP
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@gary-wilkinson Since I brought up Toys R Us... Here's a nice timeline of the company's history on USAToday. It doesn't effect your awesome artwork, but I found it interesting and thought you and others might too:
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I thought I would work in a little of the toys r us theme as @QuietYell mentioned, especially as I did a couple of Christmas work sessions with them in my younger days
Working on the values at this stage (the boy need lightning up a bit more and there are still other lightining issues that need fixing) and going to add color later. The main key light will be as indicated by the arrows and there will be a warm fill light to the right and cold one to the left with a rim light to make the shadowed objects pop a bit more.
If there are any big issues that you are noticing that I am not, please give your advice or if there are any other suggestions then it would be appreciated. Thanks
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Just a thought (and maybe not helpful as I'm not an expert by a longshot) but devices give off a cool light. I wonder if that might present a challenge if you light the right side warmly. If it were cool, it might also make a statement about how cold/impersonal devices can be versus the heartwarming teddy bear. The trash can could still be is shadows or muted colors.
And I agree with @stringfellowart, this is heartbreaking - poor teddy! - but it's great to evoke emotions, right?!
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Great concept and story telling! Love this.
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@gary-wilkinson Looks solid so far. Wonderful idea, so sad for Teddy! Looking forward to seeing it develop further.
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I love this concept! very fun!
I'd like to suggest possibly exploring your composition and trying to make a more dynamic illustration out of it. The purely horizontal/side view makes me think there might be some better options out there.
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thanks for the advice everyone. @Kat Ye I think you are right with the cool digital light and warm light for the toys @QuietYell also touched on that earlier and I think it would probably work well.
@Lee-White going for the horizontal view was mainly a mix of time saving to avoid painting in a background. Also as it was evolving I was thinking the empty space in the middle could be used to add some kind of text or title for editorial work, something like "The Death of Toys".
Tried out a more dynamic angle and I guess I could probably get away with doing a high exposed background to avoid adding so many background elements. Working on my own book this month so trying to find the time where possible
Any thoughts on which angle I should go for?
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@gary-wilkinson I definitely like this new angle better. Which one do you like better?
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@gary-wilkinson I gotta go with @Lee-White on this one. I thought the idea was strong the first time around but after seeing your new comp and moving the camera I'm totally sold on it. I don't know how to explain it other than that the new layout feels like I'm immersed in that world instead of looking through a window.
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I really like the bear in the first one and the ps2, good memories :)... I think the first one looks like it would make a cool animation. the second one looks like you could play with the boys expression more.
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I like the strong silhouette in the first, I feel like the gesture of the bear was a much quicker read as well as the hunched-over-the-phone posture. The new one does have a lot more depth to it though, and you feel the distance to the bear and other old toys. Really, you could go either way. (Though the judge of the contest has spoken, so if winning is your aim thats not something to ignore...;-) )
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@gary-wilkinson Like the new angle. Do you think it looks good if you mirror the boy so he is looking at the other direction, away from the bear?
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Just got back into this piece. @Lee-White I'm not 100% sure which one I like to be honest. As others mentioned, I do like the silhouette of the bear in the first style, but I like the the depth and energy of the second angle. I think I will go with the 2nd style though as it feels like it is more of a storytelling piece.
@nasvikdraws I flipped the boy, although im not sure if it now reads more that he is simply abandoning the toys, whereas the other direction could be seen as he isn't paying them any attention at all. Which direction do you think fits better?
I am thinking of how to do the background and i'm probably going to do a faded out street scene with other trashcans scattered about. I was also thinking whether to add a garbage truck parked next to the bin but it might make it a little too busy.
Probably going to use what I have as the base for the drawing and redraw it to fix certain issues. Not giving up on this one
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Flipped the boy, returned his headphones and started work on lighting the scene. Also added a giraffe to keep the toys r us reference as part of the piece, still quite a lot to work on and I think I can get away with over exposing the background so I don't have to paint it with much detail
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@gary-wilkinson That looks great!
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@gary-wilkinson wow, love this
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@gary-wilkinson I see what you mean. This does read better.
Looks great -
Oh I love this concept. I wonder if Toy Story 4 will use a theme like this.
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@Gary-Wilkinson Looking great! Even more rich & immersive now! Gives tangibility to & personal association with the story/emotions.
BTW, Sorry I've been silent & haven't responded - Been on ultra-go-mode these couple weeks, but everyone has added awesome comments (as usual!!!). Excited to see this one continue to finish out!
Also, not that you need it, but if you want one more small concept element, there is news that KBToys is seeking to fill the void of ToysRUs in some way. They have a little soldier/drummerboy that could be starting to run after the boy.
http://money.cnn.com/2018/03/20/news/companies/kb-toys-toys-r-us/index.html
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Thanks for all your comments, still trying to find the time to get it done, but slowly working on it and learning how to overcome certain challenges. Started laying out the colors and I think I am going to have the background filled with a silhouette of trash hinting at the discarded toys of old. Lot's of work left to do on it, but I'm happy that @Lee-White recommended changing the angle of the scene. Although it's a more challenging scene I have grown to like it more and I think it will be a good image for my portfolio when/if it's done.
The things I feel I still need to do for this piece are to adjust and add more toys in front of the trash can, finish the sky and detailing the bear to give him a little more punch. A few things i'm a little stuck up on are the color of the sky and how to paint the boy. My first painting of the sky had it quite blue, but I pulled it more to grey to create a more sombre mood, I'm wondering whether to bring the blues back out and also whether I should add clouds. I am also going to revert the boy back a little more towards the earlier rendering to adjust his expression, and to fix the color and light on his face which I think I took too far as well as fixing his hair. I really want the eye to be pulled towards the abandoned toys and for the composition to flow well based on the lighting and position of the objects.
Let me know if anything jumps out to you that you feel is wrong or should be added/taken away
