PM MW Lingling vs VagabondX: Original X-men

[VagabondX]

Voted with VagabondX despite the bland and lazy background.

Why, thank you!
But seriously, it might look bland and lazy but it took me a while of experimentation to get the look I wanted. I thought it had a cool 1960's/zipatoney vibe that fit the time period of the original characters. Plus, I felt that a less complicated background would help the figures pop more.

[basil81]

Why, thank you!
But seriously, it might look bland and lazy but it took me a while of experimentation to get the look I wanted. I thought it had a cool 1960's/zipatoney vibe that fit the time period of the original characters. Plus, I felt that a less complicated background would help the figures pop more.

Hmm, there was a whole paragraph missing in my comment, I'll try to paraphrase it here. It seems that we're a little bit too zoomed in on the group, resulting in some bad cropping choices (especially Beast's fingers at the top). Give 'em a little more room to breathe, showcase their poses. Also, watch out for tangents (Beast's foot and Iceman's forearm to name one). Tangents can make or break a piece, so take special care to eliminate any instances of them. Figure work is strong and with further development it will catch up to your inking style.

[VagabondX]

Ah, I do see your points on the aspects you mention. I've always felt like I fail at using all the drawing surface so I've probably gone too far the other direction and made things cramped.

[basil81]

With practice you will learn to strike just the right balance. I like to look to Frazetta for inspiration regarding composition, because of the unique way in which he approached it. Check out point 4 in this article (the whole thing is worth a read in any case):

http://sirspamdalot.livejournal.com/68226.html

[D.I.S.]

@ VagabondX I love Jean Grey's expression. Its like she's saying "ah, I got a headache from all of the awesome in this piece!"

That also is my only real complaint about your piece in that if I wasnt too familiar with X-Men, I wouldn't know that was Jean at the bottom left. This is one of my favorite pieces for this month.