Ironman Poll 2 [Grayscales] (K.O.- Ra Havok)

[Jeremy Bear]

Man, you people don't make it easy. I whittled it down to a top 5 or 6 and was stuck.

Maybe I'll go into my thoughts on my faves later on, but there was something so quirky about Jujugatame that I couldn't resist. Not a 100 %flawless drawing, but for some reason I really wanted to see a whole IronMan GN drawn in this style, so I voted with my gut. Nice one.

[galmando]

my vote goes to Nitro Chun for that awesome Mark I

sweet as a nut!

[malachimanson]

Nitrochun. It was freaking hard as well. But I don't know it just stood out to me. If i was able to pick a second i'd of picked Deth. Those two are my favorites in this. I'm really happy First Vote for me on any draw off.

[McNiel]

This was a tough one, but in the end I really liked RaHavok.
1. RaHavok
2. Jujugatame- would have got my vote, but his head looks flat compared to the rest of the pic.
3. NitroChun

[Dr. Baltar]

Votd 4 Ra Havok, all of these are really good, great job all!

[Ra Havok]

A great big THANK YOU to all the people that voted for me.

[Archerion]

sigh not even an honorable mention .. ^_^

You guys did a fantastic job on these.
I know my was very static, but im proud of it since this was my first time drawing and finishing a pic with a wacom tablet.

[Jeremy Bear]

Favorites:

NitroChun - It was really hard to not vote for this, because it's an approach that no one else in the competition used. I'm not familiar with IronMan beyond the movie, and I thought this was a great interpretation of the initial suit. Maybe with a little more polish and tightening, I'd have gone this way, but I dunno. Nice work.

E.T.I. - When everyone else was putting in over-teched designs to show how modern we are (I'm guilty), you stayed committed to this retro vibe, which is nice and clean. I'll admit that the weird shadey squiggles on the face got in my way, but my favorite moment in the picture, it's true, are his little iron panties. They just look cool.

Jujugatame - Voted for this one. Not because it's so much stronger than the other entries, but because it looked like a snapshot of an IronMan story I really, really wanted to read. The notion of a Moebius-style future where tech is creeping out from the cracks like a disease romanced me. Plus, I just liked how quirky the linework is.

Ra Havok - I'll admit it. I was feeling optimistic about my chances in this draw off until I saw this one and I count it as a mercy that the polls were split into two and my pic didn't go up against Ra Havok's. Easily the most photo-real and naturalistically lit of all the entries. There were a handful of structural missteps underneath all that cool shading that held me back, but this is definitely a fantastic piece and it's no surprise to see it winning.

Deth - The "chrome" look is cool and the foreshortening is just weird enough to keep me interested. Bit of structural shakiness here and there, but a really nice piece overall and it does something that I need more of in my own work, which is letting pencils behave like pencils, rather than simply prelims for inking.

Those were just the standouts for me. Nice job everyone, sincerely. Really cool to see so many quality entries.

[Ra Havok]

Favorites:
Ra Havok - I'll admit it. I was feeling optimistic about my chances in this draw off until I saw this one and I count it as a mercy that the polls were split into two and my pic didn't go up against Ra Havok's. Easily the most photo-real and naturalistically lit of all the entries. There were a handful of structural missteps underneath all that cool shading that held me back, but this is definitely a fantastic piece and it's no surprise to see it winning.

Thanks for the kind words, Jeremy. If you don't mind me asking, which structural missteps do you mean? I'm not saying there are none but I wonder if you could point them out to me.

[charkxl]

I went Nitro-chun for his great Mark I although, Ra Havok almost got my vote on those mad rendering skills.

BTW thanks for spelling my name wrong ACOBSY.

[jujigatame]

BTW thanks for spelling my name wrong ACOBSY.

Ditto lol

[Jeremy Bear]

Thanks for the kind words, Jeremy. If you don't mind me asking, which structural missteps do you mean? I'm not saying there are none but I wonder if you could point them out to me.

Nothing major and apologies if I'm inventing problems where there aren't any...

- The knees appear to be pointed inward at each other, which feels a little less than dynamic. Even if that's what you were going for for the sake of a more naturalistic candid snapshot feel, the angle of the feet should reflect that, but they're pointed straight out.

- The torso is a bit bottom-heavy. Worm's eye angles can be a bitch when it comes to anatomy further down the body and you mostly handled this beautifully, but the chest and ribcage portion of the armor drop a bit too far down the torso, making IM look like he could stand to lose a pound or two.

- The above issue is probably why his chest-light-energy-circle thing appears to be coming out of the bottom of his ribcage, rather than the center of his chest.

- The mouth on the mask seems a little low on the face for such a steep angle. Again, this could just be your stylized interpretation of his helmet, in which case no worries (and I'm nitpicking pretty hard here anyhow), but it seemed to me that the placement of the mouth on his helmet should approximate the mouth on Tony's face underneath.

It's a funny position you're in with such a beautifully rendered and realistic drawing. The more cartoony guys get to bend the rules like crazy and don't invite this sort of scrutiny... on the other hand, they have the difficult job of telling a very solid and compelling story with only a handful of lines.

Don't get me wrong, it's a fantastic piece and it's no surprise to see you winning this. Drawing is problem-solving and you did a great interpretation.

[Spidey]

These were all really good. I was ready to vote for Ra, but then Deth came up and stole the vote.