Batman

[Pa5cal]

Batman.
Pencil, ink and Photoshop.
Took me awhile with a LOT of Photoshop manipulation of textures to produce one I was happy with.

[Popninja]

Basically, the first rule of drawing Batman... Don't fudge the cape. Commit to competently drawing that cape. It's as important as Savage Dragon's fin; Wolverine's proper claw length; Hellboy's RHOD. Don't take shortcuts on that cape.

[Pa5cal]

Basically, the first rule of drawing Batman... Don't fudge the cape. Commit to competently drawing that cape. It's as important as Savage Dragon's fin; Wolverine's proper claw length; Hellboy's RHOD. Don't take shortcuts on that cape.

I'll go ahead and take a requirement for more detail as a criticism, I won't be happy with it but I will also take my style [for this cape] being lacking; but laziness?
Nope, this cape was not the result of being lazy, or taking shortcuts, and certainly NOT a lack of commitment.
I took just as much perseverance in generating a million different Photoshop textures to find the one that satisfied me as I did with the scrutiny of illustrating the pencil and ink.

[crazyjedichicken]

Pa5cal i dont think popninja was suggesting you where lazy i think they mean you need to commit to a direction for the cape. at the moment we can see the bottom, the top and the side of the cape making it a little spawn like (as in it's alive) instead of being how cloth behaves. corey walker is a master of drawing great capes so if you want to study just capes i'd suggest his stuff (just a personal preference!)


i find batmans pose a little odd, like we just caught him tying his shoe, i get the impression he's meant to be beaten but still in the fight so try and have the pose reflect that.
the photoshop texture works well but just drawing the rain and dust can be a much easier solution so maybe try some frank miller splatter effects, textures are great but sometimes finding one that suites the piece takes more time than just doing it on the page!

all in all a great piece! really great rendering on the suit and the foot rest!

[Smitty]

Gotta go with Pop n Crazy (sounds like a new breakfast treat) That cape is McBoo-booed. On a more personal note, your PS FX are doing you no favors. The time could’ve gone toward character, form, Gotham City; the effect is more Galactus than Batman.

Wrapped up in our work as we are it’s far too easy to mistake professional comments as personal attacks. Best editor I ever had was Al Mlgrom because every time I’d turn in pages he’d bust my chops over something and he was right every time.

George Freeman was one of my favorite inkers because he had no hesitation in ignoring what I’d done in favor of what was needed. He wouldn’t call or ask he’d just do it. Never once did I correct one of his corrections.

When someone tells you you have broccoli in your teeth, toilet paper on your shoe or your fly is open, it’s not a personal attack, it’s a courtesy. It’s what pros do for one another.

[spidey976]

Hmmm… I gotta agree the regular flyers. There are a lot of little things off here. Batman’s right should and chest dont have a lot of depth, and Smitty hit the nail on the head when it comes to the background and foreground. It looks like Batman is standing on the moon with the stars behind him… so yeah more Galactus than Batman. As for Pops comment on the cap I agree with what crazy said… it looks more like a Spawn cape then Batman.

[Pa5cal]

Pa5cal i dont think popninja was suggesting you where lazy i think they mean you need to commit to a direction for the cape. at the moment we can see the bottom, the top and the side of the cape making it a little spawn like (as in it's alive) instead of being how cloth behaves. corey walker is a master of drawing great capes so if you want to study just capes i'd suggest his stuff (just a personal preference!)


i find batmans pose a little odd, like we just caught him tying his shoe, i get the impression he's meant to be beaten but still in the fight so try and have the pose reflect that.
the photoshop texture works well but just drawing the rain and dust can be a much easier solution so maybe try some frank miller splatter effects, textures are great but sometimes finding one that suites the piece takes more time than just doing it on the page!

all in all a great piece! really great rendering on the suit and the foot rest!

Thanks for the advice and compliments!

[Pa5cal]

Gotta go with Pop n Crazy (sounds like a new breakfast treat) That cape is McBoo-booed. On a more personal note, your PS FX are doing you no favors. The time could’ve gone toward character, form, Gotham City; the effect is more Galactus than Batman.

Wrapped up in our work as we are it’s far too easy to mistake professional comments as personal attacks. Best editor I ever had was Al Mlgrom because every time I’d turn in pages he’d bust my chops over something and he was right every time.

George Freeman was one of my favorite inkers because he had no hesitation in ignoring what I’d done in favor of what was needed. He wouldn’t call or ask he’d just do it. Never once did I correct one of his corrections.

When someone tells you you have broccoli in your teeth, toilet paper on your shoe or your fly is open, it’s not a personal attack, it’s a courtesy. It’s what pros do for one another.

Ah no.
What was described was laziness.
I will take ALL the suggestion, advice, direction, instruction, what have you. What was implied was that I had it in me to do MORE on that cape and chose to NOT do so.
I was satisfied with the cape and the effects with Photoshop. If the advice is to NOT use Photoshop effects, than I will take it. It is a pleasure to see, I am glad to say, that a pleasant number of people did enjoy the effects on other platforms this piece was posted, from MOST people of which were NOT family relations.
And again, the comment :
" The time could’ve gone toward character, form, Gotham City "
implies that I had a choice of doing an extensive background instead of wasting my time creating a texture. This is again, assumptions that I had it in mind to make a better piece with the use of gothic buildings and instead, out of some sort of deliberate act of non effort, I purposefully made a poor decision.
Yes, that absolutely was the person I was back in the 1990s. Certainly as a result of depression and other mindbending factors. But that is NOT the case at the moment.
A better pose is needed, fine; a better set of details are needed in the cape, fine; more focus on the background with buildings, fine; less or NO digital effects, fine.
But ANY implication that this piece is as result of deliberate lack of effort or deliberate lack of logical choices is rejected.

[Smitty]

I reject your rejection as false.

Nearly five years ago to the day I posted the following comment

You continue to ignore structure and character for surface licks.

Five years later, nothing has changed. You continue to avoid basic fundamentals while slaving over superficial noise. This has been your choice; a choice that is objectively illogical and shows a deliberate lack of effort.

[iSharpe]

Somebody doesn’t know how to take some constructive criticism very well…

[Bryan E.Warner]

Awesome Thread!..

[Crimson Spider]

i rOCK U ASS!!!111

[CyberLord]

Pa5cal, this is YOUR Batman. Just as Marshall Rogers had his Batman, you have yours. I personally LOVED Marshall Rogers's Batman while also recognizing it was nothing like Neal Adams's Batman. Embrace your Batman...just realize that if you show your Batman to a DC editor, the editor will probably tell you everything everyone else is telling you.
You can have one, or the other. You can't have both.

Good luck.