AuthorTopic: "Leader of those armies bright"  (Read 11441 times)

Offline ndchristie

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"Leader of those armies bright"

on: June 29, 2006, 05:42:58 am
5 points if you can name the poem the line is from
2 more points if you can name the author
3 more points if you can name the popular television show that once featured a place by the same naem as the poem
5 points if, at any point during the poem, even just for a moment, particularly in book one, you took pity on Satan

and now, for the actual pic! :P



tried to see what i could do with 5 colors, and im actually pretty happy with how it turned out.  any crits would be greatly appreciated, though it already took me two hours and hes not the prettyiest of people

note: originally planned to have beelzebub behind him, since he is the one that actually says the line, but it didnt fit well unless i moved satan over and i didnt want to.  does it hurt the composition not to have beelzebub there and satan smack dab in the middle? probably.  if people want him there i might do a second version.

general position and lighting of the lord of the flies :


what do y'all think?
« Last Edit: June 29, 2006, 05:48:16 am by Adarias »
A mistake is a mistake.
The same mistake twice is a bad habit.
The same mistake three or more times is a motif.

Offline Ryumaru

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Re: "Leader of those armies bright"

Reply #1 on: June 29, 2006, 06:01:10 am
easily my favorite of your works , adarias.

to me, it all just works.
im speechless.

Offline Sohashu

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Re: "Leader of those armies bright"

Reply #2 on: June 29, 2006, 06:03:44 am
Isnt beezlebub satan, as it translates to lord of the flies, which is taken to mean Lord of decay.  But oh well.  The wings dont seem to be for flying of any sort, I probably expect a membrane. 
Back from hiatus, just remembered how excellent this community is at forming technique in a fledgeling artist of any kind.

Offline Ryumaru

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Re: "Leader of those armies bright"

Reply #3 on: June 29, 2006, 06:14:38 am
actually him in the center would create a triangle:

which unless im mistaken is a good compositional shape especially for a religous figure.(even if it is satan)

Offline InvaderLupus

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Re: "Leader of those armies bright"

Reply #4 on: June 29, 2006, 06:27:49 am
it's an excellent piece. I didn't recognize the line, so I did a quick google search. Now I think I might actually read the poem; it seems very interesting and very much like the kind of thing I enjoy reading.

Offline ndchristie

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Re: "Leader of those armies bright"

Reply #5 on: June 29, 2006, 06:38:25 am
Sohashu : beelzebub is either satan himeslf, or, in the case of the poem, a lesser devil.  As the wings go, they would be of ok size if he was like a bat and ended where they met the tailbone, but since hes quite large thers no way hed get any lift out of them.  i experimented with bigger wings, but found that the non-functioning sort looks best to me.  im not even sure if he could spread the ones hes got the way they are drawn.  if you have any suggestions im open to them

ryumaru : thats a great point, and i was hesitant to extend the picture, but seeing how well it works might just motivate me to do it.  i wonder though, how will i make 2 characters into 3 compositionally......did i mention that this piece was heavily inspired by your Gabriel pieces?

Invader : i actually hate the poem, but if you like it then thats cool :P

Nobody knows the answers without looking them up? i thought everyone read / had to read it at some point in their life.
A mistake is a mistake.
The same mistake twice is a bad habit.
The same mistake three or more times is a motif.

Offline Darien

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Re: "Leader of those armies bright"

Reply #6 on: June 29, 2006, 06:44:03 am
Paradise Lost, John Milton, your last clue gives it away (or just the fact that it's about Satan).  I never read it, I think we ran out of time for it in school or soemthing.


I don't really have any serious crits on this, though I really like it, it's certainly different from your usual game arty stuff, nice to see once in a while.  Very moody.  I think I prefer the Satan alone.
« Last Edit: June 29, 2006, 06:46:26 am by Darien »

Offline Ryumaru

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Re: "Leader of those armies bright"

Reply #7 on: June 29, 2006, 06:47:09 am
did i mention that this piece was heavily inspired by your Gabriel pieces?
Nobody knows the answers without looking them up? i thought everyone read / had to read it at some point in their life.
you have no idea how awesome that makes me feel  :)

Offline ndchristie

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Re: "Leader of those armies bright"

Reply #8 on: June 29, 2006, 06:49:00 am
Paradise Lost, John Milton, your last clue gives it away.  I never read it, I think we ran out of time for it in school or soemthing.

7 points to Darien :P
and thats a good point about the clue, how many poems about satan have multiple books?

I really like it, it's certainly different from your usual game arty stuff, nice to see once in a while.

thanks, and yeah, i was working on characters and tiles for so long (which explains why i havent been posting new stuff, none of it is particularly exciting) i felt i needed to try something totally different to livin things up at my desk :P
A mistake is a mistake.
The same mistake twice is a bad habit.
The same mistake three or more times is a motif.

Offline st0ven

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Re: "Leader of those armies bright"

Reply #9 on: June 29, 2006, 07:04:59 am


i wanted to play with the colors really fast. Incidentally, im actually a bit surprised, given your style of color choices in the past, that you didnt go with a green ambience rather than the blue that you chose. i feel that blue+red = cold and hot kindof 'fire and ice' thing that seems a bit ehh... over dramatic?.

I think its a cool study, i like the grittiness of the piece, i can tell you did it in a relatively fast amount of time... if you were to go ahead and take this piece further, i think you could go ahead and start creating dithered shades to weave some more subtle detail, particularly into the cloudy/misty environment (as i think it would give a bit of texture to the atmosphere and make some of the color shifts smoother).

I couldnt exactly follow what was going on with his face... and while its kindof a cool effect, its also kindof frustrating not to be able to really discern how grotesque his facial features are, perhaps that creates more tension in the pic, or perhaps it creates frustration, i dont know. also, im not really following the shape of the leg on the right. the ambience on the left leg makes it a lot easier to pick out the muscular structure of that leg, but the one on the right seems kindof benign in comparison (ok now im officially using words completely out of logical context, moreso than usual!). The wings look sexeh, but the straightness that the wings have while drooping down sorta seems just too... well, vertical. id like to see the wing on the left curve a bit more to match the symmetry of that on the right (in proper perspective of course).

delicious otherwise... well actually i think the font is not as legible as it could be but that doesnt really seem part of the artful part of the piece.

i think referencing helm's 4 color piece would do well to gather ideas as to how to go about adding more detail to this piece, if you decide that is what you want to do.

*edit*   upon further examination, adarias, i think your colors are, unsurprisingly, much more adarias-like than mine, bahahah. hope you dont mind the variation though :)
« Last Edit: June 29, 2006, 07:25:04 am by st0ven »