pennswoods: (Sherlocked)
pennswoods ([personal profile] pennswoods) wrote2012-03-19 11:24 pm
Entry tags:

Sherlock Fanart, The Fall Part 3

Day 2 of my Cumbercrush. We'll see how much longer this lasts...much of today was consumed with teaching and research related stuff as I anticipated. And may I just add, I was ON FIRE in class tonight!

In any case, last night I spent some more time working on my Sherlock WIP and wanted to post an update for some feedback. The picture is behind the cut.





For comparison Parts 1 & 2 here. There are several points I'm fixating on and would appreciate some feedback for:

1. I drew out Sherlock in full just before his jump, but it may be too static. The actual clip from the show cuts him off at the bottom of his coat when his arms extend like this. The clips I find of him actually falling have his legs up higher and don't look quite as elegant as I'd like. I'm wondering if I should just fade out the legs.

2. I obviously need to work on John's blog post to make it look cleaner and more professional. I originally liked the idea of it aligning directly with the coat collar of the silhouette. Now I'm not so sure.

3. I started incorporating the wallpaper from 221b, but it's really a lot of complicated detail. I thought it would be nice to fill in some of the space with that, but I'm not sure if I should stick so close to the original or if I should go a bit more impressionistic.

4. Blurring of the edges versus sharp lines. I think I really want Sherlock as the central figure to be clear and distinct and am thinking to blur out everything else. Right now everything is clean and sharp as I try to lay the bits out, but I want the corner of everything to sort of fad into smokey crosshatched blackness. I'm not quite sure how that will look, but I have a general impression in my head.

5. I'm still struggling with what to put in some of the other white space. i don't want to fill the picture completely, but I'd like to have a few more nods to key themes in the episode. However, I am really struggling with the straight lines and text. I'd like to do something that doesn't involve writing.

[identity profile] rotaryphones.livejournal.com 2012-03-22 03:08 am (UTC)(link)
Hello! I don't know if you're still looking for feedback, but I'm afraid I'm always full of art-related opinions. Feel free to completely ignore them.

I really like the start of this, and I like oustretched-arm-Sherlock a lot. I think it's very dramatic; not static at all. And the wallpaper pattern is a great device to fill in space, especially if it's a repeating motif in a few different areas of the drawing. I wouldn't worry about getting the details precise. In fact, I think a simplified design would look even better, because it won't be as distracting from the important parts of the drawing, and it will still read as wallpaper even if it's not exact. As for the blog, I think the writing would look better straight on instead of tilted, but it's hard to say before everything else is filled in.

This isn't something you asked for feedback on, but have you considered including some of Sherlock's facial features instead of just using the silhouette of his head? I don't want the overall shape to get lost once it's filled in, and it could be really cool if you still included Sherlock's eyes, for example, lightly overlaying the rest of the art. (Er, hopefully that makes sense. It's more clear in my head than in writing.)

Okay, sorry, I'm done now. This is the result of too many years of art school critiques. :) Good luck with the rest of it, and I look forward to seeing how it comes out.

[identity profile] pennswoods.livejournal.com 2012-03-22 03:16 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you! Thank you! I appreciate the feedback, which is why I'm posting this. I too was thinking that focusing on the exact details of the wallpaper is a bit much and I like the suggestion of simplification. And also the angle of the blog. I originally thought it would be fun to make it fit with the collar, but I agree that less of an angle would be far easier to read.

Regarding Sherlock's facial features, I was drawing this from a reference of the back of his body, so I wasn't intending to show his face. I'll consider your suggestion as I continue to draw.

[identity profile] rotaryphones.livejournal.com 2012-03-22 03:46 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, see, I think I'm not being clear at all. I'm not referring to the about-to-jump Sherlock. I meant the silhouette that's making up the overall shape of the artwork--the profile that you drew first before filling it in. I think it could be cool to show those eyes...if that makes sense? Or maybe I'm just making things unnecessarily confusing. :) In any case, it was just a thought, so again, feel free to ignore!

[identity profile] pennswoods.livejournal.com 2012-03-22 03:48 am (UTC)(link)
Ah, I get you now. Hmmm... Yes. Yes. Let me think on that. That's a cool idea and I have to see if my skills are up to it. This whole thing is a real stretch for me since its more symbolic and less cartoony than I normally do. But eyes would be amazing.