Shmeckie's Art Thrizzle!

[Mr. X]

Well, I figure I'm going to help you out by being extremely critical.  Keep in mind I'm purposely nitpicking since you're applying for the job, and that these points aside, this is damn fine work, and the characters look way closer to the official designs than Archie's.  Really, excellent work.

In general
-I haven't read the series so I don't know if there's precedents for this, but I think alluding to characters that Archie isn't ready to introduce yet could breed problems.  The Solar reference is fine since it's not a flat out placement of the character, but references to Mr. X, Centaur Man, and so on (other than Pharaoh, of course) should probably not be there.  Telly Tech is a welcome touch, though.

Page 1, Panel 1
-Elec Man's expression is way off from the original.  In the original, he looks like he's a smug jerk, which is what basically is implied by the next few panels.  In yours, it looks like he's reminiscing about like a girlfriend or something.

Page 1, Panel 2
-Other than the aforementioned early Centaur reference, this is pretty much an improvement in every way.  No complaints.

Page 2, Panel 1/Outside of Panel thing
-Elec Man's right eye (as in his right, our left) seems to be a bit too far over:  if you removed the lightning bolt mask-thing, it would be clearly sticking out of his head.  It also might be a tad too high up.

Page 2, Panel 2
-Roll's legs don't imply she's running quickly like they do in the original.  This is important since it's this careless quick running that causes trouble in the next panel.
-In your version, everybody is just kind of looking at Roll running.  In the original, they're trying to get out of her way, again showing she's being careless (of course, in the original, the characters are also too far away from her to be hit, but I'm 99% sure that's what they were going for, at least)

Page 2, Panel 3
-They need to be closer to one another.  While they don't need to be perfectly touching, it really doesn't look like they're close at all in your version.

Page 2, Panel 4
-I'm not sure if I like the emotion on the girl's face as much as in the original.  In the original, she's smiling to show everything is alright where here, she looks more like she's pleading with Pharaoh Man not to break Roll's face in.

Page 3
-This is another one where basically everything is an improvement.  I especially like the touch of having Mega Man's hair stick through the hole in the helmet.  No complaints.

Page 4, Panel 2/3
-In the original, it looks like Quick Man's kick sent Mega spiraling vertically through the air, which the...um...action lines imply he recovered directly from and landed in that exact pose.  In other words, he seamlessly transitioned from being kicked and flipping to landing and firing.  In yours, there doesn't really seem to be a way that he can seamlessly go from flying backwards in extreme pain to landing and firing.

Page 4, Panel 4
-Mega Man's pose seems to imply that the hit wasn't nearly as strong as in the original.  You don't have to go for the full out cartoonish look on the face like in the original, but having his arms a bit more spread out and in the air would help make it look more like the hit was strong enough to send him rocketing downward.

[Shmeckie]

First of all, thanks for taking the time! I always appreciate some good ol' C&C. But, I figure I should address some of these, just to clarify:

-I haven't read the series so I don't know if there's precedents for this, but I think alluding to characters that Archie isn't ready to introduce yet could breed problems.  The Solar reference is fine since it's not a flat out placement of the character, but references to Mr. X, Centaur Man, and so on (other than Pharaoh, of course) should probably not be there.  Telly Tech is a welcome touch, though.

Mr. X already had a background reference in the comic, and everyone I referenced never had a concrete "birthdate." They had been around awhile before their respective games where they were reprogrammed. Concrete Man is slated to appear in an upcoming issue. Also this will never hit store shelves so I have a little more freedom.

Page 1, Panel 1
-Elec Man's expression is way off from the original.  In the original, he looks like he's a smug jerk, which is what basically is implied by the next few panels.  In yours, it looks like he's reminiscing about like a girlfriend or something.

Except he's not a smug jerk in the comics, he's more of the de facto leader of the original 6. That's why I fixed it so he's just chilling out and admiring the scenery. That's what put me off about the artist's depiction of him in the original; Elec Man is apparently on his period, there. I tried to tone him down to just an exasperated leader.

Page 2, Panel 2
-Roll's legs don't imply she's running quickly like they do in the original.  This is important since it's this careless quick running that causes trouble in the next panel.

Since Roll's legs aren't terribly visible in the original, I referenced an actual picture of a girl running.

Page 2, Panel 3
-They need to be closer to one another.  While they don't need to be perfectly touching, it really doesn't look like they're close at all in your version.

Roll bumping into her sent her flying, so her being closer wouldn't work.

Page 4, Panel 2/3
-In the original, it looks like Quick Man's kick sent Mega spiraling vertically through the air, which the...um...action lines imply he recovered directly from and landed in that exact pose.  In other words, he seamlessly transitioned from being kicked and flipping to landing and firing.  In yours, there doesn't really seem to be a way that he can seamlessly go from flying backwards in extreme pain to landing and firing.

Which is why I included speed lines and kicked-up dust to indicate that he flipped and skidded.

Page 4, Panel 4
-Mega Man's pose seems to imply that the hit wasn't nearly as strong as in the original.  You don't have to go for the full out cartoonish look on the face like in the original, but having his arms a bit more spread out and in the air would help make it look more like the hit was strong enough to send him rocketing downward.

Fair point. The idea was that the shock of the impact caused Mega Man to buckle, but I can see where you're coming from.

[Turbodude]

Holy crap..If I had read the comics I could compare the two, but from a standing point of view all of that is really damn impressive. Seriously, keep up the good work!

[Magnet Dood]

Hey, uh, next to Centaur there's a big robot with a square head. Is that supposed to be Stone Man? It looks a lot like his body shape...

Also, I'm kinda sad how you left out the cool "Jet Man" dude in the background in Page 2.

[Shmeckie]

Figured I'd update this. Before anyone asks, I haven't heard back from Archie. Not surprising, according to some prominent comic book artists, sadly, these companies only really hire any artists from submissions about 2% of the time. Wish I'dve known that before I wasted my time, but at least I have more pages to show off what I can do to future employers in my other applications.

Anyway, I've been trying to teach myself to color, lately, so I can expand my work and start applying for the more lucrative art jobs. Not quite at pro level yet, but I'm learning a lot and getting there. Here's a few pieces I did as color practice.

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Last two are of characters from my webcomic Cloudscratcher. Figured I would use my coloring practice to generate some content for the comic's upcoming gallery section.

[Shmeckie]

So, since I'm back, I figured I'd update this thing with this cool piece of cool I sold at the silent art auction at Otakon earlier this year. Of course, the guy that bought it gets the full size version, but here's a shrunken version.

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I also did album art for gamer rapper Random (aka Mega Ran) for his Castlevania album. Here's the back cover art, because that was my favorite.

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[Ceridran]

aaaaa

Both are looking fantastic.

[Kapus]

It's great to have you and your art back.

[Geno]

Just had a look at your art.


OAH!

You are AMAZING!

Keep it up! I'm LOVING it!

[Knux]

Oh hey Schmeckie, welcome back. I've been reading your comic, Cloud Scratcher. I love the detail you put into the dialogue!

[Korby]

The background of the first one is fantastic. I'm not sure what to think about the figure, but I'm not too personally fond of how you shaded it, and it vaguely seems like the lightsources are the borders of the picture, given that his center is rather dark in comparison to other parts, like the lower coat or the wings[?]. The legs also bother me, but I can't quite place why. It may be because the muscle definitions use black outlines instead of a dark shade of blue, or maybe because they're connected? I don't know, not too educated on leg muscles.

The second one is nice.

[Shmeckie]

His center is shaded darkly because he's leaning forward, blocking some of the light source which his center-high, and more omnipresent. As for the legs, I just went by the way the character is designed.

[Shmeckie]

So I'm working on enhancing the pages of my webcomic Cloudscratcher for the printed version of the first story arc. Figured I'd show off how much improved the version that appears in the book is from what's on the site.

This is the Chapter 1 cover page as it appears on the website:

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And here's the version that'll appear in the book:

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[SaviorSword]

Good to see another oldie to return!

[Shmeckie]

Any fans of Wreck-It Ralph, here? then you'll enjoy this commission I did.

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