Sign up to disable those pesky ads. So I've teaching myself to draw in 'noir comic' style... and it feels totally unnatural and weird. Half the stuff I've drawn I block off in black, and... well... meh. =/ But I thought DMC might be an interesting subject for practice. This one is more colouful than the final version I posted on DA. Warning: themes of death and blood. If you can't take those, please don't look. http/img529.imageshack.us/img529/5742/kstcolour22.jpg Maybe I'll do some more if I get the time this month.
Re: Noir Style Stuff VERGIL!!! I'm in awe. The style really does suit DMC. I'd love to see the final piece though.
Re: Noir Style Stuff Oh wow thats beautiful! Do you have a bigger version? I think it would make a fabulous background? I really love it
Re: Noir Style Stuff Thanks everyone. 8D My DA only has this pic in it, so far, but it's here if anyone wants to watch it for future stuff http/lexehh.deviantart.com/
Re: Noir Style Stuff Here's another. I'm feeling pretty rough today and, unsurprisingly, it reflects in the quality. Biting the damn cut in my mouth every time I try holding a breath for a fine line didn't help either. Think I'll have to redo at some point and refine it / ditch the awful colour job. Still: Also decided I suck at noir.
Re: Noir Style Stuff I have to flame you for saying that. I really do! :verymad: Nobody is perfect starting off on something new, and you're pretty damn good Lexy. You can only get better with time - AND I don't want you to change the Dante one. You've put a little bit of your mood into that one, so if you go and refine the roughness, you're going to ruin it. DON'T DO IT! PLEASE! I think it's awesome as it is, and I wanna see more noir style drawings from you! Nobody else does it, and I think it's a pretty art. Plus I just subscribed to this thread so please don't give up on it
Re: Noir Style Stuff Mmmmm topless Dante - me likes. The angle, the mood, the shadows, the creases! - it's brilliant I'm very jelous I wish I could draw like that. *bows*
Re: Noir Style Stuff I like that one. It looks awesome. Mind if I use it for my Random Image for my site?
Re: Noir Style Stuff Cheers VB. I wish it conveyed more, somehow. Maybe it'd be better in black and white. Ah well, I won't change it.
Re: Noir Style Stuff Nice work there. My impressions: To me, it doesn't seem very "noir," although it is very well done. It doesn't really gain much from decolorizing either, but it does have its own look in sepia. It is clean, crisp, to the point, and the shadowing is nice. It strikes me as similar in style to the MVC3 art or maybe a mature Viewtiful Joe style. I wouldn't be surprised if someone mistook this for official Capcom material, like a new comic/manga. Vergil's actual facial features certainly seem in line with the manga, given that they seem more Asian. Heck, if you can sustain the effort, you could probably make an epic looking DMC comic. Now, to content. Like I said, it is clean, there aren't any real superfluous elements, which is a bit noir-y. The actual event occurring in the pic is sufficiently ambiguous, but I don't know if that was intentional. If it was, nice, if not, even more nice. What I mean is that, viewed from the conventional angle, it is Vergil laying on the ground, apparently defeated, with the amulet laying beside him (I'll get to the amulet in a minute). However, if you rotate it 90 degrees counterclockwise, it actually appears as if Vergil is standing up, and either preparing to stab the viewer or has just finished doing so, taking his amulet back. In a sense, it seems to mimic Dante's view during the end of the Mission 8 battle of DMC3. In the former view, we assume the blood is that of Vergil, while in the latter case, it is the blood of Vergil's opponent a la Dante's DMC4 intro. Vergil's facial expression is sufficiently stoic enough, and the background vague enough, so that either interpretation is reasonable. As for the amulet, I assume this is intentional, but the shading and coloring is much softer on the gem of the amulet, giving it a warm, almost "squishy" quality. It is the second place the eye goes, I'd say, because it is emphasized by its proximity to the viewer. It implies viscera but not in the sense of the vivid death energy that the blood exudes or in the grotesque way that the DMC1 Hell did, as the color is softer. Combined with the vaguely cardial shape of the amulet, it almost seems like Vergil has cut out his heart and is holding it in his hand, with the coloring and soft reflection of the gem resembling the striation of muscle fibers. Of course, I think the symbolism is obvious. Heart, humanity, Eva, etc. If you want a more noir style though, you have to play with what light and shadow actually mean, like in Sin City for instance or the DMC3 mangas, and the characters themselves probably have to be grittier looking, which the DMC1 novel sort of had. That means people need to have stubble and look tired and despondent and cynical, and the blood would be white on a black silhouette or something. I don't know, I'm not a noir guy. I suppose you could reimagine the characters as they were in the 50s, or whenever noir usually takes place... Alas, to be an artist...
Re: Noir Style Stuff Wow! ._. My feedback seems so trivial and insignificant right now. I didn't actually study the style, I just saw Vergil and Dante and fangirled :\ Anyway. Are there tutorials on how to draw Noir? I mean, Lexy I think you're teaching yourself, right? Maybe I should take this up in a PM, come to think of it... Don't give me ideas. I'm evil enough to do something like that - like the guy who posted DMC movie 2010 on imdb or the person who created a cover for DMC5... the only reason why I won't is because I'll need to have Lexy's permission to spread her work around...*sigh*
Re: Noir Style Stuff Thanks, Moses. Yea, it's not Noir 'proper', esp. since it should all be in black and white to qualify in my mind, except the blood maybe, and grittier-looking like you say. Sin City isn't my first thought when I think of comic noir though, since Miller uses such extreme blackout and a really roughed-up feel to the overall look, and I didn't quite want it to be that; retaining some familiarity with the manga versions of the characters was a guide for me. Yus, Vergil looks like he's standing up - that's deliberate because if it looked all right that way when I turned it, it's like flipping a digital canvas to see if the poses still work the opposite way - reassuring. There are some problems with him though. Could give Miller's style a try at some point, it's a nice effect in some of his lithographs with a better view to artistic composition and not action. This style is an almost complete reversal of everything I've learned to do and feels like drawing with my left hand, dammit. That's a big compliment guys, I'm not that good... M_C, yea I'm teaching myself from books. Unlike other things there are tons of "how to draw noir comics" books out there and I got a few fairly informative ones. You really need practice to get a nose for the noir composition and make it look natural though.