This is just a basic sketch for a concept I've been thinking about for a while. What do people think, is it worth taking further?

are those clouds on his skin?
kind of hard to tell what u could do with that...
maybe a more advanced sketch could be easier to understand..

Nope - werewolves need a full moon in order to change. But the moon is obscured by clouds so his fur is 'patchy' in the shape of clouds. Does anyone else have trouble with this concept?

It was not obvious to me at first, but I think that with colours, things will be clear...with skin colour.
And it's cool to keep the cloud shape for the skin patch to show the link with the clouds masking the moon.

I'm looking forward to see it with colours.

Can you vote for my new design?

Cool, thanks, anyone else?

I really like the angle. It has good potential. Be sure the moon doesn't show through the clouds. What would be under the cloud shape patches on the werewolf? Pink? cloud color? clothes?

Yep good one I'll make sure the moon doesn't show through the clouds. Under the patches it's gonna be human skin (muscles, belly, nipples, whatever).

I'd avoid nipples as you'll limit your audience...those who find nipples to edgy. That sounds crazy when I write it...that nipples are more edgy than a werewolf. Ha. Keep going. I like it.

Hehe thanks Laura I'll keep that in mind!

Keep working on it, I can be a great tee.

Could you please vote for my design

Ok here's a more detailed sketch showing body tissue and skin underneath the fur. Comments please, thanks!

That's really cool. I wasn't sure what the cloud shapes were on his body at first until reading your explanation - now it's really obvious. I didn't notice the skin underneath at first so I think that's why it didn't hit me. I think with color it will be easier to tell.

I guess the only thing I can think of to critique would be maybe make the head and neck a bit bigger? Since the rest of him is so big and muscular. Not a big deal but I want to be helpful. ;)

It's a really awesome idea, I like it!

yeah, i'd say redraw this, but i like the idea. why not just make the cloudy places just... missing (from the print)?

darrellzilla - thanks. Is there any other reason you think it needs a redraw other than to make the cloudy bits blank? The reason I ask is because this is gong to be vectorized so I can fiddle about with things like this later. If you do think I should redraw it, what should I change?
lisabobosa - the head and neck are smaller because of the perspective of the piece. I'm gonna do some grass or corn in the front at his feet and a tree on the left in negative space so hopefully this angle will become more obvious.

i think if you're going for perspective with the smaller head and neck then that needs to be clearer in a more obvious narrowing of the shoulders. at the moment the jump in size between the body and neck/head doesn't really work perspective or not.
otherwise i think it's a great, really clever idea. it's wasn't immediately obvious but that's not necessariy a bad think and besides, i think colour will make it clearer.
looking forward to next versions

Cool thanks digsy, appreciate your help. I'll make the neck and head larger and then I'll set to work on the vector. I'm concious of the fact that I need to make the 'patches' really obvious and so will colour them a fleshy skin tone to contrast with the browns/greys of the fur.

waiting for the colors, nice.... fix those other things, as the neck and head

PLease check my new version

Wolfintux

Good catch on the narrowing of the shoulders. Have you seen Kildig's blog on bringing line work into photoshop? May be of use. It is an awesome tutorial. This is a very clever design. I love your style.

Thanks for your suggestions on Window Seat. I have 2 more versions following some of your advice, when you have a minute.

Spelled her name wrong. Sorry. Here is a link if you are interested to the tutorial.

KDLIG

Thanks Brightwood I'll check that blog out I've never seen it before but I'm a massive fan of her work. I should have a new, vectored version of this up real soon but as I usually trace my linework from scratch in illustrator it's taking AGES!!

I've altered the werewolf's head and neck, and I've also tilted the head back a bit because it looked much better. I've obviously added a colour scheme as well. The linework is not quite finished and I intend to put some more texture in there, with some kind of 'ground' under the werewolf's feet as well.

Bump

nicely done.Hope to see more texture details soon!!
keep it up!!

if u

dont mind,please give some opinions.(^.^)

the neck looks kinda thin, would look better if the face and neck was done abit better i reckon

It really comes through with the color.

I've read the comments that the neck is too thin. I think it is the shoulders are too wide for the angle you have. Since you are looking up the shoulder's need a bit of perspective.

Thanks for your help on my current designs.

I don't really like the clouds or what ever is in the background. It is a distracting contrast to your very "outlined" style of the moon, clouds, and beast.

Funny idea, I like it! The proporations in the neck and head area could use some reworking as others have said. The background clouds don't match the ones on the moon, so I'd suggest turning those clouds into part of a landscape.

Great idea and colours, but the head looks a bit off compared to the rest of it (although the toes look a bit squashed and flat - especially compared to the great fingers - to me too, but that's minor potatoes).

Maybe have some shading under the chin area (they don't have chins, but you know where I mean) to showcase the fact the light is shining down on him (i.e onto the muzzle, shielding the lower chin/neck area). Maybe bring the eye nearer to the ear too - at the moment I think it might be a bit too central given the angle of the head, sort of a cyclopean effect.

Very cool idea. I'll skip head and neck comments, there's enough about that. I think the overall mood is a bit too bright. Maybe try a darker tee? I think the shadowing is going to be crucial in order to more readily convey the concept. Maybe the human body should be darker and the fur lighter where the moon light hits it. The swirly clouds are a bit iffy. Maybe a castle silhouette looming in the background with a few clouds like the ones you have over the moon? Anyway, great idea and the illo keeps getting better and better. Cheers!

Oh yes, and meant to say before, the mouth looked better before when all the teeth were visible, rather than the big white "Hollywood smile" block it looks like at the moment.

Ooo this looks pretty sweet. I agree, the head and neck need some detail to balance it out. I also think the nose is a little too pointed, it looks like a fox or sonic the hedgehog. I also agree with the outline part. The moon and nearby clouds should not have an outline, and the clouds should be somewhat similar to the other cloud thingies behind the werewolf. I agree with Quister in that the tee color should be played with, a darker color really could bring out the mood in your tee! The werewolf should also have a shadow to give it a little more depth. Also, the little pinky toe to the very left has no shading, which makes it sort of stand out.. And lastly, there is a little bump near the toes in the leg to the right that looks kind of awkward.. so shave that off a little and the leg will look a less blunt and more elegant. This is a great start, and I liked the shading on V2 btw, it was awesome :) but the colors in V3 really bring this thing to life, so either way you slice it this is pretty awesome!
And if you're not too busy, a comment for my first submission would be very much appreciatied!

Sorry for righting a book.

writing*..

OOOHHH very comic-book-y.

looks pretty cool. I'd love to see the placement on a tee to make more comments...

Could you critique my new collab design? Thanks!

Thanks so much for all the comments so far! On this version I've made the following changes based on advice from you guys:

Changed the colour scheme to something more moody!
Widened the neck and narrowed the shoulders
de-squished the toes
Got rid of those awful swirly clouds
Made all the teeth visible

The main change I guess is the colour scheme - I've gone for a foresty-green feel. Do people like these new colours? Obviously the werewolf is gonna have loads more shading and texture and I'll make an attempt to have some light from the moon shining on him. I'm also gonna try putting a castle on one of those mountain peaks.

Sweet concept, I'm not sure bout the coloring think it might look better with moody dark blue :P I really like how the wolf looks in v 2, i guess it will look way better when you add more texture and shading to him :P great work keep it up

If you got time please crit me

Getting better every V! I'm not a fan of the green, seems too earthy and too well lit (as opposed to shrouded in darkness) for the narrative. I think you could skip the fore and mid ground colors. They might be what's lighting up the scene too much. Maybe the dark gray or navy or even the purple tee would work better, I think. I've linked a scene on dark gray below. Anyway, great concept and the illo is coming along beautifully. Cheers!

jrmasn

Ok cool I'll change the green. I'm working on a colour scheme for dark gray which looks pretty nice so I'll have another version of that up really soon! Cheers for the input!

i love the new colors!!! but now i found the pinkness of the skin even more eye-catching. i know it's supposed to be contrasting but maybe you cold use more of a salmon-y skin color? it'd fit better with the current color scheme.

i'm a big fan of the recent changes, keep them.

can you help me with mine?

I agree with quister. The green background seems a bit off, whereas the previous blue suggested "moon-lit" rather well. Nice work on the hands/toes/shoulders, but I reckon the gap between the background and the moon confuses things, almost as if the moon isn't part of the same scene as the wolf, if that makes sense? Maybe add a bit more shading to the sides of the tail, it looks a bit flat in comparison to the rest of wolfdude.

I shall shamefully pimp my critique's latest concept change here for feedback, though I am unworthy

Ok so I've changed the colour scheme to fit a dark gray tee. What do people think, is this better?

Oh yeah I forgot to say, I know the werewolf needs more shadow but I'm starting again with that so please bear with me :)

Much better on the colours Mr Rowson. Loving the moonlight highlights as well.

Still not feeling the gap between the background sky and the moon th0ugh, makes it seem like they exist in two seperate spaces, rather than within the same narrative, if that makes sense?

This background is better, but his outline without any shadow makes him look like he is floating. You need to ground him some way and connect him to the background. Or, loose the background.

Yeah, the colors are very cool! I know you're not finished shadowing and texturing, so I won't comment on that. Seems like your big challenge now is to get background, wolf and moon to become one. I guess you'll add texture to the mountains and the ground in front of them and that might better tie it together. Another help I think, would be to eyed drop the tee color and use shades from it rather than introducing new ones. Hmm, maybe you've already done that with the foreground/background/clouds etc. If so, maybe not as light. I think the gold for moon light and highlights will be tough to blend in with the grays. Maybe an off white would work better. Anyway, great idea and the illo is developing well. Cheers!

Thanks for the comments, glad this colour scheme is a goer.
Quister and Brightwood - Yep, the next thing i'm gonna focus on is integration.
Skilly - Thanks for your help. Not quite sure what you mean about the moon, I could drag it down but that might look a bit weird, I mean it needs to be in the sky right? Plus, I kinda wanted the design to be in two parts, both comprising the joke: 1) The cloud-covered moon, 2) the patchy werewolf. Keeping them a bit separate highlights the joke, no? If you still think it needs moving, where could I move it to?

No, I agree there needs to be distance between the wolf and the moon, no question there. What I don't really think scans is how you've got some background around the wolf - grass, trees, etc, and then that random abrupt jagged light grey. Reading through some other comments, it might be that they're mountains, in which case it could work if you give them a bit of texture or snowcaps. As it stands though, it's almost as if that background - which doesn't "fade out" like the grass does - is putting the werewolf in a box or frame, putting the moon in a seperate frame of its own. So yeah, if those are mountains, as long as thy look rockier, it should scan alright. You did good work on the moon texture, so more of the same, sorta.

Did that make sense?

great idea, but it wasn't immediately that clear for me what happened to the werewolf. i think it is because the human parts aren't that human. the joke would get better when bigger parts of the werewolf are still human. one arm for instance, that is still complete human, and the rest of the body is like it is now. maybe that works better, that is sucks being a werewolf when there are clouds. now he already has his legs and hands became werewolf like, which makes te joke less strong.

speaking of hands: do you know all 36?

Just checking back to see if you've changed anything yet. I'm bought into this design now. Mtths has some good points, but this is a joke, not reality. I think the joke comes through mainly because of the Werewolf's expression. Keep going.

Would you consider scoring and commenting on my most recent sub? You can link here...
I will not write on my clothes.

Skilly - Yeah they're mountains. What I'll do is make them less jagged-looking and add some subtle texture to make them look a bit more realistic. Thanks though mate.
mtths - Cool idea, thanks. I'll try and have one of his hands (or part of it) 'exposed' in human form and see how that looks. You're right I think that would be stronger. Love your hands sub!!

Ok so I've given mtths' idea a go, I now have most of the right hand in human form. Does this work better or should I keep it the way it was? I didn't want to go any further before I'd tried this out.

Hand is perfect addition!!!

Submit this!

Please check my design: http://www.threadless.com/critique/48570/City_Dream

Phew, glad you like it Brightwood, does everyone else concur??

Yeah, that's come off rally nicely, kudos. Hands are a bitch to draw.

Yes, very cool drawing!

"Submit this! Please check mine! Hope that helps, Cheers!

Sweet drawing, it progressed nicely, I think you should submit it now as well. Good luck man.

Whatcha think of mine?
Bright Idea
Thanks.

it's been cool to see the evolution of this. Nice work on the background detail

Lol @ quister.

yeah, the human hand is a perfect touch - such a small change that really makes a lot of difference.
thanks for comments on mine

wow, i just LOVE the idea!
execution is really good on the wolf. When i have much time (i'm at work) i give you suggestions, at least try, because i think it's not done yet, it deserved a little more work (especially the background, too unbalanced) :)

Worked in some more texture all over, and improved the background. Are there any other things I should do to improve it?

Nice, I would like to see some placement here, I love that human hand, looks pretty cool
(The shadow looks a little bit weird)

any feed back here

Thanks mpeon. Which shadow do you mean though, the shadow on the hand or the shadow under the werewolf?

like the progress very much ...great illustration
may be instead of gray use dark blue to represent night ...
plz vote $ comment

very cool design. i think its ready to be submitted

please critique mine
http://www.threadless.com/critique/48759/Head_in_the_Clouds

thanks

So Chris, good step forward in the background IMO. Now, i have to say something, something bother me in the so (too much?) difference of style between the wolf (i love) and the textured background...
First of all, you could tweak it, it seems that the feet of the werewolf (ahah it reminds me the hours of big pleasure i took in Diablo II with my werewolf ^^ ) ere not rally on the ground, because of the difference of style, it seems they are a bit floating.

Then, i would say that it would be nice to have his tail darker or whatever, just more contrasted , to distinguish it more from the body and give depth, you could have fur "curves in this tail too".

maybe there is a little problem of perspective in his eye placement, confronted to the ears and movement of face...? i am not sure, but something bothering me a little.

A question of comopsition, placement, when you will put it on a tee, it would be nice to extand the design, i mean, by putting the moon a little higher.

ABout the clouds, putting a few shadows to give more depth too.

that's all for the moment, but i i tell you all that, that's because i think your concept is just awesome and need your execution to be perfect, it has the power of a wniner design ;)

I think Jebs has a really good eye for critique. I agree the background still feels separate, even though it is better. I beleive it is the hard black outline of the character against a muted background. I almost wish you would loose the BG completely and outline him in a darker version of the brown you used on his body.

More shading on the bottom of the cloud will also, as Jebs already said, make your clouds less cottonball like.

Great progression you are on.

The fact that the linework on the hand is black and the linework on the rest of the human muscular bits is pink doesn't sit well with me. I still feel the image and background are disjointed as do those who've commented above.

Looking grand, good to see the mountains being more distinguishable now. Just a question though, I may be wrong here: It seems to me that the darkened/shaded sides of the mountains are those nearest the moon? Should they maybe be the lighter sides, with the shadows reversed? I never was good at drawing shadows, so I may be well wrong, but just seems the moon is off on the right, and so are the mountain shadows...

Gah! You're right Skilly, bollocks I'm gonna have to do them again. Thanks for noticing that!! :)

Neat idea! Yeah, you definitely need more depth to the werewolf. I'm also wondering, what is the yellow on his hand and shoulder? I'm not sure if that's supposed to be there. I also agree with the dark blue background to represent night if that works. Good idea and drawing! I want to see how this develops!

Please vote and leave a comment if you have the time!
http://www.threadless.com/submission/220900/Mushroom_Cut
http://www.threadless.com/submission/220340/Bikini_Love

Thanks for all the comments so far. On this version, I've uploaded it in a swf so you can see the placement, and I've also added a navy colour option. Many people said the wolf needed to look like it was standing on the ground so I fixed that. I've also added more shading, fixed the tail, added some halftoning to the clouds, and a few other bits and pieces.

Wow, nice improvments dude!
the feets are far better than previous version, now that works fine.
the tail is perfect now too!

let me say that i love the concept and design right now ;)

improvments you could do?
first, the presentation: the buttons you put on moon/clouds is not something i would have done, why don't you put the buttons upper left corner?
Then, again the presentation, as you put two color versions, i think the thirdt slide would be perfect if you put just ONE BIG tee shirt template fullscreen, with the color choice you prefer, you will give better presentation impact IMO.

minor thing: maybe, a darker grey for the clouds (halftones? don't see them but anyway) would fits better IMO than this yellow.

i was not sure of your background, but you improved it again (mountains for example), and i feel that it rocks on tee shirt.

so i think with this minors changes maybe to fix, you are ready to sub! congrats!

D'oh!! Yeah I don't want the buttons covering up part of the joke. I'll fix that and make all the other changes too.

Bump.

the wolfs eye looks like you forgot to color it or something, but I may just be clueless as to what it should look like, so if it is supposed to be like that, ignore my comment, other than that, I think it is pretty cool and ready to submit!

hey, like biollionesque said, i still am a little bothered by this eye (like i said in previous version). ;)

Looking fantastic CR. love the changes to the tail. Personally, I'm an enthusiast of the blue version: I just think it conveys night-time better, and there's more sublety to the joke since the contrast between the skin tone and fur isn't as apparent. Awesome shading all-round too.

I will however third Billionesque and Jebs' concern over the eye. Mainly, with the perspective you've got, I think it should sit a bit further back on the head/in the skull, so you see the whole eye. At the moment, it looks like it's merging into the bridge of the nose/muzzle, so it kind of has a Cyclops-feel to it as well as a werewolf, if that makes sense?

Thanks guys. I've fixed the button placement, and the shirt panel (I've now got just one fullscreen shirt for voters to look at). I've also put some darker grey texture into those clouds.
Skilly - If anything I like the navy one better too but feel I need to put the gray one first because I don't want the joke too subtle at first glance as people might not get it (I think people usually look at subs for a few seconds).
I'm working on that eye right now and should have another version up very soon. Thank you all for your continued help it's much appreciated.

I'm definitely a fan of the blue one over the other color

I'm definitely a fan of the blue one over the other color

eheh, i stay tuned for the next version :)

Whoa! Great progress here! The mountains are great and the placement/composition is very cool. The left side of the mountains seems a bit awkward in that it curves down, whereas the one on the right angles down. Maybe move the tip a bit to the left and a more angled slope? I guess you know you're missing some fur on wolfie's right hand but I'll bring it up just to make sure. I've got to say that the blue is best. I'm pretty sure it's because of the contrast between the blue and the gold highlights and the contrast of the fur strokes against the lighter blue. The gray colors, on the other hand are less contrasting and tend to blend in more which kind of diminishes the dimensional effect. Maybe flattens is a better way to describe it. I do get your point though, there are a lot of drive by scorers. Lastly, if you have the 2 up font, do you really need 2 tees on the third slide? It's a bit confusing (not a lot) with the two tees and detailed close ups. I think you'd be better off with just one bigger tee on a model, maybe a wolf's head or a sheep, red riding hood, Dracula, or just a regular model. I just think peeps want to see how it looks while wearing. Just my opinion, your call. Anyway, this is killer man, great adjustments, keeps getting better! Cheers!

You lot are awesome, thanks for the feedback! Ok so I've made all the changes I mentioned above, how's it looking now?

Oh yeah forgot to mention: Quister where do you mean about the fur? On the wolf's left palm I wasn't gonna put any fur because most of the reference pictures I used had bald palms like this ^ Did you mean somewhere on his other hand though?

wow, that is great! looks awesome dude :)
this time, i don't see what you could improve now (even if we always can improve our works, endlessly), all the things that bothered me are fixed.

so what? you should SUB IT :)
tell us when it's up for voting, i am pretty sure you'll have a great score.

cheers

There's a smooth wrist band on his right hand. Maybe add some fur to the point where his hand emerges?

Oh yeah thanks I'll take care of that :)

What about furry-ing the edges where skin meets fur? As is, it looks like the fur was bitten off since the edges are sharp. Otherwise, great illo!

If you don't mind, would you leave a comment and a vote on my Panda?

well this time i disagree with you quister :p
i mean, if you look at right hand, it's in harmony with the left hand, so if you add fur, you should it to both, and i think it's not necessary ;)

Yep, what jebs said ^ That part should be bare like the other hand. I'm gonna leave one final version just to check it works and then I'm gonna submit this one, thanks everyone! :)

Like the "evolution" slides in the pre-loader. Nice touch that should grab the attention & introduce the design alike.

Eye's looking better with the worried eyelid. you might want to look at maybe making the iris darker(more contrast with eyeball), or making the pupil moer visible, so it's immediately apparent he's looking at the moon. might just be my screen at work, but I'm struggling to see any pupil-action. Look into that, and this bad boy'll be 101% sub-ready.

This is wonderful Chris. A lot has happened since I last dropped by.
Agree with Jebs. Love the brown. Sub it!

This is really interesting. The only thing I notice is that the fur looks like it's a layer on top of the skin instead of integrated into his body. Get rid of the thickness, and it will be ready to go.

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