Faces Faces Everywhere!

It was exactly one year ago today that Brian first posted the Faces-Off thread in the Pixel Shrine.  Line art of four faces: Superman, The Joker, Robin and Goldstar.  Perfect examples of different types of faces and expressions for the learning colorist.  The thread was initially intended as a homework assignment for Brian and Kristy’s coloring for comics at EMCC but is open and available for everyone to take a shot at coloring.  I encourage you to go download the line art and work on it.  Lets take a look at some of my favorite posts to the thread this past year.

The very first posted colors of the faces was on March 20, 2008 by forum member kidhorst7.

A well done piece my eye is immediately drawn to his Joker.  I think the definition of the brow ridge and nose are really well done. It exists well in 3 dimensions.  Overall this is a nice post and well deserving of the first colored post.

Next up chronologically was a submission by forum member Crazyfeetmcgee on December 8, 2008.

There’s a lot of great stuff going on here.  I love the slightly magenta secondary lighting coming in from viewer’ right works really well.  Some of the render on Goldstar’s hair are great for me…and all around this is just great.  Brian also posted a very encouraging & detailed critique of the piece. Very well done CFMcG!

May 29, 2009 brought us an entry by Kanila Tripp (known as xcelsiorcolor on the HueDoo forums).

This one is a slightly different take on the piece from what we’ve seen so far in terms of value.  It’s might brighter and the skin tones are way more saturated.  It’s interesting to me how the same piece of line art can be colored by two separate people that have such different takes on it…and they both work so well.  Kanila’s colors are bright and subtle. The Joker’s is so subtle in fact…that you almost need a double take to catch the shadows.  What really struck me about this entry is the holds on Superman.  He’s crying and there’s blood splattered all over his face.  There’s some drama for you.  Great entry!! And you can also see much more of Kanila Tripp’s work at either your local comic shop or at his website www.xcelsiorart.com.  It’s a pleasure to have some of his art on our forums.

Our last foray into the world of 4-faces was posted just yesterday by Thao Pham.

I think the superman here is probably my favorite.  You can really almost feel the anger and contempt in his face.  Very well done.  Also worth noting here is the higlights and shadows on the Joker’s nose.  That’s a spot of brilliance.

I asked Brian Miller (Hi-Fi guru and your host of this website) if he had any pointers for people just starting out or unsure on how to color a face properly and here’s what he said:

Brian Miller: Imagine a V falling from each pupil to the tip of the chin to help locate the natural placement of highlights to define the cheekbones and avoid, “chipmunk cheeks”.  The tip of the chin and the forehead both have a hemispherical look with distinctive roundness below the lower lip and below the hairline.  The Hi-Fi tip for rendering a nose successfully is to add a final highlight using a shape similar to hat of an explanation point to define the ridge and tip of the nose.  (All of these tips are illustrated in step-by-step detail in the upcoming book Master Digital Color in the section titled, Rendering Beautiful Faces, where you can practice rendering faces with beautiful pin-up artwork drawn by top industry pros.)

So it’s been a fun year of 4-faces. Like all our challenges and projects the art is still up and will be available indefinitely so stop on over to www.huedoo.com head to the Pixel Shrine and take a look around