Challenge #20 with Scott Wegener, the Review!

I can’t remember exactly when it was that I first read an Atomic Robo comic book…but i know that i fell in love with it almost immediately.  There’s just nothing about it at all that I don’t like. Action, adventure, an epic scale, humor, kick ass robots. What more could you ask for??  Needless to say I was thrilled when Scott Wegener, artist of Atomic Robo, agreed to donate some art for this challenge. HUGE thanks to him for that. It’s time now to take a couple of moment to look at some of the pages that were colored and posted in the Pixel Shrine on HueDoo.com.

Our first piece is by forum regular Aconic.  This post is actually his second run at it. His highlights were a little dim on his first pass…but they’re much clearer now.  There are some things on here that I really like…and a few that i think might have been done better.

First of all I think the textures that Aconic place in here work really well.  Especially on the tentacles.  That extra little layer makes it look so much more menacing and gross. The highlights on the tentacles are perfect because they make it look wet and slimy.  Perfect for a nasty looking creature like that.  Also the color choice for the tentacles is disgusting…so I love it.  That pink/flesh/violet tone looks really good.  In addition the color holds on the backgound trees on the bottom panel is just perfect. Nice work there.

So there’s the stuff I really enjoy….but there’s a handful of things that might be able to be improved.  First of all the mood of the page seem so bright and light-hearted. However, the action in the scene is very intense.  This monster is bursting out of this poor guys face, everyone is running for their lives…and yet we’ve got a really consistent pastel purple and blue background through out. Robo’s wearing a BRIGHT yellow jacket.  I think everything just needs to be toned down. The contrast could stand to be punch up a lot more.  And  the yellow jacket on Robo…just doesn’t work for me.

Lastly…there’s such a great job of rendering the textures on the squid head monster…but why no textures on anything else??  Maybe try and add a little texture to a few more thing (including Robos head).

Our next entry is by my good friend Bucket!. Another great looking entry!  Again there are some things that are great and a few things that could be better.

I really like this rendering style.  I think Bucket! is on his way to being really very good at this.   I’m loving color choices and the render on the squid moneter.  That looks highly complex in terms of highlight and shadow.  Great work!! I’m glad to see that you chose to paint the special effect onto the eyes.  Robo’s eye’s emit light so that is a very nice touch.

I don’t have too much to add here in terms of constructive criticisms, but there are a couple things.  The background in panel 1 is great and the background in panel 3, while kind of non-desrcript, is alright too…but I feel like the blue background in panels 2 and 3 are a bit too intense and light.  Darkening that and punching up the glow behind the monster would draw the viewer into the monster, darken the mood of the panels and add some urgency.

I also noticed, on panel 4, that Bucket! might be able to improve the hold and base color on the trees in the background.  I can see a little bit of a hold on there…but exaggerating that slightly could really push those trees into the background.

One last minor detail that could be added to really make this page stand out is that Atomic Robo’s metal head looks very smooth.  Just like on Aconic’s page…a little texture there would finish off the character perfectly!

Major thanks to Scott Wegener for joining us for Coloring Challenge #20.  Be sure to get out there and pick up your copies of Atomic Robo.  If you haven’t read AR’s story before I promise you…you won’t be disappointed.

As with ALL the coloring challenges #20 is not closed. I welcome you to get in there at any time, download the file and start coloring.  We’d love to see what you can come up with.  We are seeing people post to previous coloring challenges ALL the time. Check them all out in the Pixel Shrine.

If you thought this coloring challenge is amazing…just WAIT until next week. Oh boy…it’s a doozy!!! I can’t WAIT to get it posted!!

Thanks for reading!! Enjoy your week and remember…if you’re not living a colorful life…you’re doing it wrong.