MaulFan's Illustrations

[Maglor]

My first time in this thread.


Of all the Rambo incarnations, I think this is my favorite:

Thanks for the support.

When this Rambo piece is done, it'll be the most satisfying one I've ever done. I have a strong fondness for the character, it's the hardest portrait I've ever done, and I'm giving this every bit of care and attention I possibly can. I'm eager to finish, but I'm patient to do it right.

Love how detailed it is. I hope you save every incarnation.

 

[MaulFan]

I know I tend to start and stop these things, some seemingly never finished. For me, doing these is about being in a certain mental state and sometimes I start a project in the right state and it'll go away, thankfully with computer files, you can go back to it.

I haven't given up on Terminator, but, I want to see Rambo to completion, and I'm in the right mood for it again. When I got the Sideshow PF, I found it an opportunity to be able to figure out some of what I was seeing with Stallone's anatomy in the photo I'm basing my work on, so with the help of looking at the PF, I've redone his midsection below the pecs.

Here's what I did tonight.

And here's what it was like before when I was roughing it in, really cheesy looking, which is why I wanted to go back and fix it. Even though his gun hides most of it, I feel like I should get it all done well for the sake of the parts that do show.

 

[MaulFan]

 

[MANDO]

I like the work on the hair a lot. Similar to the stubble on Rambo 4. I know it sounds like such a subtle thing but it looks great here. The facial expressions are really what sell these a Sly though.

I'm guessing PS, but are these with Photoshop or Illustrator?

 

[MaulFan]

All in Photoshop.

 

[MaulFan]

I won't seem like I've done much since last time, the most noticable part being the addition of highlights on the gun, but I've been hard at work this past week at the face. These Rambo pieces really mean a lot to me and I really fight for them to be as good as I can get them, more so than other pieces. Where I might have considered this acceptable for another property, it's not for Rambo. The face is ok, but looking at the image I'm basing the piece on and my illustation, I just didn't think I was capturing it, and I've been spending a lot of time studying every copy of the source photo I have to try and understand where my illustration went wrong. Since starting this, I've acquired better, but still iffy, quality copies of the photo and am better able to see the details on the face and work towards getting them right. I also have the benefit of the Sideshow PF which is quite helpful for understanding what's going on with the anatomy of his face, particularly around the lips and making the Stallone snarl, the more I understand why shadows and highlights are there in the source photo, the better my illustration of it will be, might not make sense but it's how I work, which was the challenge with the Rambo 4 portrait, all the mud and such covering the anatomy and I really had to fight to figure out what was going on.

 

[MaulFan]

One small step to most people, one giant leap for me Really small changes tonight, but a big step forward for me. Been fighting and fighting to get his face right, and tonight I finally feel like it's coming together. I got his eyebrows horribly misshaped originally and it wasn't selling the anger on his face, and no matter what I did with the eyes it ended up looking like he had some sort of facial disorder, it just wasn't working. Been a lot of agonizing over the face and eyes trying to get the right feel out of them this past week and it feels really good to be happy with that aspect finally, and now I can continue to hammer away at the face.

 

[MaulFan]

 

[MaulFan]

 

[KBA]

Incredible talent

 

[MaulFan]

Few updates, continuing to refine the face details and realized I had too many highlights and was a bit off with my shadows on his left pec and shoulder.

Also been dablling a bit with my First Blood illustration.

 

[Voorhees27]

Soooooooooo cool, good work buddy!

 

[MaulFan]

I still intend to finish my other Rambo art, but I'm moving onto a portrait that I can get more into, it's important that I can really invest myself into these and I love Rambo and the moments I'm illustrating, but I've decided to go back to something I can really sink into like my first one.

 

[MaulFan]

 

[MaulFan]

In the spirit of On Stranger Tides coming out and in the wake of the new 1/6 Captain Sparrow announcements, I've been motivated to finish my Jack Sparrow portrait, coming along, some things to tweak to what I had before, but I didn't have too much far along before I just recently came back to it, so all my newly learned tricks can be put right to use with no cleanup. I'm actually most happy with how his hat's coming along, tried some new things with that and they're working nicely.

 

[MaulFan]

You know, at this point, it's just safe to say, I'm all over the ____ing place, but I still like to share what I'm working on and where it's at here.

Another WIP, though I want to try and finish it this weekend, started it tonight, quite simple, but a powerful image still, I think.

 

[MaulFan]

 

[vodoun]

Have you got a Deviantart account?

 

[MaulFan]

Yeah, I'm slowly building it up but I've got a few of these up there so far.

https://maulfan2345.deviantart.com/gallery/

 

[Mr. EcKo]

Wow Maul those look awesome , did you draw them or do it on the computer?