Hmmm, it really depends though on the bookstore. I think most Belgium comics are usualy for all ages, and that is what you'll mostly find in bookstores. Or atleast the ones I go to. There is also a store (the kind that you find in almost every city here in the Dutch language part of Belgium) who has loads of things, not only books and they got a whole bunch of comics and graphic novels. But they also sell books and comics in other languages then Dutch.
And I'm going to be honest with you, I got no idea what bande dessines means. It's probably going to be something I should know, but I first figured it is a French thing and well, I don't really speak French.

I hope your coloring attempts are going well btw. I was actualy wondering if you would perhaps benefit of watching some livestreams from one of my fav artists. Her art is not for comics, but she works with colors so amazingly. And I think it might be handy to have a look at the livestreams she has done, to watch how she uses color, and adds shadow and highlights. LINK
Your first post in this thread for example could be ideal to practise more. But you need to use darker tones for shadows, and lighter tones for highlights. There's a few livestreams where you can see how Katie forms faces with the different colors she uses. Keep in mind she has been doing this for a long time, so don't feel intimidated or anything. With practise I am sure you can get very far.

Bande-dessinée (or BD) is French for "comic strip." Literally "drawn band." In North America the term is frequently used to refer exclusively to Franco-Belgian comics like Tintin, Quick et Flupke, Asterix, Blake et Mortimer, and Valerian et Laureline. They are also strongly identified with the ligne-clair or "straight line" style of drawing.

And so now that I've revealed myself to be a total Eurocomics snob I'll just stand down...

--M

Aha! Thanks for the explanation Mr. Average.
I know a bit about that drawing style, we call it 'de klare lijn', Hergé is seen as the 'father' of this style, and many after him have been inspired by his comic art. I think many of the comics we read as kids where inspired by that style.

I should really work on my spelling. Even my English spelling is atrocious.

Like Mr. Average I love European comic books. I wish I had better access. I'd try to hunt more down using the internet, but I just don't really have a way of finding out what's good and bad. When I was hanging out in France for a couple of weeks with a British girlfriend who was living there, I read all the graphic novels I could find at the local library.

Germany was really a wasteland for comic books as I recall. That said, I kind of like Werner. Or was it Warner.

And the westerns produced in Europe. I usually like those.

As I wrote, I wish I had more access. Unfortunately, Heavy Metal (the magazine) seems to be the main conduit for European comics to America and I just, well, I just really can't bring myself to purchase Heavy Metal. I don't know. I just can't.

Rynn1, that's a neat site, De Sousa's site that is. Many thanks for recommending that. I watched some of one of the videos earlier this morning. I just set it running and checked in from time to time. Many thanks for recommending that.

Mr. Average, I'd consider myself a Eurocomics snob is so many Eurocomics weren't so down and dirty. I love, love Torpedo

And I just don't think you can be a snob and love that much gratuitous sex and violence.

See "gratuitous". That took three tries with the spell check.

I haven't given up my efforts to acquire some mastery over color, but I've moved to some real basics.

And this is so basic I'm hesitant to place it in the critique section. Still, the observations have been helpful. If you have some thoughts, then let me know you think, and, if not, no worries. I'll keep at it.

Hey that`s looking very nice and 3D-ish Nathaniel! Love the shadow under the sphere and the rough colouring (I mean that you still can see the brush strokes)
Some points of advice:
- Environment light: Light will bounce off objects onto other objects, this creates environment light. The light that falls on the white underground would bounce off of it onto the sphere, casting a little white light onto the bottom of it. Look at some objects next to each other to see it in action. The opposite is also true: the sphere would cast some very little yellow on the white underground. Colouring like this will bring more life to your paintings and will look more attractive. The objects will look like they`re actually there. For example: skin colours are seldom only a flesh colour. There`s often lots of different colours on a skin: reds in certain places like the tops of your fingers, cheeks, knuckles etc, blue reflective light from the sky, there can even be orange, greens, yellows and purples, depending on the lighting and the colour of the shadow.
- Usually it`s like this: cold coloured shadows and warm coloured highlights and vice versa.
- You can experiment with saturation of colours too, f.e. saturated shadows and less saturated highlights and vice versa. Look at how colours behave in different settings.
- The sphere is not totally round at the left bottom.

Hope that helps! Great practise!

Never let it be said that Monsieur Sullivan failed to take good advice from a lovely lady. Be that as it may, I staunchly refuse to use "colour", the English spelling of color. All right, I'll be serious for a moment.
Spot on about environment light. I'll take care of that problem. Good eye there.
And you're right about the myriad colors that make up an object. I'll work on that as well. Finding it very difficult to make all those moving parts work at the same time.
Good advice. I'll take it and try to implement it. And I'll get around to fixing the drive shaft on my Mustang. Tired of seeing it in the front yard on blocks.
In all seriousness, many thanks. I'll give it a shot.

haha, yeah I`m no native speaker and we got british english in school.

Here are some tutorials that helped me in painting (and especially colour) Maybe they`ll help you too:

http://www.tascha.ch/content/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=47&Itemid=73
http://www.tascha.ch/content/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=48&Itemid=71
http://darlingmionette.deviantart.com/art/Quick-and-Dirty-Color-Theory-161213599?q=favby%3Ahenriked%2F1720313&qo=4
http://pronouncedyou.deviantart.com/art/Color-Theory-Crash-Course-120798230?q=favby%3Ahenriked%2F1720313&qo=38
http://cedarseed.deviantart.com/gallery/6557#/d8pb6s

And something about brush strokes: http://www.tascha.ch/content/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=49&Itemid=70

Have fun!

Many thanks for the tutorial links. Very thoughtful. I only had a moment and I was only able to glance at the tutorials. They look tres nifty. I'll have to take a closer, and longer, look later. Perhaps when the beast, my son, is asleep.

And just to be dutiful, and demonstrate that I haven't surrender, I added this work in progress. Very rough at this point.

Again, thanks for the tutorials. They look good and I'll take a close look at them when I have a chance. Probably later this evening.

Oh take your time, it`s a lot of reading.

Very awesome progress, I love how you made the shadows blend in with the background, it looks very mysterious!
I also like how you bring out the forms of his face with the highlights (for example on his cheekbone). And the mouth looks awesome!

Keep up the great work!

Many thanks. I think it still needs a lot of work. I need to achieve some kind of rich bronze, not the kind of painful orange in evidence right now.

Just to be above board, I worked on this with a Rembrandt reproduction open right beside me. That seems to help a great deal. I'd feel guiltier about that, but I really need to master dramatic lighting and Rembrandt's a master of that.

I was working on a piece once, and consulting a reproduction of a Bernini, and my wife said, "This (the Bernini) looks good. Make it look like that."

I said, "Yeah, but it's a freaking Bernini."

haha, if you could make Berninis you`d be rich!

Ah, Rembrandt, one of my favourite painters, he`s awesome! I should study the old masters more.

I think you could desaturate the skin colour and mix more green into it. Especially in the shadows. And to counter the green you could add just the slightest hint of red into it as well.

I assume that Rembrandt is a national hero in the Netherlands. And rightly so.

Taking some of the saturation out of the skin color seems like a good idea to me. I mix in the green and try adding the red as well. Interesting idea. And I'm more than willing to experiment. Thanks for the suggestion.

If you really want to see dramatic lighting, study Caravaggio. His paintings constantly used heavy darks and lighting. "The Conversion of St. Paul" is a great example.
Titian is a great one for color as well.
I love Rembrandt too! He really had great self-discipline and such illustrative works...

I'm a bit of an art history geek if you didn't know.

I'm also quite fond of the paintings of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. Incredible paintings. And the use of light is nothing short of astonishing.

And he was a true bad boy. Just like yours truly.

Frustrated with this. I really don't think it's working. Time to try something else I think.

If this was a straight on portrait...

Hope this hopes. You have a pretty good handle on colors otherwise, the texture quality of the skin and hair in the beard is pretty good. Just keep at it.

Good points all. Many thanks for taking the time to provide constructive criticism. Much appreciated.

For my part, I'm more frustrated by the fact that it looks like the figure is wearing stage makeup. Very harsh right that. Need to work on that problem more.

Best,

N. Sullivan

Best way to get better at painting is to not make things up. Paint something that's really there in front of you, or even a photo.
It helped me, maybe it'll help you too.

Good point. I've worked on this looking at a reproduction of a Rembrandt. And always a good idea to work from life. Good ideas all. Just need to carve out more time to implement the ideas.

Best,

N. Sullivan