Nice artworks! But no offence, I originally thought the same - photo manipulated. Cymon's doubtful because the faces are too much like the real photo that he used. Maybe it's Max's idea to follow exactly though I think it'd be better if he does it less obvious. Hehe I love the illustrations in the middle column!

Well if you guys don't believe it, you better believe it now

Take a look at this piece he had recently done and see how he colors stuff.

Here is another example (skipped steps you can see the whole thing at his Facebook)





He also did the game cover artwork for an indy game called Armor Valley which was recently recognized as an example of good indy art. You can find it here.

http://maximilian-wilson.deviantart.com/ is his site and if you want to see his tutorials, head over to his Facebook and see his galleries:

This post has been edited by Reuben: Jan 12 2010, 06:15 PM

Just really want you guys to see how talented this friend of mine is and hopefully give him some jobs!

Starving artist!

(He's even bald cause of over-eating Maggi Mee)

Ok, maybe not but you get the drift. His prices are VERY reasonable considering the professional quality of the work done and most importantly he's a frickin nice guy.

I'm hoping the guy who contacted Max through me for the Armor Valley project can post a kind word of feedback here.

Show the painting in a convincing step rather than trace over a picture and a lot of people smudge the original picture and call it painting. Artists of great talent and experienced should create jobs for themselves than asking the public for commission work because most people will not pay even for a master piece in traditional medium.

This post has been edited by Reuben: Jan 12 2010, 08:31 PM

can't seem the post the entire thing due to image limit but it's all on his facebook really which I have linked above for any who are in doubt (which seriously there is no reason to be doubtful)

Master artists aren't often master marketers (not that I am just helping a friend). Why do you think so many artists die unknown and only are recognized as great artists when they are dead?







This post has been edited by Reuben: Jan 12 2010, 08:32 PM

And here's the next set:

And the next!

The final few which involves touching up







One more after this post!

Tadah! Finished!

Sorry, no offense, still have my doubt. His arts are quite inconsistent throughout and that it felt like he copied it or traced it from some other references. One of his painting also feels like he took it off from some office brochure and has practically no meaning to why he needs to paint that.

But hey...., if I'm wrong, then congrats on finding such amazing artist.

If you're referring to the office paintings it's cause his client wanted it and it's cheaper to get someone to paint it than to get real life models. Of course the alternative was clip art but he can do those office paintings really quickly and charges quite low for them.

Well, I've commissioned a piece from him and so has my friends and the artwork he did for the indy game is def legit. The piece I commissioned is highly personalized so there's no way he can be grabbing a clip art from somewhere.

Oh well can't please u guys I guess. Even with a step by step thing you can still say trace....:/ ppl not so free to fake step by step ok and to do that would require a lot of skill to begin with also.

Seriously, there ARE people that free to fake step by step. It's a big world out there with even a guy taking time to paint a whole mona lisa picture pixel by pixel using old ms paint or painstakingly reverse paint the whole thing to fake it for fraud reason. It doesn't matter if it's cheaper to paint than to get real life model, bottom line it still feel like copied from an office brochure somewhere cause I seen that similar setup before. His artworks are also highly inconsistent ... or perhaps it's just me.

Unless he can come up with something more original that doesn't feel like copied from some sources like perhaps reinvent a totally new character that's hard to figure out where it might come from, people are definitely going to have doubt.

Leech is such a cynic and perhaps jaded already. Max's stuff have a consistent improvement every 3 months over his older stuff. In 2 years he's improved much.

Look abit... "stone" yet i like the colour tone

well truth be told, it never really bothers me what people want to think about my works, good or bad, like it or not, because in the end, its just something personal to me. some people think picasso's art is magnificent, some others outright hate it. art is just subjective that way and as for myself, i dont really make a point to try to show my works, because i never feel its ever good enough. but again, this is me and how i am.

as for those paintings like those 'office brochures', it was actually done for an ad agency, which they wanted to use in their proposal to their client, to show a friendly, cozy environment in an 'office', rather in that particular case, a bank.

as for the finishing, it looks rather unpolished, but recognizable enough i believe to depict the scene. it was part of a rather rushed thing, as i had to complete about 15+ paintings of those kinds in under 48 hours. now, i'm not bragging, nor am i attempting to defend myself in any way. i'm just merely explaining why some works turn out the way it did.

and since i joined up facebook only ... er i dont know when, maybe a couple of years back? XD none of the works there are timestamped. some of the works are from many many years ago, and some are more recent. i'd like to think that i have improved over the years, be it true or not, its really hard to judge sometimes. to some extent, i do like the look and feel of some of my older works too. but i guess, as i delve in more towards commercial arts, my finishing tend to get more and more polished and refined because a lot of people seem to want that more.

do i like to paint photo-realistic paintings? actually i dont. to me these paintings lack character. and character, is an important aspect to me. but is it more commercially viable this way? apparently it is. also, as much as i hate to do it, sometimes, clients require you to paint in certain ways, or certain styles. back in those days, i'd outright reject this notion ... but as we grow older, and become more realistic, sometimes, we have to compromise on principles to put food on the table.

of course, admittedly, not everything i do is 100% original and from my imagination. many times, i'd use references too. take the sins portraits for example; something which is rather obvious, the milla jovovich picture. if you're asking, i'm not denying, i had used references for that. yukie nakama, etc. there's no real shame in this to me. if you asked me to paint a falcon, like the one i did with the elven girl, i had to use google to look up a whole bunch of falcon pictures, to study them a bit, etc. etc. and use those references to paint too; because admittedly, i dont really know the features of one. but hey, it got it done. also there are works where i outright copied from other pictures because it was requested of me (clients hand me a picture, and tells me they want it to look like a painting). of course traditionally many people would probably just add some effects and touchup the pix to make it look like a painting. its like sketching class in college where i remember some friends just photocopy the reference big enough, and trace it ... and i remember screwing them for it (some of them might still remember getting into arguments with me over these matters). its not a big deal to many, but i like to make it a challenge still. if i had to copy pictures, i still would redraw and repaint it. why? well for one, i'm not a designer. not to insult anyone, but granted a designer's strength isnt in paintings, and thats a good alternative for them. their strength is in design. mine is in painting, so whatever comes my way, i want to enjoy the process, rather than 'tracing'. i'd never be able to improve that way.

but the real question here is this: can i actually paint? or am i purely someone who does image manipulations? i dont think we can find pictures of real armored bots with exploding buildings and flying ships, or a picture, today, so accurately depicting a sketch i did 8-9 years ago randomly in front of a group of people. or perhaps pictures so strikingly similar that its like turning those sketches i did in the client's office after a brief, into a painting.

i'm no genius, i'm no savant, and i'm certainly not a master in any aspect. i'm just another guy doing what i love to do. and i wish sometimes, i had time to do more of what i love, which is more fantasy oriented stuff. i rather create characters, worlds, the inhabitants but alas, again, sometimes, we are forced to do what we dont like as much just to put food on the table. but thats the cold harsh reality we live in. thats our society.

so yea, what i really want to say is, i think i can paint. i certainly would like to think so, after spending so many years of my life doing it haha. and i honestly still dont really care what people what to think of me, be it a fraud, or a fake, it doesnt concern me. some people that have commissioned some artwork that's based on things, objects, creatures, or situations even, thats not easily found, and have seen me sketch out samples in front of their eyes, picked one of it, and later see a finished painting based on the sketch, might still believe me (i hope hahaha).

but here, my friends are trying to help me, and i truly appreciate all that they've done for me. i could not have asked for better friends indeed. so i have to ask of you all, while you might criticize me or the way i do things, you might doubt me, you might even slander if necessary haha ... but please, do not make my friends' life difficult ^^"

in conclusion, i hoped i have resolved some issues or questions what were raised. and i thank you all for taking time and interest to read this wall of a post, and i hope it makes sense. either way, i appreciate all feedback, and look forward to improving myself further. thanks for your time

*edit* typos sorry ^^"

This post has been edited by wyulf: Jan 13 2010, 12:39 AM

wyulf: now stop typing here and get back to my painting!

*whips*

I'm just saying I have my doubts, no harm in that. But if it's truly your original work, then just be proud of yourself. Post your work in progress in youtube would be great .

This post has been edited by LeechFever: Jan 13 2010, 07:12 AM

like i've mentioned earlier, to be completely honest, i dont enjoy trying to throw the spotlight on myself. i've always preferred to stay low profile. it gives me a lot of room and freedom to move around.

also, like i've said, i dont rightly care if people want to think whatever of me. i dont want to live my life based on what people think. i dont wanna change because some people think of me a certain way. i am who i am, i do what i do. right or wrong, ultimately, i will let my conscience be my only judge.

to me there's nothing to prove by showing off my skills. besides like some of you have mentioned earlier in this thread, people might go 'wow' perhaps, but then no one is still going to spend money on it. and there IS much truth in that. so in the end, those who DO want my services will look me up all the same.

take nico di mattia for example. he has many youtube videos on so-called 'speed painting'. to begin with, a fast forwarded work isnt speed painting. speed painting is painting something as finished as possible in as little time as possible. its a visualization technique used a lot by concept artists and the likes. we have to rush perhaps painted figures within 1/2 hour? 45mins? or maybe full blown scenes within an hour? 2hours? thats speed painting, not what nico does. also, nico paints using references as well. now i'm not saying nico is a bad artist. he's talented and skilled in what he does, no doubt about that. but what causes the hype? because the video is so sped up you really think he could paint that fast? or because it looks really good and realistic, despite the fact you dont see the other monitor where the reference was sitting on? does these factors alone eliminate all doubts from him as compared to myself? its ok, because again, it doesnt matter to me. but all i want to say is, even in video, its not hard for someone to 'fake' something. by faking here, i mean 'not really what you would think'. ultimately its just about gaining a certain status, its about stepping into the limelight. and again to me, its irrelevant. a video of me working, and a finished painting ... its really all the same. those who would want to believe, would have believed, those who are skeptical, can always remain skeptical still.

but i dont think all this makes me arrogant. i do try to help those who want to learn. i do share whatever knowledge i have, every trick i've learned. its not something i can carry to the grave, and its better to share it with people who might need it too. i'm not worried, nor do i care if people i help or teach becomes better than me. in fact if they do, i'd be really proud

so like some friends who posted earlier (er i think that was lun XD ), he was right. i'm not really comfortable sitting here with the light on me, and i doubt i ever will. i'd love to be great, i'd love to be exceptional, i'd love to be a master of the arts, but i dont really want to sacrifice the freedom of living my life for it and thats pretty much why i do what i do ... kinda law low and keep a low profile a bit ^^"

Never mind la. There will be ppl who will be interested in your artwork In fact, I found someone who would be interested in commissioning a work from you. Look me up.