"hierarchy of forms" sounds important and useful. What does it mean?

Hierarchy is the arrangement of elements. Items in a hierarchy are typically thought of as being "above," "below," or "at the same level as" one another. hierarchy in a composition refers to the staging of forms; breaking up the picture into solid readable forms.

"Good BG design makes the largest forms in the picture make a statement: a controlled purposeful instantly readable composition."

would you say it has more to do with a good visual composition or better definition of solid forms?

I'd say good visual composition requires solid readable forms.

That's an awesome image. I think you underestimate it.

To me, it looks like some kind of architectural form dropped from the sky and left to sink into the ground.

Ok, dumb question. Are you working on a graphic novel or something with these characters of yours or anything? I must say my curiosity is up and I can see that you could do it. I just wanna' know. Is there a book or comic in the works? =)

I'm 'planning' a story, which isn't quite the same thing as working on it.
Eventually I'd like to begin working on an actual ongoing comic.

It's cool that you critique your work so much. The appeal of the designs still makes this awesome.

I think you can fix it by using the right color and such. but oh well :3

I've started the drawing anew so it's no big loss. With careful planning, I'm certain it will work better than my first attempt.

yea, grisser's comment
colour works MIRACLES
also, fucking awesome work

despite those shortcomings, the picture looks epic!

"Hierarchy of forms" sounds all important.
Do you read John K's blog? I don't know his last name... creator of Ren & Stimpy though. He's been ranting a lot on composition:
http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com
He says a lot of interesting and agreeable things-even if I didn't like Ren& Stimpy. I know one of his latest blog posts have been about Composition and Hierarchy of forms

As a general rule of thumb, even if a piece doesn't look good from the star; i try to finish it anyway to see if it can be saved
But sometimes, you gotta move on because there's no way. And often it works out to something stronger.

I'm glad you're sharing these with us lately (and your sketchbook pages) I'm fascinated with artistic process!

I catch John's blog from time to time, it's very informative! Much of what I know of design hierarchy I picked up from his various posts.
I've already started redrawing this, and I'm using a non-photo blue pencil so if I mess up the planning it wont be noticeable in the final work.

Obviously I like following it too. I like having these things broken down to simple principles. Sometimes the art school jargon makes it all sound so complicated.

I look forward to the redraw! Those color sketching pencils have been great. And never underestimate the power of making photocopies to experiment on! That's saved my ass a few times

Still, awesome work!

i know u'r like a perfectionist and all, but this is considered amazing in my book, lol

Just want you to know while I was looking at this picture my dad saw it and said "clusterfuck or not, it takes a good artist to 'screw up' and have it still look good."

haha, I have to say I can kind of see what you mean about the 'shapeless' ness, but with all the details and shadows, it really pops, regardless.

Gosh, that was awfully nice of him to say. Thank him for me if you would.

you realize

that all these sketches

publicly available

are gonna be the first time a famous, highly renowned artist

has ever been this public with his works in progress, right?

the "sketches and scraps" coffee table book is obsolete for you

because this shit

this shit right here

what it's all building up to?

is going to make you, son

fuck

stop being so awesome

... +1

I'm not even certain exactly what it's all building up to.
But I hope it's neat.

you always make such interesting, intricate environments. badass