Jana: Thank you! I'm a huge fan of the 'Victorian' era so I'm glad you enjoy the theme. I just fixed the issue with the necklace as well, hopefully it looks more natural now!
Jephyr: Thank you; I'll have another look at the armor shortly and see if I can fix the issue!
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Here's the current progress, it's come quite a long way. Refined and detailed the image as a whole. It still has some ways to go as I want to push for as many details as possible so I'll continue working on it. Any input would be appreciated!
Nice! Everything improved a lot already. I like the blue glim on the amory and the highlights on the sword.
I think the roses still need more detail as they are in too much contrast to the very detailed butterflies. I also feel like the soldiers face had more defintion without the yellow light, maybe it would be possible to make it less heavy? But thats just personal opinion! Good job on pushing it this far :)
Yo! It's nice to see your work on my monitor again instead of my phone screen :D Love your work, tons of details and unique colorfull fantasy style.
Although sometimes I'd loosen up a things a bit, like around the edges of the painting, or where you don't need views attention. I also think in your last painting those light rays makes you more harm then good. They are way too hard and feels more like lines rather then a light rays. I would also simplify the clothes a little bit, maybe show variety of folds.
I want to see you grow and be better and better, let's go!
Jana: Thank you! I agree about the roses, I just did a significant amount of detail work to them so hopefully they've improved! I toned down the orange highlights as well to restore the definition on the Knight's face, excellent call!
Shuty: Glad to hear that! :D Glad to hear you enjoy my style as well! I agree about loosening up my style a bit, I'm actually planning on experimenting with a more painterly feel to my paintings, we'll see! I agree about the light as well, it was a bit much so just toned it down!
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I did a significant amount of work to the image based on the input I've received, and detailed it heavily to the best of my ability. I think I'm calling it finished for now, pretty pleased with how the image turned out so I will move forward with a new image. Thanks again to anyone that offered any input or advice, always appreciate it! Here is the final image, hope you enjoy!
The version below is without any correction is provided to follow the commenting.
Hum first place i look was the bunch of flower on the top left.I think you might want to tone done the detail. Also i don't know if it part of one of your habit but i suggest before being to far in the drawing to turn your piece into a greyscale version and then zoom out and check which value read as your focal point.
If you want focal point you want a clear contrast between the focal and it surround if everything is to close in value they will compete for attention. Here i think the issue with the flower is that it your brightest value since it pure white so what you could do is use a bit of the burn tool to to dark zone that are secondary in importance. As a rule of thumb reserve your brightest and darkest where you want the eye to go.Also an other problem i would say is that if you want your face to be the focal point the shiny armor would need to be more in the dark since it brighter than there face.
It can happen that we get distracted by detail will working and also in your case i would go as far perhaps as to say you over work your piece a while back i remember suggested you trying to do more in term of suggesting instead of going hardcore into detailling ever inch of grass. I think you could learn a good amount from looking at more classically train painter and see how they can suggest alot with just one brush stroke. Sometime it more about suggestion by giving just enough information because of time constraint which would mean you can't make it to a deadline but that if you try be a working illustrator.So the more you learn to suggest something is there instead of having to fully render it the more time you have to put on what matter.Also there a design principle that is contrast in detail meaning you can attract the eye by create zone of low and high detail if you put alot of detail on the grass it normal that the eye go there because it more interesting to the eye than zone of low detail.
darktiste: Great input as always! The grayscale version you posted is extremely helpful and helps show better, more natural values. I once again pushed values a bit too far, specifically for the skin to give it a more 3Dimensional look, but I need to find a better balance. Regarding detail work, I agree I could be more loose in some areas. I tend to overwork and overdetail my personal work, so I need to take it easy a bit in that regards! Thanks again for your input!
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I'm in the mood to paint some Star Wars art, so I chose to draw a Sith. The figure was referenced from Jagged Eye via DeviantArt here. I did my best to stick closely to the general pose of the figure, while taking a lot of artistic liberties on the costume design. Spent a lot of time on the sketch as usual, really just makes things easier and faster to paint. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated as always!
I find that when people look over their shoulder, their head very rarely turns past profile. It feels as if she is looking too much toward us when she should look away more. Otherwise we get kind of an effect of conflicting gestures where her body is going one way but her head another. And then since we are looking up at the face, the shoulder would probably obscure more of it.
So I think what I would do is actually keep the head at that position and turn the torso so that we see less of the back and more of the side. That might let you keep the effect you're going for while having it achieved more naturally. Just a thought. I don't see the ref so maybe it really is more like this, but even so I think it might be more effective if she is looking back more with her eyeball than whole head.
JosephCow: That's a good point, although ideally I want to show as much of the face as possible. I decided to keep the pose but altered the shoulder a bit to make it less wide, hope it looks natural enough now!
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I finished up the image, here is the final followed by a step by step animation for those interested:
Finally, I decided to start on a new sketch time, this time featuring a female Captain America. I'm pretty satisfied with how the sketch turned out, although I would be very appreciative of any feedback on it before beginning to paint, so please let me know any input you may have in mind!
I used to be on CA years ago, 2010-2011, I only began to delve into digital. I remember you had a thread there as well. . Nice seeing people from these old forums continuing to paint.
The Star Wars piece turned out great! Love the values and color choices, also the perspective on the x-wings in the background is cool. Maybe someone remarked on this before, but the hilts or handles of the light sabers are both a bit off. They basically look a bit rubbery now because they're not straight. I do this aaaall the time myself 'coz i'm lazy, but I guess using a simple ruler would fix a problem like this hehe. Anyway something to think about next time doing something similar.
New sketch is looking good! Think the star could probably follow the form of her chest even more though. Put a slight perspective on it. :)
one_two: That was quite a while ago, it's great to see you here as well! Great to see your progress as well!
Midnight Rambler: Thank you! I hope the hilts aren't too noticeable, I didn't catch them so hopefully not! Great feedback on the star emblem for the new sketch, just implemented in your input!
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I painted in the image, pretty pleased with how it turned out, especially in regards to the skin tones and lighting. I think I'm calling it finished for now, unless something major is off, so please let me know! Below is the final image followed by some steps for those interested:
Next up is a sketch for a new painting; Wanted to draw the Batman himself, and I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. I attached the finished sketch here, any input would be appreciated before I begin the painting process!
Finished the painting process; the values gave me a bit of trouble in the beginning but eventually I was able to get them the way I had them in mind. Attached the final plus the steps for those interested. I'm calling it done for now, unless there's something major that is off so please let me know!
In general a few places I think you could focus on Is to find some more edge variation. Sometimes the crispness of everything can be a bit overwhelming for the eye making it hard to focus on the intended focal points and can make depth a bit confusing at a glance.
I think in general you could also work on finding some more shape variety. There seems to be a tendency towards symmetry and allot of similar sized details or shadows in say the clothing in your pieces.
you can group some of these things and add some size variety. i think it will bring some more life and flow to your work.
I started off this little paint over by just blurring some of the non focal areas like the buildings and lower down his chest. this boosts the dimensional effect when your eyes are looking at the face where the main focal area is.
you can stand to lose some more detail and have some less defined edges in the areas of shadow and away from the focal point.
for example, having his teeth less cleanly detailed helps steer attention to his eyes which is probably more of a natural place have the viewers eyes sit on.
xelfereht: Thanks for your input and taking the time to do the paintover! It's much improved, and I agree with your input. I'm very grateful for your feedback and suggestions as well. In general my default work mode is to sharpen everything, which could cause the problems you mentioned so I'll do my best to break this habit. I just did my best to improve the painting based on your paintover, I think it's significantly improved so I'm very grateful, thanks again!
And on to the next illustration! I started this Wonder Woman sketch quite some time ago, around the Xmas time of last year but decided to paint it in just recently. For reference I used a great cosplay photo I found online (you can check it out here), although I opted to draw her in a bit more dynamic fashion, along with going for the likeness of Gad Gadot, the actress from the films. I'm about ready to begin painting this one in, so I would be really appreciate of any input on the sketch before doing so, so kindly let me know! Here is the sketch:
I'm glad it was helpful!
I think your revision reads allot nicer without having had to do too much to it :)
with wonder woman, i think there's a couple of tangents worth putting some overlaps
the top of the sword guard I would bring up to break the shoulder line a bit and where the sword is coming close to her hip area, I would consider getting some overlap there.
also in terms of the mood it feel strange that shes looking slightly off somewhere.
Might feel more natural to have her looking down the sword a bit like in the reference.
xelferheht: Glad to hear it! Did my best to make the changes to the new image based on your input, hopefully it's improved!
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I finished up the painting process for Wonder Woman, pretty pleased with how it turned out. I would love some final feedback if possible before publishing elsewhere just to ensure it's as good as possible, so if something feels off please let me know! Below is the image followed by the steps for those interested, hope you dig!
Dude your getting fast at this or it just me?The only thing i don't get is the floating thing above the head i think it superflue the drawing already support itself pretty well without the need of it i think.