darktiste: Great input! I like what you did with the desaturated clothing specifically for the fairy piece, might incorporate that piece of feedback should I revisit the image again. Made some changes to the Catwoman image based on your input as well, defined the neck area more and lowered the vibrance a bit more a more natural look.
one_two: Thank you, really appreciate your support!
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I refined the Catwoman piece a bit, I'm definitely calling it done now as I'm exhausted from working on it. Pretty happy with how it turned out and am ready to move on to other pieces.
Next up is an illustration of 'Venom'. This was a lot of fun to paint and draw and was fairly straightforward so the painting process went very smoothly. I'm calling this one done as well unless there is something majorly off - if so please let me know!
Here are the steps:
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Finally I started working on a new image. Going for an iconic feel with this one and am pretty happy with the composition. I had a reference for the general pose which I tried to stay close to, you can view it here as well. Before starting the painting process I wanted to hear input on the sketch just to make sure I get everything right early, so any input would be greatly appreciated!
The sword hand guard does it mirror itself? Because if it does i think you failed to include it underneath the gauntlets there also some problem with the ellipse for the glove ''they point'' which is a common ellipse mistake.
Practically speaking the way you did the armor toward the armpit you modify the original shape as a purpose it to add mobility to the arm/shoulder it also why knight normally wear chain mail under there armor it for added flexibility and mobility the chainmail serve as additional protection where there gap in the armor.
Also regarding design element i think a cape would add some character and some flow to the image which otherwise feel very static.
Some element i want to bring attention to is the hair try to break up a bit the outline if you want to add some realism.
I added some scar because yup character who goes in battle get hurt +1 realism and storytelling. You could also add some scratch to the armor and some wear and tears cape to the cloth or the belt.
One last thing is remember to wrap and add thickness to thing that overlap they are not paper thin you should see some thickness(Note i forgot to add the thickness in the glove. Adding the thickness show that it not just one solid piece but something with mobility the rivet no longer feel like ''decoration'' they become an indication of functional design.
For the eye i would test a view variation of where the character could look at.
One other thing is my Pov as some tangent so if possible if you decide to add some of the element suggest and correction look out for new tangent.
The armor is to show how the main piece of the armor is.It also that i added some x where there is those abs like shape i think you could use the image as reference to remodel the abs. Also for those armor ''slice'' on the rib there is not rivet to hold them therefor maybe it leather armor where it interlace piece of armor. I just never seen this kind of armor so i am just again looking for real life example to inform the design functionality. So maybe you could also use the image provided as reference if you like it one of the two suggestion
My last message had a few error but basically the suggestion is to rework the rib and abs portion of the armor and to show a bit of deep by overlapping different armor piece this help create form/volume.
Also wanna thank you for helping me reaching my goal of 200 Reputation
darktiste: Thanks for the draw over, very useful! Reference was helpful as well, helped me redesign the armor on the abdomen for a more natural look!
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I finished up the image, spent a ridiculous amount of time on this one but hopefully it was worth it. There's still time to revise it if needed if something is especially off, so please let me know! Below is the current preview followed by the steps for those interested.
Phenomenal job. I thinking jumping from such a long piece you might want something with a shorter turn around time next.
If anything again it just minor touch like consideration local shadow and shadow gradient i would not bother retouching unless you want to make it a portfolio piece. In that case i would probably rework the castle shape in the back it the only part that seem like a second thought.
darktiste: Thank you! And this image took a long time to render, lots of detail work so I definitely agree that I should reward myself with something more simple for my next image... although that will have to wait as I'm doing traditional studies now (which I will be posting soon). I agree about the castle, just refined it and it looks much better now thankfully. Your paintover is great too, really dig what you did with the cloud especially so I updated it to give it more contrast and saturation. Thanks again for your input, I always appreciate it! Below is the final image!
I began work on a new illustration after having a slight art block for a bit, but I got the inspiration going again thankfully. I finished up the sketch, but before I begin painting it in I'd love to hear any feedback on if something is off or not working, so please let me know! Below is the sketch:
yooo welcome back. If I may, I think there's a bit of discrepency about the U shape of her jaw vs the rest of her face. I think it would just be a little more straight. Looking at the jaw part, it feels like we are looking at a head facing directly up, but then we actually see quite a bit of her face.
I would maybe do something more like this? Made the jaw a little rounder, and neck a bit shorter as well. Probably still looks a little funky, I think you really need a solid reference especially to do the expression, since the frowning brows are kind of going contrary to their natural perspective, which is hard to do. Maybe take a photo of someone yourself and/or rotate a 3D model if the reference image you have doesn't have everything you need?
Apart from that, both feet seem a bit small. The left one, the leg is going away from us, but in the context of the scene it's not really further away enough to change it's size much.
The armour looks cool though, excited to see that rendered
My comment is what are those cube like thing behind how are they assemble and why are they not destroy after falling over if the are separate piece what hold them together magic glue or what.
Personally i would ditch the halo it just not centered and it would be hard to see with this pose because it would overlap the head. I have seen many angel in magic the gathering without them.
I suggest instead to use angel wing to give the viewer the visual cue that she and angel otherwise the piece is already pretty far in to try other opinion.That only a solution if she an angel and not just some kind of i don<t know benevolent ancestor coming from the after life for some kind of assignment. The problem of this solution will be to fit the wing in the vertical frame.(This would also probably mean getting rid of the cape since the wing would interfere with the cape.In my solution the wing are bend like when a bird land you will have to look at reference for that or you can use the spread wing if you dont mind the element going outside the frame.
That option is obviously the longer road but i think the result will be even better and it gonna get rid of those pillar i am not a big fan of.
I provided some reference for you. For the wing and head. Personally i would ignore the wing i tried they don,t have the right gesture to them .
Also i would take the wing pose in consideration to if she going up or going down .Generally angel are represented going down since they are celestial messanger.In that case you would take the second eagle wing configuration again that if you want to add wing.
JosephCow: Thank you, glad to be back! Great point with the face, love what you did with your draw over as well. Just incorporated it something similar, hopefully it's an improvement. Great point about the feet, just enlarged them hopefully it looks more natural now!
darktiste: Great feedback! Enlarged the feet as Joseph pointed out. The angel wings are a great suggestion as well, works very well compositionally and just incorporated them. I think I'll keep the halo for now as it helps make the face the focal point which is a good thing IMO!
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I applied the feedback mentioned and tried to make the pose a bit more dynamic, hopefully it's an improvement. Any final input on the sketch would be appreciated before I begin the painting process!
The wrapping on the right arm . You are looking at an ellipse that above the horizon line the arm is going back to the elbow .That at least how i interpret it.
I also found a little flaw in the design the armor would be painful since it come to a point where the armor meet the back side of the hand so adding something underneath protect between the armor and the hand would prevent such thing from happening ultimately armor will not point like this unless the wearer also wear plated gauntlet so i either recommend you ignore the wrapping issue i pointed and transform that side into a glove or you add a small leather addition to protect from that issue.
One thing also with the perspective issue is that it mean the elbow piece as to account for the change in perspective as well.
Was curious to try a few thing but ultimately i think they would pose additional challenge and they are just my own curiosity and creative exploration.
One was changing the guard of the weapon and the other was playing around with the halo. In a creative moment when i move the halo around i thought to myself what if in a alternate universe maybe angel wear halo around there neck.
One other thing i played around was the foreshortening of the leg to be a little less dramatic.
I personally believe it would be good to have a second focal point in value to move the eye down a bit lower so the secondary focal point is not so extremely away from what in the rest of the scene. The question for you is how will you move the eye down in the composition if the first thing that generally move the eye is value. Where will the light come from from the side from the front? This will drastically change the cast shadow of the claw and how much dark and light is at the bottom of the composition since it such a big shape i think it worth taking the time to test or at least think about it.
Decent improvements in recent pieces. I think the (our) left lower leg is still too narrow and small for the amount it is receeding. Joseph's suggestions were closer to the mark, although I feel that upper left thigh isn't being foreshortened correctly either.
I think you can make the hands a little bigger also. With figurative work it is probably better to err on the side of making the hands and feet too big, rather than too small. Her neck is especially long as well.
In general I think you would really benefit from doing figurative studies that focus on understanding foreshortening and using cross contours to help you get the feel of limb volumes receeding in space better.
Your recent works are really nice. Well, consistently you have good paintings and that's really admirable. I think you could push yourself more with the rendering, light and form stuff.
With the recent painting, I think doublechecking the head/face/jaw w/ some good reference would be good. Same with the leg. I like the pose, though. The other thing is the armor design seems to have very similar details (horizontal stripes, sorta) that seem evenly spaced everywhere. I would try to find a way to mix things up, thinking about big, medium, and small shapes.
Also, I hope you don't mind but I wondered if the arms on your sword woman should be a little longer? According to Loomis, if the arms were straight down by her side, her elbows would be the same height as her navel. I realise that in your drawing the arms are bent and so the elbows would be a bit higher, anyway I have done a draw over for you, please take it with a pinch of salt, I won't be offended if you disagree :).
“Today, give a stranger one of your smiles. It might be the only sunshine he sees all day.” -- H. Jackson Brown Jr.
darktiste: Excellent feedback as always! I went ahead and incorporated it, hopefully it's an improvement.
Noone: Thank you! Great suggestions as well. I tried to make the armor more interesting during the painting process, hopefully it works a bit better now.
ThereIsNoJustice: Thanks! Great suggestions as well, I recently bought some anatomy books to help me improve my figure drawing (the 'morpho' series, which are excellent) and I'll be posting some studies of those soon.
Artloader: Thank you kindly, really appreciate your support! Also great points with the paintover, I actually received your feedback after finalizing so I didn't time to incorporate it, but hopefully the flaws aren't as apparent now that's it's fully painted. Please let me know!
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I went ahead and painted the drawing, pretty pleased with how it turned out. There might be some minor flaws in anatomy as mentioned that I didn't have time to correct (I painted the image a bit too early before receiving the feedback) but hopefully it's not too noticeable at this scale.
Of course there's time to make some minor changes if needed, so if something looks particularly off please let me know! Below is the current preview followed by the steps for those interested:
