How to add more impact?

[AdamMiconi]

Adam,

Thanks for the compliments. I've drawn some 40-50 drawings in my lifetime so I have some prior experience. Although, digital painting has been limited strictly to this summer and fall with the exception of a couple of experiments in 09-11. So... I've had some practice =]

As for looking back on old works and seeing consistencies in what you're doing, that's good to notice. I've seen the same in my own really. Which is why lately, I've been trying to do things different, like tilt the horizon to imply motion, or stretch things at angles that lead the eye one way or another. Meh... In theory at least.

So looking at what you have above, I like it, and I can see you'll do just fine once you start applying color. Looks like you're going green. If you want a good reference, maybe take a picture of your own face in the dark with a green light (maybe from your computer or something) and see how that affects your skin color reflection (as there may be some color blending). References always always help. One last thing. Anatomy. Your chick's nose is a tad off-center. Cut and paste it to the right just a smidge (if you see what I mean. It's... a little leftish). Anyhow, I'm off to paint myself, so I'll catch up with you on your next update! =]

Phew! I was worried I was progressing even slower than I already thought I was! Haha! I'm actually pretty happy with my progress rates but I do want to kick it up because I really want to get into the industry finally. I've been doing low-level graphic design for far too long and I'm really sick of being other peoples hands. Everything I know goes out the window because someone with a higher paycheck has an opinion.

I see what you mean about the anatomy being a bit off but I actually think it's her lips that are a bit off instead of the nose because her nose lines up properly with her eyes and chin but I still didn't notice that until you mentioned it!

So far I think the green works pretty well but I've got them on a separate layer, I may go with another color. I haven't fully decided yet but I like the green since there is the emeralds in the headdress also. Since it's a simple design, I don't want to go overboard with colors.

We will see how it pans out. I've got to move onto some homework for now and revisit her after I finish that.