10-12-2013, 05:55 PM
The update does look better and you're already adding more volume to the hair with those highlights so it's looking better. For what it's worth I think you're doing a lot better than many do at adding colour to grayscale, but you're not quite there yet. It's easy to get very muddy hues and an overly cool-skewed palette with only using blending modes over grayscale. Have you actually painted directly on a normal layer yet? Just curious. I think at some point you will have to, to get a really nice result.
I know you aren't going for realism, but one thing I noticed with your piece is that you have a lot of hard edges. Almost all the form edges are hard and well defined which makes everything look quite harsh. Try softening up some edges especially in the shadowed areas. It will accentuate receding forms and add depth and create a softer look. Also hard edges draw focus so you should use them very carefully to get focus where you want it. The rembrandt image I posted demonstrates that quite well as well, the hardest edges are around the eye...
I know you aren't going for realism, but one thing I noticed with your piece is that you have a lot of hard edges. Almost all the form edges are hard and well defined which makes everything look quite harsh. Try softening up some edges especially in the shadowed areas. It will accentuate receding forms and add depth and create a softer look. Also hard edges draw focus so you should use them very carefully to get focus where you want it. The rembrandt image I posted demonstrates that quite well as well, the hardest edges are around the eye...