Isra's sketchbook

[Piotr Jasielski]

I really lke the mantis.
I have some critique though. First thing, that is easy to get rid of to make a painting better are the (way too) dark, desaturated areas/lines left from sketching part of the process - contours. It's probably a good idea to not leave the lines on top of the painting, but either put the color on top with multiply layer or to blend them/smudge before You add texture. At least it works for me. Maybe there are better solutions, but I am not aware of them or not good enough to succesfully use them.

Another thing You should keep in mind is light. If You add atmospheric perspective, it means light is quite diffused, which results in lighter shadows (because light bounces from thick particles in the air in all directions. There, therefore, shouldn't be many dark areas unless they are very covered or the skin is dark by default.

Think also about speculars that are basically places where light bounces directly to our eyes. That means they are almost as intense as the light source if the material is reflective and they apper only in places where suface has the same angle to a viewer.

I made a paintover. I hope it will be at least a little helpful.