Alien encounter

[Markus]

Hi people,
This is what I've been working on. I'm at the point where I'm pretty much out of ideas on what to still do with this piece, so I'll leave it here to simmer for a while. I think the cropping of the Alien is a bit awkward, and I need to think of the light effects.

Edit. Now that I look at it, both characters crop at the bottom of the painting, which kills the depth. I'll work that out.

Any critique and advice would be greatly appreciated at this point.

[ChantalFournier]

I don't think the way they are cropped is a problem, but I wonder why the red light only affects the soldier under his knees. I also think his skin could be more saturated, and the rim lights around him more fuzzy, you know how edges sometimes get soft when something is directly in front of a light source. I really like the alien.

[Warburton]

hey man, not alot wrong here from my end though you seem to already have better skills than myself :p This is a nice piece, i especially like the alien.

I just made a few subtle ajustments to try and push the depth abit. Firstly i upped to contrast of the entire piece, then sharpened some edges around focal areas, like the aliens head. Then just a matter of forcing more contast to give some more depth like the aliens arm and the dude in the corridor. I probably could have got away with pushing it abit more but i didnt want to butcher your piece.


hope this helps dude.

[Markus]

Thank you for your input, ChantalFournier and Warburton.
I think I'm done with it. Lots of stuff that bother me but I want to move on. I did get to experiment on some stuff though.

[Mike086]

I livestreamed a critique for you, you can watch it on my channel: http://www.livestream.com/mciii

cropped the image and repositioned the marine as well as changed his posture to match flashlight/pistol grip technique.

[Markus]

Thank you very much for taking the time Mike086, you have been extremely helpful.
I'll rework the composition and posture of the guy. Also the muddyness I completely agree with, I got a bit sloppy during the end.
Time to add that extra mile.

[Markus]

I've taken the time to address the issues underlined by Mike086 and I think it looks so much better now. As a mild Alien enthusiast it came as a surprise to find out the dome has a skull underneath. I think I can finally lay down the pen on this one.

Thanks guys!