Gypsy

[Vandall]

Just really need fresh eyes on this. I also have no idea what im doing with tattoos.

[Vandall]

Updated, need to soften up the eyes I think.

[darktiste]

can you explain me why she allmost the same color as the chair
here are some example of skin tone that may help

[ChantalFournier]

Well, there isn't ONE good choice of skin tones and the examples above are not in the same light as the painting at all so I'd take that with a grain of salt. That said, carefully with your highlights, her skin looks very plasticky. I think the tattoos should be affected by light just like the rest of her skin. Her metal jewellery is dull (but the leather of the chair is great!) and the white of her eyes is not affected by shadows. She's got a highlight by her left eye that doesn't make sense, where is the light coming from? In general, I think you either need to acquire reference or to look at your reference more closely. Also, the cat looks like its tail is in a bottle, careful with tangents.

I like the story you have going on here which is a good start, you need more convincing rendering now.

[darktiste]

Well, there isn't ONE good choice of skin tones and the examples above are not in the same light as the painting at all so I'd take that with a grain of salt. That said, carefully with your highlights, her skin looks very plasticky. I think the tattoos should be affected by light just like the rest of her skin. Her metal jewellery is dull (but the leather of the chair is great!) and the white of her eyes is not affected by shadows. She's got a highlight by her left eye that doesn't make sense, where is the light coming from? In general, I think you either need to acquire reference or to look at your reference more closely. Also, the cat looks like its tail is in a bottle, careful with tangents.

I like the story you have going on here which is a good start, you need more convincing rendering now.

the point is not to tell him to use a skin a specific skin tone and off course they are not in the same light they serve as guideline. Art is more then just pure observation he can use is shadow knowledge i am sure . The point i want to make is she would look more human if she didnt blend with the chair

here some video that can help you better then i can:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8TP3IclX...J&index=17
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6sl1V2nd...J&index=19
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYRJYIWrO...J&index=10

[Beirot]

I would suggest adding a greater range of hues on the skin of the girl as well as bounced light.... I did a quick paint-over if that helps... just added a few more reds and tungsten light, and toned down the green a lil...

Tatoos are tricky but there are infinitely many ways of doing them. What I usually do (when I'm painting more detailed tatoos) is draw the design independently on a blank canvas ---> copy past my design onto the body ---> transform and warp the tattoo to match the curvature of the body part----> then from there I just paint color under the multiplied layer then I just tweak the opacities.... I guess its jus whatever works for you after a deal of expirimenting.

I once asked a guy how he painted the tattoo on this http://dna-1.deviantart.com/art/Soloria-...0#comments ... He told me: "I used several different photo textures, heavily manipulated them, painted on top, and then reduced the opacity to give the illusion that they're embedded in the skin."

[Vandall]

Thank you all for your help, tried to make some changes based on your suggestions and it is looking alot better already.

[Vandall]

Almost done i'm thinking. Still fiddling about with tattoos to see if I can make them work.

[JavierP]

Hi Vandall,
You've made great progress on this image and I enjoy all the detail in the foreground and background. However, I think the main character's skin could still use some refinement. You have done a great job of modelling her forms, but I think that the value of her skin falls off too quickly to shadow, making her look very metallic. To solve this I would simply ease the transition from light to dark by reducing the value of the shadows on her form.
I made a quick paint-over to show you what I mean. I simply made a new layer set to 'soft light' and carefully brushed a lighter value over the transitions to shadow. No extra painting was necessary because the form information was already there. Next, I adjusted the levels a bit because the image seemed dark. Also, I would suggest getting some reference for her ear, because the forms don't read correctly at the moment. Hope this helps, and good luck.

[Vandall]

Thanks for the pointer man, I think its really helped, ran across with some soft light, tried to refine it down, made her pop at least which is great.

[Lhune]

Hey there! I admire the amount of work you've put into this piece so far, it demonstrates a lot of patience and dedication. What I think is problematic with this piece however is first the composition. I don't know what version of Photoshop you have (if you're using Photoshop, I assume you are) but I believe CS3 and up have a crop function that divides your canvas into thirds horizontally and vertically. You can also use slices but I always find this easier.

I don't know if you've heard of the rule of thirds, but I'd definitely look into it. In a nutshell, if you want your composition to feel balanced and natural you will want to place whatever is most important in your piece on one of the four locations where the lines overlap. There's a lot more to the rule, but I've found this basic guideline to be very useful.



Then there's the lighting. I went a little overboard with my paintover, but what it comes down to is that you want to be very conscious about where you distribute your light and detail. In addition to what people have said about the skin tone, your light should serve to enhance the mood, the character and the composition as a whole. Don't be afraid to let things fade into the shadow, especially if they are not particularly important for the piece. Your primary focus is the gipsy's face, secondary are the cards. Try to use your lighting so that you guide the viewer past these points in a natural way, by giving the primary focus point the highest contrast, the secondary the second highest, and so on.

I hope this helps!

PO:


Comparison:

[Vandall]

Just wanted to say a big thanks for all the help on this one, I think im going to shelve it for now as I've worked on it for awhile and think I can apply what ive learnt to a new piece :)