It a massive sucess here maybe one thing i would is do apply a small blur on the right side of the wall to balance the amount of texture i use to make my background in some of my presenttion just to texturize which would take away from the design but in your case it would be the story.
I think as you go foward the less is more mentality is something you should embrace.Just focus on good composition and fundamental and let that do the heavy lifting.
With brush economy in mind.
Taking more time to plan rather than painting which is often a trap.I think there still work to be done in term of thumbnailling you seem to be confident and that seem to be working for you i just wonder how much you would benefit from more exploration before settling down and by thumbnail i am not talking about color exploration but composition to and pose maybe even sometime costume which to me might be a bit to repetitive sometime but that just because i think you got a few recurring character.
Anyhow i just want to say merry chrismas and happy new years before i forget.May all your art wish be granted and may the new years bring you fresh new inspiration.
Nice work! The piece is looking stronger now for sure!
Some of the nit picks i would have at this point would be the hard rim light on the her left leg (viewers right leg from quiver to bottom of her bootcuff) at the minute is just looks layed down with little regard to material, texture, or fabric folds. I would neither blur it a little bit to soften it or work it into the Fabic folds a tad more. Following this for all the rim lighting could also help really push her form more.
The last small thing sticking out to me would be her right leg shape, it feels like the shin bone could be a little too bowed inwards from her knee cap but that could just be me.
Quick paint over to help…or not :)
All in all nice work and looking forward to your next piece dude.
I had the same feeling about the left leg but i suck at anatomy so i kept it for myself on that aspect.
But what i recommend to prevent such issue would be to rotate the canvas will working and to flip the image to avoid that type of error in the future.
Also if you use PHOTOSHOP else probably ignore the rest of this message. There away to deal to much of a curve or not enough of it and it to distortion the image using the puppet warp you just have to use the lasso and give it a selection before applying the puppet warp and than you put point on the distortion grid to fix in place certain spot of that selection on the grid to help manipulate the distortion(it might not come easly if you never use it i recommend a bit of practice and look for a tutorial if you never did it before).
Hey there,
Congrats on your new piece, it looks really cool and I like the comp, theme and feel of it a lot! The colors are really working great as well, good job on that.
If you dont mind I have a few things to critique, maybe you agree or you could disregard it.
So my first point would be her bow. It feels very 2d, very flat. You have a gradient from front to back so to speak but there is no information on the form across it. it‘s such a focal point of the image but is definitely one of the weakest areas in the whole painting. Even the leaves in the corner are painted better, so Id urge you to think about detail placement and visual interest. The bow is calling for attention but when you look there is nothing there. Try thinking of ways you can show form and detail and if you have to alter the design in order to do that, so be it. If you want more realism, With bows you often see exactly how the bowstring is attached and the place where your hand goes is often designed a little different from the other parts. Since the form would need work, you want to place the higlights more precisely and have the light fall off describing the form better. Maybe it would even help seeing the spikes on the other side of the bow as well following perspective, which might help explain the design better. Ok.
Second biggest problem for me is the blur on the main character. Im really having difficulty with it and it makes the image look a little amateur-ish imo. The wolf is in full motion and sharp and her arm is only pulling back a bowstring and is super blurred. Maybe it‘s a taste thing but i dont recall seeing this type of stuff in a professional piece of art either. I mean its great to experiement with these things, but I wanted to let you know how it comes across to me.
My third point of critique would be the inconsitent lighting, i know it‘s hard to make all of it up and it takes discipline to paint it evenly throughout the image, but it sticks out. So just comparing the light source direction from where her leather corset is lit and her green dress above it is lit, not seeing any kind of cast shadow of her arm or her breast (which is quite big from the way you rendered it) is giving me problems. Comparing that to her right leg which is almost lit more from underneath with a big shadow on top is again sticking out to me. I like how you treated each material differently, but would encourage you to do some leather studies, to nail down that material in particular a little better. And really understanding your light sources, maybe plotting them out more, drawing lines where the light hits and where it doesnt or just keeping it in mind more would help. Good reference always makes a huge difference of course but i dont know if youre into that.
Alright sorry for the long reply, again I really like what youve done here. Here face has great detail, the pose of the wolf is very cool and you framed it all really well with the architecture in the back. The background with the clouds and even the castle is incredible, I think thats all superb and fits the image really well. The things to improve on are form, lighting and with it, material rendering, like the stone texture could be improved upon and is a little distracting here and there but its somewhat minor Id say.
Again great job, keep it up and for now happy holidays!
darktiste: Excellent suggestion regarding the background blur on the lower right, just implemented it. Thank you kindly for your suggestions and well wishes, wishing you all the best for 2023 and beyond!
CBinnsIllustration: Thanks for your suggestions! I agree about the rim light so I just refined that aspect. As for the leg, that's a bit of a stylistic choice as I prefer to exaggerate the gestures a bit for some added movement, hopefully it's not too distracting but I appreciate the suggestions!
darktiste: I think I could probably warp it with the liquify tool if needed, but I don't think it's too distracting and I prefer it more curved as opposed to stiff.
Cruptic: Thank you! Your feedback was excellent as well! I refined the bow a bit, added more detail and tried to give it more of a 3D look. I admit I should have spent more time conceptualizing it further as I rushed it a bit, but hopefully it works better now!
Regarding the 'blur' on the main character, I think it's because I tend to add a fantasy-esque 'glow' to my images to help unite the figure with the background, but because it appears too blurry I suppose I'm overdoing it a bit, so I'll be sure to dial that down in the future. I refined the character to restore some of her sharpness as well.
I agree about the lighting as well, and I have a bad habit of tending to forget the drop shadows, need to work on this. With that said, I just added it to the areas mentioned and it looks much more natural now, so thanks for your suggestion. All your feedback was ridiculously helpful and made for a better image, so thank you kindly for your honesty and critique!
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I did some final adjustments to the image, I'm calling it done for now as I spent quite some time on it and am ready to move on to another illustration. Here is the final:
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Next up is a new illustration featuring a witch. Always wanted to paint one so I went ahead and sketched out the scene. I want this image to be highly detailed full of life, so I spent quite some time with the linework and general environment as well. I'm pretty happy with it overall, but any feedback prior to beginning some color tests would be most appreciated!
Try to do the left hand pose the little finger can't bend this far away from the rest.You can always use the right and mirror it and than just trace and change it slightly to save time.
For the book stack on the right i would try to give more direction to the tome not just one direction this create a better feeling of a working environnement where thing aren't always kept perfectly organize.For the object on top of the stack i would change it to a adjustable mirror.
For the cranium on the bookshelf a head doesn't rest on the jaw due to the weight of the weight of the brain cavity. Reference would be a good thing.
For the crystal ball i suppose it this big because you want to show something inside it but if it not that important you could try to reduce the size of the ball and add a decorative stand.
I am not sure about all the random eye laying around maybe you could have enchanted floating eye a kind of security system when she busy to guard he back or maybe one eye homunculus if you know what they are.
For the candle i would say try enlarge the base so that it suggest that wax is building up at the base.Not just a straight candle with wax dripping which would look easy to fall over.Also maybe instead of the wax collecting on surface you could put them in little plate so the wax collect there instead of the table.
It to busy on the table on the right side to many thing overlapping and some show so little of there base i think you didn't think of how they would overlap in space but they occupy the same space.I am think of that bottle behind the thing that look like almost a sand timer before the stack of book.
For the bottle of poison the wrapping is to much on the bottom part also the line of the label should feel perpendicular to the side of the bottle.
Other than that i am scared mama please come pick me up!!!
darktiste: Excellent feedback as always! I made all the changes you mentioned, except for the eyeballs. Want to keep them as that adds to the creepiness of the image. Overall the sketch is much improved because of your suggestions, so thanks again!
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I refined the sketch a bit and did some quick color tests. The light source is coming from the orb on all of them as I feel that works best so I didn't mess with the general light source on these, just focused more on colors. I think they all work fairly well, although I'm leaning towards 'B' as that has the best color harmony I feel. I'm open to hearing input however so please feel free to let me know what you feel works best!
C for me.Due to the moon pendant it just how i think when choosing color i see something and it kinda evoke color.
I think something in the middle of the orb would be cool.I took a picture from the internet for the crystal ball so don't do that it was just to imagine what could be inside the ball.
The mirror wasn't so much of a good idea in retrospective but it can still work so here what i suggest. Adding some dust and spider web could be helpful to reduce you work load.This way if you don't feel like doing reflection you can spend your time elsewhere.
For the book i am not sure why it still blank at this stage but i would encourage you to add some text and maybe some magic symbol taking inspiration from magic grimoire of the medieval period.
There also a blank picture on the left which remind me of harry potter where there ghost hunting the picture which could add to the surnatual vibe i believe you are going for.
For the wall and book shelf you can maybe look for some gothic inspired decorative element but i feel like it already very busy so i see why it might not be welcome.
On the ''it very busy part'' i think removing some element on the right on the table still apply.It better to remove some now than later.I am thinking of element where you can't see the base those are the item i would remove.It essential gonna be a time saver and less is more sometime.
Oh and before i forget the potion on the left we should see more of the top of the lips of the bottle.The ellipse is way to front facing compare to the ellipse on the candle just by it side.Also i gotta point at a small tagente with the book on the second higest shelf and the side of the canva.(use your own pic mine is very hard to pic on what i am trying to show because i applied color to the line)
Lastly i did a few thing in term of color to break the repetitive color here how i did i took an other color for the eye which suggest there eye are magical and that there is a magical bound between them.Since they don't take the emitted color of the ball.I also choose a color i find to be very witchy and add a gradation i think the color help erase some of the back element will still participating in the overall feeeling this done by applying as i said before color into the lineart so if you have that on a layer it can be done easly.
The red dot are some of the element i mention.Sorry for the long critic and some element i am hammering on.
The second color less image is about wrapping mostly i didn't do the candle ellipse not to give you all the ''answers'' but it mostly the leather and the ring that could get improve.I also added a few red line to give her a more thin to the bone look which help to age character.
Lotza nice stuff since I last looked in. Lady Atlas and the archer turned out very good. Congrats!
I'm back on a PC with a horrible monitor I don't really trust when it comes to color but I like C color-wise. It's a unique scheme for this type of pic.
darktiste: Thanks for your input and Happy New Year! Your feedback is on point, basically implemented every suggestion and the image is all the better for it. Thank you kindly for taking the time to illustrate your point as well, very much appreciate it!
Jephyr: Thanks! Glad you like the illustrations. I decided to develop 'B', although I changed the background colors to make the oranges from the foreground pop out more!
RottenPocket: Thanks! Went with 'B' but changes the background to a contrasting blue!
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Happy New Year everyone! Some updates; I decided to go with 'B' after giving it much thought as I feel it's the most ominous looking... It was also the most monochromatic once, so I went with a desaturated blue for the background. The image is pretty much finished, although I'm open to input as always so if something is majorly off please feel free to let me know! Below is the final, plus the steps if you're interested.
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Next up I started on a new illustration of a Viking. The figure was referenced from Obscura29 on ArtStation off a reference pack I recently bought. I did my best to keep in line with the general pose while creating my own character design for the figure. Overall I'm quite happy with how the sketch turned out, although I'm open to feedback before beginning the painting process, so if something feels off please let me know! Below is the sketch:
Your axe is totally offcentered but i realize i am not that great with axe either.Also adding a thickness to your leather always help sell volume i doubt it paper thin also don't make the leather buldge unless they are not thigh it wrapping around a flat surface not a ball.You helmet horn socket should also show some thickness i know you seem to hate ellipse but they really help you sell volume and they ain't that hard really.
The pose doesn't look very stable it on a inclined and is torso is facing toward us but under the pelvis her isn't allign in it center of gravity i feel like he moving toward us so i feel like the pose doesn't give us that impression of unstoppable power i think would benefit the piece.
I opted for a front facing pose to put an accent on the muscle which i dislike being hidden behind the other leg.That a suggestion of course.
I also felt this needed a more symetrical composition to imply stability and strength.
Also i don't know if you notice but i hit the shoulder with a liquify tool to try to give your head and shoulder a more defined foreshorten which in my own version really help push him forward.
Changed the bird to be more balanced again to reinforce that aspect.
A trick for your composition is to flip your canvas it should work once it mirrored this also a great tool to look for the center of balance in the pose.
I feel like a volcano or a thunderstorm could be very nice personally i would go for the thunderstorm due to the bird not being vulture they remind me of a magic the gathering card name storm crow that why.Maybe they could be elemental thunder bird
darktiste: Excellent input as always, agree with pretty much everything you stated! Great tip regarding the balancing issue for the sketch, I'll be sure to apply the technique you mentioned regularly for my sketches. The elemental thunderbird is a great idea as well, so I just implemented. I don't think I'll paint in volcanoes, however as I'm going for a 'Winter' themed look for this one when I paint it in.
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Updated the sketch heavily based on darktiste's feedback, and it works much better I feel. I'm about ready to get started on some color tests, but before that please feel free to let me know any feedback on the current sketch if you'd like!
Sorry to add up since you seem ready to commit here a few other point.
The right leg need a bit of clean up and overlapping it not like it a chicken wing my PO was just to give a rought idea of the direction.
I feel like the beard could be rougher it to tame for a warrior fighting the element of nature.
For the crow i don't think the thunder aspect is working anymore in light of what you said but i got an other idea maybe doing white crow for a change would be nice.If not i would suggest switching for bird that are more common in mountain like condor or maybe eagle.
A little blizzard would also contribute to the whole story and add a bit of movement as if can feel rather static with the composition
And if you feel like taking the opportunity trying to paint snow it an additional skill you could go after.
One thing for the arm holding the axe i find that all the fur make it hard to feel like there a shoulder pad underneat which to me bring the question of mobility.Maybe instead of the fur on the shoulder maybe he could wear it as a cap instead it would give more importance to the shoulder that way which to me would also renforce the strenght aspect of the storytelling.
Darktiste: Good point about the right leg, I'll rework it shortly. I think I could make the birds work better during the painting process, we'll see how it goes! Great input as always.
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Did some quick rough color tests. I'm leaning towards E, followed by B. I really want to paint a winter scene as those are fun and I haven't had the chance to paint them in quite a while, so I'll likely go with E. I would like to hear the opinion from fellow artists on what you feel works best so please feel free to let me know! Below are the color tests.
The wolf pose doesn't seem to well thought i understand that he coming from a steppe side of the road but i am not sure it gonna work at the speed of someone else than me glancing at artwork like normal people do the back of the wolf need to look like it much lower to imply an incline now it just to level and hard to understand if he coming out from the ground or what... the nature of the train kinda help but i think really imply unevenness here would work best.
From the wolf is silhouette he hard to read i feel like he can't be that dark or you will miss the bottom of is jaw which help define much of what help us see it as a wolf since the silouette will be mostly overlap by the barbarian it gonna be mostly a question of lighting.One thing i suggest is to scale up the wolf ear to give him more of a noticeable silhouette and therefore presence but the teeth will also play a big role in the face aswell as the eye they need to be added it all coming together in term of color.
For the color choose i like B or F
I like F just to be playing against you i like the almost sulfric bad land vibe i would see plenty of bone all over the place like a big battle took place here.But if not i can also imagine a similar faith in a more arctic fashion with blood tainted snow and frozen corpse depend how gore and macabre you like it.
Don't why but the 'Slaughter at sunset' letter D is really calling to me. Might be because the marigold tone you selected is so pretty, interesting contrast with the subject matter of the image.
darktiste: I agree regarding the wolf pose, I just changed it for something more natural, hopefully it works better now. I agree with your color choice of 'B' as well. F is too desaturated for my taste and lacks contrast, but B has a very winter like feel with better colors and contrast so I went with that!
Dominicque: 'D' is one of my favorites as well, but I went with 'B' as I'm really wanting to illustrate a winter scene as I don't have much of those in my portfolio!
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Reworked the pose of the wolf to make it more natural looking, and went with choice 'B' as my color palette as I feel it works best. The image is still fairly early but it's coming along fairly smoothly, probably because I'm sticking with my initial color test. Mountains aren't giving me as much trouble as I would have thought considering I haven't painted snowy mountains for a while. Below is the current progress:
For the blood part it would make more sense to have a longer trail and don't make a large spot of blood under the head he moving the blood doesn't have the time to gather in such large quantity.Imagine you carry a bucket around with a hole in it that should illustrate what i mean.
I think for the viking he need to interact with the snow in a similar fashion as the wolf which seem to be sinking in the snow.So atleast some snow on is boot would be a good addition for storytelling but also the foot silhouette should be affected by the snow being push by the front of is boot.Also some snow probably get lifted by the wind so adding some in the fur & beard would be a great addition to harmonize the environnement with the subject matter.
Ah, that make sense as that's what you wanted to practice a Winter scene. I agree with Dark if he killed him a while ago there would be a longer blood trail on the ground. I think the snow on the boots is a good suggestion, too.
