Tarot Strength Card

[ZombieChinchilla]

Hey, everyone. For my illustration class our assignment is tarot cards, and I chose strength, which is a woman with a lion. I'm doing a post-apocalyptic theme, and this is what I have so far.



I'm trying to figure out the proportions and anatomy before I got too far in rendering and although it looks off to me, I keep trying to flip it and fix it and it's not getting much better. I would love some tips and advice on how to get this more professional looking! Thanks so much!!

[Admbrns]

Use plenty of references. There's a million Women, Gun, and Lion images.

On a side note, her stance and posture and overall mood do not scream "strength" to me. Since you are totally revamping the design, you have an opportunity to tell a story as well. How is she strong? What makes her strong? Is she good at surviving? Make her walking/hunting/holding the gun/interact with the lion/etc. (Not all of those things, of course) I know it's not intentional, but right now, she looks nervous.

With that, I would revamp the composition. There's a ton of research you can do on how to spice up the comp, including adding some framing elements, and ways to tie her to her environment more.

Good luck!

[Lodratio]

The main thing you need to keep in mind with this is that you're looking up at your characters from a position that's very close to ground-level. You have drawn them almost as though you're looking at them straight on, in which case the horizonline ought to be at eyelevel.

[ZombieChinchilla]

Admbrns- Hey thanks! Interestingly enough, the description of the strength tarot card doesn't have the woman in a, "strong," pose, or even really showing physical or otherwise strength. She is usually described as gentle and calm. However I think it would benefit the illustration more, so I tried to adjust her posture slightly. Hopefully it helps.

Lodratio- Thanks for the tip, you're totally right and I adjusted the horizon line accordingly. Hopefully it looks better now.

Here's what I added today and yesterday: