Joseph's shiny new sketchbook

[xelfereht]

I polished it up a bit and didn't really change too much. I think I will go forward with a different project instead, I want to do something with a powerful pose and more chroma since my pieces lately haven't had much color really.

Hey Joseph
Nice work so far, particularly on the face
I think its a good piece with potential if you're willing to develop it a bit more It could be a great portfolio piece
f youre inclined towards fantasy game art and book cover type stuff.

My personal thoughts on it are that it needs a bit more thoughtful design in the shapes
theres not much variation in the graphic read of the shapes making it sort of worth a glance for the face but not much else. the gesture it self has gotten a bit stiff, i just moved a few things around with the warp transform and looked for where it felt more like she was trudging through water.
more emphasis on diagonals also brings in more of an action vibe than lots of verticals and horizontals
the left side background bit boring so just added more stuff at bit different scale for more depth
story wise she originally looks like shes ringing the bell for tea a bit rather than, cmon get me mafockers
the sword coming out of the scabbard looks very unnatural because of how its attached it might not want to slide out
and the way shes grabbed it doesnt look like shes pulled her arm back in any way
so one way round this is fk the scabbard, she ready!

with the posing stuff one way to aid yourself is act the movement out yourself even while youre in your chair even just lighty miming the movement you should feel whether an acton feels natural or not, then take note of where parts of your anatomy are and where the force is generating from

and lastly some more details would be nice, of varying levels. its just a bit boring once youve had a look at the face theres not much of a secondary interest..maybe the bell but you could play with some more areas of runes on her robe, more robey texturing, gauntlet detail, sword detail, a little more care for the hair, some more interesting water splashes or ripples. not enough to over take the focal in terms of contrast but something to be more tan a nice face on a few shapes of colour.

lastly lastly.. design it. shape the water as suits the piece, shape the background elements shape the hair shape the light shape the shadows, to serve the piece and push pull areas of interests into the balance you decide
and guide the viewers eye as you choose

very capable work, well done