Natalie Becker - Bloodsport Challenges

[Natalie_Becker]

Hey guys,

I needed to start a new thread so I could change the name, but I think we should use a single thread for all of our challenge entries, that way we don't saturate the forums every 2 weeks. So I'll be posting all of my Bloodsport work into this single topic from now on.

Here are the 2 comps I'm trying to decide between from all my thumbnailing.



This one I want the feel to be sort of a character spread with Nausicaa, Lord Yupa, and Asbel, in the toxic jungle with a very post-apocalypse/nuclear winter feel to it. I think her bright orange hair will make a really good focal point at the center of all that green, blue and gray



And this one I like because of the dynamic X comp, the drama of her flying through a storm getting shot at. I feel like the clouds are sort of an environment cop-out though, so I'm not sure if I should do it.

Opinions? Crits? Thanks everyone!

[Natalie_Becker]

Here's my WIP. It's been a long day of painting but it's starting to look how I imagined. Obviously the characters are very rough and their colors don't reflect the light situation, but I figured I would post some progress. I'll post the studies I've been doing with the final.

[CanisPanthera]

Lookin good! You definitely took my crit to heart I see. The composition looks far more dynamic now

[joerdenleigh]

I like the Thread Idea I think we should all do it that way it seems sensible!

[Natalie_Becker]

Update - been working on this image for so long, hopefully I'm not missing any obvious flaws due to looking at it so much. I'm not liking how the characters seem so flat, and i think it has to do with separating them onto their own layers. If anyone has advice regarding that (other than just painting on one layer, i know that would be one way to avoid it) or if you went through the same thing when you were learning and want to share what you did to move past that I would really appreciate it. Anyway, will be doing Nausicaa and Yupa's portraits tomorrow first thing and then moving on to fix things in order of importance in the final stretch.

Thanks in advance for the feedback everyone. :)

[gyork]

looking good! loving the comp, my suggestion would be like adding some layers of fog in the background to create some depth ,its looking too focused in my opinion I did a quick paintover,
a backlight for the main character would help a lot I think but I am sure you were gonna paint it anyway, I also used a blue color layer with a very low opacity on the secondary characters to blend them more with the environment and too add more focus to the main character....I think sorry not an expert just trying to help :) maybe try adding some warmer colors to the foreground to create some contrast everything is looking very bluish right now I think
keep it up and I hope some of what I said made some sense.

http://i39.tinypic.com/2a9a845.jpg