Trying to finish this piece but not sure how...

[hemogoblin]

I feel like there something wrong with it, like the anatomy's off or something. If I could get a pointer in the right direction that'd be great.



Suggestions on any other details that could be added would be great!
(I might be posting here a lot btw, I'm starting to put a portfolio together)

[ChantalFournier]

I think this is a strong thumbnail. If it was my piece, I would want to show what the heck he's doing there. Is he leaning there because he's injured? Is he trying to intimidate something in the dark coz he's coming to get it? What is the action? Ideally, there would be something in the vast dark area, maybe something very subtle, like someone waiting in ambush, we can see it, but he can't, or the object he's looking for. The step after that would be to gather references. Mostly rocks and pictures of you or someone you know in pyjamas leaning on something while being lit from behind.

Then I would start working on a clean drawing, making sure I have the right size and proportions of canvas, then drawing the anatomy as accurately as possible, then adding clothes. I would design the rocks to have interesting negative shapes. Then I would either do some color comps or start rendering in b&w.

So basically, what you have here is a good idea for an illustration, but it's far from being ready for a render stage.

[hemogoblin]

Thanks Chantal! Funnily enough, I had actually taken a reference picture of myself in pajamas for this beforehand, but I didn't follow it very closely. I redrew the guy and copied the pose exactly this time:



Still not happy with it, any changes I should make before I go forward with this?

[Amit Dutta]

I'd say the values need to be tweaked overall to get some separation both within the figure and between the figure and the surroundings, but especially to give more prominence to the face as focal point. The lighting on the near leg doesn't make sense and isn't shadowed according to the light source. About the light source I think you need to think about a secondary light source coming from underneath and in front of the guy so you can get some nice underlighting going on.

Also the pose isn't right. That near leg is wrong in a few ways. The way it attaches to the pelvis doesn't seem right and the foreshortening isn't done correctly. Check the angle of the lower leg and foot in perspective compared to the ground plane and pose. Not convinced about the straight hanging arm either because it seems a tad too stiff.

The narrative isn't that clear so maybe make it clear what is going on here, otherwise it won't be as successful as an image no matter how good the rendering is.
I'd recommend fixing these before going any farther. Hope that helps

[ChantalFournier]

There might also be a difference in angles between the photo ref and the illustration because the left foot looks like it's too low. Given the angle of the floor, the leg would have to be very long. Maybe it's a lens distortion effect or you have taken your ref from slightly higher up than the angle of the illustration.