[grimsheep]

This is really my first serious attempt at a painting in photoshop using this style. I started this one off in the "in progress" thread but only got one response, so I took the advice and went ahead and finished it c&c always welcome





[ December 14, 2001: Message edited by: grimsheep ]

[Robert Ashley]

Her ear is too far back. It makes her jaw line too far back and gives her a manly quality.

You have the rendering over all pretty good though. Although, you should work on hair a little bit. Its best if you dont draw so many strands of hair but rather the shine of the hair and layers of colors. Here is a link to a great hair tutorial:
http://www.seegmiller-art.com/hairtutorial.htm

I would also try to darken the shadows on her a little more and also add more redness to her face.

I also dont care for the background very much. Although, there is nothing to point out that there is something wrong with it...just dont like it. (personal taste thing)

Anyway, like I was saying. The rendering is great, just focus a little on more colors variation and darkening the darks.

The drawing is proportionally correct overall, but move the ear and jaw line over to the right like an inch (maybe not quite that far).

Great work, dont know why you didnt get any comments.

[eVilAsmo]

I agree with the previous post about hair and the integration of the hair with the scalp, in reality there isn't a definite line where hair starts to grow.

Secondly, the top of the ear looks a lil unnatural, as if the cartilage bit has been cut to far down.. (dunno if that makes sense, if not tell me, I'll try and elaborate)

The only other thing that is noticable imo, is her nose, the tip of which seems strangely bulbous - though this may have been your intention.

On a sidenote, her eyeball seems to sit uncomfortably in her eyelids, I think it may be because you havent continued the bottom eyelid to merge with the skin around the socket.

Wonderful strange use of expression, she seems really arrogant, snooty even. Nice colours.. the background doesn't bother me, but I'm not endeared to it either.. I think it could contribute more.

hope that's useful.

[grimsheep]

Thanks for the feedback guys... I did my best to take some of your advice,

I moved the ear forward, though maybe not as much as you'd have liked, but it does seem to make a difference. I played with the hair,darkened the shadows, added a little more red, made the nose a little less bulbous, and tightened up the eye contour a bit. I have also clearly changed the background... I really need to put more thought into it before I start a drawing. I'll likely redo the bg again.

As for the ear, I think I know what you mean, but I'm not sure if I'll play with it or not yet

[ December 14, 2001: Message edited by: grimsheep ]

[Robert Ashley]

Definite improvment...but I still think the ear needs to be moved a bit more forward.

This background makes a lot more sense than the last one.

Good job! I like how its turning out. I would like to see you work on it a little more. It already looks good..but with a bit more effort, it could be GREAT!

[eVilAsmo]

N1, I think out of all the changes, the background did the most - quite surprising really..

other than stuff we've mentioned before, or you've mentioned, I've got little of huge importance to add.. you've done a cool job, and I'd be happy to leave it at that.

Nice peice.. and you've obviously moved on a lil with it. There's a coupla niggling things, yet I doubt my ability to explain them.. if this overpaint pisses you off, contact me (details in profile) and I'll remove it, but I may be away from the pc for the weekend, so thought I'd do my best to explain now.



things of interest:

• Ear
  Moved it forward by about 1 cm.
  Lowered the lil indented area where the earhole lies (dunno what it's called)
  
• Hair
  Integrated hair with scalp to create a less binary 'on/off' hair coverage.. gotta have the roots visible o nthe hairline.
  
  Also gave the hair more body.. as if it flows.. I like to think of hair like syrup or water when drawing it.
  
• Eye
  Fiddled quite a bit.. not exactly sure what I did with it. Mainly revolved around restructing the lower area of the eyesocket only slightly.
  
• Head
  Moving of the ear allowed considerable forshortening of the head... makes her look more elegant. Frames it more nicely too imo.
  

Things I didnt do.. come's down to jaw line really.. she seems a bit.. manly to be a dainty elf (her chin may consolodate this thought) - I think it's the angular jawline.. and a bit ruddy in expression, perhaps.

Thassit - I realise this sounds really critical, which sucks coming from me, since I'm years from being in a position to criticise with genuine authority, but drawing on the lil I know, that's all I can offer. Hope it helps.

[ December 14, 2001: Message edited by: eVilAsmo ]

[Isric]

um, you've sort of represented the theory, but I don't think that's the right direction...

[eVilAsmo]

still ill - was supposed to be on the road by now.

Obviously I havent worked on the overpaint like it's my own, I've just moved the bits pretty (very) crudely to show what and where I was talkin about.. sometime's it's difficult to find the words.

[Joachim]

I think what would help this picture a lot is if you thought through the colors and lightsetting a bit more. Not, the colors are very monochromic, like the skin, hair and background comes from three different places (both in contrast and colors) Also what would be nice, is if you did the lightsetting, as said, more obvious, and therefor not needing to focus on details everywhere. ALso, thinkng about contrasts from the character compared to the background would be nice, so they don't blend totally with eachother, that's probably why I think your first version worked better though the background in itself got improved on the second one. My opinion is that these things would improve your picture much more than just fixing up small anatomical issues. just my two cents....and here's a bad attempt too..



keep it up !

[grimsheep]

Thanks again everyone, I'm going to take some time to think this through a bit more and go to work on it... I really do want to do as good a job of this as I can.

my main concerns right now are integrating the hair into the scalp better and loosening it up a bit, and also a bg that works well with the figure... when I'm done I'll start a new thread.

Thanks again everyone