[Malachi Maloney]

Hey ya'll.

I would've posted this image a while ago, but my system's been down for the last few days due to a huge crash that forced me to reformat my box, which in turn caused me to loose everything on my hard drive. I save my art work to cd religiously, but not much else. So, I've been spending the majority of my time trying to piece my system back together again. Got most of the important stuff back up, but some things are now lost forever. Se la vi...... It'll teach me not to save "the little stuff". Now I'm trying to make it a habit to save all my ish to disc every time I get off the machine.

Anyways.....

I had a great time working on this painting, it was done as a commission for the wife of a private collector who happens to be one of the coolest/easy-to-work-with clients I've probably ever had. I can't go into too much background detail on the wife/model because she wants to remain anonymous, but what I can tell you is that it had to have been fate that he came to me to have this painting done.

The title of the piece "Bird of Paradise" was thought up by my girl Amy after she saw the background painted. I painted in a huge bird of paradise (big tropical flower) as a backdrop for the subject because the piece was going to have a tropical theme. Well, after my girl suggested the title to me, I sent a sample of the bg and my thoughts on the title to the client...... He writes me back to tell me how on the day he proposed to his wife, he was standing on his mother's porch... Guess what was sitting right next to them on the porch in full bloom? That's right, a bird of paradise. And to top it all off, they went out and bought their own bird of paradise when they were married and they still have it to this day. Crazy huh? Tripped me out...

Ok, on with the show.

"Bird of Paradise"
Model: "Julie"


Background:
Background painted in watercolor and acrylics on watercolor paper, then scanned into PS for some added digital painting.

Subject:
Subject painted freehand in Photoshop on a 9x12 Wacom Intuos tablet.

A Closer Look.

Full Res Cut-Outs.

Let me know your thoughts.


~Malachi
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[Briareos]

hahahaha
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[xjmaschox]

shiney. too shiney.

[FONGOOL]

Everything in this image is beautiful except for the Bird of Paradise. It's just kind of shoehorned into the picture without rhyme or reason. it fights against the composition and competes with the woman for attention rather than accentuating or framing her. Very distracting. I'd suggest fading it back, but ultimately I think the image would just be better without it...

Other than that It's awesome though!

[Sumaleth]

For me this one isn't quite as successful as past images, for 3 reasons:

1/ Her face is just a little too EXTREME. When you first see the image her face really stands out as being "too much".

2/ Her legs look too short (or the head too big?). It might just be an optical illusion, but that's the impression I get.

3/ The object over her head looks a bit odd.

--

The rendering is great though, and I like the Roger-Deanish background.
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[Tomasis]

how long time takes it to paint that image? so fine and detailed it looks as a photo

[eyewoo]

You're rock'n Malachi... Getting better and better and better!
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[Periadam]

Excellent pic... I'd have to say that although I wouldn't hang it on my wall, you show a lot of skill. The only things I can pic out that really bothers me is the apparent lack of shadow under her left hand and the fact that her nipple is way too high up. It should be closer to the middle of the bikini cup, not so near the top. Looks kinda unnatural.

Other than that, wonderful! I can feel the blonde jokes churning in my brain... gah
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[Francis]

Hey more great work - sorry to hear about your hardware woes. I checked out this image a number of times, and a few people commented on the things that caught my eye, crit-wise (you're looking for some crit, I hope?). I wanted to get in your head a little and try to figure out why you made some of the choices you did, and why it makes this piece a little different from your others...

I think I understand what is happening here. Both you and the client place a lot of importance on the bird of paradise background because of the sentimental significance. Your other stuff often has backgrounds that are very abstract, textural and subservient to the main subject. In this painting there are sort of two subjects, and the composition tends to emphasize the "conflict." (Her head is being stabbed by the bird! )Having said that, it IS a commissioned piece, and I would bet that the client really digs that the flower has that kind of presence in the painting. I think that we as the more objective (well relatively speaking) viewers are reacting to the background getting more aggressive than we are used to seeing, and possibly fighting with the figure. Anyway, I think that ends up being your call, as to what is more important.

I also am willing to bet that you didn't take the photo yourself - I am basing that on what looks like your standard flash bulb lighting, where she is being lit from the front. I think you did a great job in spite of that in terms of rolling the forms and making it read very dimensional - it seems to me that flash photos always flatten out the subject. Just out of curiosity, do you often have to re-adjust the lighting from your references?

Anyway d00d I am a big fan, I hope you don't think I'm dumping on your work.
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[Malachi Maloney]

Hey, thanks for the feedback everyone.


FONGOOL~ Thanks for taking a moment to comment. Yea, as you can see further down the thread, I've gotten a lot of feedback along the same lines. I agree that the bg might look better if it wasn't so busy/bright. The flower is a major part of the painting, so it must remain in the piece. I painted the bg first and it looked great on it's own (at least I thought it did). But when I overlaid the sketch of the subject to begin painting her I had some problems as to where I was going to place her in the image. Once she was painted I thought the piece worked well cohesively, but I also noticed that the two were fighting for attention a little bit. I have a copy of the girl set against a plain white bg, maybe I'll post that in a little while so you can see what see looks like on her own. Anyway, thanks again for commenting.

Sumaleth~ Thanks for the c&c dude. I used multiple refs for the body on this one. So some things had to be adjusted from my head. I'll keep an eye on things like that in the future. I also think her hair due might be contributing to the whole "big head" thing. Anyway, I'm happy to hear someone besides me likes the bg. Thanks again for commenting, suma.

Tomasis~ Thanks for the kind words. This piece took me about 135 hours over the course of 25 days to complete. Which was about 35 hours over what I wanted to spend on it.

eyewoo~ Thanks for the support big daddy.

Periadam~ Thanks for the feedback man.

Francis~ Well, thanks for trying to get inside my head. Now get out!
Seriously though, I appreciate the extensive feedback dude. Yea, I didn't take any of the refs for this piece, they were all sent to me in the mail. I used three refs mainly, one for her face, one for her upper body and right hand, and another for her legs, feet and left hand. The lighting was different in all of them. I basically used lighting ref from one of the pics and just tried to make the rest of the lighting on her body and face match that. Anyways, yes I learned early on that flash photography flattens the hell out of things. Thanks again for commenting.


Take it easy all,
Malachi
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[Novacaptain]

Perhaps you could subdue the colors of the background a little...less saturation/contrast there. I get the feeling that the hand and thigh aren't part of the same picture, probably because of a lack of shadows on the thigh or perhaps it's the contrast in surface detail between the two. In any case, don't let yourself be discouraged from doing something you enjoy. Opinions are like noses, everyone has their own.
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[Intuos]

Malachi,

This isn't meant to be offensive in the least, so don't take it that way. But how come you're never willing to make changes to your work based on other artists' suggestions, no matter how reputable the artist or valid their suggestion? It seems that you aren't all too willing to accept any criticsm at all. You have a ton of suggestions here that would ultimately make the piece more solid, but you won't implement any of them. This has been the case with every single piece I've seen you showcase here and in other forums, bro.

As talented as you are, you need to be willing to accept you do sometimes make mistakes, and be willing to work towards fixing them.

[Malachi Maloney]

Hmmm....

Thought I was listening to peoples suggestions..... I don't really know what you're getting at, but ok. I mean, I can't really change anything about this piece at this point. It's been printed, saved to disc and sent to the client.

Sorry if I disappointed you in some way dude, but I honestly appreciate the suggestions I receive here and I do implement them in my work.


Oh well, think what you want about me. Nothing I can really do to change that.....


~Malachi
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[Briareos]

Hey, why don't you post your reference image. Thanks pal!
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[Malachi Maloney]

Because the model wants to remain anonymous "pal".

Oh, and I think you mean reference "images".

Don't think you're going to come up in here and start some drama. Isn't Steven Stahlber who your currently stalking anyway, pal?
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[pritch]

Beautiful technique! My only problems with this piece are that the lighting being fairly straight on makes it look to much like a photo. It would've been better to use a different light source with some nice reflective lighting in the shadow areas, though I'm sure you were limited by the ref images you were going by. The other thing is the background could be more subdued so it's not fighting the figure in the foreground so much.

I know I'm basically repeating what others have said, but I just figured I'd put in my 2 cents.

Keep up the great work!

[Intuos]

[Malachi Maloney]

Intuos~ Her name is not "Julie". Use your head dude.

By the way, if you're interested in what one of my pics looks like vs. the ref..... Go here:

Naughty or Nice

As far as this piece is concerned, not showing any refs period.


But you have a nice day there intuos.


~M~
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[balistic]

Grand artistic visions are for the hours when one isn't trying to pay the bills.

Congrats on the commission Mal. I don't care for this pin-up, but I'm proud when any digital artist gets paid. Keep bangin'

And Briarios:


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[MrSmith]

wtf did bri do?
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[Intuos]

[balistic]

[merlyns]

well you' re painting skills are very developed but the picture and the bg it just doesn?t work together. when you're makking something new try to make something that blends more. ya know.

about the girl wel her hand looks not as if she is touching her leg is missis the shading and stuff and the legs are a wee bit to short

but I still like it though.

-david
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[Malachi Maloney]

pritch~ Forgot to thank you earlier for commenting... Thanx for the feedback, it's appreciated.

Intuos~ Let's just say that I shaved of a few years and she's been through the biggest makeover of her life. If you saw this painting one day and saw her on the street the next day, I'd doubt you'd even link the two as the same person. Check your pm box, need I say more?

Balistic~ Thanks for the comments dude. And yes, if she found out I posted her pics anywhere on the net, I would undoubtedly loose any future business with her and her husband.

merlyns~ Thanks for the feedback. Check out the galleries at my site sometime, I do other stuff too.


Thanx again.

~M~
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[mindlesswraith]

I don't mean to be intruding, but I'd really like to see you factor some of the more appropriate comments into your images. Even if the final product is already made for the client, you should try to do it for your own sake. That left hand really bugs me to no end and every time I see it on the picture, I just think of it glaring out at me like a bad mistake. I may not be famous, but I know what looks like it don't belong. Keep up the art though.

[gezstar]

What's up Malachi.

This is a really nice picture, as I've come to expect from you. To me, it looks like you're trying to outdo photos, make an image more vivid than a camera could take, which makes for some really striking paintings.

First off, this pic blew me away in terms of rendering. I agree with Francis that it could do with some more dynamic lighting, but given that you didn't choose the refs, there's not much you can do. The background is nice too, especially the way the purple matches her bikini. one thing i would say about the bg though, is that it's pretty saturated and busy, so i had trouble finding a spot where the eye could rest. maybe slightly more cyan might have cooled it off, but whatever. i still like it.

Uhh... what's with the haters? Intuos, personally speaking, if I received a crit on my work I felt I could do something about without having to do a major overhaul of the whole piece, i would do it, but otherwise I'd rather keep any useful advice and implement it in my next work. in my opinion it's better to move on after you feel you've completed a picture.

Alright there's my 2 pence. BTW check your mail for those Japanese characters - bad luck on the hard drive dude

Gez

[Malachi Maloney]

Thanks for the comments.

mindlesswraith~ I appreciate the feedback. The shadows (or lack there of) on her left hand are cohesive with the lighting on the rest of her body to the best of my judgment. As far as feedback goes, I listen to each and every comment/critique that is given about my work. Some I incorporate, some I don't. If you think I don't listen to feedback and make adaptations to my work accordingly, then you might want to check out this thread:

The Creation of Ancient Obsession

It seems like some folks have forgotten about my past stuff, have I really been gone that long? It was like a month for god's sake...... Anyway, thanks for commenting non the less.


Gez~ Thanks for taking the time to comment dude, it's appreciated. And thanks for the help with my Japanese, those characters are perfecto brotha.



~Malachi
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[davi]

OMG MAN I LOVE THE AREA WHERE YOU TRACED ANOTHER FIGURES BODY AND PUT SOMEONE ELSES HEAD ON IT FOR MONEY, THAT IS SOOOOOOOOOO COOL.

btw, i'm lying. You are a stupid hack photoshoper.

Here is an example of your awesomness.

http://www.astralmatrix.net/miri/trace.gif

I just love that you are good enough to fool everyone though, that takes skills.
comments like "The shadows (or lack there of) on her left hand are cohesive with the lighting on the rest of her body to the best of my judgment" out standme, sine "to the best of my judgement" really means "it was in the photo and i traced it the way it was already there."

Koudos to who found your last copy.

peace out malachi



a real artist,
-- davi.

[Briareos]

haha malachi you suck. you slipped and posted a ref, should stick to your strick no ref showing policy as to not give away your total lack of skill or talent.
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[davi]

yeah at least he didn't trace the hair and add the gloves in the same exact place.. oh wait..