[Az.]

I'm mainly thinking about the background.
I think it's looking a tad boring at the moment, but I want to keep that unsettling feeling of dark emptyness.
what do you think?

[fungi]

i think what'd be cool in the background is like lots of hands reaching up to get up from below. just a suggestion

nice image man
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[UkiTakuMuki]

=_= i wish i could paint like that

incredible shadowing... looks like a 3d render ^^

no crit.. pls finish it!

PS: i love that hands idea, heh!

ahh i know !! bubbles! add some more tech to the side of his breather unit and have some bubbles/particles come out of exhalation nozzle.. add some more embryo-things and lights or two in the background... make it see mas if hes in some lab..

[oakey]

Common guys, isn't the hands reaching from the dark a bit clich�???
Definately some bubbles, that'd be good, other things to take into account are things that are normally in water, think aboiut it.... this isn't a bottle of distilled water, there is probably some swirling sand and grit, I scuba dive and it is ussually everywhere. Think how the light plays differently off of particle submerged underwater. I suggest looking at some underwater cavediver website galleries like at GUE.com
I hope that helps you out with how underwater environments look like. Also think of the characters movements, swirls around the feet and hands, and ripples at the surface and the caustic lighting causing light ripples underwater.
As far as what is beneath him that really depends on the setting, sharks, lab equipment, ( "Dr. Satan, Dr. Satan!!!" ) or what have you. (:

[AndyT]

I wouldn't use black. Try a very dark bluish / greenish color instead.
Or is it dodge and burn that makes it look weird?
Yes, the background is kinda empty. Think about cropping it or add something.
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[agflash]

What about some undefined technical stuff
btw. nice pic, cool coloration

Andrew

[Capt. Fred]

my tastes would have it a little more like this.

BUt since what you've done so far is seriously cool, I think I'll let you take it that lest distnace.

[Az.]

thanks for all the comments
i didnt actually change that much, here's the final version:

I added some bubbles around the mask. changed the light rays, and added some rippling on the surface etc.
also there shouldnt be any black on it, i think my monitor maybe a bit bright should be dark green.

[Max]

very interesting image - i like it

btw. welcome!

[UkiTakuMuki]

yaaaaaay! bubblez ;p

[cheney]

What this is lacking is a composition. Your lighting is awesome, but that is not enough to make up for how truely boring the image is at the moment. Try putting the body into a cylinder like a healing tube (remember Luke's healing chamber at the end of Empire Strike's Back?).

In order to have a complex composition you need to have several objects. Once there are several objects then you can get into composition theory.

One type of composition theory is based upon the shape of overall placement of focal groups. This type of theory was used in a pyramidal shape that established minor perspective and placement of groups in early American Romantisism painting.

Another type of composition theory is eye direction. This theory was extremely popular in Europe and American during the age of the Royal Academy in London (slightly before the time period above). This theory demands a bit more planning and alot more color practice. The basic idea of this is to plan where you wish people's eyes to move across the image. Extremely bright colors next to dark colors extremely excite the nerves in our eyes and pull our eyes to a focal point which can then lead to another focal point in a direction and so on across the image. The primary idea of this was to add a sense of sweeping drama to a painting.

The composition theory I use most is the simple burst theory. This basicly demands that you set a single color focal point on the image that is blended into the lesser areas of the image due to object placement. This typically demands that the image be extremely complex in the darker areas and more simple in the lighter area. Our eyes are first drawn to the simple bright area merely because its bright then our eyes shift to areas that continue to excite its nerves. For me these other areas are darker, but contain either many objects, or an extremely complex texture, or both. The ultimate idea is to give the viewer a specified starting point, but no certain ending point as the eyes are lost in the complexity of meaningless confusion.

Use what ever type of composition best fits your personality, but please do something. A viewer will take one simple look and become bored in about 2 seconds. This is already much more dramatic than any of my art, but atleast it takes viewers more than 2 seconds to get bored (dispite the utter lack of drama in my dull art).
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