[Levijuice]

I decided not be lazy and finaly go trough all the great books and tips about painting I've colected during years.
(Creative Ilustration by Loomis, Harley Brown's Eternal Truths, art theory tips by Steven and Prometheus)

I realised long time ago that I need to do something fun to keep my enthusiasm so I decide to overpaint Metroid Artwork.
(as the drawing would take much more time and the result wpild be unpredictable )

Goal of this excercise was to practice value, colors and focus points.
This is my first atempt in painting so please give me some feedback.


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www.3d.sk
www.fineart.sk

[AndyT]

Pretty cool metallic look. It really shows that you read Prom's tips.

Be careful with light and shadow, though.
A plane either gets direct light or it does not.
You don't always separate lit and unlit areas.

For example there are white highlights in the shadow area (far leg).
And her right shoulder is too dark if you compare it with her left shoulder.
The black there doesn't fit IMO.

Why doesn't the head cast a shadow on her left shoulder?
In the obviously unlit areas there could be some more definition of the forms.
The background is too smudgy for my taste ... guess changing that would help a lot.

I think you actually have 2 areas that compete for attention.
The legs and the head. Maybe the contrasts in the lower half of the image are too strong?

Still very good work. I don't think I could pull that off even if I invested a month.

Btw ... it seems as if you host doesn't allow hotlinking.
I have to copy and paste the url of the image to the address-bar to see the image.
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http://www.conceptworld.org

[Levijuice]

Thanks Andy I am realy thankful for your feedback.
As for Prometheus, I tried to use fewest lines posible for defining the the shape. (as he write in his tut)
I think this could be the secret of success .

In fact I overpainted original Metroid Artwork which was rendered in 3D so
it's posible the metalic look is not my contribution to the picture
I will provide link to original so its more obviouse which part of picture is my
work.

White highlights on the shadow leg was meant to be small lights shining in the dark. Not sure if it was a good idea

I definitely agree about the left shoulder, there should be a strong shadow from the helmet. As for the smudgines, I wanted to create strong focus points by smudging or unlting "less important" areas. Maybe I overdid it

You are right about contrast in lover left area. I shouldn't put 100% black shadow there. It was late in the night and it looked ok before I adjusted levels .. Will work on this.

Here is the original artwork from Nintendo:

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www.3d.sk
www.fineart.sk

[AndyT]

I see. Well the bg can be blurry ... but it is overlapping and it seems to have a texture.
So it distracts. If you want the not so hard edges ... at least let them go from the figure into the background.

Here's what I mean. Obviously I'd still have to add the details again clean it up.
And personally I think hard edges would be better ... the figure could pop more.

But it shows the direction that I'd take:


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[Levijuice]

I got the point. I tried to draw with "confident strokes" ;) and unfortunately overpainted the part of the foreground. Next time I will at least use diferent layer for this :) Anyway, I like to have some abstract structure in backround but have to learn how to do it right first .

I love the toned down light on the left leg and the shadow from the helmet of your overpaint of my overpaint ;)
I can't wait to do another version but have to travel to Slovakia to visit my parents.

They are both 50 this month. I think a lot about what the world will be like once I am 50 too :). When I consider the changes in last 10 years I am quite sure it will be completly diferent in 25 years.. Kind of exciting idea, I enjoyed Sci-Fi books while I was teeneager and I will enjoy living in Sci-Fi once I am 50 :D
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www.3d.sk
www.fineart.sk