dark fairy tale, fantasy pic

[vandalfish]

vaguely inspired by the tale of beauty and the beast, done in photoshop
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v345/lestatschild/beast-1.jpg

[Elwell]

I find the cropping on the bottom unfortunate. Either come up a little higher, show his crotch, or put some pants on him. By conspicuously not wanting to show his penis you've only drawn attention to it. Edges are visually active areas of the picture, and what happens at them is very important.
Also, watch out for tangents (horns/halo, wing tips/border). Again, it's a matter of drawing attention where you don't necessarily want it.

[vandalfish]

actually, I cropped it that way for compositional reasons. I wanted a long, narrow image, and I didn't like the look of the legs tapering off of the page. I do need to re-crop the border so that the wing tips are even on both sides though.

[Elwell]

I don't object to the horizontal crop, just the placement. It's a bad design decision, as explained above.

[Interceptor]

actually, I cropped it that way for compositional reasons. I wanted a long, narrow image, and I didn't like the look of the legs tapering off of the page. I do need to re-crop the border so that the wing tips are even on both sides though.

What you wanted doesn't change the effect of the picture, though. The way it's cropped draws attention pretty much right to the penis. Like Elwell said, you can keep the panoramic style of the image by simply cropping above the penis, or just below it.

[vandalfish]

I'm sure you're right, but at the moment I like how it's cropped. Hopefully at some point it will start to bug me, but right now it just doesn't. Saying I need to show the entire penis or none at all seems to me like saying I should have to show all the legs or none at all. I understand that the fact that a hint of it is showing will draw attention to it, but not enough to to entirely distract from the focal point, especially seeing as the focal point is a face surrounded by the lightest area of the peice and a bright red circle. As you can tell, I'm hopeless. Do you have any other critiques? How about the anatomy? I didn't use a reference so I'm sure I have problems there.

[Interceptor]

I'm sure you're right, but at the moment I like how it's cropped. Hopefully at some point it will start to bug me, but right now it just doesn't. Saying I need to show the entire penis or none at all seems to me like saying I should have to show all the legs or none at all. I understand that the fact that a hint of it is showing will draw attention to it, but not enough to to entirely distract from the focal point, especially seeing as the focal point is a face surrounded by the lightest area of the peice and a bright red circle. As you can tell, I'm hopeless. Do you have any other critiques? How about the anatomy? I didn't use a reference so I'm sure I have problems there.

Except that the only 2 people to reply so far have said that that is EXACTLY what the cropping does. Not to be rude, but there's no sue giving critique if you won't hear it. Looking at your own picture for too long, you'll develop a weird bias or way of looking at it. That's why critiques from other artists are great. To me, the cropping issue is the biggest deal, if you can't see that, more than likely you won't see whatever other crits someone may have. However, it's your decision, so I'll drop it now.. good luck.

[CopyWrite]

If you wanted a long, narrow image, don't hesitate. Make a long, narrow image.

[vandalfish]

Actually, i really appreciate critiques, especially when professionals go out of their way to provide them. It's very embaressing to disagree with them but sometimes I can't help it. Usually I follow the advice and constructive critiscm of my betters, but sometimes I just don't agree, and I can't force myself to. As for having a bias towards my art the longer I look at it, well, that doesn't make any sense. The more I look at a piece, the more flaws i'm able to pick out on it. I know that my work is not perfect, is not near perfect, and although it can be improved, will never be perfect.

[vandalfish]

If you wanted a long, narrow image, don't hesitate. Make a long, narrow image.


Where are his genitals? In this composition, he is isolated at the center. There is too much negative space. I want a long, narrow image that corresponds with the reach of the arms and wings.