Parody of Moth

[symmetry]

Hey, everyone, this is my first post here, please feel free to critique, anything will be great, I will really appreciate it, since I'm still learning in art institute.

Material: Software-Photoshop CS 2 + Painter 9

Estimated Time: Above 20 hours, under 30 hours

About the work: A romantic version of a natural phenomenon. This is a conceptual piece I came up after I was free from school work. I want the audience to feel the sense of hallucination. The moth maid is freezing to death, so just like the poor match girl, she sees what she is always yearning.

PS: Thanks guys for taking time to check this piece out and writing your comments. I just fixed the shadows, yeah it actually feels better, for details I might have to check if my image is large enough...

http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg300/escapesoul/parodyofmoth2-1.jpg

[Elwell]

Why the tilted horizon?

[TmDurn7]

it seems like the shapes are a little regular to imply hallucination. i think there should be a greater separation between bitter reality and the pseudo-sexual fantasy. Also that the unreal elements should be even crazier, especially in color

[ladydove7]

The concept for this image is a very interesting one. The Little Match girl was always one of the most striking Hans Christian stories (no pun intended) and I think you've captured that feeling of isolated elation well with the stretched horizon. The elongated distance between the moth girl and the flame and exaggerated perspective prolongs that feeling of yearning and sense of destination.

However, on the whole it leaves me with a feeling of being unfinished. The greater amount of detail seems to be concentrated in the details in the dripping wax whereas the girl herself has essentially the same smooth detail throughout her figure. When I see her moth wing cloak, it feels to me like you should have captured some of the slight scale texture that moth wings have.

Check out this reference image to see what I'm talking about: http://naturespaintbox.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/grannys-cloak-moth-wing-close-up.jpg

Also, I would suggest making the shadows behind her deeper to emphasize the strength of the firelight in front of her and the drama of the situation. Adding deeper, starker shadows would also help to give the image more depth as right now it's feeling a little flat when you get to the area extending from the snow backwards past the moth girl. Indeed the area with the most depth and detail is the firelight and accompanying candles.

Another ref for stark firelight shadows: http://www.byz.org/mezziah/burningman_1999/5/imgz/firelit-ethan.jpg


In short, add more detail and texture to the moth girl and darken the shadows and I think it will be even more grand. You've done such a wonderful job on the colors and the mood. Great work!