yeti

[Boom]

hiya...

been away for a while and have finally refound this lovely place. Awesome postings every day. Its a true joy to come by here just browsing through the posts. :)

This is kinda old. Not that old, but around ½ a year... It was done for Don Seegmillers contest, so some of you may have seen this before... Sorry for wasting your time if you indeed have seen it before :)

comments are more than welcome, though I think of this as finished, but any comments WILL be taken into consideration - so fire away, plz :)

...

http://www.danbbs.dk/~pvillum/gallery/painted/hirez/yeti.jpg

[Fozzybar]

The rocks dark colour distracts me from the Yeti and his prey...i would cover the rocks with more snow, so the focus on the yeti would be stronger...

The right arms shape is too clean (don't know the right word)...some muscle structure would be fine...

Anyway, i like the yeti's face and it's breath...

[ljefe]

well i really like it first off. there just aren't enough paintings of yetis and their kin. you'd think there would be with all the great reference material out there....

but i am actually going to give my two cents.

first: the rock texture itself looks a bit odd. and dark. we're talking himalayas right? maybe check the strata structure (always wanted to say that...) i'm not expert, it just looks wierd to me. and i agree, more snow. i'm also thinking almost a blue or violent tint to the atmosphere. it's almost tannish now, but with more color you might draw a sharper contrast to the white snow and fur and blood. again, i'm a nooB so i don't know how you'd pull this off

second: depending on what you're going for, maybe make the yeti more ape/human like. as in check the anatomy. his head looks like it goes straight from small skull to a huge thick neck and hump back(?) with a wierd barrel chest. do you have any preliminary sketches you could post? also, check some australopithicus, etc. skeletons/scientific drawings. might help.

third: i like the skin color on him. and the face. maybe have some better definition/visibility on the hands? i picture yetis with the kind of hands that scare you even without a body to go along with (think big). additionally, where are his eyes? looks like he got into a fight with some red-hot poker armed sherpa.

finally: the deer (?) looks like (don't mind the harshness--again, i really like the piece) a mix between a jackalope and a caribou/monkey in rigarmortis. if you had better anatomy on him/it, even if it is a made up creature, it would add realism. drama. suspense! maybe also increase detail/color on the wound to liven things up/contrast.

good work though, and i hope to see more

[Boom]

thank you.. both of you. :)

You state some interesting points.

fozzybar - It's all about true balancing when doing rather complicated compositions like this one. More snow? Less snow? Some like it this way, some don't. But I tend to agree with you, on a second thought. This high up, the cliffs would probably be covered even more in snow. As the contrast taking focus away from the yeti and the deer, I think works ok with the thought that the yeti and the deer are both stealthy animals. They don't scream - 'here I am' with their fur color... And I wouldn't draw too much attention to them in a piece like this. But you are right on the anatomy. I didn't use any reference on this painting... Most often I don't. And I always regret i afterwards. This painting is no exception... :)

Ljefe - all valid points. My comments on the anatomy and snow is covered in my reply to fozzybar I think... But you are defenitively right about abit more variation on color and that a few splashes of high saturation would or could be very effective. Good point! I envisoned 'my' yeti with black eyes where no iris can be seen... Pretty scary eyes in my opinion. ;)
Larger hands would kinda make him look more slow and dumb, but I wanted a fast, slick and strong yeti... Not that I think this is the 'right' perception, but that was what I was going for... :)

again.. thank you for the comments...
,boom