Unfinished skeleton creature

[mikel]

Hey all! Figured I'd jump in and give the new section a try.

This is a painting done as a demo piece while at a convention this past weekend. Few things attact a crowd better than setting up an easel and going to work. I plan on finishing this in the next few days. Comments welcome.

Apologies in regards to the glare.

http://img74.photobucket.com/albums/v224/michael_lavoie/SkeleSomething.jpg

[emily g]

That's fun that you did this as a demo. The creature is cool--I think his bones need to be just a little bit more realistic to be convincing. For example, the pelvis should have a wide hole in the center and the lower arms could be longer.
I hesitate with this next crit, because I'm not sure of your intention. If you want this piece to be monochromatic, then disregard this, but I think you need a little more color variation. The constant brown gets a little boring to me, especially in the columns. All you need to do is add maybe some greens (moss?) or blues to break up the sameness.
I like the pose and the sword. Maybe some highlights on the sword to bring it out?
emily

[mikel]

What's actually bothering me most is the background compostion. The first sketch is a rework and some changs I was thinking of making. The second is the original creature sketch.

The trickiest part about an on the spot demo like this was I did not have any reference with me so I made up a lot of things as I went. Not being an expert at working from memory there are definitely some things I wil fix.

As for color, this is actually the underpainting. Though I was thinking of making the final piece monochromatic so I will definitely have to keep subtle color variations in mind. Didn't think about moss, thanks for the tip.

http://img74.photobucket.com/albums/v224/michael_lavoie/Rework.jpg
http://img74.photobucket.com/albums/v224/michael_lavoie/CTCon02.jpg

[emily g]

hmm, I like the composition of your sketch better. It has a little more movement. The slanted roof of the temple in the background and the vine keep your eye circling back into the composition.
The vertical column in your painting just isn't doing it for me.
Also, your sketch has good values--The foreground, midground and background are all separated nicely through value. This is something the painting is missing. Darken up the columns in the foreground and lighten those in the back.

Just some thoughts,
emily

[mikel]

Figure its been a while since I posted, so here is an updated version.
What originally started off as a quick painting is now turning into a much longer project than I originally anticipated.

The top is another crude digital pic (glare and all. I need to do something about setting up better lighting). The bottom is some reworking in photoshop. Need to step away a bit and figure out what to do next.The final will not be digital.

http://img74.photobucket.com/albums/v224/michael_lavoie/RuinGuard01.jpg

http://img74.photobucket.com/albums/v224/michael_lavoie/RuinBeast.jpg

[ElvisMcVegas]

the pose is great and the line art is too but i think you should work on your rendering, and lighting...keep practicing