girl and troll(nudity)

[Carnifex]

http://www.renderosity.com/photos/ArtistArticle10728.jpg
my first finished painting since months.
i'm always struggling with shadows,but i think it came out somewhat good in this one.
my ultimate goal is to make my characters appear more 3d and realistic(even if they're bulked up guys like this one).
i know some of you would start to tell me to think more about this guy,why he is so bulky and stuff, but this is rather just a typical "girl and monster" pic that you can find in any comic-book. i don't like the corny look the scan gave to it,but oh well. hb mechanical pencil btw.
well,enough of the chatting,tear it to pieces.

[MarkHarchar]

Hey Carnifex,
The first thing that jumps out at me is the right legs looks off. The upper thigh looks a bit more curved than I'd expect to see with this leg position. It appears that the legs is crossing the other, which would give the knee twist and lower leg a very difficult twist. Look into that. If her right legs is in that position, you might want to revisit the shadowing on the inner left thigh and the butt area. Her forearm muscle looks kinda too angular to me.

Also, from where the light source appear to be, I don't think the monster;s shadow would be infront of him.

Otherwise, I like the composition. I like the look an her face and how you've done her hair. Being a pencils person at the moment, I generally like it. Keep it up!!

[Carnifex]

ah,i see what you mean by the twisted leg position now. ouch,looks uncomfortable.:bashful:
and about that ground shadow-yes i've been told before.i don't know why i always manage to mess that up. happened in my last finished piece already.
thanx for the input!:)

[Marcatili]

hey carnifex...
i read somewhere on this site (and i apologise to whomever I'm stealing from) that if you take a ball of clay and a desk lamp you can learn a lot about lighting and shadow.

I guess you take the clay, shape it into a rough shape of your figure and then play with the lighting and see how it acts on the figure.

I guess you could do it with other things too, like maybe figurines or something?

Anyway, that might help you learn a bit more about light/shadow

[Belisarius]

Hiya,

nice work...

I would look at anatomical references from loomis, body building books and so on to get a more realistic feel for female proportions. Shadows are not a big secret but it is important to know that there are soft shadows and hard shadows. I would start by using three different shadows. One light, one darker and then the darkest. Limiting yourself at the beginning is helpful and later on in a piece you can still expand.
I would also suggest to plan the picture more thoroughly so that it will have more impact on the viewer.

Hope that helps a little and keep rollin...

[Carnifex]

thanx for your crits sirs.