Gaze not into the Abyss

[StormrageJunior]

...lest the abyss gaze back at thee.



It's my first Tolkien fan art, you may have recognized Nienor and Glaurung (well, probably not). It took me about 16 hours, way too much... I don't really like Nienor's face, but I'm pretty happy with the sky, beacause it looks rather good whereas it took me only 10 minutes. All was done in photoshop, without any references.

[StormrageJunior]

But why the hell did it get moved to the WIP section? it is a finished piece!

[pissant]

If you want to know why it's been moved, read the sticky posts on the finally finished section: there's some quite strict quality control going on there. Don't be offended it got moved, just see it as something to work towards.

Three main things strike me about the picture itself:
Firstly, the dragon looks like it's been Photoshop-filtered (emboss/bevel?). You should try to learn how to create depth without using filters as a kind of crutch. The dragon's eye stands out as looking quite flat: it needs something more than just black to suggest that it is actually spherical.
Second, the light source on the woman is really unclear, and looks totally different to that of the dragon. Consider the light direction a bit more closely next time, because it makes them look like they're in seperate scenes at the moment. The only light source is the moon, but how is that reflected in the characters lighting here?
Third, looking at your other work, there's only one where the head's not in profile. Maybe you could experiment with a few different angles, as it'll give you more options in your compositions.

Forgive me if these comments seem slightly rambling: as you can see if you wish, I'm not in any way a good artist myself, but I hope my comments help you in some way.

[StormrageJunior]

Yes it helped.
But, you know, i didn't use any ps filters.

Thanks for the crits.

[Stupidude666]

I like the general design for the dragon. It has a cool structure. I just don't like that it is very skinny.

[madster]

Some of the reasons this might not have been seen as "Presentation Quality,"
* The background is basically not developed as any real environment, merely some hazy/icy/streaky diagonal color slashes, with a poorly rendered, flat, white splotch painted on top. If this is some sort of atmosphere or wall of ice, the white splotch should show some aspects of it in front of it. It would look more "finished" to actually have painted an environment, instead of an inconsistent, vague, stripey-looking thing with very obvious brush stroke marks that add nothing to the illusion. Hint: 10 minute backgrounds will probably NEVER produce something that can be considered "Presentation Quality..." Especially when you put almost 100 times more effort into the rest of the work...

* For all the time and effort you put into the texture of the dragon, you did not establish any depth, painting each circle the exact same way. This gives the "Photoshop Filter" effect, because there is no depth or shape for the sides of the face, the top of the head, or the neck. The entire head looks like a cardboard cut-out, with pebbles and piping glued on, and a lamp aimed onto it from the upper RH corner. The detail of the strokes makes this even sadder, for you to have gone to all that trouble, without adjusting your light source for all those "bumps..."

* Both the dragon head and the girl show distinct outlines, the dragon in white, the girl in black, making this piece even flatter in overall rendering than the bad lack of a clear light source is doing.

* The black of the dragon's eye shows no intimation of an eyeball shape whatsoever. It looks like a gold iris stuck onto an empty black space. Also, the light reflections on the iris and lens have no practical relation to any light source in this picture.

* The girl's hair is poorly rendered, and inconsistent in appearance. All those teeny, tiny curly little ends do not match the overall straightness of the rest of her hair, the shadings to represent the color depths of the strands are uneven and the "flyaway" strands are thick, chunky, flatly rendered, and unbelievable the way they only stick out on one side of her face and down by her neck, but nowhere else on her head.

* Her face is as flat as the dragon, without any texture bumps. Her open mouth looks like a cutout of a fish, with no teeth, no inside of the cheek, nothing, while the angle of her nose shows overemphasis of the nostrils, which would give her an almost alien appearance full face forward.

* Her jawline is too harshly angled, and her lips too underdefined.

This piece took you way too long, because you did not plan it out in advance. And your lack of forethought and planning, before you spent all those hours futzing with unnecessary details, is obvious in the completed work, which is not crisp, clean, or "presentation quality." That is why is was moved.

~M

[Datameister]

Whew, a little harsh there, Madster, but I generally agree with your comments. You've paid a lot of nice attention to details, StormrageJunior, but the piece overall isn't as successful because there's no real depth or form to it. The first thing that struck me was the contradiction in the dragon's head--beautifully rendered, three-dimensional details on a flat and formless shape.

Overall, good job. I commend you for spending so much time on this piece. Next time, try to focus more on the macroscopic details before you get into the microscopic ones.