Cthulhu (revision #3 at bottom) - feedback please

[tegehel]

Hey all!

I've had that on my site for a little while, but was never 100% satisfied with it. Any idea on how to improve it? Anything goes, except drawing sheeps in the background (you've been warned.)

http://www.tegehel.org/graphics/newfolio/web/cthulhu_v1.jpg

Thanks,

C.

[.cfb]

Well, I'm not a huge fan of the rain, I think it's kinda annyoing/distracting, it could be done better, and I think that some color variaton on Cthulu could be done as well.

[boehmke]

I think some more blues in the skin fo Cthulhu would help out. Try toning down some of the warm colors. Keep enough there though to make him stand out. And the highlight on his forhead is brighter then it should be.


I think its great that you are tackeling H.P. Lovecraft work. His stories are great!

[Später]

Aaaah...Cthulhu... i love H.P. Lovecraft-stories. I think you captured the caracter quite well. I think you could make him a bit more intimidating by letting his eyes focus on the small boat (which by the way is hard to see). Right now he looks "into the camera" with kind a of surprised look... He is afterall the evil one...
Make him more EVIL... :evilbat:

Other than that it looks great!

[tegehel]

Hey, thanks for the feedback,

I've reworked Cthulhu a bit based on your comments, I hope it helps. Please let me know.

- the rain is vaguely visible now. I didn't want to get rid of it, for I think it give a bit of a mood thing and I hope that now, it's more of a background noise and is less distracting.

- head highlight diminished, added more hues in the skin tone, also desaturated quite a bit (maybe too much?)

- Eyes refocused on the boat, which helps make the boat more obvious. Additionally, I reworked the boat and its surroundings to make that area of the canvas a bit more in focus.

- Blurred some of the end tentacles to simulate movement, or at least, make them less static.

More comments? I'm thinking of killing some more details to leave more to the imagination. Also, I'm not crazy about that big white blotch of water in front...what do you think?

Thank you.

C.

http://www.tegehel.org/graphics/newfolio/web/cthulhu_v2.jpg

C.

[MindCandyMan]

Looks totally awesome...one thing that I think would take this to the next level though is if Cthulhu's skin was reflective...as if there was water on him. As of now he doesn't seem to have any water droplets or anything on him. All that aside you are an amazing artist man...your stuff is flippin me out...awesome

[tegehel]

Aah wet skin, yes. DOH! (I forgot) Well, I made it a bit more reflective by enhancing the highlights. I also added some more colors, removed unwanted details and makde it "darker".

Anything else before I call this one finished? Last chance for comments. Thank you.

C.

http://www.tegehel.org/graphics/newfolio/web/cthulhu_v3.jpg

C.

[Wynd]

Looks great! Lots of improvements.

My main crit would be the boat on the lower right. It took me about half a minute to even realize it was there. Maybe adding some onboard lights or something to help it "pop" from the ocean bg?

[tegehel]

Hmm. I have a issue here with the fact that there's already a lot of white around the boat, which makes that area already quite light. I'm afraid that adding lights won't make much of a difference. I tried to put a green and red light (starboard and port lights) but it didn't make any difference (in fact, it was distracting so I removed them).

How would you make it pop out more then? (feel free to "draw on it")

Frankly, I was hoping that redirecting the eye toward the boat would be enough, but it looks like it's not...aargh!

:confused:

C.

[Wynd]

Good point.

Hmm, well maybe the boat is just going to have to act as a "mcguffin", a bonus. After all, you have more than enough eyecandy in the image, so I think it's just an additional payoff.

[Peter Johansson]

wow, you really spit out paintings.
great :thumbsup:

[Smeagol71]

Hey tegehel...nice work! I've only just discovered H.P.'s work in the last year or so and have tried to read everything! Great stories with lots of great imagery!

I too have been working on a version of Cthulhu and your pic provides some great inspiration and is a faithful rendering of the description in that story! Love the water and the creatures head especially. Nice!