Chow sketch- Done

[Cup of Joe]

I'd make excuses as to why, but I'll just suck it up and admit that I need help with this. I've restarted this several times. I've spent maybe an hour on this version so far.

Anyway, all crits greatly appreciated. I'm also hoping that this will get me to visit this and the critique forum since I've so far been neglecting such a fantastic resource.

[Sidistyk]

When posing your model, remember to keep it dynamic. You want to think along all planes that make up 3D space since this is the illusion of... The depth in a piece keeps it interesting and helps differenceate value. REMEBER DEPTH.

Also you are jumping into your rendering too quickly, this is a very common mistake and we end up wasting time trying to render out shapes before the proportions have been built correctly. Look at how your figure is almost half torso and half leg, another common error so don't stress it just know that the problem exists and you are most of the way to improvement.

Drop shadows work wonders, and lastly when you are spending this much time on a piece and can't get it, change the pose, make her face the other way or playing with another action...good luck and I hope this helps...

[dogfood]

I just stood up and tried this pose (have you?). I cannot get my arm to go anywhere near that high. My upper arm points toward my groin and my forearm juat goes straight across. I like the energy you're going for with the pruposeful stride, though. Sidistyk's draw-over loses that feel (and both feet pointing the same 45 degrees out from the torso seem to sacrifice stability).

Seriously: get a shot of yourself or someone else doing this pose. If you can get the costume and lighting, you'll be really set.

[JAG.]

the original pose is all together very flawed:

1. it seems you imply shes stepping forward with her left leg, and her right leg is behind her after just transferring her weight to the left leg. but this is not what you're actually showing. it doesnt really seem like she stepped, it looks like shes just standing with her legs apart, and on top of that, standing on the pad of her right foot, and the ball of her left foot.. AND that both her feet are tilted inward toward her center.

2. if indeed she is stepping, AND twisting to her left to draw the sword, most of what we SHOULD see is her right side and a part of her back. you're showing almost the full front of her torso. this must be very painful for her. either her left side has split open, or its wedge shaped and increases in width on her left side. this needs to be resolved asap. you COULD show this in another view [a more frontal view] but you're showing a side view.. it doesnt work like this.

3. it seems you've tried to hide her hips, pelvis and upper legs underneath the twirling skirt. it didnt work. you still need to define these areas and then design the skirt AROUND them.

4. her feet are larger than her head. no. really gotta work on your proportions.

anatomy first man. this is another great example of rendering lightyears before you should. if you try to render a crappy drawing, no matter how great you paint it.. its a crappy painted drawing. take your time, lay out the proper foundation and work on your anatomy until you're comfortable enough to sketch poses like this with no hindrance. spend some time in the gesture thread:

http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=62688

good stuff going on in there. learn from it. - JAG

[Cup of Joe]

First off, an immense thank-you to all who commented. I'd comment to you individually, but I'd just be saying "Yeah, I see that now" twenty times.
If I neglected any of your comments, sorry. Please remind me.

I'll work on it more tonight, mainly the feet and that hideous arm.

[Jason Rainville]

If you have a digital camera, one of the best and easiest ways to get a pose right is pose it out, take a pic and well, use that for reference. Even if the anatomy of the pic isn't the same sex as the character you are portraying, at least you'll have the bare bones of the pose, which are, afterall, the most important parts :)

[JAG.]

man those thighs are gigantic. the feet are still larger than her head. the view of the pose is better but her arm is crossing too high. try to position your arm the way you've positioned hers.. then lower it ;) - JAG

[Cup of Joe]

Rhineville- Thanks. Finally went ahead and did that. Helped lots.

Jag- Whoah! Hadn't noticed that yet. Thanks for stopping by again.

Okay, I think I finally got the pose down right. If you guy's don't point anything out before then, I'll go ahead with taking this further.

[Cup of Joe]

Ohshitmanface! Eek. Going to have to fix that. Here it is with a little more work, mainly just cleaning up. Arm still wonky.

Also, is the head too small? It looks way too small to me.

http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/5244/090206chow2wr2.png

[Jason Rainville]

Yup, head too small. Also, upper arm too long, dislocated at shoulder, wonky positioning still there, and every bit of 'her' anatomy looks male.

Here's a little paintover to help show you what I mean, hope it helps (and I hope it's right too :p)

[Cup of Joe]

Thanks Rhineville. Did a quick hack-job based on your paint-over. Sorry if I missed something, but I'm kinda tired now.
You also might be wondering why I'm being so stubborn about the arm. It's one of the few things I had in mind from the start, and I'd rather try to correct than change. I got a ref of myself, so I know it's possible, I just have to get it right.

Anyway, I really want to thank you guy's. Even if I don't get this done in time, I've learned so much doing this that it's worth the time.

http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/1427/090206chow3uf3.png

[Cup of Joe]

Okay, here's where it's at now. Unless someone points out something really important I'll just move on to finishing it since the deadline is today.
Top priority- Face- hands, those ugly, ugly feet.

http://img477.imageshack.us/img477/1042/090306chowyt9.png

[GoldSeven]

It's been pointed out with every paintover that her arm is at an impossible angle - and I'd like to congratulate you on keeping it nonetheless. ;) It's not impossible. I can do it. :P And I bet she's more nimble than I am!

Still, her upper arm's still too long... make the angle of upper vs. forearm slightly less steep, and it'll work a lot better too. But in principle, I like her arm. The overpaints looked anatomically correct - but boring. Now you'll need to tighten it up anatomically so it looks dramatic but not wrong. I can subscribe to doing digital reference shots of yourself when working with poses like this. Dramatic sword-drawing photos with rolls of gift wrapping paper are a must.

Her face still looks too small to me.

Her right foot should be pointing more towards the viewer - right now, it's pointing downward, into the ground as it were. You'll have to foreshorten it some more. The feet look very blocky - grab some reference pics to model them into more detailed feet.

[Cup of Joe]

Just dropping by to say that I really want to thank everyone who commented. There's no way I could have pushed it this far without your help. If you feel like seing the finished version, check the Chow thread.
Thanks again!

[Jason Rainville]

Just remember to keep her curvy to remind the viewr of her femeninity. Lookin good :)