Monkey King:Keyframe WIP..crits please!!

[CIRE]

"Cursed Demon," said Monkey. "After all, you have no eyes in your head! You say I am small, not seeing that I can make myself as tall as I please. You say I am unarmed, not knowing that these two hands of mine could drag the moon from the ends of Heaven. Stand your ground, and eat old Monkey's fist!"
~from Arthur Waley's translation of Journey to the West


Some of you might remember my Monkey King painting that I posted awhile back. This is one in a series of story beats that I will be illustrating from the book. The large figure you see is the Demon of Havoc. Shortly after returning from his training with the Patriarch Subhodi, Monkey learns that his fellow simians are being ill-treated by a demon. "He is called the Demon of Havoc...He comes like a cloud and goes like a mist, like wind or rain, thunder or lightning." He heads out in search for the demon and finds him within a cave. You will find out what happens in my next illustration. In the meantime, I need help lighting my painting. Any suggestions from you color experts out there are greatly appreciated. Any suggestions in terms of the composition? Anything helps...dont hold back. Thanks!
CIRE

[CIRE]

Ive sketched out 2 frames that follow the one I just posted. I'll give you a sneak peek at the 3rd frame.

"He plucked out a handful of hairs, bit them into small pieces and then spat them out into the air crying, 'Change!' The fragments of hair changed into severl hundred small monkeys...They kicked him, beat him, pommelled his eyes, and while they were at it, Monkey slipped up and snatched away the demons sword...he raised the the sword and brought it down with such tremendous force upon the demon's skull, that he clove it in twain."

[aph]

I saw your other thread, great that your continuing still. =)

If I remember the demon isn't even slightly threatened by monkey at first. You could try and emphasise that in the first picture by giving him a more relaxed pose. E.g. Maybe he has his right hand on his hip and left arm holds the sword, although it is leaning quite heavily on the floor (crossing in front of him a bit).
This may suggest that he isn't afraid of monkey, and make it more evident of his alarm in the one after.

By the way, monkeys pose in the top pic is just awesome =). Looks totally defiant and sure of himself, yet ready to attack anyone heh.

[Bonfire]

Here´s what I think: ( please forgive me my bad english)
-the composition is all right but I think you need to give little more action to it.
"He is called the Demon of Havoc...He comes like a cloud and goes like a mist, like wind or rain, thunder or lightning." so It has to be very dramatic moment, when It appears.
I made these arrows to show how the "smoke" should appear so that U could add more dramatic feeling and give it a feel of motion.
And if you raise the head of the demon so that it´s facing up little bit it would give more dramatic feelin also.
-the other thing could be the "classic way" , the demon could come in a spiral kinda motion, I mean the smoke could move like a tornado or something like that.
oh well, hope you understand what I mean.
and these are all my opinions, only trying to give you more options to make it better.
I like it alot already so make it GREAT!

[cucak]

Great start. maybe more action? I wait for next, can be cool.

MY (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=77818&highlight=cucak)

[Phattro]

good WIP so far...lets see whats next.

[CIRE]

Bonfire-Thanks for taking the time to paint your suggestions. I will incorporate the rising smoke idea. I am not too crazy about the swirl idea.

aph- I do agree that a more casual pose would show that the demon is not threatened. However, I was trying to illustrate the exact moment before they fight. I agree that it would contrast with the expression in the other frame. I'll try it out

[Joeslucher]

I like the way the palette is looking so far but the demon's legs bother me in that they look solid but would obviously land below monkey's ground level so I have to try to believe they're ghostly. I would like to see his lower half ghosted out more or shrink him so that his feet can land firmly on the same plane as monkey.

[Ian Mack]

Such a minor detail but the sword (if kept in its current position) should reflect the warm foreground colours.

I think a good compromise between Joe's post and Aph's post is that you could have him kneling on one knee as though he is considering this small threat.