two projects to be improve

[getata]

Hello fellows, this is my first time posting in this section.
For the first time I was able to use photoshop to render my painting for the illustration class. It was a make-believe Print magazine cover illustration. Please insight me where I have to work on to make it better

http://www.kinstuff.net/images/getata_on_fire.jpg

Currently I am working on the second illustration. This one is to pick one sentence from a novel and illustrate it. Please tell me what you think so far.

http://www.kinstuff.net/images/poke_eye.jpg

Thanks alot for your time!!

[Rabid]

The flames on the asian's head should cast a much brighter warm hue on his forehead, at least the side facing us...nice colors though, maybe for the eye....with such a closeup of the eyeball could you do a reflection of the sharp red blade in the pupil, this will help us get a better idea exactly how close it is to the surface depending on how close the reflection and object are together! Great ideas nice compositions!!!

[getata]

Rabid Peanut: thx for your opinion.
I was having problem to make the forehead brighter without losing the shape of the hair, and still can't figure out how yet....

For the eye I am going to add the reflection and see how it look

Thanks

[Vulgar`]

The exotic color schemes seem energetic, but not under control. I would recommend that you pick a certain hue and stay consistent with it. I'm seeing too much differentiating pigment where a constant flow would naturally be.

1 - The crease of his right cheek bone is exaggerated - shorten the length to below his lower-eye area.

The eye - More veins. Above the iris there needs to be more reddening vessels. The light from the sharp tip of the red object seems to be from a source of illumination - but something tells me poison or a harmful liquid? If it's illumination, you should add more lighting to the right side of the eye.

Hope any suggestions have helped.

Keep doing you

[Rafal Dorsz]

Hello

Not that I am an expert, but to me the face of the guy on the first pic looks as if it was lit from our left side. What i mean is i think there shouldn't be this blue shadow to the left from his nose, because that area would be lit by his hair. And I'd repaint the cheeks, they just don't seem to be lit from above.
Oh, and same goes for his shoulder.
Well go make a photo of yourself standing below a lamp or something :)

As for the eye - I like that, tho it needs reflections and more details, as mentioned before. Also I think this black hole in an eye (don't know how to call this in english) has more defined edge - i mean, it's not soft.

Anyway nice artworks, keep it up!

[Jason Rainville]

I understand the cool/warm contrast you're going for in the first, but the title is so drab the only thing making us notice it is the size. Try making it a saturated texture, much like the background and the secondary lighting on the guys face.

Also, the text under print is way too small, and seems out of place; generally, you want your subtitle to compliment your main title. It should give supporting but interesting information, instead of ancillary info such as a date and price. Remember, you're trying to rope people in with the visual, and keep them interested with the first text they see. You should normally leave dates and prices to anciallry positions, out of the way of the main focus but still easy to see.

The placement on the secondary text is obviously correct, with all that negative space needing to be filled. Try not to use rules onless the style dictates (if you were doing a classical syle for a war movie or newsy type ad) or to create visual flow. I don't think you need rules in this situation. Also, there's the right border, a nice solid element that is just aching for something to lean against it. Remember that even though the text is centered within that void, having it flush left or right along a border or other vertical element will add a lot of stability to the piece.

Here's a 'design-over' to show you what I mean:

[getata]

Thanks for all of your critiques for both drawings!! right now I am trying to improve the eye drawing first (since the fire head drawing is already graded so it can wait for a little while....)
Vulgar: Love your suggestion of more veins and adding more light on the right side of the eye ball. The eye now pops out more and look more real to me. THANKS!

Gildorek: yep i agree about the "black hole" (i think they are called pupil in English) should be more define. But after I made it more "circle" and add the knife's shadow on top, they fight with each other. So I end up only make the pupil a little bit more like circle. Thanks anyway!

Rhineville: Man thanks for the paint-over. The flush-right looks good, and I like how you use texture for the PRINT word. But for the assignment I have to follow the identity of the magazine. Those text under the word PRINT and the lines between subheads are their Identity Layout, I can't modify it.

I have repainted the eye, please let me know if it is better now =)
New
http://kinstuff.net/images/color-comp4.jpg
Before
http://kinstuff.net/images/poke_eye.jpg