Battle Demon painting

[kingofdaveness]

I have been trying to get a more powerful painterly style happening.

I think this is a little overpainted... Could I get some feedback on this peice? Espectially saturation and color.

Cheers guys,

[evildisco]

I think it is a captivating image, well done technique-wise.
What I see as the biggest issue is that the demon is not well integrated into the atmosphere of the overall picture. Also the scale took me a while to read it, with the dead soldier in his hand.

Now what you could do is make the orange hues of the battlefield, affect a whole lot more the figure, so that the piece is more unified.
The crop in itself is somewhat ackward, it is not helping you show the scale of this thing. Add some canvas so that you have more room to work with that.

Hope that's helpful.

[v0rbiss]

The values look pretty fine in your pic, but the "coolness/warmness" of the colors is a bit underdeveloped. Try pushing both of those a bit, without going to extremes, just for experiment. Maybe that would help you, and if not, at least every experiment gives you broadened knowledge on the subject! :P

[Ian Mack]

You have great technique and I wouldn't say it's overpainted as I think ou did a good job opf leading the focus to the demon's head.

The composition though is too tight. Everything feels too constrained and I think that's why it's hard to get a sense of perspective.

Agrred about the warm and cooo...the back side is in shadow...why not give it a cool secondary light?

[kingofdaveness]

Thanks all, the feedbacks been spot on!

I think the composition does need that extra room, especially at the bottom, which would frame the knight in a manner that would communicate scale more effectively.

[kingofdaveness]

Ok here is a test composition giving a bit more room.

I am not yet sure what I want to do with the new character.

I was considering switching the knight for a character with a proper face also.

[designboot]

awsome Men :)

[Enola_Gay]

I personally would keep the knights' helmet on. I think if you give him a face it will become a focal point and fight for attention with the main focus, the demons face (which is bad ass by the way!).

[kingofdaveness]

Thanks guys,

I roughed in a second character as you can see. I wanted to keep the focus on the demons face, so pretty much all the character is designed to draw the eye back to the big spook meister.

I added the little dragon to echo the demon, and perhaps suggest the wings that are off screen. The comp does work without it, so he may be dragon bait later.

I may change the angle of the staff to be slightly more horizontal, weakening the human a little more... this possibly could give the demon a bit more strength and weight. I think the blue fire isnt needed either.

[mull77]

This is starting to look fantastic. Not quite sure how the pink of the wizards uniform and the orange sky will go together.

Looking forward to seeing what you can do with this.

[mbdayton]

I'm really liking this.

I'd personally like to see more depth in the background. As it is right now it reads like the demon and knight in the foreground are standing against a painted wall.

Maybe you could make the drop off into the atmosphere more gradual and less intense.

[Elwell]

This is coming along really well.
I would bring some more of the red from the background back behind the demon's mouth and jaw.

[Liam Harvey]

cool and very awsome design.

[Joeslucher]

Wow this is starting to look great. That wizard really added confrontation and story. I can't tell yet but I hope you plan on knocked back that little circle of bright orange on the far left, under demon's arm. I find it really distracting and it doesn't seem to add anything to the image.

[silliKONe]

wow - this is really coming together. the figure in the foreground adds a lot. i see a scale difference between the wizard and the knight in the demons hand. the knight looks a bit small. also, the perspective on the left leg of the demon seems a little extreme, given the perspective of the overall space. i'd make that left leg a little bigger to balance it better. finally, you should do something to break up that big red space. maybe some dark smokey clouds, or gloomy light making it's way through. or perhaps the demon wing could arch over a bit and come back into the frame, to sorta close up and contain that open space a little.
this is looking awesome. keep hacking away at it!

[silliKONe]

one last thing - maybe needs a little more space on the right. the wings and sceptre are a bit close to the edge.

[drd]

Wow, this is coming along very well...just like silliKONe said, more space to the right would give it take away from the edge problem I see...

[Rhubix]

I really like how this has progressed.
I think the monster's eyes should be directed at the wizard, right now he's looking to the left of him, so he seems concerned with something elce.

[Beershite]

Looking great!
The dragon in the back is maybe missplaced a bit.
Right now it looks like the wizards has wings, but i guess when you work on them some more it will be clearly visible that it is a dragon in the backround.

[corspufo]

Yeah dude, you're going in the right direction. I like that the demon now has someone to look at. I can't wait to see where you go with it next. I would say to push the detail in the demon's skin, the way the face looks. I like the pose of the sorcerer, very solid. Another thing, but this is minor, I'm sure that's a banner in the background but it looks like a scarecrow wearing armor. :) Good work!

[kingofdaveness]

Thanks all.

That dragon is actually going to be an itty bitty dragon on the guys shoulders in the final paint. I wanted to suggest that the little guy somehow mirrored the demon itself- suggesting that they may be well matched.

[frixon]

wow. this is awesome. have no crits here cant wait to see it finished.

[JL.Alfaro]

Niiice! great job so far, its kicking some ass!! only thing I see, is that scarecrow looking char in the background, looks unclear as to what it is or what its doing.. cant wait to see it done!

[Waffle_King]

This is getting better and better. Keep it coming!

You might consider bringing in some of yellow off the demon into the wizard somehow- create a diagonal line across the composition. Might be too much for the eye though.

Looking great!

-Andrew

[Izi]

I just wanted to say this looks really great now that you changed the composition...it's interesting. The only think that seems to jar me is the eyes, they don't seem natural...which is fine, if you want it to be more carciature like. Perhaps a shiny black or a colored iris would make a difference.

No, it's not that. I think that the eyes just seem mishapen, you may want to consider the value gradation there a bit more closely.

Love it!

[kingofdaveness]

Finally had some time on the weekend.

Decided to be brave and risk a new composition.

Thanks for your comments so far, keep em coming!

I know the eyes are not looking at her at the moment... by putting her in the foreground I was hping to raise his gaze towards the viewer a bit, just havent gotten around to it yet!

[affluxing heart]

this looks fantastic woot! i'm enjoying the proccess very much. all i can crit on is the fact that the chin horns aren't very cool too pointy or something. also the thounge would look alot sweeter if it stretched out a bit more. best of luck

[kingofdaveness]

Heres a 1024 version, so its a bit easier to compare the feel of this and the wizard version.

Night guys, off to bed. Will some more in a few days.

[Izi]

Huh. Well I like the action on the girl, but I was sort of fascinated by the mage and his little dragon. I've been switching back and forth between the two and I can't decide which one I like better. Something is added in each that the other doesn't have.

::think think:::


Ok, the loincloth/tunic thing flipping up on the second composition seems a little jarring. When I look at the one with the purple mage I can feel the tension between the two...it's scary feeling. With the warrior girl it looks like she's really doing this spectacular action, but the demon isn't doing much about it. I think it weakens the drama. Plus, she looks like she's just jogging or something. I'm not feeling it.

When I look at the wizard one, what strikes me is the tenseness of both figures. The demon looks like he's about to bite the head off the mage, while the mage is prepping a spell of some sort behind him, almost covertly. It's like a Jurassic Park moment. Plus...that purple looks gorgeous against the orange, as well as the slight green in the wyvern. The colors are definately more striking. I love his pose and costume, the way he's "backing up" in response to what must be really nasty breath and an ugly face.

I like both, and I think they would both make a strong piece, but I have to go with the first composition as my favorite.

I like all of the softening you've been doing around the demon.

[Datameister]

That face is just too awesome. Great design with spot-on rendering. Did you use Painter for any of this? The rough-in seems to be Photoshop, but the finished areas are so tightly (and beautifully!) rendered that I can't tell what software was used.

I like how the composition has developed, though I prefer the mage as well.

You wanted advice on colors and saturations...hmmm, I can't say I'd do anything much different on that level. (Well, I'd do things differently, but not in ways you'd want to emulate. :D) The only suggestion I might make is to break up the background smoke a little--let us see through to what's beyond. Is it a night sky? Clouds? Bright blue sky? A turbulent violet alien sky? It's just a little too claustrophobic with that wall of violent orange smoke cutting off the whole right side.

Keep up the incredible work! I'd love to see a walkthrough/tutorial/video tutorial of your workflow.

[Izi]

OH! You got rid of the standard and soldiers in the background. Huh. I liked those, personally. It was like "Omg its the hell army of evilness!"

[kingofdaveness]

I slept on it and I think I preffer the mage now, so it was nice to see opinions in here when I got up.

The girl can have her appearance in another picture.

Its all done in photoshop!

[kingofdaveness]

Pushed a little further on my lunch break.

I think its getting pretty close now, hero still needs a fair bit of rendering to finish off, and that back wing of the demon is bothering me.

I think I may have to pick out the demons armor a bit more to balance off against that blue glow, its drawing the eye too far down.

[kingofdaveness]

...another quick experiment... loose the wings and push the aspect out to a3

hmmmm.

[silliKONe]

i agree - i like the wizard much more - it balances the image out better. this new wing cropping is intersting. i did like the symmetry you had going before with the smaller demon with wings. also, i think the demon loses something. it looks less menacing now, almost more like a giant troll monster or something. but there is something refreshing about the composition. maybe the wings just weren't working the way they were. i never even noticed that ponytail until you clipped the wings. maybe the wings could be swept back or something? keep up the good work.

[zypher18]

If you're going to clip off the wings, I would suggest changing the sky in the background because some lines and it's brightness are leading me out of the picture. Maybe you could just add another element in the top right to enforce the focal point of the monster's head.

[Izi]

I liked the wings because they made a great big circle that connected the two opponents. The only problem I saw with the wings was that his (her?) left wing had some very obvious digital looking brush strokes in them on the outer tips and the inner part, same thing. His right wing looked great. The wings make the monster look a lot scarier and closed in the scene, adding a sense of claustrophobia and being way to close to the demon. (Which is good)

Like Zypher said, my eyes are wandering out of the picture.

[Hyptosis]

Yeah, I wanna say bring the wings bakc myself, it kept my eyes i the image, and not drifting outward. Freaking amazing work btw. =]

[Lotet]

soo awsome dude, but i have to agree too, keep the wings

thats all from me, keep it up

[kingofdaveness]

Yep, I am thinking of making the supporting arms for the wings much thicker and stronger, that would help restore his power a bit more.

[Pascallo]

yeah, immediately back with that wings! :-)
awesome this picture! I stared so much at this one yesterday, I think I had a nightmare about this awful daemon this night. very well then - very realistic obviously ;-)

[kingofdaveness]

S'funny, Pscaloo- I draw all this crazy sh*t all day and sleep like a baby. There must be something wrong with me ;)

[Pascallo]

You are surely just hardened.
I also use to draw stuff like you have drawn here, but unfortunately I do not dream about them - I bet just because mine do not look that real as yours do :-/
better for my dreams at least :-D

[noShame]

Looks great man really like the expression of the beast!
I think it would look better if the demon looked at the soldier in the foreground, as it is now the soldier and demon doesn't feel like they are part of the same scene. Maybe rotating the demons head 20-30 degrees clock wise and making the eyes look at the soldier would add a nice "twisted" look to the scene.

[Double00ZEro]

yo "king..." wehat levels do you use when you paint to get that tone and look in your pic

[monsi]

really awesome picture, I really enjoyed looking through the progress so far. I also agree that the wings should definitely be a part of the picture.

One thing I could say is that his tounge looks a bit weak at the moment. It looks sort of like it's limp and just hanging out of his mouth. I think it should be sticking out a bit more, be a bit more tense. It's following the contour of his chin a bit too much now I think.

awesome work keep it up :]

[epiginosis]

I got a problem with that tongue. It doesn't seem to go with the expression on the face. I would think the tongue would need more life to it. Also, if you could push the color and light contrast of the demon's head in comparison with the background that would add more realistic depth if that is what you desire. Decent stuff overall.

[kingofdaveness]

Hi all, havent posted for a while, sorry.

Heres the next pass.

[Lotet]

Yey! Wings back on, looking awesome, I see you took away the tongue, that’s good but I really liked the hair he had before, and i loved the background in the first versions when there was a battle going on in the BG, and the face looks more detailed in the one before this one.

nice job, keep it up^^

[Hyptosis]

Oh, did people not like the tongue? I thought it looked awesome. =] It was so ridiculously evil. =] Awesome that the wings are back. I loved the tongue.

[Rabid]

I kinda liked the tongue and the chin the way they were in the first renderind he doesn't look as aggressive anymore the chin really echoed his upper jaw!

[epiginosis]

Yeah I didn't intend that the toungue be pushed back into the mouth, it just needed to some spring to be put into it to make it look more active. The way it was just too static and limp. :P

[applesoveroranges]

amazing! ^.^ This is coming along very nicely!

ah~ I like the tongue... it DID make is more aggresive. Maybe it could "spring" way out instead of flopping around?

[kingofdaveness]

Yeah its loosing a lot of energy. Perhaps I need to puch back the harsher shading on the little wizard too.

[epiginosis]

Also be carefull not to go overboard with the smoothness, a lot of the sketchy quality that might be seen as underdeveloped added a lot of energy. Now the sketchy quality is less evident.

[Izi]

I hate to say this, but there are some negative smooth issues going on here, on the face, dead soldier and mage cloak.

Don't like the dark outline under the chin, loved the tongue, I have to vote for it..agree with epiginosis all the way...The face has lost realism/punch tremendously after taking away the detailing...

Puzzling, you seem to be overworking the focal points which already looked finished, but there's not enough focus on the demon's wings. Sharpen the edge of the wings to make them look like anatomical features instead of a wobbly digital edge and it'll be gold.

Second, I don't like the ground, it's lightened up and distracting me from the focus there...Well no maybe not. I'm not sure. Hard to choose when I do LIKE the detail going on down there.


Personally I thought the demon was gold and you had very little more to do. The only issue I really had with the demon himself was the edges of his new wings you added from the original.

The mage looks good but the upper edge of his cloak/trenchcoat tails is bulging out and the light is a little overstated. I'd personally like to see that toned down and the blue magical light pushed a little further towards realism by touching that inside flap that is black.

All in all this is going to be a magnificient image!

Keep going!

[designboot]

Awsome dude ;)