Sword Dude, help me out please

[Grifter730]

I've gotten this far, but now I don't know what to do. It looks fine at 100%, but as you can see from this link when I shrink it down, the face is so lost. Plus the colors just seem to be so passive, and nothing stands out. I don't know how to make him stand out. Any advice/tips/critique? Also, forgive me, this is my first real try using Painter and attempting to paint an actual picture instead of just doing some sort of comic coloring.

www.skycastlestudios.com/prycepaint.jpg

[J.Peckham]

needs contrast...and maybe drop a shadow under his feet and start thinking of maybe multiple light sources? looks great, but yeah a little passive. maybe emphasis on the fact that it's night time and full moon?
JKP

[Ian Mack]

I'd go back to the background and add more darkness to that. Esp. if the moon is the only lightsource.

More definition in the eyes would help the face to stand out when you shrink it down. ie. thicker eyebrows.

When I look @ his feet, it doesn't look solid enough. Try making the planes of the background fit with his feet.

Hope some of this helps!

[Erik]

The picture needs lighting.

The clothing is ok and i wouldnt make too much a problem of the face, its good enough. The feet do not match the perspective though, you might want to fix those.

The manga look you're going for now is more a cell-shaded anime thing it seems which is often a bit dull and serially-produced. Maybe go more for a comic/manga art sytle since that is very graphical too but with strong colorwork and lining.

But as it is a night scene and the moon is straight behind the character, he would be quite dark, except that he would catch light along the edges. He would also cast a definite shadow. That's something to use too, if you add something to the image at the bottom you can have the shadow be 'bigger' or more menacing than the character actually is. Remember the Anakin Skywalker poster where he is a boy and his shadow is Darth Vader. Just an idea

A secondary lightsource would do good to have him lit a little on the front, but the moon would be the brightest source in the scene.

Also, a lot in the scene is plain grey. Bring a little blue into that and it will start to come alive. Some purples or indigo-like tints will do good. Plain grey has no 'temperature' it will oppose the temperature of the surroundings so you have to either choose for a warm grey or a cool grey. In this scene a cooler one would be better imo.

A secondary lightsource would be great if it has some warmer color that it can add to the piece - just subtle.

The eyes of the wolf are something to work with too maybe.

GL!

E.

[shadowdancer]

This illustration has SO much potential!
Check out this thread (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7902) to see how details and lighting can be added to make it look amazing!

[Grifter730]

Thanks a lot for all the comments everyone. I saved that link you gave me Shadowdancer, that can help a lot in future work. As far as this piece goes, I've decided to leave it alone. I feel that I'm not good enough yet to be able to play around with lighting on a piece such as this one where things have to be... what's the word... basically it has to illuminate the picture, but not too bright. I think I will work on another much simpler and smaller piece to help me practice. I'll take and keep everyone's critiques and comments to heart so that I'll be able to apply them on future pieces. Thanks a lot again!