Gabriel

[Inkaspies_Studios]

Part of my Thesis project. This is a color illustration of one of the characters. Any thoughts?

[afterthought]

is the thing on the head, wrapping the hair, cloth? maybe have that wrap around more... i wasn't sure, i mean it could be some metal hair helmet thingy.

i messed around with the values around the arm/hand. i put some darker values on the edge of the wings in that area, i think the arm pops/reads better this way. also on the outside of the hand, on the outer border, i added in a slightly darker value, it pops the hand and the upper part of the wing. I added a bit of a darker value on the ribbon things, added a bit of red to em too for jus for some color varience. i also added a bit of darker values in the hair and wings, added some red in some other areas too, just for some more color varience.

i continued the body through the border on the bottom. it just didn't make sense to me why you let everything else come out of this design element and yet decided to cut off the body. i think this works better as a composition too, as my eye got caught in that corner before

I think you need to mess around with the ribbon thingys.
right now, they are kinda echoing the shape of the hand, and they are moving in a parallel direction with the arm. if you vary the lengths more and use some overlap it'll make for a more interesting shape.

[spirals]

Hey there,

Thanks for posting this. My first impression was that of being startled. Because of how the muscles are so exposed on Gabriel's back, of course. I like that part. I like images that throw you back a little bit. It's also not what I would expect with the name, Gabriel, since there is that angel reference there, and normally angels are more ethereal, not so visceral and "fleshy" if you know what I mean. I like it, though. I agree with afterthought that the thing on the head is working against this image. It will be great to see you make that more pronounced as cloth or metal, etc. And I also agree it looks too small right now. What I think you should work on some more is getting more color into this image. Get more saturation in there. I want to see more pronounced color on the face, feathers, hand, etc. More cool and warm tones dancing around on this image. Unless there is some reason behind the muted colors that we don't know about. Are you specifically going for a washed out look? You never know... I'm not digging the line from the mouth to the ear. I think I understand what you want it to look like - a big cut, right? Something about that is...I don't know...maybe needs to be pronounced just a little bit more, look a little more realistic, perhaps? Maybe look more gnarly instead of so "neat." I'd also like to see you find some kind of better transition where the wings meet the body. I'm not believing what I'm currently seeing as far as how those two body "parts" join. I think this will be an interesting challenge to tackle. Anyway, overall I like where you're headed. With all the elements you have going on right now, this is going to be a super cool piece once you invest a little more time! I'd love to see the finished product!

-- Agata Kijanka/spirals

[imperess]

Hi, Interesting concept! I agree with the comments mentioned above. I think that your ear is a little far back on the placement of the skull and also I think the head seems a bit large on the body. It seems like some anatomy issues could be addressed on his skull, or maybe its just that its reading kind of flat. I see the angle your going for. I think putting the cloth thing down more will help but i am not getting A spherical sense of the cranium(sp) area as it is now. And It might be alittle large.

I do like the overall concept,
~Carol

[Maestro Andres]

I agree with the previous poster. The head, hand and body proportion is kinda distracting and doesn't quite match. The head and hand go together but not with the proportion of the body. Just reduced a little bit to fix it. Here I did a quick paint over trying to correct the proportions, hope you don't mind.
I like this concept a lot and the piece looks very promising, I keep watching for when it is finished.

[masque]

all other comments are very appropriate, and i'll add that to me the exposed muscles and the hair are too similar in hue and value, causing a connection that weakens the sense of depth and overall intelligibility of the piece.

[Inkaspies_Studios]

Wow, thanx for the responses guys. Really good advice and suggestions.

Quick clarifications:

Afterthought: I agree with the head band part. I've had others say something simlar about it, but rather than just leave the design that way, I think I'm going to redraw that part. Gabriel is, however, coming out of the frame, not standing in front of it. I will try to make that more apparent and I think that playing around with some lighting will help that. I've been keeping her less saturated because she's not really alive and has never been born... she just exists as a being. I will mess around with the ribbon thingies, they need some drama.

Spirals: I agree with what you said about the transitions and I think I need to play with some lighting there, thanx. The cut... i'm not going to nit pick, I agree some realism, thanx.

Impress & Armaldon: Gabe is actually leaning out of the window toward the viewer, so perspectivelly and proportionatly... I can't agree with resizing the head and hand.... it just look wrong... sorry. Thanx for the imput though.

Rock on guys... I look forward to hearing more and will hopefully be posting a new version soon.

[sowens2008]

I agree with masque. At first glance I thought he had a really hairy back because the color of his hair is so similar. You might want to change that a bit.