river of souls

[aniComplex]

This is actually my first full color digital painting, entitled "river of souls." I'm not known to do much color work, although I have dabbled in it before. Not very often in Photoshop or anything, and I'm quite terrible at it.

Any critique is welcome, be as harsh as you can. Really, break my heart.

Here's the progress, and the attached image is the most current save.

Media: Digital (Pure)
Program: Adobe Photoshop CS2-> Adobe Photoshop CS3 BETA
Dimensions: 1000x750; 600 pixels/inch

http://content.imagesocket.com/thumbs/01981.jpg (http://imagesocket.com/view/01981.jpg) http://content.imagesocket.com/thumbs/02b40.jpg (http://imagesocket.com/view/02b40.jpg) http://content.imagesocket.com/thumbs/03778.jpg (http://imagesocket.com/view/03778.jpg) http://content.imagesocket.com/thumbs/04eaf.jpg (http://imagesocket.com/view/04eaf.jpg) http://content.imagesocket.com/thumbs/0574c.jpg (http://imagesocket.com/view/0574c.jpg) http://content.imagesocket.com/thumbs/06569.jpg (http://imagesocket.com/view/06569.jpg) http://content.imagesocket.com/thumbs/1_07eb6.jpg (http://imagesocket.com/view/1_07eb6.jpg) http://content.imagesocket.com/thumbs/088df.jpg (http://imagesocket.com/view/088df.jpg) http://content.imagesocket.com/thumbs/09d11.jpg (http://imagesocket.com/view/09d11.jpg) http://content.imagesocket.com/thumbs/1032b.jpg (http://imagesocket.com/view/1032b.jpg) http://content.imagesocket.com/thumbs/11c56.jpg (http://imagesocket.com/view/11c56.jpg) http://content.imagesocket.com/thumbs/1_12456.jpg (http://imagesocket.com/view/1_12456.jpg) http://content.imagesocket.com/thumbs/138c1.jpg (http://imagesocket.com/view/138c1.jpg) http://content.imagesocket.com/thumbs/1_14ff2.jpg (http://imagesocket.com/view/1_14ff2.jpg) http://content.imagesocket.com/thumbs/1_15b01.jpg (http://imagesocket.com/view/1_15b01.jpg) http://content.imagesocket.com/thumbs/16fd0.jpg (http://imagesocket.com/view/16fd0.jpg) http://content.imagesocket.com/thumbs/17e65.jpg (http://imagesocket.com/view/17e65.jpg) http://content.imagesocket.com/thumbs/1_18ef0.jpg (http://imagesocket.com/view/1_18ef0.jpg)

[White Rose]

welcome to ca.

I'm not sure where to begin... first looking at this picture.

The pose.. is very unintresting...you could've done more to proove she's aloof..especially with the hands.. hands can convey alot emotion witht he character.

but the number one issue is colors. Where are the shadows and highlights especially on the girl. And for the fact that its dark/night time.

The colors your using in the picture doesnt portray that its night time...
symbolic wise yeah.. you have a dark sky... and is that a sun or a moon.

And the clouds... -_-;; dont do that.. look for pictures of clouds at night..better yet.. go outside and look at how clouds look. all clouds have a shape.. and form. the moon.

Dont be afraid to use reference to understand how things really look.

i'm gonna do a quick paint over..to show what im talking about...

But in concluisons.. if you dont know what something looks like.. Look it up. DO NOT MAKE IT UP. You'll never learn how draw
if you pull things out of head with lack of knowledge. And once you find the reference and you learn.. how to draw the object.. You'll be able to pull out of your head..draw it the right way with out using any reference.

so dont be afraid of using reference. start drawing from life.. and learn how to see..how things really are rather making things up.
but i'm going to work on a little thing for u :)

[aniComplex]

welcome to ca.

I'm not sure where to begin... first looking at this picture.

The pose.. is very unintresting...you could've done more to proove she's aloof..especially with the hands.. hands can convey alot emotion witht he character.

but the number one issue is colors. Where are the shadows and highlights especially on the girl. And for the fact that its dark/night time.

The colors your using in the picture doesnt portray that its night time...
symbolic wise yeah.. you have a dark sky... and is that a sun or a moon.

And the clouds... -_-;; dont do that.. look for pictures of clouds at night..better yet.. go outside and look at how clouds look. all clouds have a shape.. and form. the moon.

Dont be afraid to use reference to understand how things really look.

i'm gonna do a quick paint over..to show what im talking about...

But in concluisons.. if you dont know what something looks like.. Look it up. DO NOT MAKE IT UP. You'll never learn how draw
if you pull things out of head with lack of knowledge. And once you find the reference and you learn.. how to draw the object.. You'll be able to pull out of your head..draw it the right way with out using any reference.

so dont be afraid of using reference. start drawing from life.. and learn how to see..how things really are rather making things up.
but i'm going to work on a little thing for u :)

Thanks a lot for all that, I'm definitely going to maybe repaint the backgrounds and work on her colors more with reference soon. Working on two or three different pieces right now, I'll post the others a little later.

[White Rose]

http://indigodreams.kuiki.net/rose/example.jpg


now..pardon my grammer..and my lack of knowledge but here it goes

I numbered your problem areas

First of all your composition isnt very clear to tell me whats going on. What is the story your trying to tell through your picture.
When you start working on a picture.. dont be afraid to do thumbnails trying out different ways of telling your story. And chooseing the best one that illustrates it best.

1. The moon. When ever this a full moon or out. or look up a picture of moonlight. Look at it. Really look at it. Depending how far the moon is. from the earth looks different. But one thing is known there is an aura. around it. How you represented the moon is very symbolic. go to google and look it up

2. its pointing to the clouds. Clouds do not look like that. Think of cotton balls. All clouds have shape/form same thing in regards to the moon. Go outside and look how clouds look like during the day/midday night. Colors during the times of day. Clouds are not always white nor a dark blue. and the shape of the cloud can tell you what kind of wheather it is.

3. color scheme. Colors look different in the day time and in the night time.
You was right correct with the background.. in the mountains for letting it be dark. But you forgot about your main character. How can i tell if she's outside in the dark.


4. are the arrows (that shows the direction of your light source.) Which you didnt show any. A purpose of a light source is to give an object shape and form. The closer you are to the light source the brighter it is.. vice versa...

5. River :( if you dont know what a river looks like... look it up.

6. Whats that..?

7. What type of landmass is it. Mountain. Hill. Another thing you can find a reference on.

i do hope this helps a bit.

Well this is what I can think of what you need to work on. It is alot but as long as you work at it. You will improve. good luck to you.

oh and feel free to correct me.

Even I was lacking on knowledge.. good luck to you

[aniComplex]

http://content.imagesocket.com/thumbs/20656.jpg (http://imagesocket.com/view/20656.jpg)

Going to use Imagesocket since its really huge and attaching makes the thread longer.

This is save #20, starting to take into account some of White Rose's suggestions. Working on skin shadow, tablet just died on me so either when I restart or next work on it I'll finish that up and do clothing shadow.

First of all your composition isnt very clear to tell me whats going on. What is the story your trying to tell through your picture.

"Take me down to the river of souls."

This place is a kind of awakening of one's inner being, to cleanse one's soul. It's part of a larger work so it's useless to go into extreme detail, but that's the gist of it.

The structure behind her that's unrecognizable was supposed to be a kind of ruin thing thats in a quarter circle. She would be leaning against a wall. I know it doesn't look like it right now but my background skills aren't up to par. I will work on it.

A lot of this piece was rushed because it's one of the cornerstones of my college portfolio, and I needed to include it in two that needed to be sent out earlier than the others. I'm now taking the time to perfect it for the final few portfolios I need to send out by 2/1.