HALP!!! Advice needed....

[Muttonhead]

Here is a piece that I am working on. I am having a hard time deciding how bright and/or dark the old woman's face should be..... The color is just a color sketch to help me with values and such, any suggestions on it?

http://www.cybermurray.com/witchcolor.jpg

http://www.cybermurray.com/witchsketch.jpg

[shadowrover]

Not sure about the color value - can't give any advice there - sorry. But one thing I noticed is the girl standing on tiptoes. If she's trying to block the old woman with her swords she's going to fall over in a second, if she's moving there's not enough momentum in the rest of her body. She would be better off as a warrior if at least on of her feet was completely on the ground. I know it's not what you were asking about, but I couldn't help but notice. If I were the old woman, I'd throw her on the ground right about now :)

Pic looks awesome, btw - great detail. Hope you can solve the light value prob.

- Shadowrover

[zeroe]

i think her face should have the same coloring as her hands, or vica verca. i think if both are different it sorta messes up the balance oO. What i also noticed is that her hair looks a bit too much like her cloak imo, maybe change that abit? Great work

[deschamps]

With the direction the light is coming from you could have half of the old woman's face more in shadow if you wanted.

I worry about the warrior woman's head/neck in the drawing. I think it would be a good idea to have someone model that so you can get a natural looking twist of the neck before you get too far into the painting.

Can't wait to see the progressions!
-Eric

[killing.people]

my 2 cents:
a. i think you should make the old lady and her ora around her, dark, almost a low contrasted, dark, monotoned red tinted color pallet, as if she is sucking the light out of the enviroment around the position she is standing. that is my opinion and exaggeration of how i interpretated her stance and character.
b. the girl duel-weilding the swords has a few issues with me, i think her neck is bent awkwardly, as if it where clay or rubber. i think adding some folds of skin would help, it may need to be re-positioned closer to her torso.
c. the girls right foot and ankle is bent very awkwardly, she looks off balance and clumsy, i think it is her neck, position of her ankle and the size of her feet that make her look this way.

-killing

[Muttonhead]

Great suggestions, all! Thanks. Here is the revised sketch....
Tell me what you think....

Actually one thing i see is that her head is a smidge too big, I will fix that, but how bout otherwise?

http://www.cybermurray.com/witchsketch2.jpg

[shadowrover]

Ah, yeah! Much better - she looks much more stable and much more dynamic as well - LOVE IT! Also, I totally dig how evil the old woman is - the whole" sucking out the light" suggestion was awesome - never would have thought of that. And you implemented it perfectly. Can't wait to see where you take it from here.

- Shadowrover

[bwkeough]

First time seeing this piece today and I was impressed with the initial work and even more impressed with where you took it to. My only suggestion is to bring the swordswoman's left leg toward us a little more and shrink her right foot.

I love the witch and her hovering basket of dragon eggs.

[tomi]

i think there's a problem with her right arm, the perspective isn't correct i think, because it looks like her arm is being bent backwards or maybe twisted out of the shoulder...
her left foot is looking twisted too...but just a little bit...
sorry, i don't like it that much, but you've got great detail in there...
hoping to see it finished.

:t.

[fredflickstone]

Mr. Mutton...heh Like the name


First...let me say, this is a nice drawing. you can render.
And you can render from imagination. That is something we need to, all of us as artists do more of...but...here is a check list of things to possibly think about with this particular image.

-In your color comp, first, all the colors are a little too pasty. That is, there is too much white in everything. Given, it is a digital painting, there is still the essence of bleached out colors. Color is critical for mood, time of day, etc. ANd right now, it feels obscure and a bit bleached.

-Layering in colors. The floating orb behind your wzard is the same values and colors as teh wizard, as a result, the simple silhouette of the image is hard to read, or that is, the layering of what is in front vs what is in back is not clear. Atmosphere needs to be included in this if you plan on pulling the shapes apart from each other to create a better depth illusion...

-the warrior-

conceptually-the swords dont work on the shins. the weight would tear them right off...Its a good idea, if you made the shealthes and the blades shorter, it wouldnt be bad. Not to mention, a warrior wants his key weapons within breathing distance, reaching down to the lower legs takes too long, a matter of life and death in that split secon fo needing to reach.

Her feet are too big. Well rendered, but out of scale with her body size.



her hipa and shoulders are both tiltling in the same direction, rule of thumb, the bodies two halves always try and counterbalance one another. The shoulders, if tipped to the left, are counterbalancing a hip tilt to the right, and visa versa
so the weight distribution is cockeyed currently, and she feels not in balance...

The foreshortening on the stabbing arm is off. The hand is still the same size as her trailing hand, as a result, I dont see depth. The size ration of objects also helps create a stronger sense of depth...face a camera almost in profile. put your arms out to both your sides. shoot the image and look at the scaling of our hands. This is a great way for us to immediately see the problem of foreshortening in any image we create, and we have to solve...

her back, the spine appears to be detached from the head, and in addition, the head appears to be cranked around too far from where it should be. Again, this is a foreshortening problem, as well as a problem with, you just havent drawn enough 3/4 back view heads to solve this without reference.


Her hair could also take on some motion to help create more action, or movement in her. This will do nothing more than complement the action she is pursuing.

I hope this hasnt been a pain to read. I am merely pointing out places in the image that could be strengthened a bit. If you do these things, the already awesome drawing and good idea will be better and greater...


Take care and good luck.

Post your fixes, I want to see what you do with this...

also you can email me if you have further questions, or post them here on this thread also...


ROn