Looking for critique
11mo
@morelock
Trying to push a little further into finishing pieces and improve my rendering. (As well as everything else)
The hat felt pretty weak compared to the rest, and the blade of the sword doesn't really pop as I had intended.
Thoughts, critiques, things to work on all welcome.
What is your intention with this painting? Or else what is the focal point? Great composition!
Ribs are too detailed bringing attention to the area
Asked for help
Reworked after taking some of @Martha Muniz suggestions. Also reworked some of the fingers on both hands as they looked a little wonky .
Of course still happy to get any critiques/suggestions :)
My eyes goes to the highest point of contrast which for me is the left eye then the sword. I would say write down what you want to communicate with this image then place it in black and white to get an idea of whether you are conveying that message by contrast and thus movement (viewers eye). Maybe play a bit with scale and emphasis? For some reason I am thinking of Tekken and Mortal Combat when I look at this image. If there is light coming through the hat I think that could be emphasized more with contrast, perhaps look at the drawings of Marcos Mateu Mestre. Great drawing and love the texture!
Hi,
For ten hand and the sword, I suggest using references. It took me 10 seconds to take the photo, I used a mop handle :). imagine a single-point perspective, it will help make the weapon look more believable. To make the blade visible, you can turn it 90 degrees. This hat seems big, so it will shade a large part of the figure, I have marked schematically what it might look like.
Looks great. Maybe you can play a little with contrast in saturation. For example, the things you wish the emphasize in the drawing (handle of the blade?) could have (tiny) parts with more saturated color.
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11mo
It's a cool composition! I like the idea you have using the hat's holes to bring in rays of light as an effect framing his face. I think for the blade to pop more, I would scale up the hand + blade together and move it towards the right, where more of the blade can be seen. This will push the foreshortening and set it further apart from the rest of the image. I would also suggest adding light bouncing off the edge of the blade, which you can do just with a soft large airbrush lightly over the edge with white.
As for rendering, what I would suggest is to work large rather than small. What I mean is that, instead of zooming closely into the canvas and focusing on small details, try to remain in full view of the image, where you can make larger decisions over the entire canvas. This helps you find a solid structure for all the elements in your picture first. I would especially recommend to start by grouping your areas of shadow and light, as this will be key to clarity and composition as you continue to render. You'll find often that details will need to remain simplified due to light and shadow, otherwise it may break the illusion of the 3D setting or overwhelm the composition. So even after you start adding details, continuously returning to check the picture as a whole will help keep you on track.
If there are any artists/specific styles you are seeking to learn from/emulate, feel free to share, too. It always helps to get an idea of what your goals are as an artist :)
Hi Martha,
Thank you for taking the time to reply. Pushing the foreshortening sounds like a good idea. I'll play around with your suggestion on the bounce light as well, that might be what I'm looking for with the blade.
On the rendering, I follow meds routine (roughly) but I'd say mostly things end at what I'd call 85% fully rendered out / still a little loose. I've been trying to push a little further into the fully finished phase.
As for artists/styles... Growing up in the 80's/90's I really enjoyed fantasy books / Dungeons&Dragons artists of the time (Michael Whelan, Larry Elmore, Keith Parkinson, etc) and enjoy that sword & board style. I prefer more in that traditionally painted look vs. something like splash art that seems more common these days.
Thank you again, best!
