Need to level this up!
3yr
Jacob Carson
I've been working on this for a while and I think I need some help to take this painting to the next level. I have two different color schemes and I can't make up my mind. Open to any other criticism as well.
I'm new to the community here and I posted this to my wall first instead of the forums. Is there a way to edit posts?
I have some thoughts on this, would you mind a paintover?
I found the second, brighter one better as it shows more of the "drama" implied in the painting. I believe what you could do is add harder brush strokes and contrast. More sharp and visible highlights could do a lot to improve the piece! My eyes were drawn more to the wings than the face, which i would assume the face was the intended focal point, but the brightness of the wings made it less visible. Wonderful art though!
Thanks Kat, I'm working on dropping the value down on the wings. I think you are right about the focal point.
Hi @Jacob Carson, nice work! I tried addressing some compositional adjustments at the value stage, and this is just one direction that you can take your image in, if it happens to fit the idea that you're going for.
So, this image is about how this warrior (Valkyrie?) is mourning the loss of someone close to her, and his death angers her. So, I made the image feel more heavy by adding dark values to the top of the image, which 'weighs down on the character', reflecting the feeling of her loss. Then, I adjusted some shapes, such as her wings and even some broken wood on the ground, to make them more pointy, directed, and dangerous. This is to reflect her anger. Using metaphors in this way really helps to beef up our compositions by strengthening the story or mood that we want to communicate.
Lastly, regarding your color options, I'd say the one on the left more accurately reflects the mood of dread, despair, and anger. The one on the left definitely has some nice warm and cool variation, but that light purple feels like it offsets the mood a bit.
Hope this helps, and feel free to let me know if there's anything that I can clear up for you
Thank you so much! A lot of the things you mentioned were my struggle points in this project. I think I got a little lost in my references and didn't apply the "metaphors" that I was obviously trying to imply. I appreciate the time you put into your response and highlighting some of the story points I need to improve, now I have some work to do!!!
I think maybe some gradient in the tones, to separate the foreground from the back might help. Also, the wing tip closest to the viewer seems disconnected---I'm not sure who it belongs too.
Maybe some bright, tight, little highlights on her metal armor would help make it pop too. Metal reflects its environment. Right now it's a bit too close to her face in texture and color, in my (amateur and color-blind) opinion.
I agree about the wing! I think some of my values are off and it is making that wing tip look a little too flat to the "camera". I didn't really notice before but I'm going to try and make it curve back to her and not so segmented. Thanks for the help!
I think the second one has more wram/cold contrast, which looks "sharper" to me, but the first one is more harmonic. You can introduce some colder colours in the first one though. And... Maybe you need some sharper edges on the wings and character's clothes, otherwise it felt a little bit musshy to me
I see the mushy parts you are talking about now. I'm gonna sharpen some things up around the focal point and see if that helps. Thank you.
nice colors... i could feel that sorrow and scream... but the mans head feel big... compare it with the woman... u will find the difference... very nice drawing and compostion i must say.. loved it, but maybe u can boost contrast on the lady as well as the mans face.. to make it pop out from backgroung... so we can focus on it... background and its colors are expressing the compostion very well!!! good job.... but i found a bit hard to focus on her and really hard to focus on the man..
I was trying to play around with how dainty she is as opposed to her wings (so she can fly) and make her visibly smaller than the man. Almost like she can't lift him too much because he is bigger than her, but I will double check some of their ratios and see if I can get them to look a little more natural. Thank you for the input!
I can't say colour is my strong point (yet hehe) but the darker image on the left caught my eye immediately. I think because the focal point is stronger on the angel as oppose to the image on the right? Lovely painting, I could never do something like this!
