Feedback, please! I'm trying to respect Painter (again) and work out a style that's less boringly realistic...tt totally dries up what little imagination I have. Is it working? Does the face look too referenced? Too sloppy? Does the color purple totally suck? You tell me!
4 comments:
For the record, purple ROCKS:D
I think the question to ask yourself here is what kind of Elf are you going for? As it stands, this image strikes me as a very mundane realistic Elf in a modern setting. There is nothing wrong with this if that is what you are going for:) Mundane fantasy definitely has an appeal.
For a more exotic feel, you could always try lengthening the hair, adding braids, etc (to add a more tribal punk appeal). The hairstyle as it is also feels very modern. Again, not a bad thing, but it just all depends on what you are going for!
I can see some hints of hazy magic waving about him in strands if you want to go even more deeply fantastical with this.
As is, though, don't doubt yourself and your skills. It's obvious you have the technical handle on your instruments to convey anything that you want to convey when you put your mind to it :)
Twitter kept eating this, so - most looser artists have crisp brushwork edges contrasting against softer edges, so generally speaking, I'd advise having, say, a crisper end of his hair in direct light vs. the bounce/shadow area being softer. His coat is universally soft as well, vs. the moon which is distant (and should be more soft-edged anyway due to the glow.) That's what I mean by edge planning and contrasts; you show A is in front of B with the edges as well as the values. Hope that makes sense...
To add to what Nicole said, I was watching one of the Jason Manley streams that touched on this, I think, and the way he pointed it out was where the moon's edge and the shirt intersect, the edge of the moon would be softened out and the shirt would be sharper. this has the effect of popping the main subject in the foreground pop out. It's about considering how soft edges convey the depth in an image. Even in a more graphical approach like this. So you cuold potentially soften up the edge where his forehead and hair meet too, and not lose anything. I love how you've done that just above, and how nothing is harshly outlined where his hair is concerned. A couple of sharper highlights closer to us wouldn't go amiss I don't think, and an example of where the soft edge doesn't quite work as well for me is the tip of the ears, as the edges of ears tend to be sharper anyway, and with that profile shot, the ear is closer to us.
On a positive note, his skin tones are edible. and I adore this new looser style you'd adopted of late, I'm hugely jealous...
As far as character goes, you're not giving much away... not sure if he's a good or a bad boy at the moment, as his expression's quite neutral, but I get the feeling this is more a beauty shot portrait than one that would explore his inner characters.
Wow, thanks gang! Great advice; I'm so tickled you all took the time! I have so much to play with now. I love this community...ya'll rock...
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