@mr_dessin @sparksofdawn @Lil_G thanks for the encouragement guys! ill definitely show a little more knee to make it clear that hes kneeling. its kinda weird but i was actually super proud of myself for thinking of that. haha. i needed to place a character there, but i couldnt figure out how, because i was previously placing and scaling my characters based on their standing height haha.
also, youre so right lil_g. i can already tell that im going to have a hard time managing detail reduction. at this point, i feel like i just have to be doubly aware of the shortcomings of this composition, and plan accordingly as i proceed. its such a tough juggling act, because i cant just stop and take a couple more days to plan things out. this deadline is feeling pretty tight right about now.
just checking in. not dead yet. now that ive finished this line pass, it looks like i have to do another one to achieve realism. ive failed enough illustrations to know that fixing this many mistakes while im coloring will take longer. its times like this where i wish i chose to be more stylized. xD
to end on a positive note though, i see so much good work on this site! im so happy to see everyone progress in their own way. its really inspiring and its helping me push forward quite expediently. also, the car and a couple of soldiers look pretty badass, so im okay with that as well. not all bad.
That probably won't fix everything here but the protection bubble seems weird shape.
Maybe try to extend it more (especially on right side, and a little bit on left too) ?
Otherwise you maybe could add another foe on left bottom corner to fill the blank spot ?
And why not some small drones here and there in the air ?
I totally understand the feeling of not having stylized traits...it took me a while to change (over and over again xD).
People who don't know me usually can't recognize my style, if at all ^^' (even myself sometimes haha)
But that's part of the game...experimenting all the time, or else it's boring right ? : D
thanks @zuriel3 <3. glad you like it!
also, i think im finally done with the stuff that can go horribly wrong and waste the most time. i used 3d to check some of my mistakes. thankfully i didnt get too much wrong on my first few passes, so i lucked out there, but im kinda sad that i gave in and fired up some posing programs. i actually planned a photoshoot day with my mom yesterday, but those plans fell through. anyway, its time to run some color tests after i finish the armor on the soldier lover and the prayers on nurs coat. ill return with results soon!
edit: on second thought, the lover soldiers leg looks a little dumb. ill fix that tomorrow as well. note to self: focal length in 3d tends to be somewhat inaccurate if youve botched your perspective grid like i have. it looks fine, but my vanishing points arent exactly 90 degrees from each other, so characters dont translate 1:1. ill be more careful next time.
sidenote: in case yall are interested, im just elaborating on this perspective business because i think that a lot of people out there get discouraged from learning perspective and they feel alone or they feel like theyre doing things the wrong way, because there are very few pros that show the entire thought process behind drawing in perspective. constructing everything from scratch, with very little ref or prelim study, can be done. its just very methodical. i think thats something artists shy away from in the beginning.
ran some color tests. noticed some problems along the way. thankfully theyre not big problems yet. i think that i settled on the right color/ value structure choice. i wish that i had more iterations to show for this step in this particular process, but i kind of quit the other iterations before cleaning them up because they looked so bad. haha. will post again soon!