Sep '20

Hi guys!

I am a nooby here on the forums and a recent new ART School member. I was hoping to get some critique on my most recent character illustration. I tried to focus on story telling, rendering and cold shadows with warm lights for this piece.

Lore:
"You awake in a grave where you died in the previous life. You were dug up by the Mystical Grave Digger, who is the cousin of Death. He has brought you through into his mysterious realm and offers you his hand to join him on an adventure. You feel reborn. Do you join him?"

I would love to see what you think as I know there is plenty room to improve.

Sep '20

Hey there and welcome!

You have a fun concept going there, and I think that I can see where you are headed with the idea. Most of my thoughts are based around creating a bit more immersion in the piece, much like what your story told.

To drive home your story I think it would be helpful to show the edge of the grave that the viewer is climbing out of, it will extend your image downward a bit. But it will also provide more foreground elements and really help define your scale. Pay close attention to the camera perspective, it will get a bit confusing.

You might want to exaggerate the perspective angle of the body a bit more, but that's mostly aesthetic.

Consider going harder on the light bleed from the sun around the character, since he is back lit it would be very intense. And you can use that bleed to really push the thickness of objects too. And the hat will provide a great light frame to keep that wonderful glow working on his face just like you have it, which was a great idea.

Maybe frame the image a bit more with the tree branches, really think about the angle you are looking up at and how much of the underside you would see of them.

Its looking very good, keep at it!

Sep '20

Thank you so much for the feedback and your time! Your words are super helpful. May I ask, how would you go about going harder on the light bleed around the character? Would you make it brighter and more prominent all around the edges of the character? Would a colour dodge layer do the trick to enhance the intensity of the light bleed on the character?

Sep '20

Hey no problem, I am always happy to help people out. It took a while to find one that would show the contrast that I am thinking of, but here is a link to a woman surfing that shows what I was thinking you could do for the contrast level on the light and shadow parts of the form, and then include that green light that you already had. https://image.shutterstock.com/z/stock-photo-surfing-at-sunset-beautiful-young-woman-riding-wave-at-sunset-outdoor-active-lifestyle-301223963.jpg

From a technical level, I would say to make two layers above it one set to multiply and flooded with a dark blue, the other possibly overlay with a very light yellow like your sun that you paint along the edges while thinking what surfaces would be catching the edge of the light and creating a lighter surface or a fresnel effect. Then fiddle with your opacities for those layers until it looks interesting.

The overlay layer might do better with another effect, like dodge. After you get some light painted on there just toggle through the different layer types until you like how it looks and work from there.

Keep in mind this is just personal ideas of what might work, so take it all with a grain of salt. And always feel free to message or tag me, happy to help.

Sep '20

Again, thank you so much for the feedback. The image you linked is definitely helpful. I will have a play around with the layers and experiment a bit to see what works and what doesn't :smile: Thanks a bunch for your time.

Sep '20

I think you can play with the perspective a bit more, such as applying it to the gravestones in the background as well. Perspective wise, the top edges of the boots are curving the wrong way for a worm's eye view, the sash around his waist is ok, like the top of a circle, bending upwards like an arch, they should be the same. lastly there seems to be a strong wind blowing the petals around, but none of the loose material of his costume are moving with it.