Something is missing..

[Eponine]

Hey there!
I just joined this lovely forum. Anyway, I am close to finishing this digital painting down there, but I feel it lacks something.
Could be birds in the sky, wich I am contemplating. Or something else.. more trees in the backround by the mountain.. or anything.. Please, if anyone have any ideas, let me know!

[Flipnastywebby]

light the figures a little ;-)


slainte!

[Eponine]

Yes, I could do that.. But then I'd be faced with there being no lighting source for them to get lighted up by.. :o
I was allready feeling as if i was breaking rules by having the woman as shadowed out in contrasts as she allready is >_<

[Earendil]

When I first looked at the picture, the characters didn't seem to be part of their environment. Probably a symptom of mismatched light schemes.

Bounce lighting does crazy things. If anything, it seems like they should be lit from the skydome above. Even on cloudy days, there's still light, it's just close to 100% diffused, so there's no shadows...which is probably why it doesn't look quite right. I don't know...Compositionally it's got an interesting 3 subject thing going on, but I don't know if that character on the right should be hugging the frame so closely, he looks a little cut off.

Here's a little paintover.

[Eponine]

Hey there!
Thanks alot for the critique. Thats really helpfull!
I know what you mean about the lighting, unfortunatly i have a terrible habbit of painting characters seperatly before i add them to the painting >_<
I will see what I can do about these problems though. Thanks alot

[magnut]

Eponine,

I did a very quick 3 minute suggestion on how lighting could play a better part of your illustration. Notice that the figures are lit by the light source behind the mountain in the distance. Even though that light source is not bright, it's still useful to illuminate shapes throughout the environment. Rim lighting! That would be a good thing, considering the vast blackness in your middle-ground planes.

Also, the highlights you did do on the water in that lake/stream/whatever is very soft, and does not 'read' like it has the qualities of water.

I have many problems with your composition, with how unconvincing your placements of your characters is, the fact that you used the darkness as a means not to actually define your environment. I'm also confused as to why Paris Hilton is there... but I admire the work you've put into it. There's a supple quality about your work, and I believe once your compositions become more solid, and you start defining things more (in dark or light surroundings), I think the quality of your pieces will jump to a much higher level.

Good luck!

[Eponine]

thank you very much for very usefull critique! I'll take them all to heart, and learn from it!
Also, lol, its not paris hilton! It was more so random, that she ended up looking abit like her!